Chapter Twenty-three
Bryon curled around his little mate on the rugs. The tunnels were silent—no cars, no sirens, no wind. Just him and his dream woman. She felt so good in his arms. It had seemed like forever that he’d had to wait to hold her. But now she was his. He was hers. And he had to get her out of here and to his den.
Reluctantly, he pulled away from their shared warmth under the blanket. He gathered two bowls of food and sniffed at the bags of red wine. Didn’t make him gag, so it was probably safe to drink.
Behind him, the blanket rustled and a beautiful yawn brought music to his ears. “Good morning, my love,” he said, setting the food next to the rug they had slept on, among other things.
Kari picked up the bowl. “Thank you. That’s so thoughtful. I’m not used to having stuff done for me.”
“Well, now,” he said, sitting next to her, “you need to get used to it because I’m always going to be there to do stuff for you.”
Her head tilted toward him. She asked, “Aren’t you going to be working at ALFA?”
Yeah, he hadn’t fully thought all that through yet. Two of his other co-agents had found their mates recently. Each had taken time off to be with his mate. Sort of a honeymoon getaway. That left one guy, Sheldon, in the office with Director Tumbel.
“Our procedures say if we find our mates while in service, we are allowed to leave with full benefits after a replacement is found and trained.”
“But what about this case you’ve been undercover for for the past months? Don’t you want to find these trafficking rings?” she asked. He smiled at her. She was perfect for him. She knew exactly what he felt and wanted and they’d known each other for a very short time.
“Yes, I’d like to put a stop to this evil and gut those in charge,” he replied.
Her eyes widened then returned to normal. “Wow, remind me never to piss you off.” He laughed.
“No worries, love.” He kissed her forehead. “When you’re ready, we need to get going. It’s morning here. And I’m thinking an exit is nearby.”
“Because of this room being relatively clean and stocked?” she asked.
“Yup. My thoughts exactly,” he said. Bryon helped her to her feet and pulled her body to his. He inhaled her fresh scent. He could stand all day, just breathing her in. That wouldn’t get them out of the cave though.
Taking a couple torches with them, they stepped from the room into the aisle. “We passed at least two sidetracks on the way to this room. Either could be the exit,” he said. Kari looked behind them where the tunnel continued on. The path made a sharp curve.
“Hey, Bryon,” she said, “look at this.” Torch held high, she made her way toward the turn. There on the wall was a big arrow pointing the other direction.
“Careful, Kari. Could be a trap,” he reminded her. She stopped midstride. When he took the lead, sniffing for booby traps, he felt relieved she listened and didn’t argue about her independence. At the bend in the trail, they leaned forward to peek around the edge. Seemed to be a continuation of their way. But it was a dead end into another wall.
“Look,” Kari said. She scuttled to drawings on the wall. They resembled the hieroglyphs they had seen earlier, but the swastika was a big clue this was not Egyptian in nature.
“Any idea?” he asked.
She stared at the symbols. “I’m sure you’ve guessed it’s not original to the tunnel’s creation. And maybe the answer will reveal a door or some way to continue.”
“Yup. But that’s about all I got from it.”
“You speak the language of this area?” she asked.
“Pretty much fluent,” he replied.
“I just know basic root words based on Latin. But this may not be all that complicated. May not even need specific language.” She rubbed a finger across the broken cross and the tip came back with a smudge. “They didn’t even use paint. It looks like charcoal,” she said.
“Thoughts on who ‘they’ are?”
“I’d say the rumor about Nazis stashing treasures in these tunnels is true. And I doubt the SS took the time to come up with a ball-busting puzzle.”
He bent closer to the images on the rough rock and pointed to the last picture. “That looks like it could be the earth. Europe here and that resembles Africa.” His finger traced the crude outlines. “Maybe.”
“Yes, that’s good. The swastika could mean the Nazi regime or Germany. But what the hell is this?” She pointed to stick figures, some with hats, some behind vertical lines. Those lines reminded him of the cell he was in before joining the prince for dinner.
“Could that be Nazis wearing the hats putting others in jail cells?” he asked.
Her eyes lit up. “That’s it. It says the Nazis will punish the world. In other words, they will rule the planet.” She bounced to her toes and kissed him. When she started to pull away, he grabbed and brought her back to him. He loved her taste. Wanted all he could get.
She laughed and pushed back. “All right, lover boy. More when we get out of here.”
He raised his brows. “Promise?”
“How about an entire week? Honeymoon style.” Heat infused her eyes. Her arousal scented the air. Good god, he couldn’t wait. He was ready to plow through rock walls right now. “But first, we get out of here.” She turned back to the puzzle. Below the row of drawings were two holes with a rope dangling from each. Above each hole was a word. “I bet those say yes and no, right?” she asked.
“Sharp as a tack, I’ll tell you,” he joked. She grinned and moved her hand to the “no” rope. He grabbed her arm. “Wait. Even though Germany lost the war, they didn’t know that when they stashed the stuff. So to them, the answer would’ve been yes, don’t you think?”
She stood back and chewed on her lip. First time he’d ever felt jealous of a body part.
“You’re right.” Kari grabbed the “yes” rope and pulled.
From deep inside the walls, a low rumble vibrated. Similar to the water room, but different. To his sensitive ears, the sound was coming closer.
“Bryon, do you feel that?” Her voice wavered. The ground shook, dust fell from the ceiling. They had to run, but he didn’t know to where. It sounded from all around. His instincts screamed to get away. But which way?