Page 7 of A Ranger for Christmas
Lucas met the pizza delivery guy at the front desk, and when he returned to his office he found Marisa exactly where he’d left her, frowning over the ciphers, oblivious to him and the world around her.
A fellow Ranger, Brody Winchester, had a smart wife, Dr. Jo Granger, who’d put Lucas on to Dr. M. E. Thompson a couple of months ago when the first coded messages had appeared. Lucas considered Jo one hell of a smart woman, and when she’d commented that Dr. Thompson was another level of smart, he’d known she was in the big leagues.
After learning Dr. Thompson was in Mexico on a dig, he’d gone to Merida, Mexico, to ask around the university. He had learned she was a bookish, odd woman who lived for her dead languages. A dull sort, one professor had said, but the best in her field. She was expected in town to replenish supplies, but no one knew exactly when she’d appear.
When he’d arrived at that sidewalk café, he’d been looking for good grub, a cold beer, and a chance to recharge after forty-seven hours of nonstop work while he waited for Dr. M. E. Thompson.
When he’d spotted the woman in the white dress, rational thought vanished, and when she’d smiled at him and teased him about the Texas seeping through his Spanish, he’d been lost. The ensuing conversation, dinner, drinks, and sex had momentarily banished thoughts of work. That night had been all about the woman in the white dress. And then she’d vanished.
He’d asked around and discovered the woman in the white dress was Dr. Thompson. He’d called himself every form of dumbass before deciding that finding her would be easy.However, he’d not counted on the jungle or that it would swallow her trail so completely.
Hours ago, when he’d received word she’d returned to Austin from her jungle dig, he’d dropped what he was doing and come straight to the university. There was a code still to be cracked and if he were honest, one night with Marisa had not been quite enough.
How many times since had he dreamed about her in that white dress? Hell, even now he thought her glasses accentuated rather than hid bright green expressive eyes and a high slash of cheekbones. And the frown grooved in her forehead added to her allure.
“Pizza,” he said.
She glanced up from the pages, her eyes a bit vacant and lost. He could almost hear the gears in her brain shifting and grinding as she refocused on the world outside her scroll. “Great. I’m starving.”
As she cleared away her papers and stacked them neatly, he set the pizza box on the table along with a bag stuffed with napkins and drinks. “I wasn’t sure if you liked soda. There’s water in the cooler if that’s what you prefer.”
“Soda’s great.” She rolled up her sleeves and placed napkins in front of him and herself. He flipped open the box and the scents of pepperoni, mushroom, and onion drifted around them. She took a piece of pizza and laid it on her napkin. “I haven’t had pizza in ages.”
He sat and rolled up his sleeves, exposing forearms dusted with dark hair. “It’s a mainstay for me.”
She took a bite and glanced toward the papers to her right. “It’s an ancient language. I’m fairly sure it’s Mayan. It might take me a couple of days, but I can figure it out.”
“A couple of days?” No hiding his surprise.
“Shouldn’t be that hard.”
He laughed. “Don’t tell the forensics team.”
“They shouldn’t feel bad. Unless you study this all the time, you wouldn’t have a clue.”
“I’ll be sure to pass it on.” Already, he pictured the team’s frustration when he told them Marisa had dubbed the task easy. They’d endured many sleepless nights trying to figure out what the dealers were communicating to each other.
“So what exactly am I looking for?”
“There is word of a major shipment arriving from Mexico into the area. It’s a new supplier trying to make a name for himself, and we want to stop him before he gets established.”
“When’s it expected?”
“We’ve heard around Christmas Day but don’t know exactly where or when.”
“Time is running out.” She plucked the cheese off the pizza and ate it. “I’ll work fast.”
“Thanks.” He sipped his soda, unable to rein in his curiosity.
“So you dated that Bradley?” She looked up at him as he paused, pizza inches from his mouth.
She picked a piece of pepperoni off her pizza and then set it aside. “Ours was a fairly classic tale. We dated. We broke up.”
“Been reading body language for a long time, ma’am. More to that story than meets the eye.”
“You read body language?”
“As well, if not better, than you read those dead languages.”
