Uncharted

by Robyn Nyx

  “Oh, shit.” Chase pulled the needle from her arm, and Rayne fixed a wad of cotton over it and secured it with medical tape. Chase got down from the god. “Get back over there.” Rayne didn’t move. “Now! I’ll be right behind you.”

  “Fuck, Chase. That’s what they say in all the movies and you turn around. Pfft. Gone.”

  Chase guided Rayne to the rope. “Super. Great talk. Go.”

  Rayne did as instructed and looked to be making quick progress along the line. She reached the other side and ran to the doorway. Chase pulled her backpack tight and grabbed onto the rope. The column shuddered and the statue rocked. Chase grabbed hold of the rope and worked her way across the pit as fast as she could, glad for that extra training she’d done with Noemie. She was halfway across when the column began to sink and the rope along with it. This is gonna hurt. Chase unclipped her buck knife from her belt and began to saw through the rope. Progress was slow with her left hand, but she wanted her stronger arm to hold her weight when it eventually separated. She heard the creaking of the stone door as it struggled under the pressure. It was a new rope, but the point at which the pressure would become too much and it would snap at its weakest point could be anywhere.

  The rope became impossibly taut, too tight to withstand the strain for much longer, just as Chase sliced through the last strand. She shoved the knife into her waistband and clutched at the rope with her left hand as it swung toward the side of the pit. Chase smashed into the stone wall, her left side absorbing the brunt of the impact. She grunted as the pain ripped through her shoulder but kept her grip tight. She heard Rayne’s scream then saw her appear over the edge of the pit.

  “Baby.”

  “It’s okay, Rayne. I’m okay.” Chase looked down before she began to climb the rope. From the vast darkness, something was rising. She scrambled upward and thrust her hand over the edge. Rayne helped her over and she lay on the ground, breathing hard. “Counter balance. Look.” Chase moved across the floor on her stomach as Rayne looked into the pit.

  “Oh my God, Chase. You’re right. Something’s coming up.”

  The raised floor came to rest two feet below the one Chase was prone on.

  But the vast circular stone floor wasn’t heaving with gold or layered with riches and gems. She heard the thud of footsteps heading their way, and in her peripheral vision she saw Owen and Larry.

  “What the FUCK is that supposed to be?”

  Chase swallowed and refocused on the new floor. Maybe she’d missed something. Maybe the floor itself was solid gold. Around the hole where the column had disappeared looked to be a simple, circular stone altar.

  Owen kicked Chase in the ribs. “Find out what that is. This can’t be it. There has to be more.”

  His disappointment will lead to destruction. The old woman’s words echoed in Chase’s head as she got to her feet and stepped tentatively onto the stone floor. Chase caught hold of Rayne and pulled her with her toward the center. They reached the stone altar to discover a circular wheel around twenty-five feet in diameter. Its rim was around six feet wide and the well inside around eighteen inches deep. At each point at zero, one hundred and twenty, and two hundred and forty degrees lay what looked to be a life-size human effigy. From first glance, one was made from wood, the second from clay, and the third from maize dough. Chase blinked, wondering if she was delirious from the combination of blood loss and the pain from the fall. But when she opened her eyes, the picture hadn’t changed. She began to laugh. There was nothing else to do.

  “What the fuck is it?” Owen yelled.

  “The Golden Trinity,” said Chase, turning to him as everything fell into place in her mind. “The Mayans believed the gods had three attempts at making humans—two failed attempts with wood and clay, and the final, successful attempt, with a dough ground from corn.” She gestured to the altar. “These are those attempts. The Golden Trinity isn’t the treasure haul of a lifetime. It isn’t riches beyond all comprehension. It’s a belief system, an idea, something far richer, far more important than gold or silver. It’s a treasure because ideas are the greatest treasure of all. They don’t die.”

  Owen stormed across the stone floor and pushed Chase out of the way. “You’re lying. That can’t be.”

  He slumped over the altar as he saw Chase wasn’t lying. Chase pulled the knife from her waist, grabbed a handful of Owen’s hair, yanked his head back, and pressed the knife against his throat. Larry went for his gun. “Don’t do it. I’ll slit his throat faster than you can pull that out of your pants.” Larry raised his hands, and Chase nodded toward him. “Rayne. Relieve Larry of his weapon.”

  Rayne rushed across the floor and pulled his gun from its holster. She stepped out of his reach and aimed the gun at his head. “Any other weapons we need to know about?” He shook his head. “Do a twirl for me. I’d like to see for myself.”

  Chase smiled at Rayne’s immediate control of the situation. She saw a bowie knife stuck in the back of his trousers as he turned. “Knife. Back of the pants,” Chase said, keeping just enough pressure on her knife to keep Owen compliant. She pulled his gun from the front of his trousers then quickly stepped back and leveled the gun at him from a safe distance. She’d seen too many movies where the bad guy had been able to disarm the hero because they stood too close to them. Chase wasn’t about to make that mistake.

  “Got it,” Rayne said. “Reach down with your left hand, pull the knife out, and throw it in the opposite direction to us as far as you can.”

  Rayne had obviously seen Larry with the gun in his right hand, and Chase was even more impressed. Larry withdrew the knife and tossed it.

  “Lie down on the floor and cross your hands behind your back.”

  After Larry got to the floor, Rayne pulled the paracord from her pocket. Deftly, considering she had a gun in one hand, she tied a slipknot in the cord. She got closer to him, but still not within his reach, and threw the knotted end toward his hands.

  “Catch that and slip it around your right wrist.”

  Larry did so, and Rayne pulled the rope over his body toward his left side. She then stepped in, and dropped her knee into his back. She swiftly tied the rope around his left wrist and got to her feet.

  “Nice roping, cowgirl.” Chase smiled. Now what?

  “What’s your next move, Stinsen?” Owen asked. “Are you going to leave us down here to rot? Or are you going to shoot us? Do you have that in you?”

  He took a step closer to her and Chase backed off a step. “Stay exactly where you are, Owen. You have no idea what I’m capable of in the wrong circumstances. And goddamn, these are the wrong circumstances.” Chase felt something unfamiliar bubble beneath her usually calm demeanor, and she fought to control it. It was exactly that which separated someone like Owen from someone like her. “Walk over to your buddy and lie facedown.”

  Owen laughed. “I don’t think so.” He took another step closer to her.

  Chase shifted the gun slightly to the left and fired. He jumped, only a fraction, but he still reacted, and that might be enough. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

  His nostrils flared and he clenched his jaw, but he slowly walked over to Larry and got down beside him.

  “Link your arm through Larry’s and stay completely still.” Chase moved slightly closer and kept the gun aimed at Owen’s head. Rayne looked nervous, but she knelt on Owen’s back as she had with Larry and secured him to his friend in seconds. Chase heard footsteps. She rushed over to Rayne, and they pressed themselves against the wall, both with their guns directed at the doorway.

  “Get in here!” Owen shouted.

  “Shit,” Chase whispered. “We should’ve gagged him.”

  “Too late, baby. Are you ready?”

  Chase blew out a breath. “To go down in a hail of bullets like Butch Cassidy and the Sundown Kid? Not really…I had plans…with you.”

  Rayne smiled and kissed her, deep and hard, like it could be…Chase terminated the thought and responded
with everything that she was. If it was the last kiss, she wanted to remember it in the afterlife.

  “So you didn’t need backup after all?”

  Ginn. She and Tonyck came into view, rifles at waist height, ready for action. Rayne pushed off the wall and jumped at them both. Tonyck caught her and swung her around like a rag doll.

  “How?” Rayne asked.

  But the question became moot when she and Rayne saw the three old women come into view, along with twenty or so of their tribe.

  Ginn motioned at them with a thumb and a wide grin. “Backup.”

  Chase smiled and sank to her knees, the weight of the past few days pushing her down. “Better late than never.”

  Ginn came over and dragged Chase up and shoved her camera at her chest. “Thought you might want this. Now stand tall, Stinse. You’re a hero now.”

  “You’re my hero.” Rayne came into view around Ginn’s hulking frame. “I bet you like the sound of that, don’t you?”

  Chase nodded, then pulled her into a hug and held her tight. “Let’s go home and see what other sounds you make that I like.”

  Rayne leaned back slightly and caressed Chase’s cheek. “And the Golden Trinity?”

  Chase met the gaze of the three old women. They nodded in that powerful, old wise-woman kind of way. Chase sighed and focused on Rayne. “Let’s leave that right here, where it belongs.”

  Epilogue

  Two months later…

  Chase wrapped her legs around Rayne’s waist and slipped down into the bathtub behind her. “Mm, perfect temperature. You’re going to have to run all my baths from now on. I can never get it right in the tub at my place.”

  Rayne closed the magazine she was reading and placed it on the in-wall shelf. “Perfect article, baby…Maybe you should move in so I can do just that. You spend most of your time here anyway.”

  Chase moved Rayne’s long, wet hair from her chest and began to trace light circles around her nipples. “You liked it? If I moved in here, where would Noemie go when she’s back from the army?”

  Rayne tugged Chase’s foot from the water and gently massaged it. “I think it’s even better than the Zenobia piece. I’ve got a fifth bedroom. She could make it hers. You know, if she wanted.”

  Chase grumbled. “Okay, too much. One conversation at a time, please. It wouldn’t be hard to better the Zenobia piece since I couldn’t tell the whole truth because of your mean ass lawyers.”

  Rayne laughed softly, leaned down, and kissed the top of Chase’s foot. “You didn’t tell the whole truth on this one either.”

  “That’s different. We had to protect the tribe.” Chase squeezed Rayne’s nipple between her thumb and forefinger. Rayne rocked back against her and murmured. “What do you think the tribe did with Owen and the rest of them?”

  Rayne leaned farther back into Chase’s body. “I have to say that I don’t care, I don’t want to know, and I don’t want to talk about him.”

  “Plausible deniability, eh?” Chase thought about the work Rayne had commissioned and paid for, including a safe walkway down to the temple. “I don’t mind saying again how much you surprised me with your idea to make the site safe for the indigenous people, especially rebuilding most of the ground with a wooden floor and covering it with artificial grass so the site isn’t visible from satellites.”

  “You make it sound like it cost millions of dollars.” Rayne placed her hand over Chase’s. “With all the local tribes providing the labor, I paid barely a hundred thousand for materials.”

  “Still, that place could’ve been a tourist trap and raised a lot of money for the indigenous people.” Chase guided her other hand between Rayne’s legs and circled her clit.

  “Is that what you wanted to write about? Did you want to give the place to the whole of Brazil and the rest of the world?” Rayne asked between gasps of pleasure.

  “No. I’m just saying, the absence of greed impressed me. I love that the Trinity still belongs to the people who believe in it. And I have to admit that I like being one of only four people in the world beyond the tribes that know exactly where it is.” Chase gave Rayne small kisses from the nape of her neck and along her shoulder while her hand continued to play between Rayne’s legs.

  “Would you be doing these delightful things to me if I had tried to sell the whole place, effigies and all, to the highest bidder?” Rayne raised her hips and pushed against Chase’s touch, demanding more.

  Chase pressed a little harder on Rayne’s hardening center. “Absolutely not. Well, I don’t know. Maybe not. It’s a tough call. You kind of bewitched me in the rain forest.”

  Rayne laughed, took Chase’s hand from her breast, and kissed her palm. “I bewitched you?”

  “Yes. Take responsibility for making me completely powerless against your charms.” Chase slipped her finger between Rayne’s soft folds of flesh but Rayne grabbed her wrist and stopped her from exploring farther.

  “Number one, my charms took years to work on you. And number two, you are not making love to me in the bath. I do not want a soapy foof.” Rayne flipped herself over and faced Chase. “Once this feature hits the newsstands, you’ll be inundated with job offers and people offering you obscene amounts of money to reveal the location of the Trinity.”

  Chase leaned down and kissed Rayne. “I don’t need obscene amounts of money. I have you.”

  “Ha!” Rayne slapped Chase’s chest and splashed water all over the floor. “Just because you’re ridiculously amazing between the sheets does not mean I’m going to be your sugar mommy.”

  Chase frowned and stuck out her bottom lip. “Are you sure?” She tracked her fingers along Rayne’s back, into that insanely sexy dip at the base of her spine, and rested her hand on Rayne’s butt cheek. “I could give up lecturing and be your sex slave. I could wander around the house all hours of the day and night completely naked, and furnish you with ridiculously amazing sex whenever and wherever you wanted it.” Chase squeezed Rayne’s ass. “Doesn’t that sound tempting at all?”

  Rayne nodded and licked her lips. “It does sound tempting. Very tempting. And I do love it when you walk around the house naked. You have the best ass in the world…but you also have other great talents, like being one of the top archeologists and the second-best treasure hunter in the world.”

  Chase smiled and ran her fingers through Rayne’s hair. “I don’t mind being second best to you…but you do usually cheat and you have the tank twins to help you out, so it’s not really a fair comparison.”

  “We should settle this once and for all. A treasure hunt to end all treasure hunts. You versus me. No team. Just you and me.” Rayne lifted herself from the bath and wrapped a giant towel around her waist.

  Chase sat up. “I’m intrigued. What are we hunting?”

  Rayne padded out of the bathroom, swishing her hair and her hips, giving Chase her all.

  “So,” Chase called out as she climbed out of the bath and grabbed a towel, “what are we hunting?”

  “Each other’s hearts.”

  Chase grinned, ran into the bedroom, and tackled Rayne to the bed. “Winner takes all?” She pulled open Rayne’s towel and sucked a nipple into her mouth while her fingers slipped into the welcoming wetness of Rayne’s pussy.

  Rayne gasped. “Yeah,” she whispered, breathless against Chase’s neck as she fucked her. “Winner takes all.”

  Chase moved from Rayne’s nipple to her mouth and kissed her. “That’s completely uncharted territory. It’s widely understood that you don’t have a heart.”

  “Then you don’t accept the challenge?” Rayne asked between hot, passionate kisses.

  Chase drove her fingers deeper inside Rayne and nibbled on her neck, the feeling of being inside and around her the most exquisite thing she’d ever experienced. “Oh no, I accept your challenge, Rayne. But you already have an unfair advantage.”

  Rayne pushed her hips from the bed and onto Chase’s fingers. “What’s that?”

  “You alrea
dy have my heart.”

  About the Author

  Robyn Nyx is an avid shutterbug and lover of all things fast and physical. Her writing often reflects both of those passions. She writes lesbian fiction when she isn’t busy being the chief executive of a UK charity. She lives with her soul mate and fellow scribe, Brey Willows. They have no kids or kittens, which allows them to travel to exotic places at the drop of a hat for research. Robyn and Brey also run a community interest company helping marginalized groups to write and get their stories heard. She works hard to find writing time, when she’s not being distracted by blue skies and motorbike rides. Get in touch and find out more at robynnyx.com.

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