45.

Chapter Five.

"Oh my gods, no."

Jenna pulled away from Ben and scrambled to find her PCD.

From behind her she heard Ben ask the one question that scared her. "Were there any casualties?"

Not able to hear Matt's response, she yanked her PCD out of her purse and quickly checked her call history. Three calls from Roger, her assistant. Jenna was relieved that he wasn't hurt. It only took a second for the call to go through to him.

"Jenna! Where the hell have you been?" Roger was shouting over the noise in the background.

"I'm not home or else I would have answered sooner. What's going on there?"

"We found something. Not sure what it is yet, but it's definitely big."

Despite herself, a thrill of excitement set her hands shaking. They found something.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked feeling guilty. "We heard there'd been an explosion."

Roger looked surprised. "We?"

"Roger," she said with enough menace to elicit a chuckle from Ben.

Ben quietly moved beside her, careful to stay out of the vid screen's range, and whispered, "Everyone's fine."

"Only minor injuries. But you need to get down here now. You won't believe this thing." Roger sounded giddy.

"What is it?" Jenna's mind raced through the possibilities but nothing seemed to make sense.

"It looks like some sort of alien artifact. And by alien I don't mean Earth-based. Not sure what it does yet or where it's from. That's why I've been pinging you."

Jenna's mind began to whiz through the possibilities of what the artifact could be.

This was out of her league.

"Okay, I'll get changed and make a few calls. I'll see if I can get a hold of an archeologist. They may be able to give us a better idea of what we're dealing with."

"Hurry," Roger said and the screen went black.

This was it. No, this was beyond anything she could have hoped for. An ancient artifact could prove that the soil on Mars once sustained life. That someone had lived here long before humans arrived. And if that's the case, there may be hope that they could reclaim the soil, and somehow get out of the bind their planet was in.

46.

"Jenna?"

Lost in thought, she'd momentarily forgotten Ben. His hand on her hip quickly brought reality back. She looked up into his dark hazel eyes and wanted to melt. Why tonight?

"I have to go. I'm sorry," she said and sighed.

"No need to apologize. I'm coming with you."

Her jaw fell open for a second before she snapped it shut. "Why on Mars would you want to come? I doubt there is anything of monetary value there. At least we won't know if it even has any value until we have a chance to examine it."

"And I have people who can make that determination. You need my help. That's why CalCorp was brought on board this project to begin with."

She couldn't believe it. "Ben, think of the cultural and scientific significance of this find. There's more to this than how much money your company can get out of it."

Ben released her hip and moved across the room to gather his clothing. He didn't say anything, but she could tell he was annoyed with her. He snatched his belt from the floor, cracking the air. With steady jerks, he slipped the belt through the loops of his pants, all the while keeping his gaze locked on her. She had to fight the urge to squirm under his stare.

"You said you need an archeologist. Do you know one?" he asked in a tone that held a heavy edge.

She had to stop and think. "Alex Hanshaw from the university is quite accomplished. He'll be able to figure it out."

"If memory serves, Mr. Hanshaw is an expert on Earth antiquities and has only been on the planet six months. I very much doubt he'll be of much use."

"Oh, and I suppose you have an expert on alien artifacts on retainer," she said and crossed her arms across her chest.

"Gareth Sanderson."

Jenna blinked. "The linguistic expert?"

"And archeology, amongst other things. He's also spent the last five years working for us on a special project." Ben shot her a cocky grin. "He should be of use."

Jenna couldn't move, staring at the change in him. What had happened? Ten minutes ago she was lying in his arms thinking she'd been wrong about Ben all this time. And now here they were, facing off again. Her heart ached.

Something must have shown on her face because Ben was across the room and at her side within seconds.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

A tight lump filled her throat. No, she wasn't going to do this now. Jenna looked up and shrugged.

Ben's lips tightened into a thin line. "Just like old times. That's what you were 47 thinking?"

They'd gone through too much tonight for her to lie to him now.

She nodded. "I guess this means our date is over."

He caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. "I guess it does." He paused and looked intently at her.

"What?"

His jaw tightened for a second before he smiled. "This evening wasn't what I was expecting."

That was an understatement.

"Me either," she said and gave his hand a squeeze. "Back to business now."

"Matt will be here in ten minutes. We can swing by your place to get your things."

Jenna felt her head nod in an automated response. She sucked at the whole morning-after scenario. Having to go through this now certainly sucked. Her mind bouncing between her team's discovery and her evening with Ben made the ten minutes they waited for Matt seem like an eternity.

Jenna hopped out of the limo, not bothering to wait for Matt's assistance this time.

Her dress was long abandoned for slacks and a tight-fitting t-shirt.

"Jenna, wait." Ben's voice chased her, but she didn't stop.

"Roger!"

Her skinny assistant stalked across the sandy terrain and caught her in a fierce hug.

She could feel him shaking.

"I was there, in the tent. Not five minutes before it blew. I could be..."

He stopped, unable to go on. Jenna hugged him again.

"You're not. That's all that matters."

Jenna felt a tingle move down her back as Ben moved quietly behind her.

"Do you know what could have caused the explosion, son?" he said, his voice calm and reassuring.

Roger pulled away from Jenna and looked hard at Ben. She knew how her assistant reacted to people he didn't know.

"Roger, this is Ben Hawthorn. He is the head of CalCorp."

Roger scowled. "Didn't take long for you to get here. Wanted to check the damage?

See how much money you're out?"

Jenna cringed. Ben, for his part, barely blinked.

"I was told people were hurt. I wanted to make sure they got the care they needed."

Roger rolled his eyes.

48.

Ben smiled before turning his attention to Jenna. "I'll be with Matt. Let me know if you need anything."

"Will do."

She watched as he walked away. Confident, in charge and incredibly sexy. She sighed before she turned her attention back to her friend. He was staring at her, mouth hanging.

"He was the reason you didn't answer your communicator? Are you insane? From what you told me, that guy is an asshole. Shit, from everything we've seen, that guy is an asshole."

Jenna straightened. "It was arranged through a dating service. I didn't set out to kiss up to the boss, if that's what you're thinking."

Her body quivered at the memory of Ben's kiss. His hands caressing her back and thighs. A wave of desire shivered through her. She gave her head a shake.

"And Ben's changed since the last time I saw him." She wasn't convinced that he had changed, but rather she was seeing another side of him for the first time.

She turned her back on Roger and walked quickly to the tent where a temporary headquarters had been set up. Instinctively, she knew he would follow, so she kept talking.

"So what did you find? Where is it?"

Business, she needed to focus in on the matter at hand. That's what was important, not Ben.

She kept her head down and examined a busted, scorched piece of metal that had been lying on the table. The smell of burned sulfur turned her stomach.

"What the hell's this?"

"It was near the artifact we found. I don't think it was a part of it. More like a piece of something someone was using to lever the object with."

"Someone was trying to steal it?"

Roger shrugged. "Looks that way. I found this just as you see it. The explosion didn't cause that damage."

When she picked it up, a black residue rubbed off onto her fingers. The metal looked to be reinforced steel from Earth. What it was doing here and who would have access to something of this nature were two questions that needed to be answered.