while Guerrero was checking in the rainforest, she wasn’t going to let someone waltz into the site and steal everything they’d been working for.
Lord, he needs Your protection. I don’t want anyone hurt by what’s out there.
She prayed she was overreacting to what was transpiring as she slipped on the night vision goggles. But she couldn’t dismiss the workers who left the site last week, hence forcing her to go to the capital to get help and possibly more support for the dig. She’d known it was a longshot, but if she didn’t return with some help, she’d lose her chance to uncover the temple below the one still standing. Her research on the Temple of the Stars was what led her to come here. She couldn’t shake the feeling there were structures under these built by a race of people who lived in this area possibly before AD.
From her hours of researching who lived here before the Mayan civilization, she deduced the Mayans, who’d built the Temple of the Stars, conquered those people who lived in the area. Who were they? She’d discovered there was a group in the surrounding countries. The people lived peacefully for three hundred years at the turn of the first century. They didn’t go out and fight wars. They were content with what they had. If she was right, this would be the most northern country with any hints to this group that she called the Star People. Had they come from the north or south? So many questions she wanted answered.
A roar filled the jungle. A jaguar? One of the reasons they kept their fire going all night was that the big cats prowled the rainforest when darkness fell. So far, they hadn’t had any incidents with one coming into their camp. The sound reverberated again through the trees as the wind fluttered the leaves and branches along the outskirts of the tropical forest.
Tory backed away from the eating area in order to get a better look with her night vision goggles. She stopped at the edge, trying to see what was going on beyond the black wall. As she tightened the grip on her gun’s handle, a bang pierced the quiet of the jungle. She whipped around in the direction of the gunshot, her heart pulsating against her ribcage at an accelerated rate.
Was Guerrero in danger?
She caught a glimpse of a jaguar racing away.
But where was Guerrero?
She started forward. A hand grabbed her arm and halted her progress.
Tory glanced back at Ramon. “I need to check on Guerrero. There’s at least one jaguar out there. What if the—”
“I’m fine. I fired into the air. The large cat fled,” Guerrero said as he walked from the dense rainforest. “I won’t kill an animal unless I have no choice. It was a black jaguar. Majestic.”
Tory looked around at most of her team coming out of their tents to see what was happening. Katie, her intern, rubbed her eyes then yawned. She stayed near their tent.
A blush heated Tory’s cheeks. Why did she think she could rescue Guerrero? He could protect her much better than the other way around. If she wasn’t on a dig site, she immersed herself into her research at the university, drowning herself in the past. The mysteries of what happened long ago held her captive. She couldn’t shake the feeling there was a highly advanced culture that lived before the Mayans. For years, she’d wanted to prove to her father that her choice of a career was important in the understanding of our human race. Yet, lately she’d been questioning her goals for her life. Was her father right? Was the past not really important? No, she wasn’t going to let her dad destroy something she’d always wanted to do. People learn from what happened in the past. History often repeated itself. We, as a society, needed to know the past for that very reason.
“Tory.” Guerrero stood only a few feet from her. “You don’t need to worry about me. You should get some sleep.”
She blinked as though that would draw her back to this moment in time. God wants us to live in the present, not the past. We can’t change the past nor can we foresee the future, but the past can help us avoid mistakes we’ve made.
Guerrero’s forehead scrunched. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine now that the gunfire has stopped.” She set one hand on her waist. “I’ll fight if necessary. I couldn’t tell if you were