be focused on protecting the site and her.
“I should have thought to do that. Thanks for getting us some. Most of what went wrong happened at night.”
“You are an archaeologist, not a soldier.”
“You were a soldier?”
“I worked as a DEA agent. I have to go.” He turned and hurried toward the next tent with Tory following him. He quickly snatched up the night vision goggles for him and Tory then covered the small distance between them. “I know you. I figured you won’t go to sleep, so take these goggles in case you need them.” He handed them to her, then started walking away.
“I’d like to challenge that assumption. We’ve only known each other a few days.”
He chuckled. A brief glimpse of Tory standing near his tent, holding the goggles burned into his memory. He sensed her gaze drilling into his back as he disappeared into the thick of the rainforest. If someone was out there, he would stick to the thick vegetation to hide himself.
He remembered his last glimpse of Anna when he left to go on a mission, hunting down a drug cartel that had been trying to establish a hold in Puerto Sierra. As a DEA agent, he’d been assigned to Puerto Sierra mainly because his mother had been born here. He’d been in charge of a small group that worked with the country’s government to stop the flow of drugs through here. The intel he’d been given had been promising. He’d prayed he would find the person behind the gang who had been responsible for a number of murders and kidnappings. They had, but that night, he’d lost his wife.
Guerrero entered the darkness of the jungle and slipped on his night vision goggles. As he slowed his steps, he scanned the terrain for any sign of a person. He didn’t want to go too far from the campsite. He found a place in the rainforest where the vegetation could conceal him but allow him to visually scout the area near the compound.
Finally, Tory made her way toward her tent, pushing aside the canvas flap over the entrance. He grinned and breathed in a deep gulp of the moisture-laden air then slowly released it. She’d taken his bait when he told her he knew what she would do. Instead, she decided to go to sleep, leaving him to do his job. Her actions let him totally concentrate on his surroundings and do his duties.
After half an hour of surveillance, the long day began to catch up with him. He’d only gotten a couple of hours of sleep the past two nights. If he was going to do his job, he needed to take care of himself too.
If someone had been nearby, he’d probably left with the sound of the alarm. Nothing had moved since he’d taken up this post outside the camp a few yards into the thick jungle. Before he headed to his own tent, he made yet another sweep of the area. Nothing.
He started forward, abandoning his spot but still keeping an eye out for anything unusual. On the outskirts of the compound, he paused one last time to get another vantage point of the surroundings, keeping his back to the light coming from the campsite. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a vision of something moving fast.
* * *
In her tent, pacing back and forth, Tory couldn’t bring herself to go to bed while her roommate soundly slept. She wished she could do the same, but she couldn’t until she knew there wasn’t a threat and everyone was all right, especially Guerrero. Okay, he might know her better than she realized. As a federal police officer, he’d probably been trained to anticipate people’s moves. She didn’t care. She needed to know what was happening. This was her dig site to oversee.
Clutching the goggles in one hand, she grabbed her pistol then stood at the opening of the tent and glimpsed Guerrero turning around and springing into action. In seconds, he disappeared into the dark jungle. The urge to follow him swamped her, but she remembered his words about staying here, and this time, she couldn’t argue because something caught Guerrero’s attention. It could be a ruse, and the real threat could charge into the camp.
As she moved further away from what little light there was, the feel of her gun in her hand stiffened her resolve to be prepared if someone threatened this site. They had been here six weeks, and