Found in the Lost

  Found in the Lost (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

  The Leonidas Corporation I

  Tarina Deaton

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  © 2019 ACES PRESS, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  No part of this work may be used, stored, reproduced or transmitted without written permission from the publisher except for brief quotations for review purposes as permitted by law.

  This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please purchase your own copy.

  Editor: The Editing Anns

  Cover Design: Lori Loves Books

  Dear Readers,

  Welcome to the Special Forces: Operation Alpha Fan-Fiction world!

  If you are new to this amazing world, in a nutshell the author wrote a story using one or more of my characters in it. Sometimes that character has a major role in the story, and other times they are only mentioned briefly. This is perfectly legal and allowable because they are going through Aces Press to publish the story.

  This book is entirely the work of the author who wrote it. While I might have assisted with brainstorming and other ideas about which of my characters to use, I didn’t have any part in the process or writing or editing the story.

  I’m proud and excited that so many authors loved my characters enough that they wanted to write them into their own story. Thank you for supporting them, and me!

  READ ON!

  Xoxo

  Susan Stoker

  Contents

  Note to the reader

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Tarina Deaton

  More Special Forces: Operation Alpha World Books

  Books by Susan Stoker

  About the book

  Crypto archaeologist, Kinley Dunn accomplished the impossible; translating an ancient Mayan text that stumped experts since its discovery hundreds of years ago. Rumored to hold the key to a vast and priceless treasure, Kinley is determined to be part of the discovery until she finds herself stranded in Guatemala without a way to reach her mentor.

  Former SEAL Shane Ivers is searching for his purpose, but on this trip his only goal is to relax and catch up with his old teammates while exploring ancient Mayan ruins. What he didn’t count on was the smart and beautiful Kinley falling at his feet—literally.

  An offer of a ride turns into a dangerous, heart-pounding trek through the jungle, while a simple vacation attraction develops into something deeper. With the help of The Leonidas Corporation, they’ll race to find the lost Mayan city, but there’s more at stake than priceless treasure and Kinley and Shane could lose more than they bargained for. Because someone wants the secret Kinley holds and will do anything to get it.

  For those who wander and know they are not lost.

  Note to the reader

  The events of Found in the Lost take place before Securing Piper.

  Chapter 1

  Kinley Dunn paced the length of the small arrivals hall of the Flores, Guatemala airport. Thirty-four steps one way, thirty-four steps the other way. She’d made the trip twelve times, checking her phone at the end of each round trip for any message from her mentor. Nothing. Dr. Banks wasn’t answering any of her calls, either.

  She’d checked the date, her previous emails, the calendar invite, her tickets, her hotel reservation in Carmelita—everything she could think of to verify she was where she was supposed to be, when she was supposed to be.

  Being invited on this dig was the chance of a lifetime, especially since she wasn’t a field-trained archaeologist. This was her opportunity to show that it didn’t matter if all of her experience was in the classroom. So what if she didn’t have thousand-year-old dirt under her nails? She still had something to offer.

  Stopping at the end of another round trip, she closed her eyes. “You were specifically invited on this trip because you did what no one else has been able to do. Your input into this discovery will be invaluable and change everything scholars thought they knew about Mayan culture and history. You are not a fraud.”

  She sighed after whispering her self-pep talk and glanced around, her gaze catching on the mop of blond curls and broad shoulders of a guy sitting in one of the many waiting areas. Nice. Even a square jaw and five o’clock shadow couldn’t distract her from the predicament of being stranded at an airport in Guatemala. No matter what she told herself, she couldn’t not worry that someone had decided she shouldn’t be there and just forgot to tell her because she was insignificant and not worth the time.

  Slipping her arms from the straps of her large pack, she let it fall to the ground and stifled a groan. Bending at the waist to stretch the abused muscles of her lower back, she settled the pack between her legs and sat down. She had to bite the bullet. She had to call the other team lead. Taking a deep breath, she hit the dial button and breathed out slowly while it rang.

  “Dr. Biert.”

  Kinley expelled the rest of her breath upon hearing his curt answer.

  “Dr. Biert, this is Kinley Dunn. I’m sorry to bother you, but have you heard from Dr. Banks? She was supposed to meet me—”

  “No. I haven’t. Why are you calling me?”

  “She was supposed to meet me at the Flores airport to take me to Carmelita, but she’s not here.”

  “And?”

  She looked down at the toes of her well-worn hiking boots and tapped her feet. “Do you know if there’s someone else coming to meet me?”

  “How the hell would I know that? Quit wasting my time with your petty issues and figure it out.” With that, he ended the call.

  Kinley pressed her lips together and mouthed, “Asshole.” One of the most knowledgeable archaeologists in the field or not, he was still a grade A jerk.

  Since he hadn’t told her that she’d wasted her time and was no longer needed, she would have to figure out how to get herself to Carmelita now and figure out what happened to Dr. Banks later. She opened the web browser on her phone and searched for transportation from Flores to Carmelita.

  “Damn it,” she muttered. The last bus left twenty minutes ago.

  “Excuse me.”

  Kinley looked up from her phone. A man leaned over the seat between them, smiling at her with his perfect white teeth. She hadn’t even noticed him sit down. In a crisp, white button-down and black slacks with his hair perfectly coifed, he looked out of place among the tourists and local travelers.

  “I couldn’t help but overhear your conversation,” he said. “I am heading to Carmelita myself—I’m happy to offer you a ride.” His English held a hint of an accent, but she couldn’t tell from where.

  The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Nothing in his outward appearance screamed sinister serial killer, but something didn’t feel right about the offer. Call it her sixth sense or female intuition, but whatever it was told her not to accept the offer.

  “Thank you, but I’ll figure it out,” she said.<
br />
  “It can be very tedious to get from Flores to Carmelita on the bus. I have a private car. I promise I am a perfect gentleman.”

  Every hair on her body was waving at her, shouting, “Stranger danger!”

  “I’m meeting a group of friends at their hotel tonight,” she lied. “I’ll ride with them in the morning.”

  He shrugged and tilted his head. “As you wish. Good luck on your journey.” He stood and slipped a hand in his pants pocket to pull out a pair of sunglasses, sliding them on his face as he walked toward the exit.

  Where was his luggage? He didn’t even have a briefcase or carryon. Nothing to indicate he’d flown into the airport.

  Her shoulders shook as a shudder ran up her back. She glanced toward the row of tour companies on the far side of the arrivals hall. Maybe there was a tour bus she could hop on.

  Slinging her large hiking pack over her shoulder, she kept one eye on the path ahead of her and scrolled through the list of tour companies while she headed in that direction. One company looked promising—they had private cars for smaller groups instead of buses. She paused and scanned the area, finding the small counter for the tour company toward the far corner.

  Tucking her phone into the pocket of her cross-body travel purse, she strode with purpose right up until the moment her feet stopped moving and her upper body lurched forward.

  The cracked and dusty tile rushed toward her and the heavy pack tumbled off her shoulder, throwing her even more off balance. She thrust out an arm to stop her fall and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing for impact.

  A tight band encircled her waist and jerked her back into a hard wall.

  “Whoa there,” a low, deep voice said in her ear.

  Her heart fluttered in her chest as she realized the wall at her back was likely a warm chest belonging to the voice vibrating in her ear. The arm around her loosened and she inhaled deeply.

  “You good?” the voice asked.

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  The arm released her slowly, the fingers trailing across the bottom of her ribs to rest on her hip. “Hang on a sec.”

  Trying to ignore the goosebumps rolling across her skin, Kinley glanced down at the man now kneeling at her feet. He pressed a hand to the back of her knee and she lifted her foot while he untangled the black mesh strap of his bag from her ankle.

  He stood and her eyes followed him up as he rose.

  “Sorry about that,” he said.

  “That’s….” She swallowed, and then shook her head. “It’s my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

  His lips spread in a slow smile she could only describe as mischievous and a little sexy. “So it’s neither of our faults—just a lucky happenstance.” He bent down, picked up her pack as if it weighed nothing, and held it out to her.

  She wasn’t sure almost biting the dust could be counted as lucky, but his catching her was, definitely. Taking her pack, she hefted it back onto her shoulder. “Yeah. Uh…thanks.”

  “Any time.” He winked and resumed his seat.

  It clicked that his shoulders were the ones she’d admired earlier. He was even better looking up close. His long lashes brushed his high cheek bones and were slightly darker than his blond hair, which was a little too long and curled around the tops of his ears. Could ears be cute?

  Giving herself a mental shake, she stepped toward the tour counter. “Hola. ¿Habla usted Inglés?” she asked.

  “Yes, I speak English.” His nametag read Francisco.

  “Thank goodness.” She set her pack at her feet. “My Spanish is horrible. I need to get to Carmelita. Do you have any cars going that way I could ride with? I’m willing to pay for the transportation.”

  “We can only transport tour guests. You would have to pay for an entire tour.”

  Kinley’s shoulders sagged. “Really? I only need a ride to Carmelita to meet with the rest of my group. The person who was supposed to meet me isn’t here and the last bus of the day left. The rest of my group is leaving Carmelita in the morning and I really need to be there before then.”

  “I’m sorry, Señorita,” he said softly. “The policy is very strict.”

  Tired and on the verge of tears, she could only thank him for his time. She’d find a hotel for the night and take the first bus in the morning and figure out how to catch up with the group once she reached the office in Carmelita.

  “She can ride with us.”

  Kinley’s head whipped to the side. Her rescuer was rescuing her again.

  “Señor, if she’s not booked on the trip we can’t act as a taxi for her.”

  “It’s fine. I—”

  “We originally booked four people, but one of our friends had to bail at the last minute. She’s taking his spot.” He raised his eyebrows and smiled. He leaned on the counter, causing his biceps to bulge and strain the fabric of his dark green T-shirt. With his curly blond hair and golden tan, he brought to mind an image of a surfer.

  Kinley glanced at Francisco. He looked skeptical, to say the least.

  “The cost of the tour is the same whether we have two people or twelve, so it doesn’t matter if we add another person at the last minute.” His tone was a little less friendly than before.

  Francisco sighed and asked for her passport.

  Euphoric relief surged through her. Trying not to grin like an idiot, she dug it out of her purse and handed it to him. Her rescuer tapped the counter and winked before returning to his seat and picking up his book.

  “Miss?” Francisco returned her passport and gestured toward the sitting area. “Your car will depart when the rest of your group arrives.”

  “Thank you.” Taking her bag over to the chairs, she sat one seat away from the man who had saved her ass, literally and figuratively, twice in the last fifteen minutes. Why wasn’t her female intuition freaking out about his offer? It wasn’t even an offer or an ask. He demanded Francisco add her to their trip and she didn’t even blink. Not only was her intuition not freaking out, her uterus was basically waving her fallopian tubes back and forth screaming, “Pick me! Pick me!”

  “Thank you.” She glanced at him through her eyelashes. “I wasn’t looking forward to trying to find a hotel then coming back here tomorrow to catch the bus.”

  He placed a bookmark between the pages of his novel and shut it. “No problem. I guess it’s fortuitous that my friends’ flight was delayed. We were supposed to leave an hour ago.”

  His words echoed what he’d said earlier when he’d stopped her from falling. “I guess it was,” she said, smiling.

  “I’m Shane.” He held out his hand and she slid hers into it.

  “I’m—”

  “Ban!” A loud voice boomed behind them and they both turned.

  Shane released her hand and stood up, a wide grin splitting his face. A shorter man with blond hair dropped his bag and threw himself at Shane who grabbed him in a bear hug. He wrapped his legs around Shane’s waist and slapped his back with both hands.

  “Get off me, you weirdo,” Shane said, releasing his friend.

  His friend punched him on the shoulder. “You like it weird.”

  Another man, slightly taller than Shane, joined them. “Way not to make a scene.”

  He and Shane clasped hands and did the bro-hug, back-slapping thing guys do. “Good to see you, Ban.”

  “You too, Phantom.”

  Kinley stared wide-eyed at the trio. Who were these guys?

  “Let’s get you guys checked in so we can go,” Shane said. He turned and spotted her still sitting in the seats. “Oh. Hey guys, this is… I didn’t actually catch your name.”

  “Kinley,” she said as she stood.

  “Kinley,” he repeated. “This is Ace and Phantom.” He pointed to each of the men. “Guys, this is Kinley. She’s catching a ride with us to Carmelita.”

  Ace took her hand in his. “Trust Ban to find the prettiest girl in a place.”

  She glanced between the three. “I thought his name wa
s Shane.”

  “It is. We call him Ban because—”

  Shane shoved Ace aside. “That’s a story for another time. You two go check in so we can get to the hotel sometime today and not scare our guest within the first fifteen minutes of meeting her.”

  Phantom grunted and approached the counter and an equally wide-eyed Francisco.

  Ace leaned around Shane. “I’ll tell you the story during the ride,” he said in a stage whisper, then dodged Shane’s half-hearted swing at him as he joined Phantom at the counter.

  “Don’t mind them—they’re harmless for the most part,” Shane said.

  “Okay….” The next couple of hours were definitely going to be interesting.

  Chapter 2

  Shane shoved Ace out of the way when he tried to climb into the small van behind Kinley. Ace might be one of his best friends, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to horn in on the woman Shane had saved from possible disaster. Twice.

  Ace opened the front passenger door with a low chuckle while Shane climbed into the middle seat. He glanced over his shoulder at Phantom, sitting in the center of the back row with his arms spread out across the back of the seat.

  “You good?” he asked.

  Phantom gave him a chin tilt, but didn’t say anything. Shane smiled, glad to see not much had changed.

  The driver got in and turned to face them. “Hola. I’m Jorge. There is water in the cooler here if you get thirsty.” He pointed to the small Styrofoam cooler between the driver and passenger seat. “It is one hour and a half to Carmelita. If you need anything on the drive, please let me know.” He faced front and started the van, pulling out into the heavy airport traffic.