with his body. Another shout, her name this time, brought a relieved smile to her face. She poked her head out of the flap and tapped Guerrero on the shoulder.
“That's Mario. He's on top of the Temple of the Stars. I guess everything’s okay.” She pointed toward a man, waving his arms to get their attention.
“Maybe.”
Tory began to step around Guerrero and toward the temple.
He stopped her, blocking her way with his outstretched arm.
“I can tell that it's Mario calling me, not an impostor,” she argued.
“Still, I'll go first.”
“Aren't you carrying this a little too far?”
“Remember the alley, the hotel, the man in the straw hat.”
“Didn't you forget the marketplace?” Tory mumbled and allowed Guerrero to go first.
“No, I never forget a thing.”
Nor did she. Tory would never forget the sleepless night she spent in the village while he lay on the floor in the hallway by the door so no one could come into the room without disturbing him. And she better not forget he was only there doing a job, nothing more. But she couldn’t deny there was some kind of connection between them that she couldn’t shake.
As she followed Guerrero up the steep stairs that led to the top of the temple, she shoved the past thirty-six hours with the man to the back recesses of her mind and grasped onto the one thought that would get her through the next several weeks: Guerrero was hired to protect the site and that was the only reason he was there. And even given that, he hadn't been what she would have called a gung-ho recruit.
Mario stepped forward, a bright smile on his face. “Tory, I didn't think you would come in time.”
His excitement ignited a similar response in her, and she scrambled around Guerrero and hurried toward her friend. "In time for what?" She grabbed Mario's hand that he held out to her and squeezed it.
“We've finally found the door into the second temple.”
“Where?” This could be the big break she’d been working toward.
“Where you thought it would be. Come. I'll show you. Everyone is there.” Mario glanced at Guerrero. "Who is he?"
“Juan couldn’t spare any assistance, so I hired him to help us with security.” She motioned toward Guerrero. “Mario, this is Guerrero.”
Mario assessed him from top to bottom. “I’m glad you’re here. It’s a shame Juan didn’t send more help.”
Tory slanted a glance at Guerrero standing slightly behind her to the left. His silence surprised her. “Guerrero got me out of a couple of tight situations in the capital.”
Mario nodded his head toward Guerrero. “You look familiar. Have you been involved in an archaeological site before?”
“Yes, with my wife.”
“Who?”
“Anna Stanford.”
Mario’s skeptical expression vanished. “I’m sorry about what happened to her. We worked on a site years ago.” He went first down the stairs into the depths of the temple.
Tory glanced back at Guerrero. His wife was the archaeologist who had been murdered in the Puerto Sierra National Museum. Was that the reason he originally didn’t want to have anything to do with the dig? Did Juan really persuade him, or was it something else that made him say yes to her?
Tory followed Mario, aware of Guerrero right behind her, the dirt covered stones absorbing his quiet footfalls. But she didn't need to hear him. His presence filled the small tunnel, his silence unnerving. She felt his stare tingle up her spine as if his fingertips feathered across her skin. Why didn’t he tell her he had previously been on a dig? The man definitely had a "Do Not Disturb" sign around his neck.
At the end of the long downward tunnel, Ramon, another Puerto Sierra archaeologist, and several Mayan workers cleared away the last of the rubble around the door. She wanted to help but realized there were already too many people crammed into the small space. She hung back, again conscious of where Guerrero was—a foot behind her, his arms crossed over his massive chest, his shoulder leaning against a stone wall. Even though his stance seemed casual, there was nothing casual about the alertness that radiated from him as if at any second, he would pounce on his victim.
Tory shivered. “This is what I've been waiting for. I know this second temple is important. The writings on the wall indicated it was.”
Guerrero’s gaze snared hers and another tremor went down the length of her.
* * *
Guerrero saw the barely restrained excitement light Tory's eyes and another woman's face flashed into his mind: his wife's when