CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Aguas Mortales wasn’t what she’d been expecting. There were few palm trees, and there was nothing peaceful about the jagged rocks and crashing waves.
The three islands rose out of the ocean menacingly. The island in the middle was mountainous, completely covered in trees so it looked like little tufts of broccoli had been planted on every square inch. The island on the opposite side was rocky, the volcanic nature lending itself to more of a barren wasteland than an inhabitable space. But there were small cabanas on stilts that had been built along the water’s edge and farther up in elevation.
They’d taken the Zodiac to the third island, leaving the Devil’s Due anchored at the adjacent island because it was too difficult to approach the island where they needed to be. She noticed it also had the broccoli trees, and there was just a thin strip of white sand around the perimeter, along with a whole hell of a lot of rocks.
Elias explained that Zodiacs were built with a kind of fabric that wouldn’t tear when out of the water, and sure enough, he’d driven it right across the rocks and up on shore.
“These are the best,” he said, patting the side of the Zodiac almost lovingly. “It’s what we used as SEALs. We’d load up in the helicopter and they’d take us over international waters. We’d push the Zodiac out first and then each jump in after it. It’s very cool to see.”
“You lost me at jumping out of a helicopter into the middle of the ocean,” she said.
“Never say never,” he said. “I got you on a boat, didn’t I?”
“You tricked me,” she said, grinning. “I don’t think even your kisses would be distracting enough to make me free-fall into the ocean.”
“Challenge accepted,” he said. “It really is incredible. I miss it. There’s nothing quite like that particular rush of adrenaline. It takes a coordinated effort to get it inflated and the motor set up. And then we’ll take it at top speed toward land. They’re made so they can be stored underwater, so we can go in covertly until the land mission is done.”
“That’s incredible,” she said. “Why aren’t we doing that? They’ll see it if they’re looking for it.”
“This isn’t military grade,” he said. “And it would take more than you and me and scuba gear to get it strapped down.”
“Good point,” she said. “You don’t think anyone will bother it if we leave it here?”
“I’ve got an alert set up if anyone should tamper with it or the Devil’s Due. But we’ll hide it as best we can.”
She helped him drag the Zodiac farther up on the shore, and out of sight from anyone coming from the water, and then they dragged it up into the jungled area and put it out of sight as best they could. The dark color of the Zodiac made it camouflaged, and virtually impossible to see unless someone happened to stumble directly across it.
“The good thing about this beach,” he said, “is that the waves come up pretty high on the shore. Our tracks will be gone and they won’t be able to see exactly where we’ve gone ashore. With any luck, if Diego comes back, he’ll think we’re hiking from where we docked the boat.”
She looked at the beach where they’d come ashore and saw the tracks where they’d dragged the boat were already dissipating. She hadn’t realized how far they’d dragged it, or how steep the incline had been to where they were starting their journey from.
“Cripes, this weather is bipolar,” she said. “It was freezing last night and this morning, and now I feel like I’m in an oven. A wet oven.” She took off her overshirt and tied it around her waist, leaving her in the tank she wore underneath it. Then she put her pack on over her shoulders and tightened the straps.
“It’s an interesting location,” he told her. “We’re so close to the equator it’s fairly temperate when the sun is shining, but you add in things like the rains and El Niño, and when the sun goes down, temperance goes out the window. Plus, the humidity sucks.”
He took off at a pace that made her glad she worked out five days a week, and she knew her competitive spirit wouldn’t allow her to ask him to slow down if she started to get tired.
Sweat dampened her skin and clothes and the humidity was so thick she could drink it. The canopy of trees kept the heat from escaping, so it was like being inside a slow-cooker. The colors of the jungle were vibrant—a backdrop of green with splashes of purple, red, and yellow flowers for color.
She’d never realized how loud it would be, the chirping of birds and the constant resonance of something that sounded like a herd of amplified crickets. And through the noise and chaos, it felt like something was always watching—always hunting.
Miller noticed Elias’s shirt was already soaked. She also noticed that as he led her deeper onto the island, he barely made any sound as they climbed over rocks and branches and went through a small stream. Whereas she sounded like a rhinoceros behind him in comparison. It just showed her how well trained he really was.
“Make sure you’re drinking lots of water as we go,” he said. “The humidity is going to dehydrate you faster than you think.”
“I’m a step ahead of you,” she said, drinking from one of the bottles from her pack.
It was a humbling experience trekking through the jungle with Elias. She considered herself to be in good shape. But she felt like a career couch potato after hiking several miles at the pace he was going. He wasn’t even breathing hard.
“You doing okay?” he asked her, looking back over his shoulder. “Tell me if we need to stop.”
“I’m good,” she told him. “Though I’m not feeling too confident about the snake thing. I saw a vine back there that was bigger than my thigh, all tangled together with a bunch of tree roots. I thought I saw it move when we stepped through them all, and I almost had a heart attack before I realized it really was just a vine.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t point it out to you, then,” he said. “Because that definitely wasn’t a vine. But chances are it’s probably not following us.”
“I can’t even tell you how unamused I am right now,” she said. “And I’m going to pretend you’re kidding so I can keep my sanity a little while longer. How far until we make it to Corazón Roto?”
Elias stopped and took out his phone, and Miller took advantage of the break to sit down a few minutes. The pack was causing a pang in her lower back that nothing but a good masseuse was going to fix.
“How are you getting service out here?” she asked. “My phone has been dead as a doornail since we left Santa Cruz yesterday.”
“I have a special phone,” he told her. “I get service everywhere.”
“That’s convenient. Where can I get one of those?”
“I’ll put in a good word for you.” And then he said, “Elaine, are you with us?”
Yes, Elias . . . she practically purred. Miller almost rolled her eyes, but remembered Elaine didn’t actually exist in human form.
It’s a lovely day. You’ve traveled six-point-two miles and your pulse is holding steady at eighty-three beats per minute.
“How in the world does she know all that?” Miller asked.
All Gravediggers are inserted with a special device. It allows me to track them all over the world, and it allows me to assess their health to the fullest degree if they are ever wounded or killed during a mission. I can also determine eating and drinking patterns, anomalies in the body, and sexual activity. For instance, Agent Cole has ejaculated four times in the last twenty-four hours.
Elias burst out laughing and Miller blushed and said, “All righty, then. That seems unbelievably intrusive.”
“You get used to it,” he told her. “Too bad she’s not hooked up to you.” He leaned down and nipped at her bottom lip. She was hot and sweaty and still he turned her on like crazy. “I’d love to know how many times I made you come last night.”
“I lost track,” she said. “And stop fishing for compliments. I think your ego is inflated enough.”
He grinned and then kissed her again before returning to his phone. “Elaine, show imaging map, please, and section it within an immediate radius to Corazón Roto.”
He held the phone flat and a miniature version of the 3-D map they’d looked at before appeared, only this time she could see the two of them standing in the map, like two little dolls.
“We’re still about a mile out from the rock, so not too far to go,” he said. “We’ll take a break once we’re there and fuel up, and then we’ll see if we can find any sign that Justin was there.”
“You might have to help me stand up,” she said. “I think my weight distribution with the pack is most likely to have me falling on my face.”
“And it’s such a lovely face,” he said, pulling her to her feet.
The idea of a break and refueling had her picking up the pace, and she almost wept with relief when the trees cleared and she saw the large rock at the edge of a cliff. She hadn’t realized they’d climbed so high in elevation, but she could see the turbulent waters from the sea inside the triangle below. It was a long way down, and it was easy to see why boats and divers weren’t allowed in those waters.
She dropped her pack and stretched out her muscles, and then she downed a bottle of water. Corazón Roto did, indeed, look like a broken heart. The rock was taller than she was, and jaggedly cleft down the middle, so it looked like a heart splitting in two.
“There’s a dispute over whether or not the Incans or the Spanish discovered these islands first, but the evidence is pretty conclusive the Incans were here well before the Spaniards. There are ruins of Incan settlements on Santa Cruz and a couple of the other islands, but they were pretty much wiped out when the Spaniards showed up. Most of the Incans died of diseases the Spanish brought with them.”
“Seems like this would not be the easiest place to try and settle,” she said, looking at the overgrown jungle and uneven terrain.
“When people keep taking your land and killing your people, you go where you can to survive. There’s a legend that’s told about Corazón Roto. When Spanish ships found these islands, the Inca were already well settled, but they were outnumbered, though their strength in battle was brutal and far outmatched the Spanish. But the Spanish were on a mission for gold and land for their queen, and their ships and numbers were enough to conquer everyone in their path.
“The Incan king was wise and knew there was no gold to be found on the islands, so he negotiated with the Spanish general that he would offer his daughter in marriage to him, and that in return, they were welcome to any treasures discovered on the island as long as there was no war. The king’s daughter was incredibly beautiful . . .”
“Of course she was,” Miller said. “They’re always beautiful. You don’t negotiate your homely daughter when forming alliances. That’s betrothing 101.”
“I forgot you were an expert,” he said dryly. “My apologies.”
She grinned at him, enjoying the break and the banter. There was a smaller rock not far from Corazón Roto with a flat side, and she sat down with her back to it.
“Did she fall madly in love with the general?”
“No, he was old enough to be her grandfather,” Elias said, taking a seat across from her. He took a bottle of water from his bag and tossed her a protein bar. “But she fell in love with one of the lowly shipmen, who was, of course, very handsome. Young and strapping too.”
“Of course,” she said.
“Well, as things tend to go when kings and generals are involved, the young lovers were discovered before she was able to marry the general. The king dragged the shipman before all the people and had him beaten and beheaded for defiling his daughter.”
“As one does,” she said. “What happened to the daughter?”
“The general decided he’d still marry the daughter, but at sunrise on the morning of her wedding, she threw herself from this cliff and fell to the turbulent waters below. The legend says when her body hit the rocks and waves below, the rock split in two. Corazón Roto. The broken heart.”
Miller arched a brow as she finished her protein bar. “You’re not a bad storyteller.”
He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “No one can bullshit like SEALs. It was a good way for us to keep entertained on long nights. Sleep doesn’t always come easy.”
She’d put off asking him, but she needed to know. It had been eating at her for months, and it hadn’t gone away once they’d made love.
“You’ve got to tell me why,” she finally said. “Why you left that night. You hurt me in a way I didn’t think was possible.” And admitting that made her a hell of a lot more vulnerable than she’d ever been in her life. “I’ll be the first to admit I wasn’t expecting it. We’d been dancing around it for months, and I thought we’d have some fun and see where things led. But when you touched me . . .”
“It was more powerful than anything you could’ve imagined,” he finished for her.
She nodded because her throat had closed up, and she didn’t think she’d be able to talk.
“That was exactly the reason I stopped,” he said. “I don’t know how I found the strength to walk away.”
“It felt like you were able to walk away pretty easily to me,” she said, playing with the wrapper in her hand.
“The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt you,” he said. “But I thought it would hurt you more in the long run if we’d followed through. It might have started out as just fun and sex, but I think we both know that after we got our hands on each other it was a hell of a lot more than that.”
“If the last thing you wanted to do was hurt me, then why did you?” she asked. She needed the truth. A straight-out answer. If she didn’t know for sure, she’d always wonder.
“You’ve seen what we are,” he said. “What we do. My past means nothing. I’m a dead man walking, and Eve Winter owns me lock, stock, and barrel. Our duty is to the mission. There’s no room for anything more, and I thought it’d be cruel to you to bring you into a world I couldn’t share with you, and for you to always wonder why I could never give you all of me. You’re not the kind of woman to put up with that. And I wouldn’t blame you.”
“What about Deacon and Tess?”
“Deacon’s story is different, and not one for me to tell. But they don’t have an easy road ahead of them. He’s still at the whim of a government organization that controls him for a certain amount of time. They can make things easy or they can make things difficult. And I know Deacon and Tess have plans in place in case anything ever goes wrong.”
“Sometimes it’s easier to get through the shit when you have someone on your team who’s helping you fight the battle.”
“I’m starting to realize that,” he said softly.