As the two of them walked into the library, he had to force himself not to grab her. Instead, he focused on the large window behind Avril and the others clustered around the holo-table.
He stiffened. “We’re in the mountains.”
Avril glanced up. “Yes.”
He saw the magnificent peaks. At the top—where no vegetation grew—they must have looked as they did before the Earth was destroyed. At the lower elevations, they were covered entirely by the thick, black vegetation.
“You’re going after the Inca gold.”
Avril pressed her hands to the holo-table. The ancient paper map was spread out on the surface. “We have to try. This is a massive treasure of historical importance.”
Nik glanced at Nera, but she had her impassive, unreadable face on. He knew her well enough now to know she wasn’t pleased. But he also knew she had his back, whatever he decided.
“Niklas, don’t tell me it isn’t worth at least a look,” Avril said. “Aren’t you curious?”
“Sure.” He strode closer, taking a look at the incoming scan results flashing up on the table. “But according to these scans, the jungle below is teeming with mutated wildlife. And I’m sure plenty more zombies. You saw that beast, Avril. You want to face an entire pack of them?”
The astro-archeologist chewed on her lip, then straightened. “It’s worth the risk.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. God, he wished his brothers were here. “Everyone else in on this?” He looked at Gunn and Solomon.
Gunn gave a short nod, and Solomon eyed the holo-table before looking back at Nik. “No guts, no glory.” The young man shrugged. “We’re here, so we may as well take a look.”
Nik didn’t bother looking at Galen. He might be security, and he might have helped them, but Nik didn’t trust what the man would do with any artifacts he could get his hands on.
Nik looked at Nera. She nodded.
“Fine,” he said with a sigh. “Let’s go kill ourselves looking for lost treasure.”
It wasn’t long before theDrakehovered over the dense canopy near the coordinates listed on Avril’s map.
Supposedly, the pilot had found a clearing where they could rappel down. Nik wasn’t convinced the patch deserved to be called a clearing.
As he stood at the open door, all he could see was tangled vines and trees.
“I don’t like this,” Nera said from beside him.
He smiled. “You usually don’t like anything.”
“True.” Her gaze lingered on his armor-covered body. “I like you.”
Yes, she did. And he was extremely happy about that. “Ready for a short rappel?”
“Try and keep up, Dr. Phoenix.” She took a backward step out of the ship.
He watched her go down, fast and gracefully.
By the time he made it down and unclipped from the rappel line, Nera was circling the clearing, her hands resting on her holstered laser pistols. Under the canopy, the light was murky, and up here in the mountains, there was more wildlife. He couldn’t see it, but he could hear it. The loud buzzing of insects, the flutter of wings up in the leaves, and the spine-chilling screeches of…something. He gripped his laser machete a little harder.
Avril, Galen, and his small team of agents stood nearby, staring at the giant wall of vines ahead. Behind him, Nik heard Solomon and Gunn bickering about something.
“The map says we need to find a cave complex.” Avril tapped a boot, studying her handheld Sync. “It’s about one kilometer from here.”
A kilometer. He traded a glance with Nera. In these conditions, it may as well have been a thousand.
The security agents hefted their laser machetes and got to work hacking at the vegetation.
It did not go well.
