Ancient Hiss Story (15 page)

“He must have just gone off into the woods,” Ace suggested.

“Sure. That’s probably what happened.” Vic folded up the map. “Well, I guess we don’t need this anymore.”

“Yeah. It’s too bad, though,” Benny said. “We thought the tomb you were looking for might be in the pyramid.”

“That’s why we were here in the first place,” Carlotta explained. “We’d been clearing out the area and following these little stone markers. When we saw this pyramid, we thought we hit pay dirt.”

“We were all excited until Jersey showed up with those two helpers of hers and attacked us,” Gertie said.

“I’m a bit embarrassed,” Vic said. “But we weren’t prepared and they took us pretty easy and tied us up.”

“Yeah, plus she had a gun,” Sal added. “Too bad we didn’t find out it was out of bullets until she had forced us up onto the top platform.”

“But how did you get up onto the platform anyway?” Kate asked. “How did you get past the snake pits?”

“Oh, there was another way to get up on the side, but after Jersey got us up there, she hit some weird stone that made it impassable. We had a heck of a time getting back down, but luckily that guy Ed knew just where to step.”

Gertie waved her hand in the air. “That woman was completely bonkers. She even pushed her own helpers off the back after they helped her tie us up.”

“We were almost killed.” Sal’s face crumpled. “And it was all for nothing.”

“I had a run-in with Jersey myself.” Kate explained what had happened with Jersey and Snake Ring, then how she’d gotten stuck in the cave, found Ace and discovered the rest of the maps. She pulled out her cell phone and showed them the pictures. “So we followed the maps to this pyramid. We had no idea Jersey had you trapped up here, though. We thought we would find the tomb.”

“So then there really is no tomb?” Gertie’s face fell in disappointment.

Kate spread her hands. “I guess not. The maps all lead to this temple, so it seems like it would be here if it was anywhere. Maybe it was here once but got looted over the years.”

“Either that or it was just a legend. The Aztecs didn’t really bury their rulers in big tombs like the Egyptians did, so it was kind of a long shot in the first place,” Ace said.

“Wow,” Vic said. “So, the museum spent all this money for us to come out here for nothing?”

“Yeah. I hope Max isn’t going to be mad at you,” Gertie added.

Kate felt a sinking sensation. She hoped Max wasn’t going to be mad at her, too, but she had no intention of telling Max that they’d found the tomb and then flooded it.

She thought back to how she’d been stuck with all that desk work because of that little incident in Stockholm. A feeling of pride spread in her chest, she hadn’t frozen when faced with the snakes at the top of the tomb. That was progress.

She didn’t know if Max would see it that way, though. He might just see this as a failure to complete her mission. And if he did, would he stick her on a desk job again?

Kate glanced back up at the pyramid. It didn’t really matter now. The tomb was under water and she knew in her heart that she’d done the right thing and that was more important than impressing her boss. She wasn’t going to tell Max about the codex—that would be her and Ace’s little secret. The less people that knew about it, the better.

If Max wanted to punish her for not finding the tomb, then so be it.

F
ive days later
, Kate sat uncomfortably in the lab next to Gideon, awaiting a Skype call from Max. After the incident at the pyramid, they had gone back to their campsite and awaited the next satellite feed to talk to Gideon so Kate could give him the bad news. The subsequent instructions from Max were to pack up immediately and come home.

On the way out, they made a hasty trip to Jersey’s campsite. Oddly enough, the tents were still set up but there was no sign of Ed.

The door whisked open and Kate's lips curled in distaste as Mercedes LaChance sashayed into the room. Her eyes shot daggers at Kate as she fisted her hands on her hips and demanded, “What did you do to Ace Mason?”

Kate scowled at Mercedes. Why did
she
care? As liaison between the museum and the FBI, Mercedes’ job was to interface with the agents they sometimes teamed up with to recover stolen museum items. That meant that Mercedes spent a lot of time talking with Ace.

“I didn’t
do
anything to him. What’s wrong with him?” Kate asked.

“He got fired from the FBI.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Kate felt a stab of guilt. The FBI was Ace’s life. If he’d been fired because he went to Mexico to help her, he’d be pretty mad. She hoped that wasn’t the case because she didn’t want to be responsible for Ace losing his job, even though it would be fitting since he was responsible for
her
getting fired from the FBI.

“His replacement just left my office,” Mercedes said.

Kate glanced at Gideon, who shrugged. “I heard Ace got fired, too.”

Kate didn’t have time to think about that because just then, Gideon’s computer made a ringing sound.

“That’s Max calling in from Budapest.” Gideon pressed a few buttons and the Skype screen appeared.

Kate fluffed her hair. She was excited to finally see her elusive boss, but also nervous to hear what he would say about her mucking up the mission.

She stared at the screen in anticipation, confusion crossing her face when all she saw were two legs sticking up.

“Hi, everybody.” Max’s sultry melodic voice drifted out of the computer. “I hope you don’t mind if I practice some of my yoga while we are on this call. I’m pressed for time and need to try to kill two birds with one stone.”

Gideon laughed. “That’s okay, Max. I guess we can talk to your feet as well as your face.”

“Great,” Max said. “Did you do the research I asked for?”

“Yes,” Gideon said. “I found out that Jersey was working for
Teledig
. She was on a genuine dig to recover a Mayan village, but what they didn’t know was that she was secretly trying to pick up where her grandfather had left off, behind the scenes.”

“So, she was using the Mayan dig is a cover to try to find the tomb Reginald White claimed to have uncovered thirty years ago?” Kate asked.

Gideon nodded. “That’s right. She got her expenses paid to go out there and actually was doing the work for them but also following her grandfather’s footsteps on the side.”

“What about her assistant, Ed?” Kate asked.

Gideon frowned. “That’s the thing. They didn’t send out any assistant named Ed. They’d never heard of him. Are you sure you got the name right?”

Kate bristled. What did they think—she was so unstable that she couldn’t remember people’s names? “Of course I did. Everyone there saw him.”

“Well, it sounds like a mystery, then,” Max’s voice said. “But tell me, are you sure that you didn’t find any sign of a tomb.”

Kate’s gut tingled with nerves. She hated lying to Max and Gideon but she couldn’t risk telling them about the whole time travel thing. She knew instinctively that the less people that knew about it, the less chance others would try to seek it out.

“Unfortunately, there was no tomb. We found the rest of the map and followed it explicitly, but it just led to an empty pyramid,” Kate said.

“And what about my friend, Markovic?” Max asked.

“Oh, he sent his guys out there. Unfortunately, they had a run-in with Jersey and I don’t think they will be bothering us again—well, at least one of them won’t.” Kate wondered if Onion Mole had ever dislodged the snake … or made it out of the jungle. She felt a smug satisfaction, picturing him wandering around in there lost.

“Word on the street is now that they know there’s no tomb, Markovic has turned his interest to some other treasure,” Gideon said.

“That’s great,” Max said. “We don’t need him dogging us at every turn. It’s hard enough work for Kate to try and recover these items on her own. In fact, I think it’s too much work for her.”

Kate’s heart swooped. Here it comes, she thought. Failing to find the tomb was going to count against her. Would she be relegated to a desk for the rest of her career? Demoted and made to stand guard at the doors? She held her breath in anticipation of Max’s next words.

Gideon shot Kate a sympathetic glance. She figured he was probably working out the same scenarios in his head that she was in hers. “What you mean by that?”

“I’ve decided to step up our rate of acquisition. And with more displays for the museum, that probably means we’ll be seeing more theft. It’s going to be too much work for one person, so I’ve hired a partner for you to work with, Kate.”

Kate felt like she’d been punched in the gut.

A partner was worse than a desk job. She didn’t work well with others and she certainly didn’t need someone tagging along, who she had to train or watch out for to make sure they didn’t get killed.

“Wait a minute. I can do this by myself. Another person will just slow me down. I don’t need to be watching out for someone else out in the field,” she begged.

“Oh, I don’t think you’ll have to watch out for this person. I’ve hired someone who is highly skilled and trained in this job. They should be able to take care of themselves,” Max said.

“But…”

“Now, Kate.” Max’s feet wiggled on the screen. “I know you might resist this at first, but I think you’re going to really be glad about this in the end. In fact, I’ve invited your new partner to join this meeting. They should be here at any minute. I took the liberty of giving out the code to the lab.”

Kate, Gideon and Mercedes exchanged confused glances as they heard the elevator. Kate perched on the edge of her seat, anticipation mingled with trepidation as the elevator came to a stop.

Her feelings turned to horror as the door slid open to reveal her new partner was none other than
former
FBI agent Ace Mason.

“
W
hy would
he saddle me with Ace Mason?” Kate asked her parents two weeks later while enjoying iced tea in the outdoor cafe near their Florida condo.

Vic shrugged. “You always worked good together at the bureau.”

Kate scowled at Vic over her straw. “That was before I knew he was a jerk.”

“Maybe that’s all part of the curse,” Carlotta joked. “Just because there was no tomb doesn’t mean there wasn’t a curse.”

“Very funny.” Kate sucked a mouthful of iced tea up through her straw. She still felt bad about keeping the truth from her parents, but it was the best thing. Still, there had been a tomb, so maybe she really was being cursed.

“Anyway, I’m just glad to be away from all those mosquitos,” Vic scratched a series of red welts on his arm.

“And the snakes,” Kate added.

“We were very proud of how you conquered your fear of them on the pyramid. Weren’t we, Vic?” Carlotta beamed a ray of parental pride at Kate that made her heart swell.

“We’re always proud of you, Kitten.” Vic put his large paw over Kate’s hand and they all smiled at each other while the waiter placed a large blooming onion in the center of the table.

Kate’s eyes were drawn to the fragrant fried appetizer, her mouth watering as she reached over to pick off one of the slabs of onion before the waiter even finished setting the tray down. As he withdrew his hand from the platter, she noticed his tattoo—a figure eight snake eating its own tail.

She jerked her head up to look at his face. Their eyes locked and she sucked in a breath. It was the guy from the tomb!

“Hey, you’re—“

But then he was gone, the back of his head disappearing in the crowd. Kate sprang up from her chair, searching the crowd for him but he wasn’t within sight. She ran into the restaurant, but he wasn’t there, either. He had disappeared.

On the way back to her table, she signaled a nearby waiter. “Hey, our waiter that just brought the onion, did you see where he went?”

The waiter frowned down at the blooming onion. “I’m your waiter. I’m not sure who brought this.”

Kate’s phone erupted in song, interrupting her search for the mysterious waiter. Her parents were looking at her strangely, after her odd reaction to the waiter. Too bad she couldn’t tell them why she’d reacted like that. They probably thought she’d imagined recognizing the waiter. Maybe she had? After all, it was highly unlikely the guy would turn up here in Florida impersonating a waiter. But still, she couldn’t stop her eyes from wandering around the room, looking for the tattooed wrist as she answered her phone.

“Hi, Gideon,” Kate answered. She couldn’t tell him about the strange man, either. But Gideon wasn’t calling to chat anyway. He was calling to tell her about her next assignment.

The blood drained from Kate’s face as he gave her the details.

“What is it, dear?” her mother asked after she hung up. “It’s not about snakes, is it, because you conquered that fear and you don’t have to worry about freezing up when you encounter them ever again.”

“It’s not snakes,” Kate said grimly. “It’s much worse than that?”

Vic and Carlotta exchanged a worried glance. “What is it?”

“It’s my next assignment.” Kate tore off a huge chunk of blooming onion and stuffed it in her mouth. Maybe greasy fried food would soften the blow of what Gideon had just told her.

Vic frowned. “What is it that could be so bad? Is it a boring desk job again?”

Kate shook her head.

“Going out in the field in Antarctica?” Carlotta asked, knowing the cold weather and lack of anything to do would not appeal to Kate.

“Nope.”

“Recovering a stolen museum piece from an unguarded house?” Vic knew this would be a boring, pedestrian assignment.

“No.”

“Then what?” Vic and Carlotta asked at the same time.

Kate sighed and signaled the waiter to bring another drink. She needed something stronger. Much stronger.

“My next assignment involves going undercover as a married woman … married to my new partner, Ace Mason.”

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