Saving Grant Ward

Chapter Thirty-Six

Grant and I found May waiting in a clearing outside the Incan temple the archaeologists had been working on. We passed the professor leading the dig as we headed towards May, and Grant called out the same lie to her that we'd used earlier.

"Tracks match the prof's truck," he said, nodding to the man in question as we passed him. He fell into step with May, trusting her to get the hint and catch the lie, as I headed past her up the steps and into the temple after the rest of our team.

I had to duck through the low rock passageway, but I found Skye and Coulson inside a small chamber, along with FitzSimmons pouring over data on matching screens. Small drones flew around the room, examining the 0-8-4 stuck in the temple wall, and I gasped.

"Oh my god! You guys finished the dwarves!"

"We did, yes! They're doing their jobs quite well now."

"Much easier than having to get too close to anything in the field on our own."

I smiled at the both of them, then refocused as Coulson called my name.

"What'd you find?"

I sighed. "We've got potential hostiles. The tracks Grant and I found didn't match any of the trucks already at the site. There's potential that it belongs to someone else who's usually here, just not today, or somebody else who's not a threat, but..."

"But that's not likely."

"No."

I saw Fitz, Simmons, and Skye giving me worried looks. I didn't want to scare them, but unfortunately, this was reality of life in the field. Before Coulson or I could say anything else, his walkie talkie crackled to life.

"Sir?" Grant's voice. My hand drifted towards my gun.

"Go," ordered Phil.

"We have a situation."

Phil and I shared a look as Skye spoke.

"Lots of rebels in this area."

Phil shook his head. "Not enough gunfire."

"Grant sounded stressed, but not like he was actively under fire," I added. "Still, if the two of them couldn't handle it on their own..."

"Then that's why they called me," Phil said.

I chewed the inside of my lip, but I didn't contradict him. Grant and May's collective weakness was talking; probably, that's what the solution involved, and that's why they'd called Phil.

"Keep working," Phil said, addressing Fitz and Simmons. Then, he spoke into the walkie talkie. "I'm on my way."

He headed out of the room, pausing by the door just long enough to look at me.

"You're last line of defense."

"So I've been told."

He didn't respond as he headed back out to the stairs and the clearing where Grant and May were waiting for him. 

FitzSimmons exchanged a nervous look, but then returned to their task. I slid over to the entrance into the room to take up a defensive position, and to listen for any more signs of trouble. Or for Grant shouting "zebra". 

Skye moved over to stand next to me, putting herself directly in the doorway in the process. I put a hand on her shoulder and moved her to the other side of me as she spoke.

"What do you think's going on out there?"

I shook my head, not taking my eyes off of the tunnel ahead.