Myka watched intently as Helena climbed the few feet onto the ledge that ran along the sides of the chamber. When Helena then proceeded to swiftly pull Myka up after her by their joined hands, she couldn't help but be impressed with the strength held within the smaller woman's frame. Myka kept in shape; she knew she was no lightweight.

Her eyes darted down, their fingers lingering together a good deal longer than strictly necessary, and she couldn't decide if the light brush against her knuckles had been intentional. She resolutely ignored the warm twist low in her gut. It wasn't like her to get so easily distracted, especially when her neck was on the line. Greed was constant shadow in her field of work, and the brunette had done her share of tangos with danger and occasionally with death.

And true, her heart was currently threatening to break her ribs, and yes, her eyes hurt from the glare of the burning flames all around her. But she enjoyed the dance, she always had. It was a part of her that had always made Sam wary. He shared her love of getting to the bottom of a puzzle, but he didn't understand the thrill facing off against an opponent both in body and in mind.

And having known this raven-haired beauty no more than five minutes, Myka would have been willing to bet a month of her salary Helena was the kind of woman who would understand that thrill. And this was perhaps the biggest reason Myka didn't mind now having to entrust her life in the hands of the charming stranger.

Myka's eyes turned to the odd looking gun in Helena's hand, "What's that?"

"A grappler gun, Ms. Bering."

"Myka, Please," she cracked a lopsided smile-the first since her tumble down the stone shaft, "If you're going to be saving my life, you may as well call me Myka."

Helena's responding grin gave Myka the irrational wish to bask in it for as long as possible, like a cat in a beam of sunlight coming through a window. It was warm and somehow managed to relax a band of tension in her shoulders. Myka couldn't remember ever seeing a smile so beautiful, or one with so many secrets behind it.

"Myka then." The word rolled pleasantly off Helena's lips, curling around the younger woman; she'd heard her name spoken by people with British accents-she'd been a visiting professor at Cambridge for a time- but her name had never sounded quite like that.

Myka shook herself slightly, she needed to focus on the pertinent details, like being trapped in a Byzantine tomb with a spy and an untrustworthy treasure hunter, "A grappler? You're a spy right? Isn't that a bit old-fashioned?"

Helena waved around them, the extended shadows of her arms on chamber walls, edges licked by the flames, added to the other woman's already captivating presence,

"Look around you, how much help do you think a laser or a spy camera would be? Sometimes, my dear," she rose the arm with the grappler upwards, towards an dark corner near the ceiling on the other side of the chamber, "sometimes the classics are best."

"Come on darling, grab on tight." Myka's eyes rolled from sweat-slicked clavicles down to tightly laced leather boots and then back again, trying to discern just where on the other woman she was supposed to grab. A shuffling movement brought her attention away, Myka had nearly forgotten about her deceitful associate, her head tipped his way as she spoke,

"What about him? We can't leave him." The man had wisely kept quiet, looking quite a bit like a scolded dog.

Helena nodded, "Of course not," she shot him a disdainful glare, "lucky for him, I still need him yet." She returned a much warmer gaze back to the curly-haired archeologist, "but for now he can stay put while we figure our way out of here. I hooked the grappler at the entrance to some vent near the ceiling. He won't run out of air, and I'd rather he stay out of trouble for now, who knows, the next booby trap he blunders over might not be so amenable."

Myka tried to smother her laughter, but as she had now wrapped herself tight around the other woman, she was fairly certain the agent could feel her shoulders shaking against her.

All said and done it took them a little over an hour to find their way out of the maze of chambers and deadly traps. The agent didn't know how to read Ancient Greek, but Myka found her very easy to bounce ideas off of. Her approach was very different from her own, but they worked off each other very well, that had been clear following the exhilarated look they'd shared after having outwitted a trap threatening to shoot sharpened bamboo at a single misstep.

They'd gotten back to Kafra, returning to Helena's very swank hotel ("Very 007, but a little conspicuous don't you think?" "Quite the opposite. Most people's eyes never get past the designer bag or the credit card numbers. It's the ostentatiousness they remember, not me."). Somehow, Myka couldn't imagine anyone forgetting her.

After a very impressive display of intimidation where the spy had injected their captive treasure hunter in the arm with some sort of tracker, she then threatened to have it stop his heart if she ever found him so much as a yard more than hundred away. The look in her eye suggested she found the idea rather agreeable. As interesting as Myka found the spy, she did wonder at moments, if the woman was entirely, well, sane. And then she'd wonder why that glint of madness looked so damnably attractive in her eyes.

And now they were settled at the Hotel's outside cafe. Though Myka's Arabic was barely passable, most people here spoke English or French, so she could communicate easily enough. Even so, she currently felt perfectly willing to let the other woman order for them in favor of turning her gaze to the bustling of the city streets.

She didn't so much hear the waiter leave as she felt the woman's attention return to her. Her eyes followed some children kicking a soccer ball, jutting back and forth across an unevenly paved square. She turned back to face Helena just as the woman started to speak,

"Time to spare, whatever shall we do?"

"There comes a moment in the day when you have written your pages in the morning, attended to your correspondence in the afternoon, and have nothing further to do. Then comes that hour when you are bored; that's the time for sex." She hadn't meant to say it. But Helena was leaning back in her chair, all teasing smiles and bold eyes, looking far too distracting for Myka to stop the words from slipping through her traitorous lips.

"A fan of H.G Wells?" Myka wanted to regret the words as soon they were free, but she couldn't. And Myka was surly in trouble, because Helena was giving her that smile again, the one to which she feared she could easily become addicted.

"I am. I almost went into literature, once upon a time. I may have noticed the connection to your name, Helena Wells."

Helena's expression was clear and Myka took pride in managing to impress the agent, "Most people don't make the connection."

"It's just how my mind works. My mind has always been good at making connections, figuring out puzzles. It's what led me to archeology over say, literature, the thrill of figuring out a 1,500 year old puzzle..." she trailed off, unsure why she was sharing so much, she cleared her throat, "Is it your real name?" Helena shook her head in refusal to either affirm or deny, and then gave the brunette a wink,

"Oh come now darling, where's the fun in that." Myka laughed and looked away, very much aware that she was blushing again.

Helena's smile was wide and there was mirth and the spark of something hotter in her gaze as leaned back in her chair, and watched her. This persisted for a few charged moments before she shook her head lightly turning serious,

"Now, what I've got planned is going to be very dangerous and will determine the future of a good many lives. And frankly, I'm going solo here, and from what I've seen of you," despite the near constant flirting, her tone now completely sincere and without innuendo, "I could use your help. So, Wells and Bering, solving puzzles and saving the day?"

Myka smiled glancing down before looking back at the woman through dark lashes, "You'll read me in on the plan?"

Helena shrugged, thanking the waiter as their tea arrived, "Of course, you're rather instrumental in it."

Nodding Myka raised the saucer to lips, enjoying the spicy aroma, "I have no idea what I'm getting myself into, but think I'd quite like that."

Preview of Next Chapter:

Myka's vision is starting to blur, the need to breathe becoming painful. She managed an elbow to the kidney and his thick fingers finally let go of her windpipe. She spun away as a fist narrowly missed her temple, wisely sliding just outside the other man's grasp. She could see the first man starting to get off the ground, but she couldn't spare more than a glance, having to focus most of her attention on staying out the second's man's reach. He was the smaller of the two but the way he moved suggested that with one well, placed blow, Myka would be down for the count.

Ooh this has been fun. Feedback always appreciated, it's the only way I'll grow :)