Chapter Seventeen
On you, on us.
She heard his words clearly, but understanding wasn’t so clear. Did he mean he wasn’t giving up because his boss would expect more of him being an ALFA or because he cared? It would be nice if this gorgeous man cared for her, but she wasn’t holding her breath. Shit, she’d almost died holding it minutes ago. It would hurt if she fell for him and he saw her as only part of his job.
But his kiss when she was sure they were going to die . . . she wondered if she had crossed over into heaven. Her body had never felt so alive. Like her nerve endings were being overloaded with sensory details she couldn’t take in. Heat suffused her from head to toes. If not for the cool water, she’d be sweating though her clothes. Then she’d have to take off those clothes and get all naked with this man holding her . . .
She’d better stop that line of thought before he smelled her and broke her heart by telling her she didn’t have a chance with him. That was what scared her the most: rejection. Her self-confidence was never high. Only when she was solving problems, putting her brain to work, did she not doubt herself.
She let out a sigh. “It’s pitch-dark for me. I can’t see a thing. I’m guessing you can see?” she asked. Stupid question, probably. But she wanted to know more about this species. What made them tick? How were they different? How the hell did they shove an animal body inside themselves?
“I can see, but not very well. Our eyes need some light to magnify,” he said. “It’s much the same as night vision googles. There has to be some light to magnify to get it all to work.” He inhaled deeply. “I smell wood and a strange . . . oil maybe.” He moved to get up. “Stay here for a moment.”
“No problem,” she replied. “Like I’m going to walk around in the dark. I can’t walk in the light without tripping, much less this.” She heard him scuffling and then a click. Several feet away, a blaze erupted from the darkness. She covered her eyes from the sudden brightness. “What is that?”
“I’m guessing it’s an old-fashioned torch. The material covering the sticks has been doused in fuel or oil. Whatever it is, it’s flammable.”
“That’s convenient,” she said. Then she thought about all she’d read about the tunnels. The Nazi theory was sounding more viable every minute. If the Nazis knew they had to flood the cavern to get up here, then they knew flashlights wouldn’t work after the batteries got wet. So they made sure to have a supply of torches available. “Is there more than one?” she asked.
“Yeah. How did you know?” he said.
“Lucky guess. Let’s get going.” She was getting tired and who knew how long they’d be in here. The little she had eaten at dinner was about through her system. She’d do cartwheels for a protein bar right now.
Bryon handed her an unlit torch then took her hand in his. “There’s only one way,” he said.
She smiled. “You lead and I follow.” He frowned at her words, but led her out of the cavern. That had been status quo most of her life, especially with the FBI. Men would always lead and the women would follow. But sometimes that was perfectly fine. The bad guy usually took out the first person to enter the room. It was the second person who took out the bad guy.
“That’s not what I meant earlier when I said you shouldn’t go walking off,” he said.
She knew his comments weren’t a simple chauvinistic remark, but was pissed at him at the time she said that to him and the words flowed from her mouth. “Yeah, it’s all right. I really didn’t mean what I said. I was just upset that you thought I wasn’t good enough to work at the FBI.”
He added, “I didn’t mean that either. I was saying that I always figured my ma—” he coughed and cleared his throat, “my rescuer would be from ALFA. I didn’t know we even had a relationship with the FBI. I’d thought someone from the CIA would be the first choice.”
“I agree. It should’ve been the CIA since they are international and FBI are domestic. But I deciphered a code the CIA was working on. Maybe this is a multilayer joint mission. I don’t know. Maybe the generals in the director’s office told him to assign me.”
The tunnel they were in seemed different than those before the water trap. These felt older, more worn, more lived in. The wall’s sides were smoother as if millions of shoulders and hands had quietly sanded them down over hundreds of years. Same for the floor. It was a bit dusty as feet scraped away pointy edges, leaving crumbled rock and granules in their wake.
She wondered how old this tunnel was. Rome was in power long before the common era began. This could easily be over two thousand years old. A sense of admiration and respect filled her. Many people gave their lives in building these underground routes to save more lives in the future. Like hers, right now.
That made her think about what she was leaving behind that would benefit the world when she was gone. Had she done anything worthy with her life? She thought about her job. She had decoded several things that related to war and threats. Perhaps in some way, she had helped calm a volatile situation with feuding countries or stopped a coalition that would have taken over a people.
That was all a maybe. What certain things had she done? Not much. Took the bus to work instead of driving. But honestly, that was because parking spots in the FBI area were few and expensive. The only thing she could leave behind were children that believed in saving the world and being kind to your neighbor.
Did she want a family? She wasn’t afraid of raising children, even as a single mother, though she preferred both parents to help balance children’s mental and sociological development.
“Bryon, do you ever think about having children?” Her words startled her. She really didn’t mean to ask him. “I’m sorry for being so personal. No need to answer. That was a dumb thing to ask.”
He stopped, turned to her, and smiled. Instant panty melt. “No, that’s a fair question. Actually, I’m thinking about starting a family more and more. I’m in my mid-thirties, now. I’ve put in more than my fair share of time at ALFA. It’s time that I put effort into my mate and making a home where we can share love and raise children.”
Good god, if that wasn’t the most romantically perfect thing to say . . . she’d love to share love with him.
“So you’d quit your job,” she asked, “just like that?”
“Those who work ALFA for years get a pension, but it’s not enough for a great living. I’d probably find a side job I enjoyed. Or maybe my wife will work full-time and I’d take care of the pups. I’d be an official ‘house dad.’”
He sounded so enthused by the idea, she laughed. He would make a great house dad. Those kids would be lucky to have him as a father.
“What about you, Kari? Are you a career woman or do you want a family?”
“I’ve always worked as did my mom. So I wouldn’t know any other type of lifestyle. But I do want children and a family. I’ve never not wanted one, just haven’t thought about it much till now.”
“If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?” he asked.
She knew that answer right away. “Somewhere with forests and mountains would be great. I like being in the woods and in touch with nature. Whenever I get too much city trash in my system, I head toward a park and camp out under a tree for several hours, reading, people watching, smelling the grass, whatever.”
He laughed. “Smelling the grass. I like that.”
“One of my favorite smells is freshly cut grass. I roll down my window in residential areas when folks are mowing. It’s so calming.” She read somewhere that cut grass had the same natural chemicals as men’s semen. Oh god. She must be getting horny again. How could she not, following the scrumptious ass in front of her. He reached back for her hand and pulled her closer.
He whispered, “I meant it when I said I didn’t want you following. I’d rather have you in front of me.”
She giggled, thinking about watching his ass. “What? To see my ass wiggle?” She slapped a hand over her mouth. Her face felt on fire. “Sorry,” she said, hand still over mouth.
He laughed . . . hard. With a huge smile she couldn’t erase, she hit his arm. “All right, get over it.” She fanned her face with her hand. When she turned to hide her face, she saw black marks on the wall. “Hey, bring the torch over here.”
Bryon stepped closer. “Is that writing? What are those pictures of?”
Kari examined the script. “It looks like hieroglyphics mixed with something else.”
Bryon grunted. “By chance, read Egyptian?” He was joking.
“I actually do,” she said. “I was fascinated with this stuff after the accident and picked up on it quickly.”
A warm body snuggled behind her. “I knew you were amazing.” He kissed the top of her head. A happy feeling flowed through her. Maybe he really did care for her more than just a job hazard. Maybe she could fall for this man in a heartbeat.
She refocused on the wall. “See this umbrella with two poles,” he nodded, “that represents the Underworld or the Land of the Dead.”
“So this is probably some warning to scare us off?” he asked.
She kept studying the drawings. “Maybe. This bird thing isbBa, which we call soul or personality. It leaves the body when it dies. This line with a split bottom is called a was; it’s a symbol of power, more like a scepter carried by royalty. Then the square without a top is ka.”
“Ka?” Bryon asked. “As in someone’s spirit?”
“That’s it. You’re pretty smart yourself,” she said.
“No, I just know ka from somewhere,” he corrected.
“Then this last symbol is ra, which is the sun god representing resurrection.” She stood back and let the images mix in her mind. “It’s talking about the royals, so in our case, the prince. Then we have two symbols that mention the soul or personality; souls can resurrect or they can go to places like the underworld.” The idea that came to her was so crazy, she didn’t want to voice it, so she waited for another answer.
“What do you think?” he asked. “Sounds like our prince died, went to hell, and came back.”
Startled, she looked at him. “You really got that?” He nodded. “Well, this may not sound so crazy then. What I’m getting is the one who rules the land, his personality is taken away like when the body dies, but a ka from the underworld resurrects the body.”
Bryon looked at her. “You mean the prince is possessed by a demon ka.”
Yeah, that sounded ridiculous to her too. She leaned toward the last symbol of ra which was the image of a single eyeball. When the fire light was just right, she thought she saw red paint in the eyeball circle. Her mind recalled the red flashes in the prince’s eyes she’d seen on several occasions. Had to be just coincidence. Maybe a hereditary issue dealing with the retina.
“That’s exactly what this means, but it couldn’t be the current prince,” Kari said. “It must be myths from ancestors because this was put here possibly two thousand years ago.” She stepped back. “Demonic possession doesn’t exist. Science proved diseases were the cause of weird things in humans. Not demons.”