Forgotten Love: An Action-Packed Adventure Romance (The Forgotten Chronicles) Read online

  Forgotten Love

  by Kameron Scott

  www.facebook.com/KameronScottRomances

  Book One of the Forgotten Chronicles

  Author's Note

  Where to begin?

  Well, as in all good stories, the beginning should come at the start. When Theo and Gillian were first brought to life, so to speak, in their world of ancient mysteries and forgotten wonders, the idea was to give you, as their audience a front-row seat to watch as their adventures unfolded. Adventures that would continue in surprising and amazing ways.

  Remarkably, the idea for the backdrop to Theo and Gillian’s first adventure came from actual events. The disappearance of Greenland’s ice sheet was such an unbelievable occurrence, something so shocking, that it might have been carved out of the make believe world of an adventure story. And it raised the question: what mysteries could be discovered there by two intrepid minds if they went searching? There was only one way to find out. And in the pages that unfolded while the story of Theo and Gillian began, the answers to that question were found.

  No one was more surprised than I was.

  The story of Professor Theo Cutro, covert artifact recovery specialist, and Gillian Langtree, woman of mystery and intrigue, begins here. Because every good story needs a good beginning.

  I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

  Chapter 1

  Chicago, Illinois: Four years ago

  "I'M TELLING YOU, Saul, we'll never have another opportunity like this."

  Professor Theo Cutro sat on the edge of a stuffed leather chair on one side of a large rectangular desk across from the Director for the Chicago Museum of Antiquities. The director Saul Eversteen, steepled his fingers and regarded Theo with calm, clinical interest. Saul was thirty-six, only a couple of years older than Theo but opposite in appearance. While Theo had a youthful appearance and an athlete's body, Saul carried himself with the air of a much older man. He was handsome enough, although he was going bald, and his once powerful physique was growing soft and pudgy from sitting behind a desk all day. Despite these physical changes, being an administrator agreed with Saul. It was all he ever really wanted out of life.

  "So what you're saying," Saul said to Theo, in a tone of voice that tried not to be sarcastic but failed completely, "is that you want me to finance an expedition to Greenland on a hunch and a whim?"

  "Well," Theo tried to decide how best to put it. "Not you personally. The museum. I'd like the museum to finance an archaeological expedition to Greenland. This is a once in a lifetime chance, Saul."

  Theo was Professor of History at New York University. That was his official day job. The job he reported to the IRS. His real interest and passion was archaeology. Thanks to a few very successful finds, and subsequent clever—some might say lucky—investments, he really didn't need to teach in order to make a living. He was quite well off now and could do pretty much what he pleased. However, all the money in the world didn't open diplomatic doors or convince some foreign governments he should be allowed across their borders to dig in their soil.

  That's why he needed the Chicago Museum of Antiquities to fund at least part of this expedition. Even if he provided the bulk of the funding himself, he still needed the air of legitimacy the Chicago MoA would give him. On his own he couldn't carry that much weight. This became problematically evident the time he had gone up into Canada to the city of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. His intention had been to excavate an area of caves to look for a rumored crystal skull. When the authorities found him there, by himself, tearing out large sections of rock cavern, they had promptly deported him. One of the Canadian Mounted Officers had even called him a crazy American scavenger. That is pretty strong language for a Canadian.

  Theo never had problems like that when he entered a country officially with the backing of an establishment like the Chicago MoA. So that was where his friend Saul came in. They weren't actually friends in the strict sense. They didn't hang out after work at the local pub shooting pool. They didn't get together for weekend BBQs at each other's houses. They were the kind of friends that sought each other out when one of them needed a favor.

  Saul sat there staring at Theo, his fingers drumming the top of his desk. The color of the dark, wood-stained desk matched the dark paneling in the room, the richly grained bookcases and all the other furniture. This office was a dark space, meant for academics. Saul fit right in. Saul was an academic, not an adventurer. For adventures, he depended on people like Theo.

  Finally, he stopped tapping his fingers and began opening the drawers of his desk one at a time, obviously looking for something and taking his sweet time about it. From the very last drawer on the bottom left side, he took out a stack of old scientific journals. Theo recognized a few of the titles and even saw one that he'd been published in himself. Saul opened the top journal and slowly leafed through it, coming to the end of it in a drawn-out fashion, and then opened the next one and started over, leafing page by page.

  Theo sighed and waited. Saul and he had been acquaintances, if not friends, for nearly five years now, ever since Theo made the donation of the missing Voynich manuscript pages he had stumbled across, to the Chicago MoA. This acquisition had earned Saul much acclaim with the museum's board of directors. Saul's dream was to build up the Chicago MoA into one of the largest museums in the country. From what Theo had seen, Saul had the knowhow and drive to do just exactly that. He respected the man for that.

  As he sat there waiting on Saul, Theo glanced around the room. There were a lot of pieces in here that didn't make it out to the public exhibits. There was a framed letter from Abraham Lincoln to his son Robert Todd Lincoln that Theo had always thought was a fake, a broken spear from the African Daasanach tribe, a skull fragment from a Ramapithecus specimen, and other odds and ends. Saul's desk was just as cluttered as his office, with file folders and paperwork and photo frames...

  Theo's gaze wandered over Saul's desk until something caught his eye. He leaned in closer and picked up a silver picture frame. "Who's this?" he asked. The woman in the photo was, by anyone's standards, beautiful.

  Saul looked up briefly from his search through the articles. "That is my girlfriend, Gillian. She works in the research department here. You wouldn't know her."

  "I didn't know you had a girlfriend, Saul." Theo squinted at the photo. The woman in it was taller than Saul, and her green eyes offset her dark red hair. Her pretty face was dotted by freckles that made her look younger than she probably was. And she had her arms wrapped tightly around Saul. "She's... nice." Theo restrained himself from saying "hot."

  "If you don't mind," Saul cleared his throat and took the photo frame out of Theo's hands, replacing it on the desk facing away from Theo.

  "Just curious, Saul," Theo told him, sitting back in his seat.

  "Don't be," said Saul. "Here it is," he said, pointing to an article on a page in the middle of one of the journals and trying to act like he hadn't been at all worried about Theo staring at his girlfriend. "This is an interview with A. K. Hobson, who you may have heard of. He's an academic who spent years mapping Greenland. Know what he found there? A large amount of nothing."

  "I know that, Saul. But that was before the ice sheet melted!"

  When Theo had heard the news, he couldn't believe it. Part of the ice sheet that had covered Greenland for as long as anyone could remember was simply gone. In a world plagued by above-average temperatures and global warming, this was still unusual—the ice had melted away in just a few
days. And in some coastal areas miles of ice—gone. And underneath it, virgin territory. "You know it melted away once before back in the late 1800s, don't you?" Saul reminded him.

  "Not like this. Not to this extent."

  "So, what exactly is it you're hoping to find?" Saul asked with a small curl to his lip.

  "That's the thing of it, Saul. There could be anything there now. Artifacts from past civilizations. Villages that were abandoned when the ice advanced. I don't know. But I do know we need to be first out there, or whatever is there will go to someone else."

  That caught Saul's attention. For a man with ambitions like Saul, letting someone else get anywhere first was a bad thing.

  But still, he stuck a finger out and shook it in Theo's face. "Do I need to remind you that you're a really just a college professor? You are not Indiana Jones. That part went to Harrison Ford."

  "Do I need to remind you that I've built quite a reputation as a covert artifact recovery specialist? For crying out loud, Saul, I brought you that copy of Shakespeare's Cardenio just last week. You're still doubting what I can do?"

  That set Saul back in his seat. "No. I suppose not." He tapped a finger against his desktop for a few moments before raising both of his eyebrows and shrugging. "Okay, fine. Tell me what you'll need."

  "You know me, Saul. Just like the last time—just the upfront stuff."

  "Yes, I remember the last time, Theo. I know how this works. I hope you remember how this works as well, If you come back empty handed from your little fishing expedition, I'll expect you to pay the museum back every cent we put into it. And that includes bail money and or bribes."

  "You got a deal, Saul." Theo stood and stuck his hand out. Saul did the same, and the men shook on it.

  "There's one more thing," Saul said.

  "Of course there is. Isn't there always?"

  That made Saul chuckle, at least. "If you are going on the museum's dollar you're going with someone who will represent the museum's interests."

  "That's never been the deal before..."

  "It's the deal this time."

  Theo immediately shook his head. "No. I work alone, Saul. I can't work with a grad student intern tagging along... Plus it could be dangerous."

  "I'm not sending a grad student. I'm sending a researcher—an amateur archaeologist—just like you. She's been annoying me for a chance to do more fieldwork. Your Indiana Jones complex is big enough to take care of two people isn't it? How dangerous can Greenland be, anyway?"

  "I do not have a—" He stopped, blinking. She? "Okay, listen. My point is that I work alone. I'm a team of one, always have been. And I've never let you down before, have I?"

  Saul laughed. "Seriously? Do I need to recite the list? You want my museum to fund this trip? I want assurances that you'll get the job done. Neatly. Without complications. Legally. The board of directors is looking at reorganizing this place, and when they do, I plan on ending up on top of the heap. Consider this my way of looking out for...the museum's interests."

  Theo knew exactly whose interests Saul planned on looking out for. But this trip wasn't going to happen without the kind of strings Saul could pull. So he sucked up his pride and nodded. "Fine, Saul. We'll do it your way."

  Chapter 2

  TWO DAYS LATER, back home in New York, Theo waited on the tarmac of Teterboro Airport, next to his Cessna Citation X class as his pilot went over the checklist. The plane was small and versatile, propelled by twin turbofan engines built by Rolls Royce. Theo ran a hand impatiently through his short, curly blond hair. The researcher that Saul insisted he take with him was supposed to be here by now. She was nearly half an hour late. He'd give her ten more minutes and that was it.

  It was midmorning. His stomach growled at him because he'd skipped breakfast. He had been in such a rush to get here that he hadn't had time for food. Or so he'd thought. Turns out he could have had a three course meal and still been here on time.

  "Sorry. Who expected New York traffic to be such a bitch on a Tuesday," a woman said from behind him.

  Theo rolled his eyes before he turned around. At last, he got to meet—

  He blinked. Theo felt his jaw drop.

  It was the woman from Saul's photograph. Saul's girlfriend.

  The picture didn't do her justice.

  She was dressed right out of a Banana Republic catalogue in sturdy cargo pants and hiking boots and a thick black sweater that did nothing to hide her trim, athletic body. Her green eyes studied him just like he studied her, and her long red hair blew across her cheeks in the breeze.

  "So you must be Theodore Cutro," she said as she lowered her pack to the cement-covered entryway to the airfield.

  "Theo," he corrected. All his life people had wanted to turn his name into Theodore. But he preferred Theo. It had been his Great Grandfather's name.

  "You look like a Theodore to me."

  Theo let the comment pass. "So. You're the amateur archaeologist Saul is sending with me?"

  "Gillian Langtree," she said, extending her right hand. "I've done some fieldwork before so I'm not exactly an amateur, but I'm happy to get a chance for more even if it is just Greenland."

  Theo smiled and shook her hand. She had a real strong grip.

  "I hear you've got more than a few skills to share," Gillian continued.

  Theo shrugged. He was good, and he knew it. He didn't feel the need to brag.

  She continued. "So what's the plan here? We're going to dig until we find...what? Dinosaur bones? A Viking ship? What kind of equipment are we bringing? Laser imaging scanners? Micro displacement sensors? Or are you old-school and bringing just a trowel and a feather duster?"

  Theo refused to give her the satisfaction of being right about several of those pieces. "You ask a lot of questions, don't you?"

  "Hey, asking questions is a good way to find things out." She looked at him with an arched red eyebrow.

  Theo blinked at her. "Did you just quote Big Bird?"

  "Wisdom comes from the weirdest places. You should hear what I've learned from Dora the Explorer."

  Theo didn't know what to make of her. She was pretty. Well, beyond pretty, to be honest. And witty. And if Saul was sending her on this trip he obviously trusted her to do what needed to be done. And come home to him again.

  That was a lot of trust between boyfriend and girlfriend. Especially if every other guy around was looking at her the way he was looking at her.

  "I assume this thing has passed at least one inspection since 1997?" she asked, taking a step closer to the plane.

  "What?" He wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly.

  She pointed with one hand. "The plane."

  "Oh. Right." He felt foolish. Why was he acting like a teenager? Gillian picked up her bag and climbed the steps into the plane. Theo watched her backside sway tantalizingly until it disappeared into the cabin with the rest of her. His thoughts were wandering to places they really shouldn't be. Theo picked up his own pack and climbed aboard the plane.

  * * *

  The Cessna was tiny but luxurious. Eight plush leather seats were mounted along a single narrow aisle in sets that faced each other forward and back to facilitate comfort and conversation. Gillian was in the rear of the plane exploring the small, well-stocked galley and bar. Theo sank into a forward facing seat and put his pack down on the seat facing his. The other equipment that he would need for this trip that had been sent on ahead of him and would be waiting for him when he got to Nuuk, the capital city of Greenland.

  He had just leaned his head back and was about to close his eyes when something cold and wet touched his neck.

  "Cranberry juice?" Gillian held a small bottle in front of his face. "Coffee? Or are you more of a tea drinker?" She grinned.

  "Coffee," Theo said.

  Gillian sat down in the seat across the aisle next to Theo. "Just push the red button on the machine back there," she said, jerking her head in the direction of the galley. "It does espresso and cappuccino too. There
's a toaster and a microwave and a fridge with yogurt and fruit. There are muffins and bagels and some breakfast burritos..." She popped open a container of yogurt, and ate a spoonful. "I wonder why the museum spent so much money on a private plane when there's commercial service." Gillian regarded Theo expectantly while sucking on the spoon.

  Theo didn't like to promote his wealth so he avoided the question by getting up to get himself a cup of coffee. He caught just the faintest trace of her perfume as he passed her. It was spicy and subtle, and very feminine. The kind of thing that would keep a guy's attention focused on her and her alone. Theo reminded himself that she was Saul's girlfriend.

  He soon found that she didn't need another person's input to carry on a conversation.

  "I want to discuss strategy for our little exploration," she said, turning around and kneeling backward in her seat to look at him. "You know, since Greenland has more than eight hundred thousand square miles of land mass..."

  The question he kept returning to was, what did she see in Saul? He set the coffee maker to regular and popped a bagel in the toaster. "Um. Well. Our exploration won't be quite that extensive. The ice sheet only covered six hundred and some-odd thousand square miles. That's the only area I'm interested in. That ice sheet's been in place for hundreds and hundreds of years. Long enough that anything that was under it has been forgotten about."

  "You know it melted off before, back in the late 1800s, right?"

  So she did her homework. "Yeah, Saul mentioned that," he said. "But it's never melted off so completely. Not like this."

  Gillian stared at him intently. Her eyes bored into him, looking deeper than his surface. "So are we going to use magnetometers or subsurface imaging equipment? Or are we just going to walk around and hope that we stumble over something?"

  The toaster was taking forever. "Of course not."

  "Of course not which...?" she prompted.

  "Look, I didn't want Saul to send someone with me. I'm used to working alone." Theo fished the bagel out with a fork, dropped it onto a plate and began to dress it with butter and jam. "So, if I seem like I'm cutting you out or ignoring you, don't take it personally."