Return to Dark Earth (20 page)

Solomon cleared his throat. “Phoenix, you
have balls of steel.”

Nera swiveled. “You want to say that again?”
her voice was deadly soft.

“Ah…no.” The young man sank back against the
wall. “I really don’t.”

Avril sniffed. “I suggest we all focus on
the plan for the remainder of this expedition.”

They all moved around the holo-table. A
huge, illuminated map of the region filled the surface, and Nik
spotted the blue arrow that indicated the
Drake
. “Where are
we headed?”

“South,” Avril answered. “Agent Ryant and
his team worked through the day to load the artifacts from the New
Mexico City Museum.”

Gunn started. “They’ve been out there?” He
stabbed a finger at the window. “Do they have a death wish? No way,
I’m not getting paid enough to tangle with those fucking man-eating
freakshows.”

“The team has been taking precautions. Using
strong spotlights and snipers. It’s their job.” Her gaze narrowed
on Gunn. “Let them do theirs, and you do yours.” She smiled at
Niklas. “I’m sure you’ll be thrilled to hear the Sun Stone was
loaded and is in pristine condition.”

His heart kicked in his chest. Yeah, he was.
He itched to get a good look at it. “That’s good news.”

“I also asked them to gather any data they
could get on the…zombies. We might encounter them again, so any
information we can compile could give us an advantage.”

“They don’t like high-pitched noises,” Nera
added. “We could use that as a deterrent.”

“Noted. I’ll pass the information on.” Avril
shook her head, pressing her palms to the edge of the table. “I
really hope we won’t see any more of them, or at least not so
many.”

Nik thought that was wishful thinking. There
had been zombies in New York, in that chasm. He was certain of it.
But for whatever reason, they hadn’t attacked. He was worried the
creatures, or at least some of them, were far more intelligent than
they thought.

“Real lucky you didn’t get eaten by a
zombie, Phoenix.”

Gunn’s sarcastic tone pulled Nik from his
thoughts and made his jaw tighten. He felt Nera move and put a hand
on her arm. “Screw you, Gunn. I know what you did. I won’t forget
it.”

Avril frowned. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” Nik answered, his gaze boring
into Gunn’s muddy eyes. “It’s a very uninteresting story about an
unintelligent, little coward. I wouldn’t want to bore you.”

Gunn’s face twisted and he strode forward.
“People like you make me sick, Phoenix.” Gunn spat the words. “You
think you’re so smart, so much better than everyone else. You’ve
had everything given to you on a damn platter.” He shoved Nik in
the chest.

Nik tightened his hold on Nera’s arm, very
afraid she was going to explode forward and kill Gunn. When she
stayed still, he released her. Anger was an ugly ball in his chest.
Because of Gunn’s childish antics, Nera had almost died in that
damn museum. Nik shoved Gunn back…hard.

“You’re deluded. I’ve fought for everything
I’ve ever wanted. My brothers, too. Life isn’t easy, Gunn. You have
to work for what you want, but that doesn’t mean kicking every
person around you in the face while you do it.”

Gunn quivered. “You don’t know what it is to
fight. To have no bed to sleep in. To live in the streets and eat
garbage. To be prey for every pervert and killer around. To have to
be meaner than everyone just to survive.” The man’s chest heaved
and he suddenly realized everyone was watching him. He drew in a
ragged breath, then his trademark smirk covered his face. “You
fight for everything you want, huh? Except that plush job you had
at the Institute. That slipped through your fingers. Didn’t fight
for that, did you?”

Nik froze, the words punching him low in the
gut. With a swagger, Gunn crossed the room and dropped into a
chair.

“Okay, I think that’s more than enough.”
Avril pressed her hands to the holo-table. “If we can please shelve
personal problems and focus on the hunt.”

“You did what you had to do,” Nera murmured
for Nik’s ears only.

“I left,” he murmured. “I walked away and
did nothing.”

“Niklas—”

He straightened. “But not now.” He looked
down at her. “Not one of the artifacts from this trip is getting
lost or sold. Everything we find will be seen by the people of the
galaxy. I’ll make sure of it.”

She inclined her head.

For now, all he could focus on was the hunt.
He headed for the holo-table and raised his voice. “So, we’re
headed south. Where?”

“We’re traveling along the west coast of
what were the American continents.” Avril traced her finger across
the holo-table and a golden line appeared behind it. “I believe we
are currently over what was once Panama, in Central America. So
far, the jungle has taken over.” She frowned. “The conditions are
not…optimal. Extremely dense vegetation and large…animal
signatures.”

“What are you thinking for the next
exploration site?” Solomon asked.

“That’s why you are all here. You’ve all
postulated some interesting locations to the south. It’s time to
pick one.”

Gunn crossed his beefy arms over his chest.
“Rio de Janeiro.”

Solomon snorted. “That was picked clean
before the Terrans even left Earth. How about Peru?”

Nik nodded. “It had a rich history and was
the center of the ancient Inca culture. But I’ve seen partial
e-docs that say it suffered heavy bombing.” He glanced at Nera. She
stood by the window, seemingly ignoring them all. Although he
guessed differently. “Nera?”

“Lima,” she said. “It had the greatest
concentration of museums.”

Avril looked like she wanted to disagree on
principle, but she grudgingly gave a nod and tapped the map. “A
strong potential. The National Museum was renowned as the
best.”

“While that was true,” Nik said, “it was a
large public museum. It was much more likely to have had artifacts
evacuated and sent off-planet. My research has led me to believe
the city also had a large number of well-funded, private museums
that housed rich collections.”

Avril’s gaze narrowed. “You have a
particular one in mind.”

“Yes. The Larco,” he answered.

She frowned. “The Larco? The name sounds
familiar, but I don’t know anything about it.”

“A wealthy private collector started it to
house his extensive collection of pre-Columbian artifacts.”

“Pre-Columbian?” Solomon said.

“Artifacts from all the cultures that lived
in the region before Europeans arrived. Not just the Inca,” Nik
clarified. “While the state museums were being emptied out, I
suspect the Larco was largely ignored, despite its excellent
collection of ceramics, and gold and silver. I think it’s worth a
look.”

Avril tapped the holo-table. “Computer, run
search for all relevant data on the Larco. Everything you have, its
collections, layout and coordinates.”

“Searching…” the melodious computer voice
responded.

A moment later, the holo-screen changed, the
map shrinking into one corner and images and data records filling
the screen.

“It was a beautiful building,” Avril
said.

The image was of the museum in its heyday.
It had been housed in a historic building with a cream-colored
exterior and beautiful wooden double doors at the front. Lush
gardens were just visible surrounding it.

“I found references to the building being
eighteenth-century,” Nik said. “And possibly built on an ancient
Incan site. It seems a safe bet that the jungle has taken it and
the remains of the city back.” Nik touched the screen. “Here were
the main star attractions of the Larco. The Gold and Silver
Gallery.”

“Now, that sounds more like it,” Gunn
muttered.

Nik ignored the interruption. “And the
pre-Columbian Erotic Ceramics Gallery.”

Solomon snorted. “Come again?”

“Did you say
erotic
?” Nera asked.

Nik grinned at her. “Yes. Apparently, the
ancient Peruvians crafted thousands of ceramic pots depicting
different sexual acts.”

She shook her head with a smile.

“The collection was apparently popular—”

“I’ll bet,” Solomon interjected.

“—mainly because the very religious Spanish
conquerors who captured the region destroyed any erotic ceramics
they discovered.”

“I remember now—” Avril tapped the screen
“—why the Larco sounded familiar.” Her face lit up. “It was said
they had a map, created by a former Naval officer by the name of
Blake. There’s a legend, that Blake and another man, Chapman,
supposedly found the Lost Inca Gold.”

Gunn leaned forward. “How much gold we
talking about? Terran gold is worth a hell of a lot of
e-creds.”

Avril shot him an annoyed look. “I care
about the historical value of the artifacts, Mr. Gunn. A treasure
trove of hidden Inca artifacts, from a fascinating time in Earth’s
history, would be a boon to our cultural heritage.”

Nik frowned, studying Avril’s face. She was
pumped full of enthusiasm. “The Lost Inca Gold was lost even in
Terran times. A myth, a legend.”

“Even I’ve heard the legend,” Solomon said.
“The invading Spanish took the Inca emperor hostage. He promised
them a mountain of gold in return for his life. But the Spanish
killed him, and the emperor’s loyal general, already coming with
the gold, hid it in a cave in the mountains, instead.”

“A nice myth,” Nera said. “I’ve heard
versions of the same thing in about half-a-dozen different systems.
Lost treasure of immense value hidden in a cave. It isn’t
particularly original.”

“And yet, it seems many Terrans did try to
find it,” Nik said. “None of them returned alive.” He speared Avril
with a hard look. “You really think we can just waltz in here,
after thousands of years, and find it ourselves?”

“I think if we find any data pertaining to
the Lost Gold, it’s worth a shot. We have enhanced technology and
some of the best experts at finding treasure. Those ancient
explorers died because they had to contend with trekking through
wild jungle. We can fly right to the coordinates.”

“I didn’t think you would catch the
treasure-hunting bug, Avril,” Nik said. “We should stick to
well-known areas, where the possibility of finds is greatest.
Traipsing into an irradiated jungle filled with who-knows-what
sounds like a death wish.”

“Your input is noted.” Avril smiled at the
others. “Okay, the Larco Museum is our next destination.” She
looked at the holo-table. “Computer, calculate how long to arrive
at the Larco.”

“Three hours.”

“Excellent. Okay, I know some of us have
rested.” She cast Nera a pointed look.

Nera raised a brow. “No, I didn’t.”

Nik hid a smile.

Avril’s lips flattened into a hard line.
“Everyone, get some rest. We’ll assess the conditions when we
arrive, but we have to assume there may be zombies, so we’ll go in
once the sun has risen in the morning.”

Everyone left the room and eventually, Nik
found himself at the front of the ship in the observation lounge.
Stretched across the front of the room was a rounded window of
synth glass that even extended across the floor for several meters.
He stood on the glass, looking down at the twisted black jungle
below.

The jungle looked completely impenetrable.
Thick, twisting vines climbed through warped, distorted trees. He
could only guess what kind of nasty things the vegetation was
hiding. Every now and then, he spied ruins. Broken structures
poking above the dark foliage. Remnants of a forgotten world.

He looked to the right, and caught sight of
the black vastness of the ocean. It lapped angrily against
black-sand beaches, and, in the distance, it stretched out to the
horizon.

He didn’t hear her, but he knew when Nera
joined him. It was like he was attuned to her presence.

She stepped onto the glass next to him, and
peered down. “Doesn’t look friendly.”

He eyed her. “People say that about
you.”

“I’m not friendly.”

He grabbed her and reeled her closer, his
lips hovering over hers. “You are to me.”

“Not really, but you just seem to like my
brand of unfriendliness.”

He couldn’t help his smile. Damn, he was
besotted. “Maybe I do.”

She reached up, tracing his jawline. “I
think you must have a hidden masochistic streak.”

“Only when it comes to you.”

She fiddled with his shirt. “So, Dr.
Phoenix, what should we do to while away the hours before we reach
Peru?”

“We could study up on the Larco.”

Her fingers toyed with the buttons over his
chest. “Hmm. In your cabin? Naked?”

“If you’re naked, I could hardly concentrate
on research.”

“That’s the entire point.” She turned,
heading for the door. She looked back over her shoulder for a
single, electric second, then she disappeared into the
corridor.

Damn
. Nik was hard as hell. He took a
deep breath, then hurried to follow her.

***

Feeling very pleased with herself, Nera
followed Niklas into the cargo bay several hours later. She found
her gaze on the way his cargo trousers shaped his toned ass. That
big, strong body of his…she felt a flash of heat and was amazed she
could even feel desire after the way they’d spent the last few
hours.

Her steps faltered and she stared at his
broad back. She knew he physically wasn’t a danger to her, despite
her being sore in a few intimate places. But he was still a risk.
Even now, she felt the cracks in her internal defenses. Defenses
she needed to survive.

She took a steadying breath. However much
fun she had with Niklas, this had to end after this hunt. She
wasn’t capable of more. Her fingers curled, her nails biting into
her palm. He deserved more. He deserved to be loved and cherished,
and the capacity to love had been beaten out of her. She touched
her chest. All she had left was a dried husk of a heart.