Deadly Games - Cate Noble [80]
“Great!” Rocco hurried over to Gena. “Come on, sweetheart.”
“Good job, Clay.” Gena pushed to her feet very slowly, reminding Rocco of what she’d been through the last two days. A fire, a thwarted abduction, now this.
“I’ll carry you,” Rocco said.
“It’s nothing serious,” she said. “Just a few aches. I can walk.”
Clay moved close and smiled at Gena. “Good to see you, ma’am. Your husband wouldn’t give up the notion that you’d survived. He was right.”
“He’s pretty stubborn,” she said. “It’s just one of the things I love about him.”
Her words echoed in Rocco’s chest. Even if she’d said the words only for Clay’s benefit, he liked hearing them.
Rocco and Gena fell in behind Clay as they hiked away from the plane. They had to backtrack once, when Clay lost his bearings, but before long they reached the clearing.
“Here we go!” Clay said.
The erratic lightning allowed Rocco to make out the outline of a building. Most of the area had been cleared, but several stone monoliths rose into the night.
“I think it’s been abandoned a while,” Clay said. “Looks like a couple of structures are just covered areas for work space.”
Rocco nodded. “That lodge was probably for workers. Let’s check it out.” He pulled Gena closer to the building. “Let Clay and me inspect the inside first. Make sure it’s creature-free.”
Gena shuddered and nodded.
The interior of the lodge appeared to be a large open space. “Hold up,” Rocco said.
Within a few seconds, another flash of lightning gave a quick snapshot of the inside.
“Looks like a fireplace on my side,” Clay said. “I’ll feel along this wall; you take that one.”
“Good plan.” Rocco appreciated Clay’s coolheaded skills. He’d obviously had some military background, which was common with most mercenaries.
And while Rocco was curious, he didn’t ask because he didn’t want to answer those same questions from Clay.
Rocco felt along the wall as he walked forward. There had been a shelf there. He carefully felt above it versus running his hand along the surface, in case a spider or scorpion had taken up residence. His hand hit a bottle, almost knocking it over but quickly righting it.
“Found something.” He pulled it down. “A kerosene lamp. Sounds like there’s fuel in it, too. Now if we can find matches.”
“Got ’em right here,” Clay said. “This fireplace must be big enough to roast a whole cow.”
Retracing his steps, Rocco handed Clay the lamp before stepping outside to where Gena huddled beneath the eaves.
“Come on.” He guided her in the doorway just as Clay struck a match and lit the lamp.
“Let there be light.” Clay fitted the glass globe over the flickering wick and then held the lamp up.
The room was large, at least twenty feet long. The walls were constructed of logs, but the floor and fireplace were made of stone, probably by-products of the dig. Several more oil lamps were on the shelf. Rocco checked them for fuel, then grabbed one.
Several rustic wooden tables and benches were shoved against the far wall. Wood was scattered near the fireplace.
A message was painted in Spanish on the wall. “Can you translate that?” Rocco asked Gena.
She squinted. “El Brisa ruin. Private property. Leave or die.”
“That last was probably added by the local drug lord,” Clay said. “They’re notorious for taking over these older sites. Great place to process drugs.”
Rocco looked around. “Doesn’t look like they’ve been here in a while. I say we take our chances and trespass for the night.”
“No argument from me,” Clay said.
Rocco opened the door at the farthest end of the room. “Looks like they bunked in here.” Cots were stacked against one wall.
“Place looks like heaven to me,” Clay said. “Why don’t you folks take this room? I’ll drag a cot out there for me. I want to see if I can get a fire going. Maybe we can get our clothes dry.”
“Sounds good.” Rocco helped Clay move a cot and then he returned to Gena.
She had already moved two cots into the middle of the room. “I found a couple that don’t have holes. There are blankets stacked