Perplexing Relations
"Nate, how did we get here?"
"So wait," Chloe went on, completely ignoring Elena's attempt at gathering Nate's opinion. "You're telling me this Navarro was supposed to be dead, but here he is, after following your trail, then Lazarevic's trail, and then yours again when you inevitably showed up to get what was yours?"
Sully chuckled a little. "As much as we can figure, yeah. That's exactly what happened."
"But why wait two years to come after Nate?" Chloe questioned. "And to come after him not for revenge, but to force him to make him rich? That's crazy."
Nate leaned forward in his chair and placed his elbows on the table. "He must have waited for the right opportunity, when I was already onto a big find."
"Or maybe he spent the last two years dredging up water, looking for the statue and coming up empty," Sully suggested with amusement at the thought.
After they returned from Shambhala, Navarro ushered them into a large tent with three cots and a fourth one brought in to accommodate them all. A square table with three chairs had been placed at the back of the tent between two of the cots. Their weapons were taken and they were informed that he expected substantial progress toward locating a potential treasure within a week's time. Lazarevic's treasure hunter would be the go-between, the person who checked up on their progress and evaluated the validity of the information they uncovered.
An armed guard, the man who tried to help them save the horribly wounded aforementioned treasure hunter, remained stationed outside with orders to shoot anyone leaving the tent without permission. Shoot to kill orders. It was a worrisome situation and she truly wondered how they'd ended up here. At least the same soldier had brought in a bag of medical supplies for them to keep. Nate would need it, as usual.
"Another thing I don't understand is why the soldiers only pretended to side with Lazarevic," Chloe mentioned. "They were clearly with this Navarro guy since they first believed their original employer to be dead. Why such loyalty for him?"
Elena frowned. Good question. If Navarro managed to run the mercenaries different, it wasn't so hard to understand. Hired guns didn't need much more than getting paid, but they did have preferable conditions.
"A man like Lazarevic uses threats and fear to keep his people in line," Elena shared with the others. "He's always run his army that way and we saw what he'd been doing to the treasure hunter he hired."
She struggled to recover the memory of the treasure hunter's name. Flynn. Yes, she was sure of it. He was the man Lazarevic ordered to kill her and Nate when they were cornered by his soldiers in Nepal. Chloe had turned against them in order to save her own skin, leaving, and she had punched Flynn in the face so they could make a quick getaway.
Elena hadn't caught the first name though. Another frown creased her forehead. That was going to bug her. She retained her previous train of thought.
"If Navarro established himself as a strong leader who can pay them, avoiding direct threats and fear, he elevated himself to the preferable employer."
"An asshole like Navarro commanding respect. Now there's an idea," Sully quipped.
"Probably didn't help I killed a bunch of them under Lazarevic's leadership," Nate added with a short laugh.
Elena's frown deepened. How could he be so casual about taking lives? She caught his gaze and he smiled at her. She gave a strained smile in return which he noticed. Tension came into his face but she could already tell it was out of puzzlement rather than concern.
Her former boyfriend had a lot of experience traveling, stealing, and competing with other treasure hunters. She'd always understood he got into fights and killed people trying to kill him. It wasn't murder. It was a lot like a soldier fighting for his or her country, forced to kill to stay alive and accomplish their mission. Though stealing ancient treasures wasn't exactly for country.
Sighing, she glanced at Chloe and then Sully. Inevitably her gaze returned to Nate. He was such a big dope. He was a big, dumb dope and so cute. What an idiot.
She honestly didn't know if she was referring to Nate or herself with that last thought.
Elena leaned against the back of her chair. He didn't need a lecture right now. Besides, she didn't feel like delivering an 'of course this happened' speech either, and this wasn't really the crowd to listen to her scolding. Might as well try to find out what's next.
"So what's the plan then?"
Nate was ready with an answer.
"Pretend to be finding a treasure, string Navarro and Flynn along, and then really mess up their day before we hightail it out of here."
Chloe and Sully were nodding as if this was the most obvious plan in the world. She wasn't one for lying and deceiving on a regular basis like thieves probably had to be. She was a journalist with integrity and she wore the fact like a badge of honor.
"What about the lost city of Atlantis?" Sully suggested with a smirk.
Nate looked offended at the suggestion. "That's complete myth!"
"That's the point, Nate," Sully deadpanned.
Oh dear. She loved them both but this was going to be a long night. If she was trapped in this camp for longer than a week in such close quarters with the two sometimes childish adults, she might lose her mind. Maybe Chloe would end up being a good companion. The very woman's next words were a jest and reason for Elena to believe she was alone in her sanity here.
"Why don't we follow the rainbow to a pot of gold while we're at it?"
/
Every time Harry Flynn showed his face, Nate was beyond thrilled. The British thief always came with something good to share. Seeing him meant there was one hell of an adventure on the horizon.
Somehow, Harry Flynn equated sexy times as well. Yes, the man practically oozed sex and danger, but Nathan had been a pretty girl kind of guy. Plus, he was fairly certain Flynn was a pretty girl kind of guy himself. Yet more times than not, when their paths crossed they ended up intermingling in the X-rated sense of the term.
Four years ago, Flynn showed up at a bar frequented by thieves while he was there keeping his ear to the ground about any possible jobs. Flynn was already working a job and brought him into it out of the kindness of his heart. Well, the kindness of his heart, the promise of a huge take, and the special event of his birthday.
He couldn't resist. His excitement for the upcoming stealth mission spurred him on, and the man was damn charming. It was nearly a year since he'd crossed paths with a pretty girl he sought to have some one on one time in the bedroom. Besides, it was his birthday. Nathan gave him a birthday gift they could both enjoy.
When they had their fill of beer, he took him to a nearby motel with the impression they were going to plan the next part of the job. Once inside their room, he promptly punched Flynn in the face and tackled him to the carpet. While the man was still sitting on the floor wondering what the hell happened, Nate jumped up and stripped the clothes from his body.
Flynn's eyes bugged out at the sudden sight of his fully nude body, and he called him on the insanity of it. Nathan laughed at him being the hesitant one this time and swore no romance in the act. When that didn't quite convince him, he sat in his lap, straddling his hips.
"Fun, Harry," he murmured, running a hand through his slicked back hair as he placed his forehead against his. "We know this job is liable to go sideways. Let's get acrobatic before we're too sore to do the really creative stuff."
It was the other man's turn to laugh out loud. "Acrobatic? Seriously?"
Nathan sat back on Flynn's clothed lap and shrugged. "A boy can dream."
"Boy? You're..what? 28?"
"A for you, Flynn," Nate said with a smile, tapping a finger against the semi-aroused man's nose. "And today you are 36 and I want to do something special for you."
Flynn leaned back on his hands, causing him to lean away, but he was regarding Nathan with curiosity.
"You know, we seem to end up fucking each other after nearly every job now. An outsider looking in might think there's something there."
A frown creased his forehead, nose crinkling in distaste. He didn't want to imagine his surrogate father and partner in crime when he was feeling horny. Nathan looked Flynn over several times to put a much more enticing image in his mind again.
"There is something here. You," he said, shoving the man flat on his back with a palm. "And me. Friends making themselves very happy."
"You're an irritating asshole," Flynn muttered, genuinely annoyed. But Nate knew him better.
"And?"
"Pompous."
"And?" he continued to prod with a growing smile.
"And so damn charming."
"See? Men can dream too."
He planted his hands on either side of Flynn's head, letting his mouth hover over the man's lips before finally going the distance for the kiss. When the kiss was returned, things heated up fast. Nathan was eager and his hands struggled to get all of the impeding clothes removed from the man under him.
Once the clothing barrier was out of the way, he removed the lubricant bottle from his jacket. Nearly falling off Flynn's bony hips in his attempt to stay in contact with the man, he giggled. Applying the substance liberally to the stiff penis dripping with pre-cum, Flynn watched him do it. The man promptly gasped when Nate tossed the bottle and leveled himself to sit on the ready cock.
He pushed downward, impaling himself on the man's swollen member. There had been a few fantasies of doing just this thing to Flynn in his dreams over the years, and the man's birthday was too perfect an opportunity to pass by. It stretched and strained his entrance to accommodate the penis but he managed to take it all in one go.
Flynn groaned when he leaned forward. "Holy hell, Nate."
Nathan chuckled and wiggled his hips. He figured he would appreciate his initiative in playing with his hole earlier to take him in immediate. The man beneath him arched upward and he responded by riding the push back down and starting up a rhythm. He rocked forward and backward, Flynn helpless to do much more than grip his hips while he rode him.
"I am not a horse," the dazed man uttered, unwillingly moaning in pure ecstasy.
"Thank God for that or this would be really awkward."
"Drake!"
/
They used horses to flee the competition that showed up a day into their exploration. Body pounding up and down against the saddle of his horse brought him bitter reminders that this was so much less pleasant than when he'd been riding Flynn. Speaking of Flynn, the man was peering over his shoulder at him, words coming out. He couldn't hear them.
"What?"
Flynn became more animated, shouting again, but still he couldn't hear. The sound of horse hooves on hard ground was loud, and it had begun to rain mere minutes ago, adding to the sounds drowning out his speech. Pain emanated from his arm soon after hearing an automatic rifle go off.
"Too close! Too close!" he yelled to Flynn, looking over his own shoulder to see half a dozen men in a pair of jeeps bearing down on them.
A third jeep drove onto the scene in the path of his partner's horse and the animal startled, rearing up on its hind legs with a loud whine. He watched in horror as Flynn was thrown from his horse and into the jeep's path. Nathan pulled his horse to a sudden stop and threw himself forward into a somersault onto the ground below. It hurt. He would have scrapes to show for it, but he jumped back to his feet and ran straight for where he'd last seen Flynn.
He didn't see him, and that was the problem. He had no way of knowing whether his friend was roadkill or not. It pissed him off.
Nathan spent the next three minutes dismantling the pathetic excuse for their competition. With the rain aiding his stealthy movements, it was a simple task. These men were all brute force and bull-headed charges.
He chucked his empty gun at an enemy with a red bandana wrapped around his head. Nate threw a punch into the face of the second last guy left standing when he made the mistake of approaching with his weapon. His second and harder punch caused the man's assault rifle to pop out of his hands and he caught the weapon in surprise. That was cool.
Red bandana was raising his gun to shoot at him. Nate used the recently acquired weapon to spray his torso full of bullets. He listened for any other hidden or approaching enemies and heard sounds of a struggle. That had to be Flynn.
He ran toward the noise and discovered Flynn sitting upright against a tree. One of the assholes trying to steal their rubies from them had his hands around Flynn's throat. His partner was struggling to pry the tight grip from his neck but wasn't succeeding. Their enemy had a knee dug into his stomach and was using the downward momentum to overpower the man he was strangling.
Nathan blinked through the raindrops and shot him in the head. Free from the hold, Flynn coughed and gasped to reclaim precious air. When he made it over to him, he put his hands on his shoulders, looking him in the eye.
"Are you alright?"
"Peachy," Flynn choked out, pausing to gather more air. "Whatcha say we go ahead and admit this was a bad idea. There was supposed to be a lot more than what we found, but this is good enough for me. Call it a failed mission and get the hell out of here?"
Nate fingered the bruising already showing up on his partner's neck. His gaze went to the burning sensation in his left arm and felt in complete agreement. Looking at the bag of rubies tied to the saddle of his horse continuing to linger within the trees nearby, he grinned at Flynn.
"Sounds good to me. Let's get far from here."
/
He tugged Flynn to his feet.
"Sully's early. He's on his way up."
Nate shoved the man's shirt into his arms in a panic.
The other man chuckled at his distress. "You told him where to meet us days ago. You didn't think he'd be here by now?"
"I guess I didn't expect it to be when I was getting fucked up against the shower wall, Flynn," he retorted.
A huge grin spread across the man's face. "I can't believe you answered your phone while I was doing that."
"Sully would have wondered if I hadn't."
He scratched absentmindedly at the fresh bandage he'd applied to his arm only moments before. There came a knock at the door and he bit down on his lip to hold the swear word in. He slid his belt into place and grabbed his shirt, tugging it over his head.
Nathan groaned when he noticed while Flynn had gone to open the door, he hadn't bothered to put his shirt on first. He didn't care if Sully knew about them but he did care how he saw them. Sully already didn't have much good to say about Flynn. Why did he even try?
"Flynn."
"Sullivan."
Sully pushed past and moved into the room to get a solid look at him. "You okay, kid?"
"Great, Sully. Thanks for coming."
"Well I don't expect you to ever have the finesse to move the loot on your own."
"I coulda done it, mate."
"Yeah, right," Sully scoffed.
He glanced sideways at him then. "Put a shirt on."
Flynn smiled sweetly. "Don't act like you don't wish you could have this."
All of them stood in silence for a moment as they digested the suggestive comment. Nathan assumed he meant a younger body like Sully used to have, but it sure did sound like something else. Usually it was Sully who made everything sound dirty just by saying it. Flynn pulled on his shirt and put a finger up.
"I feel the need to clarify-"
"Shut it, Flynn. Nice bruises by the way. Am I to conclude you got Nate hurt too while you got yourself in over your head on a job?"
The man's cheery demeanor flattened fast. "I didn't make him do anything he didn't want to. And we didn't come out entirely empty-handed either."
"Well?"
Sully was directing the query to him now and he sighed. "I got shot in the arm."
"Aw, Nate," he started.
"Through and through, nothing serious. Relax, Sully. I'm fine."
"You got shot. There's nothing not serious about it."
Nathan groaned. "Give me a break, Sully."
"We're going. Now."
He sighed and reluctantly grabbed up the bag of gems. "I'll get you your cut within a week."
"Make it two," Sully corrected gruffly, walking over to the open door. "Now let's move, Nate."
It was Flynn's turn to be dismissive.
"Whenever you can is fine, Nate. I know how tough it is to be heralded by a hypocrite."
"You got him into this and went in half-cocked, like you always do." The irritated man left the room, slinging quick words over his shoulder as he did. "Come on, kid."
He felt like a child being grounded and forced to go home early from a friend's house. Why couldn't Sully just like Flynn? Maybe he had a thing against British people. He still remembered that British bitch Sully was involved with when he first met him.
"Goddamn! Nate!"