Kyle flushed and grinned back at her. “Uh, fine.” Josh, Bruce, and Linda, standing by one of the tents, were watching him with interest.
“Where’s the truck?” Zack asked.
“It isn’t here yet,” Josh answered. He pointed to one of the tents. “There are some soft drinks and stuff in there.”
“Hey Kyle,” Zack called. “Want something cool to drink? Maybe something with lots of ice?”
Kyle looked up. “Yeah,” he said. Samantha hung on his arm as he walked over to the tent. Bruce didn’t look concerned in the least. He must have gotten Samantha out of his system, although how any red-blooded American guy could manage that feat Zack didn’t know.
“So what’s in these crates we’re supposed to be unloading?” Zack asked Josh.
“Nothing much. The crates are needed to pack the artifacts in,” Josh answered. “All they have in them is packing material.”
Zack looked around for Maria, but she was nowhere to be seen and he wasn’t going to ask anyone about her. “I think I’ll get something to drink.”
Zack caught Kyle and Sam wrapped in another embrace. She opened an eye and winked at him over Kyle’s shoulder. They broke apart and Kyle went to the cooler and pulled out two bottles of beer. Zack helped himself to a Pepsi and beat a hasty retreat, amazed at how fast Kyle had maneuvered his way into Sam’s affections.
“How about a tour of the site?” Linda asked. “Until the truck comes.”
“Maybe later,” he said, seeing Maria approaching from one of the jungle paths. She looked great with her hair loose around her shoulders and her red blouse tucked into her blue jean shorts. He walked over to the edge of the trail and flashed her a smile. She didn’t return it.
“Hey,” he said, coming up to her. Suddenly he didn’t know what to do with his hands, so he stuck them in his pockets. He stepped closer to her and caught a whiff of her soap and shampoo. In the sunlight her hair had reddish highlights. It wasn’t pure black after all. She glanced up at him, but didn’t say anything. “How are you?” he asked.
She looked up at him and frowned. “I’m fine. How would you expect me to be?”
“Fine, I guess,” he answered.
“You’re blocking my path,” she said.
“Yeah,” he answered, not moving. This was not the reception he’d expected. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Well?” she demanded. “Aren’t you going to move?”
He stepped aside. “Sure.” She pushed past him and he watched her walk away. She entered the tent just as Kyle and Sam came out minus the beer bottles.
“Let me show you where they’ve been working,” Linda said, pointing at a mound at the end of the clearing. “They’re digging on the other side of that small hill, excavating a chultun. C’mon, Zack. I’ll show you.”
“A what?” Kyle asked.
“A chultun is a subterranean chamber,” Linda explained, leading them towards the mound. “They’re pretty small, the largest is only seven and a half feet long and four feet high. There are three in the Great Plaza connected to each other by tunnels. The archaeologists think the Maya used them for food storage, but garbage and artifacts - even human bones have been found in them. So far, this one has turned out to be quite interesting. They’ve found broken bits of pottery, bowls, and a couple of beautiful polychrome cups.”
“Those tents are where the archaeologists clean and catalogue the artifacts,” Josh explained as they approached the chultun.
The chultun didn’t look like much, just a deep dark hole with a ladder in it.
“You don’t want to go down there, do you?” Zack asked. The last thing he wanted to do was crawl down into a dark hole.
“No,” Linda answered. “With the thefts they’ve been having they wouldn’t let us anyway.”
“Somebody’s been stealing artifacts?” Kyle asked.
“Someone’s been stealing artifacts ever since we’ve been here. The thefts stopped for a couple of days and then this morning my father discovered some more precious objects were missing,” Linda said.
“You’re kidding,” Zack said.
“She wouldn’t kid about something as serious as theft,” Maria said. Zack hadn’t even been aware that she had come up behind them.
“That figures!” Samantha exclaimed. “See! It’s happening again. I knew it would. Michael never was involved in those thefts and this proves it.” She put her hands on her hips and stomped her foot. “Now do you believe me? Thanks to you guys he left for no reason.” She stared at Linda, then Josh and finally Maria. “If you hadn’t accused him of stealing he’d still be here. It’s all you’re fault that he’s gone!”
“Doesn’t matter,” Maria stated. “I can’t believe he ever got hired as an assistant to begin with. He was so full of stupid talk about lost Spanish treasure and a fifth book.”
“Spanish treasure?” Zack asked. “Fifth book? What’s that?”
“The Maya,” Maria explained, “had written phonetic language and thousands of books. Unfortunately, the Spanish burned all the books but four. Michael kept hinting that he knew the location of the lost Spanish gold and where to find a fifth codex. He said he even had a map leading to the codex.”
“Codex?” Zack asked. “Map?”
“Codex is another name for book,” Josh said. “Michael hinted that he knew of the existence of another book.”
The two men in Guatemala City had been arguing over a codex. The mustached man had already been given the ‘stuff found in Santa Elena’. Could that ‘stuff’ be the Spanish treasure Michael had hinted about? The mustached man had also said that someone named Miguel had made a drawing that would lead him to the greatest find in Mesoamerican history. Miguel, Michael. A codex. It all made sense. It all tied together.
“Are books that important?” he asked. “Would the codex be considered more important than the treasure? Could it be called one of the greatest finds in Mesoamerican history?”
“Oh, sure,” Linda said. “One of the greatest finds in Mesoamerican history would be a perfect description.”
“Michael wasn’t a thief and he wasn’t lying,” Sam insisted. “You’re going to feel so stupid if someone actually finds the book and the treasure.”
“No, I won’t,” Maria countered. “I’ll be ecstatic. But, if a fifth codex is found it won’t be because of anything Michael said.”
“You think you’re so smart,” Sam said. “You think you know everything. But you don’t! Michael knew where the codex was. He knew all about the treasure of Santa Elena, too. If you would have listened to him we’d all be rich now.”
“Sam,” Maria said. “You’re intelligence is showing.”
“What do you mean by that?” Sam demanded.
“Finding the codex or the treasure wouldn’t make us rich. Famous maybe, but not rich. Both the treasure and the codex would be confiscated by the government and put in a museum.”
“I could settle for just being famous,” Samantha said. “Anyway, all Michael wanted was for you to take him seriously. You guys act so superior about this Maya stuff. You make me sick.” Samantha stalked off and Kyle followed her.
For awhile no one spoke.
“She’s right,” Linda said slowly. “I do feel kind of bad about the way we treated Michael. You know, how we just assumed he was stealing. And, now, well, it’s obvious he wasn’t.”
“Yes, he was,” Maria said. “I know he was. I caught him a couple of times going through the inventory when he had no business being out here. He always had a smooth answer, but I know he was up to no good. Samantha’s upset because Michael made her some pretty hefty promises and she blames us, me in particular, because he didn’t deliver.”
“But,” Zack commented, “if this Michael was stealing and he’s gone, then who’s stealing the artifacts now?”
“I don’t know.” Maria gave each of them a stern look. “But, obviously it’s someone connected with the site. And, except for you guys all the gr
ad students working out here have been cleared.”
“Oh, Maria,” Josh said. “Get real.”
Zack looked around at the chultun. “This is it?” he asked. “This is the famous site I’ve heard so much about?”
“Actually, the temple they are clearing is further down that path,” Linda said. “But, we’re not allowed there anymore.”
“What did you expect?” Maria asked. “The Great Pyramid of Giza?”
“I don’t know, something more impressive, something more like the temples in the Great Plaza,” Zack answered.
“Those took years to restore,” Josh said. “This kind of work is very tedious because everyone has to be extremely careful and everything has to catalogued.”
“I guess,” Zack said. Maria walked away and Zack followed her.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked.
“Why do you think something’s wrong?”
“Well,” Zack said slowly, really confused now. “It’s just that . . . after last night.”
“Last night?” she asked. “What about last night?”
“Well, not last night exactly, but yesterday evening . . .” His confusion quickly turned to anger. How could she not know what he meant? She wasn’t that dumb. “I thought we were, you know, friends.”
“Where would a bright boy like you ever get a stupid idea like that?” She practically spat the words at him. He tried to stop his mouth from talking, but to his horror he continued, “Because, well, because you were so scared.”
“You think we’re friends because you saw me in a moment of weakness?” Her dark eyes flashed in anger. “It was dark. We’d been talking about your vision and I just let my imagination run away with me.” Maria sighed. “Look Zack, anyone could have been in your place and it wouldn’t have made any difference. I got scared. You just happened to be there. So what?”
“So nothing,” Zack said, feeling like he’d been slugged in the pit of his stomach. He should have known it was all a big nothing. Everything in his life was a big nothing. He glanced over at Linda and Josh and they quickly looked away. Bruce, however, kept staring. “Absolutely nothing.”
Off in the distance he heard the roar of a diesel engine. “That’ll be the truck,” Josh said, “time for us to get to work.”
The truck carrying the boxes had parked in the middle of the clearing. Clifton and a tall gangly cowboy were talking with the Guatemalan driver. Clifton turned when he saw them.
“Take the crates into that tent,” he pointed. They followed him to the back of the truck. He lowered the tailgate, climbed inside, and raised the tarpaulin. Kyle and Bruce hopped into the truck and began handing the crates, one by one, to Zack and Josh. The crates weren’t heavy, but were bulky enough so that it took both of them to carry one. It was almost noon by the time they finished.
“Go ahead and take the truck back to the main house,” Clifton said. “It’s too hot to walk back, and you guys deserve a swim.”
“Sounds good,” Zack said.
Samantha sauntered up to Kyle. “You don’t mind if I sit up front with you, do you Kyle?” She flashed him a grin. “My, my I do love to see guys all hot and sweaty.” Maria groaned loudly.
Kyle opened the passenger’s door for her. “Be my guest.” She climbed in and Bruce followed her. Zack watched as Bruce’s bulk forced her even closer to Kyle. Linda, Josh, Maria, and Zack got into the back.
At first Sam was very animated and talkative but it wasn’t more than a few minutes before the talk turned to football and Sam grew quiet. Zack felt a little sorry for her, as pretty as she was she couldn’t compete with sports.
The boys were in the pool when Sam and Linda came out in their scant swimsuits. They tossed their towels on one of the chairs. Linda slid into the water as Sam made a big show of stretching.
Maria was nowhere to be seen.
“This is heaven,” Linda said, making small waves with her hands.
Sam dived in and surfaced, wide-eyed. “Oh, darn! My top’s come untied!” she exclaimed in fake astonishment. Holding the top of her suit next to her, she smiled up at Kyle and purred, “Would you be a sweetheart and tie it again for me?”
“Sure,” he answered, grinning like a dumb ass. Sam turned around and held her wet red hair up off her neck. He took the strings and everyone stared as he tied a neat bow. When he was done she kissed him lightly on the cheek.
“Thanks,” she murmured. Zack felt a twinge of jealousy.
Mrs. Sanchez brought out a large platter of sandwiches and a bowl of chips. A younger version of Mrs. Sanchez carried bottles of soft drinks on a wooden tray.
“That is Mrs. Sanchez’s daughter,” Josh grinned, and Zack knew he was remembering his mistake with Maria yesterday.
At the sight of the food, Bruce and Kyle climbed out of the pool and sat at the table. Samantha immediately joined them.
“Bruce and Kyle are sure hitting it off,” Linda commented.
“Football brings people closer,” Zack answered. “Kyle’s a quarterback and was awarded MVP last year.”
“MVP?” Linda asked.
“Most valuable player,” Josh explained.
Bruce got up and went to his bungalow, returning in a few minutes with a football. Kyle joined him and the two of them disappeared around the side of the house.
Samantha picked up the tray of food and yelled over her shoulder, “Let’s go watch them!”
“Guess, we’d better if we want something to eat,” Linda said.
They climbed out of the pool and joined Samantha on the steps of the veranda. Zack popped the top off a bottle of Pepsi and grabbed a sandwich. Kyle and Bruce passed the football to each other while on the sidelines the Petén turkeys gobbled furiously, like a group of angry cheerleaders.
Chapter Eleven
Raymond sat alone at a table in the Mayan Inn surrounded by the buzz of conversation. A young woman with a high, slanted forehead and long black hair, waited as Raymond looked at the menu.
“Hamburger,” he said. “Make sure it’s well done. French fries and Cervaza.” She wrote down his order. “Bring the beer now.” She nodded, took the menu, and sauntered off.
He settled back in his chair. Things were looking up. Now he knew why Albie had showed up early at the alley. And, why Albie hadn’t had the map on him. That redheaded kid had the map. It was Albie’s tough luck that the kid had been late.
A tall man entered the restaurant, looked around, spied Raymond, and joined him at the table.
“Have you ordered?” Kane asked.
“Yeah,” Raymond answered. He held up two fingers and pantomimed drinking. Across the room, the waitress nodded. “She’ll be here in a minute.”
“We got us some problems,” Kane said.
“Like what?”
“There’s fire out in the brush. It’s not like last year, but they may close the roads.”
“And?”
“We have to fly the stuff out, that’s all.”
“What’d you mean, ‘fly it out’? Fly it out from where?”
“From here.”
“That old runway?” Kane nodded and Raymond snorted, “That runway is all broken and filled with weeds. No one can takeoff from there.”
“Take my word for it,” Kane assured him. “The pilot I hired can land and takeoff from anywhere.”
“If you say so,” Raymond said. “Besides, drive it out or fly it out doesn’t matter to me. As long as we get it out.”
“We need the codex, though,” Kane said. “I’m counting on that money.”
Raymond smiled. “Well now, that may be arranged after all. You know why Albie didn’t have the drawing? Because the dumb shit was waiting for it to be delivered. He should have told me. I saw the kid at the alleyway, but didn’t snap to the connection. This morning I saw that same kid again. Here in Tikal.”
He fell silent as the waitress placed two bottles of beer on the table and Kane ordered the same meal Raymond had ordered.
“We do ha
ve a couple of new kids,” Kane said after the waitress was out of hearing. “What does he look like?”
“Teenager. Tall, reddish-blond hair,” Raymond answered.
Kane nodded. “I know him. You think he still has the map?”
“We have to find out.”
“If he’s got it, I can get it. And, I can do it without anyone getting hurt.” He took a sip of his beer then set the bottle down. “You shouldn’t have killed Albie. There wasn’t any reason for that.”
“There was a damn good reason,” Raymond said. “I wanted to.” He scanned the customers at the other tables, they all looked like typical tourists. “Get that drawing soon. Everything’s packed and ready to go. The only loose end is the book.” He paused and then continued, “And, that kid. He can I.D. me.”
“Leave the kid out of this.”
“No,” Raymond answered. “He’s already in it. Deep.”
The waitress placed two steaming plates on the table. At the edge of the plate rested two tomato slices on a bed of lettuce. Raymond removed the top bun on his hamburger and watched the heat rise. “It’s too damn hot to eat this kind of crap,” he commented, layering the tomatoes and lettuce on top of the meat.
“I’m telling you. Don’t mess with that kid,” Kane ordered. “The plane’s not coming in until the end of next week. We don’t want any extra cops snooping around here.”
Raymond grimaced. “Next week! We need to be out of here in a couple of days!”
“Calm down,” his partner said, glancing around. “You always were too hot headed. Anyway, that’s the best I can do. This gives us plenty of time to get the boxes moved to that old shack at the end of the runway. Plus, it gives us time to find the codex. Just because we have the damn map doesn’t mean we’ll be able to read it without any trouble. Miguel liked being cryptic.”
“I don’t like it,” Raymond said, shaking his head. “That kid . . .”
Ninth Lord of the Night Page 9
