Kinley shifted in her seat and put her back against the window. “Is that how you all know each other?”
“Yeah.” Shane nodded. “We went through BUD/S training together.”
“I don’t know what that means.” Kinley shook her head. “What’s buds?”
“Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training,” Oakley said. “It’s where they teach us to be badasses.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “Oh.”
“What about you, Kinley? Why are you going to Carmelita?” Oakley turned a bit more to face her.
“I’m joining an archaeological dig at a newly discovered Mayan ruin complex.”
“You’re an archaeologist? That’s cool,” Shane said.
“Kind of. I’m a crypto archaeologist, not a dig-in-the-dirt kind of archaeologist.”
“What’s a crypto archaeologist?” Ghost asked.
Shane glanced at him, surprised that he was taking an interest in their conversation.
“I decrypt and translate ancient writing and hieroglyphics,” she said.
“So you can read Egyptian hieroglyphics?” Shane asked.
“A little bit, but my specialty is ancient Mesoamerican, specifically Mayan writing.”
Smart and beautiful. With her long brown hair pulled into a ponytail, wisps framing her face, Kinley looked like the girl next door. Finding out she specialized in ancient languages was a serious turn-on.
Shane didn’t meet too many women outside his work and it was always difficult getting involved with someone from the office. His mind raced forward. How long was she in Guatemala? Where did she live in the U.S.? Would she give him her number?
No doubt, he was getting ahead of himself. She might not even be interested in him. He’d eked out a college degree in kinesiology because he liked to work out and figured it would help him when he joined the military. Book smart, he was not. Unfortunately, he’d always had a thing for smart women.
“Uh. Guys,” Oakley said as the van slowed to a stop.
Shane bent and peered through the windshield, feeling, rather than seeing, Ghost do the same behind him.
Four men stood in the middle of the hard-packed dirt road. Three of them held guns and the other held a machete.
“What the hell?” Shane asked.
“Banditos,” the driver said.
* * *
Kinley gaped at the scene in front of her. “What…? How…?” She couldn’t form an articulate question, much less ask it. “This is one of the most traversed roads in the country.”
The men in the road yelled and gestured.
“They want us to get out of the car,” Jorge said, unlatching his seat belt.
Oakley grabbed his arm. “Hang on a sec.” He glanced over his shoulder at Shane and Ghost.
Kinley looked at them as panic slid through her veins. Why was he waiting? What other option did they have except get out of the car and do whatever the bandits told them to do?
She caught the look Shane shared with Oakley, followed by his head tilt in her direction. “Let’s do what they say.”
“You know we can take them,” Ghost said.
