Rowan followed Lachlan and the rest of Team 52 back into the Area 52 base. As they headed toward the lab, she once again looked around in wonder.

The place really was a scientist’s dream workspace.

As they entered the lab, Ty Sampson looked up and scowled at them. From nearby, Brooks waved two fingers and smiled. Today his shirt had a picture of the Death Star on it and said “All about that base.”

Scans and high-res pictures of the artifact were displayed on the screens on the wall. Rowan’s mouth dropped open as she looked at them. Despite everything that had happened because of this artifact, she found herself fascinated by it.

Then she felt a flash of guilt. “Lars?”

“No change,” Brooks said, sympathetically.

Lachlan crossed his arms. “What have you found out about the artifact?”

Rowan’s gaze snagged on his muscled forearms. Instantly, she was back in Lachlan’s bed, wrapped up in him, kissing him. Jeez. Get a grip, Rowan. That had been a mistake. She needed to stay well clear of Lachlan Hunter.

“We’re still working on it,” Ty frowned. “The device appears to be part biological. It connects with the body and stimulates it, which in turn, increases strength, muscularity, ability to withstand cold temperatures.”

Brooks leaned forward. “It creates an armor-like casing around the person, made of ice.”

Ty nodded. “We’re theorizing that the Pre-Dorset people somehow engineered it to help their hunters adapt to the cold, and give them the ability to safely hunt larger sea creatures, like walrus and whales.”

Holy hell. Rowan dropped onto a stool. This was all so incredible. “So, the Pre-Dorset experimented with this, and by the time of the Dorset people, they’d stopped using bows and arrows and hunting smaller sea mammals…because they had this technology.”

“That’s the theory,” Ty said.

“But they didn’t even work metal.”

“Actually, Nat found some information on that,” Brooks said. “Seems there is evidence that the Dorset culture used and worked metal that they found from a meteorite, and tipped their spear blades with it.”

“You need to know that the way it appears to integrate with a host would make it hard to remove while a host is active,” Ty said.

Lachlan frowned. “It came off Lars easily. I just pulled it off.”

“But he was tranquilized and unconscious,” Rowan said.

Ty pressed his hands to the bench and nodded. “If the host is agitated, they’d be releasing hormones that would interfere with the artifact’s removal.”

“So the host needs to be unconscious or at least relaxed?” Rowan said.

Ty gave another nod.

Lachlan turned to Brooks. “And the guys who attacked Rowan?”

Rowan’s belly soured at the memory.

“I don’t know yet,” Brooks said. “They avoided the casino’s facial recognition system. I managed to get the police files courtesy of Detective MacKade. I should have something soon.”

Lachlan nodded, then he spun to face Rowan. “I have work to do.”

She shifted. “Is it okay if I see Lars?”

“Sure.”

When Rowan entered the hospital-like room off the lab, she felt as though a rock had lodged in her chest. Lars was resting in a bed, hooked up to various beeping machines. He looked so pale she could almost see through his skin.

She sat beside him, and wished she could see him give her that goofy smile again while he flexed his terrible flirting skills. She talked quietly to him, assuring him everything was going to be okay, when she really wasn’t sure if she was lying or not.

When the door opened and Brooks’ head appeared, Rowan had no idea how much time had passed.

“Ready for some lunch?” the man asked.

With a nod, Rowan followed Brooks into the rec room. Natalie was there, sitting at a bench, wearing another smart skirt in black and a red shirt. Her elegant legs were crossed, and she had a set of glasses perched on her nose. She had the sexy-librarian look perfected today.

The archeologist looked up. “Hi, Rowan.”

“Where is everyone?” Rowan asked.

“Training exercise.” Brooks waved to a stool and strode over to the glass-fronted refrigerator, pulling out some pre-packaged salads.

He handed one to Rowan and proceeded to douse his with Ranch dressing. Rowan forced down a few mouthfuls, but toyed with the rest of the food, too churned up to eat. Brooks and Natalie talked quietly.

Suddenly, the door slammed open. Rowan’s head snapped up as an older man with a buzz cut stormed in. He had a grizzled face and wore black fatigues.

His faded blue gaze locked on Rowan.

“Hey, Arlo,” Brooks called out.

The man made a harrumphing sound. Rowan blinked. Brooks and Nat didn’t even react to the strong, unhappy vibes emanating from the man.

“See you’re in your usual good mood.” Nat winked at Rowan. “Arlo, this is Dr. Rowan Schafer. Rowan, Arlo takes care of the warehouse here.”

“Ah, hello.” Rowan fixed a polite smile on her face. Those blue eyes were pinned on her, assessing.

“Heard Hunter jumped off a building for you.”

Rowan didn’t think Arlo sounded particularly happy about that fact. “Lachlan strikes me as the kind of guy who’d do that for anyone.”

Arlo made another grumpy sound. “Come on, you’re with me.”

“I am?” She shot a wide-eyed look at Nat and Brooks, who were grinning. They waved as she slipped off her stool.

Rowan followed the man out of the rec room and down the hall. Her mouth dropped open when she noticed the huge double doors to the warehouse were wide open.

The cavernous space was filled with row upon row of black shelves that rose all the way up to the ceiling, looming high above. Black boxes and crates, of all different shapes and sizes, rested on them. Everything was made of matte-black metal.

As they passed over the huge threshold, she took in the enormous, high-tech locking mechanism on the door. From what she could see, all the crates had fancy locking mechanisms on them as well.

Wow. “All these crates store dangerous objects and ancient technology?” She followed Arlo down one of the rows. He grunted, which she took as a yes.

“The crates all have state-of-the-art bio-locks on them.” His voice was a step beyond gravelly. “Only a few people can open them. Myself, Hunter, Mason, and the director.”

“Amazing.”

At the back of the warehouse, he pointed to a long bench pressed up against the wall. It was covered in tools, papers, and equipment.

“I hate paperwork.” He jabbed a finger at it. “You can help me.”

Rowan was too afraid to tell the crusty man no. Besides, something to keep her busy wasn’t exactly unwelcome.

As she started sorting through the files, he picked up a tool and started to work on one of the black cases. It was empty, and it appeared he was repairing it.

Flicking through the files, she glanced at the paperwork. Most of them were filled with notations and test results for various objects. The majority of the files were identified with numbers and codes, and she wondered what the objects all were, and where they’d come from.

Arlo finished work on his crate, and she watched as he settled an object into the box. The metallic artifact looked like something from a king’s treasury. It was a small club, with what looked like claws at either end.

“What’s that?”

She didn’t expect him to answer. “Vajra.” He slammed the lid shut and pressed his thumb to the pad on the front. There was a beep, followed by the sounds of locks spinning.

Vajra? It sounded Indian. “What’s it do?”

“Nothing good.”

Before she could ask anything else, a siren started blaring.

Arlo’s head whipped up, and pretty fast for an older guy, he rushed toward the door. Rowan followed, sprinting down one of the rows.

“What’s going on?”

Arlo didn’t reply.

They burst out of the warehouse. The siren was louder and red emergency lights were blinking. What the hell?

Across the room, the elevator doors opened, and Lachlan and his team strode out. They were all wearing black fatigues and holding their rifles.

“Status?” Lachlan demanded.

“What’s going on?” Rowan said again.

Brooks ran out of the corridor, his face set in hard lines. Ty was right behind him, looking like a thundercloud about to let loose.

“The Dorset artifact,” Ty said. “It’s gone.”

* * *

Lachlan was mad as hell. “Gone?”

Ty rubbed a hand over his short hair. “It was in the lab, and now it’s not.”

Lachlan swung his rifle up on his shoulder. “What happened?”

A dark look settled on Ty’s face. “I saw it about twenty minutes ago. Damn thing was on the bench, then I went into my office to study some scans.”

Lachlan swiveled to Brooks. “You access the lab entry records?”

Brooks nodded. “I was monitoring comms for your training session when Ty alerted me, and I activated the alarm. I checked the records and security feed. No intruders.”

Of course. Lachlan knew there was no way in hell anyone accessed the base. This had to be an inside job. Fuck.

“Several airmen security guards were in and out of the lab.” Brooks scowled. “Camera was deliberately covered when the artifact went missing, and there are three airmen who could be responsible.”

Lachlan shook his head. “Dammit.”

“The guards had shift change fifteen minutes ago,” Brooks added.

Lachlan cursed. Whoever was responsible had timed it well. “When’s the next flight to Vegas?”

“Taking off now.”

“Ground them.”

“I already tried. Something is blocking communications with the plane. My guess, the perpetrator has a device that is disrupting the signal. They’ll switch it off once they’re out of range.”

Fuck. “Fine. We’ll take the X8 and meet the plane when it lands. The three guards, run them. Look for any strange activity, especially financial.”

Seth stepped forward. “You think whoever attacked Rowan got to someone here at base?”

“Yeah.” Lachlan saw the worry on Rowan’s face.

Soon, they were all crowded into Brooks’ computer room. The small space was covered in screens, one huge one on the wall at the front, and the rest were smaller ones filled with security feeds. There was a center counter, and Lachlan leaned against it as Brooks’ fingers danced over his tablet.

This was Brooks’ domain. The former Naval Intelligence officer was magic with a computer.

“Okay, here are the three airmen.” Brooks motioned at the big screen, and three pictures of people in Air Force uniforms appeared. “These people were all on duty, accessed the lab, and are now on the plane to Vegas. They’ve all had large funds placed into their personal accounts in the last few days.”

One was a young man with a fresh face, while the other two looked more experienced. Which one was a traitor?

“You track the money?” Lachlan asked.

“Working on it. Airman Jacks is out.” Brooks tapped his tablet, and the young man’s picture disappeared. “He just came into some inheritance money from a deceased uncle.” Brooks blew out a breath. “The other two are trickier. The money came from offshore accounts.”

Lachlan rapped his knuckles on the counter. “Anyone with family issues? Debts? Gambling problems?”

“Airman Romano is happily divorced and has kids in college. His oldest just got married.”

College was expensive, but Lachlan didn’t think that was enough to make a man turn traitor. “And Airman Kowalski?” He’d met the woman a few times and found her good at her job.

Brooks’ face changed. “Sick kid. Her teenage daughter has Hepatitis C and needs a liver transplant.”

Someone swore.

“Just pulled the records,” Brooks said. “Looks like her daughter fell in with a bad crowd and had a drug addiction. Contracted Hepatitis from sharing needles, and by the time she was diagnosed, her liver was damaged. Kowalski and her husband have big medical bills.”

Lachlan cursed. Whoever the bastards were who wanted the artifact, they’d preyed on a desperate woman. “Confirm that she got the money for stealing the artifact. We need to get back to Vegas and intercept. Brooks, find out who we’re dealing with.”

The man nodded. “On it.”

Lachlan looked at his team. “Let’s go.”

Rowan stepped forward, and Lachlan shook his head. “You stay here where you’ll be safe.”

She looked like she wanted to argue, but she finally nodded. “Be careful.”

As his team moved out, Lachlan gave into the urge and yanked Rowan close. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips.

Her eyes widened, and he noticed Brooks grinning and Arlo scowling. Then, he spun and marched out.

Soon, he was in his usual seat as the X8 lifted off. He checked his watch again. As it stood, they would land at the same time as the plane. Once they were airborne, he rose and moved forward. Seth and Blair sat at the controls.

“So…the lovely Dr. Schafer?” Seth drawled over his shoulder.

“Shut it,” Lachlan said.

“I like her,” Blair said. “She doesn’t fall apart when things go wrong, and I also like the way you look at her.”

Lachlan frowned. He wasn’t aware he looked at her in a certain way. Well, except the “want-to-get-her-naked way” but he was sure Blair wasn’t talking about that.

Seth shook his head. “Our work isn’t really conducive to relationships. Actually, relationships in general are best avoided. People always screw you over in the end.”

Blair made a noise. “God, you are the least trusting person I know.”

“Hazard of the job.”

“Just because you waded through shark-infested, dirty waters for the CIA for too long doesn’t mean everyone is out to bite you in the ass, Lynch.”

Seth lifted a shoulder.

Blair met Lachlan’s gaze. “She looks at you like she can’t quite believe you’re real.”

“She deserves better,” Lachlan said.

Blair’s face twisted in anger. “You stop that right now. You aren’t your fucking father, Lachlan.”

Seth was quiet a second. “You’re one of the best men I know.”

Emotions rose in Lachlan and he ground his teeth together. He knew better than anyone that he could turn into what his father had been.

Axel appeared beside Lachlan. “She’s pretty and smart. If you’re not interested, Hunter, I’ll ask her out.” Axel shot them all a lazy smile.

Lachlan felt a nasty twist in his gut and glared at Axel. When they all laughed, Lachlan was done.

“We have a job to do,” he said. “How about we focus on that?”

Blair touched the controls. “Message from Brooks. He’s identified the guys who attacked Rowan. They work for the Red Wolves. Some sort of paramilitary group out to save the country from politicians.”

Lachlan shifted. “Never heard of them.”

“Real whack-jobs,” Blair said. “Capable of killing. They took some people hostage in Texas last year and made a real mess. Two civilians were killed.”

Great. Mess was the last thing they needed. It meant innocent people would get hurt.

“Looks like Treasure Hunter Security had a run in with some of the Red Wolves when they were doing security for an Ancestral Puebloan dig in New Mexico last year. Brooks thinks THS might have more info.”

Treasure Hunter Security was a security company out of Denver specializing in providing security for archeological digs and expeditions. It was owned by the Ward family and they’d crossed paths with Team 52 a couple of times. While they weren’t enemies, they weren’t exactly friends either.

“I’ll give Declan Ward a call later,” Lachlan said.

“Brooks also said the Red Wolves have an online following, and like making a lot of noise and big gestures,” Blair added.

Lachlan frowned, something niggling at him. “Blackmailing the mother of a sick kid doesn’t sound like them. Too subtle.”

“Could be they’re branching out?” Seth suggested. “And once they have the artifact, they’ll make a mess.”

Maybe. Lachlan needed more intel on the Red Wolves. But right now, his first priority was recovering the artifact.