Time Raiders: The Whisper
Elle James
www.millsandboon.co.uk
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Air Force officer Marisol Vasquez was chosen for a dangerous time-travel mission for her ability to see through the eyes of animals. Sent back nearly six hundred years to the Incan empire, shes committed to finding the precious alien artifact shes been assigned to recover.
But Marisols mission hits a snag when shes given as a gift to the emperors shaman, a mysteriously sexy man who is determined to seduce her. Suddenly Marisols devotion to her task faces an entirely unexpected threat: the hazard of fierce, all-consuming lust.
Contents
The Beginning
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
The Beginning
Fifty thousand years ago, after discovering that human females carried a nascent genetic potential that might one day develop into the ability to star navigate, The Pleiadian Council planted a dozen pieces of a bronze disk across the Earth, hidden in darkness until mankind advanced enough to travel through time and find them.
And then, out of the ashes of the mystery-shrouded Roswell Alien crash in 1947 arose a secret research project called Anasazi. Its improbable goal: learn to use the recovered alien technology for the purposes of time travel. General Beverly Ashton was the last to command this project before a dozen time travelers were inexplicably lost and the project disbanded.
However, the recent discovery of an ancient journal, known as the Ad Astra, has given Professor Athena Carswell the information she needs to begin sending modern time travelers back through human history in search of the twelve pieces of the Pleiadian medallion which, when fully reassembled, will send a signal to the Council indicating mankind is ready to be introduced to the rest of the galactic community.
Project Anasazi has secretly been reactivated, and General Ashton, now retired, and Professor Carswell are continuing the projects work. They are carefully recruiting and training a team of military men and women to make the dangerous time jumps.
But threats loom on the horizon, both from humans who would see the project endedor worse, steal its work and use it for nefarious endsand from the Centauri Federation, which will do anything to stop humans from learning how to navigate the stars.
Chapter One
Marisol Vasquez fell into a grassy field feetfirst. Though shed done everything shed trained for in the Air Force Pararescue unit shed been recruited from, the landing knocked the wind out of her.
She lay for a moment, rocks pressing into her sides, the colorful, woolen native dress shed been given to wear hiked up around her thighs.
With her pulse pounding in her ears, she felt for the bracelet that was her only link to the twenty-first century, her only way back to her world, her time, her life. Not until her fingers wrapped around the cool metal did she breathe a sigh and push to a sitting position to take in her new surroundings.
The field was a small plateau nestled in the Peruvian Andes near the Urubamba Valley of what she knew to be South America. Below her stretched the center of the ancient Incan Empire, the divine city of Cusco, founded and expanded by the great Incan ruler Pachacuti.
Marisol stood up, her gaze taking in the view of the sprawling city below. Spread out before her, bigger than shed ever imagined, was the reason for her journey across time and distance. She found Cuscos sheer size and density to be much more intimidating than shed originally anticipated. For the first time since Marisol had agreed to this extraordinary mission, she wondered if she was in over her head.
Shed traveled from Arizona to Peru and over five hundred and sixty years back through time in the blink of an eye. Marisol was a highly trained Air Force Combat Rescue Officer with a special ability to communicate with animals and see through their eyes.
Now all I have to do is walk right into the city, locate Pachacutis palace and find what I came here for. Easy, right?
Depends on what you are looking for, a voice said behind her.
Marisol spun toward the voice, crouching in a fighting position. Sure of only one thingthe language translator implanted behind her ear was working.
A man lounged across the lush green grass, a woven cloth spread with a variety of fruits, cheese and bread arranged before him. What struck Marisol wasnt that he was a man but that he wasnt what shed expected to see in Pachacutis Incan Empire.
He wore sandals and a short wool skirt that exposed amazingly thick thighs. His top half was bare but for two large gold bands around his upper arms. He had a bright red cape slung across shoulders so broad they could have easily filled any modern doorway.
Marisol gulped at the breath catching in her throat.
It wasnt his clothing or his jewelry that took her aback. The long, white-blond hair hanging past his shoulders and his ice-blue eyes captivated her. Where had this Norse god sprung from? The Spaniards werent due to arrive for several more years and even they werent as pale as this man who was a freak among the dark Incas.
Who are you? Marisol wondered if shed landed in the wrong time or place.
He raised his eyebrows. You are the intruder to my peace. Perhaps you should be so kind as to gift me with your name, first.
Seeing no reason to withhold her identity, she answered, Marisol Vasquez.
The man tipped his head in a regal manner, a smile twitching his lips. I am Gunnar.
That tells me a lot. She cast another glance around at the hillsides and the metropolis stretched out before her. Am I right in assuming that the city below is Cusco?
You are correct. He remained in the supine position, tossing a mango in one hand.
What business have you with the Incan ruler?
Marisols eyes widened. Do you mean Pachacuti?
Gunnar nodded. Everyone in the land knows of the great Pachacuti. It surprises me that you must ask. Are you a stranger from a foreign land?
Yes. I am. She glanced toward the city. I need to get to the palace.
Ah, yes. To find something. He plucked another fruit from the assortment on the blanket in front of him. The muscles in his arm and shoulder rippled, sending corresponding waves of awareness through Marisol. His full sensuous lips closed around the fruit as he bit into the flesh.