Ancient Hiss Story (4 page)

“
W
hy would
the FBI be in the museum with masks on?” Gertie asked as they made their way down the steam tunnel.

“Good question.” Kate switched on her hardhat light. The LED lights everyone had affixed to the front of their hats illuminated the tunnel pretty well, though Kate wasn’t sure if she wanted to see what was in the tunnel, judging from the slimy, moldy sides. She stepped gingerly over the piles of decayed leaves and thought about Ace Mason.

Ace had been her partner at the FBI. More than a partner, actually, but she didn’t want to think about that part. They had been assigned to take down one of the most evil adversaries of the FBI—Damian Darkstone.

They’d worked together closely for months on the case. Very closely. Too closely. In the end, they’d gotten their man, but Kate had had to use some unorthodox methods.

She figured that was a minor detail. Everyone knew the world was better off with Darkstone behind bars. Too bad Ace Mason was one of those guys that liked to go ‘by the book’. In the end, his testimony had gotten her fired from the FBI, ending their partnership and whatever else they had going.

But that was all ancient history now. Whatever Ace was doing in the museum was no concern of Kate’s, unless it had something to do with the painting.

“Are you sure he didn’t recognize you?” Gertie was asking.

Kate looked down at her cleaning lady get-up. “I don’t think so, I don’t look like myself and I even have colored contacts. There’s no way he could have known it was me.”

“Maybe it wasn’t him, Kitten,” Vic said. “He had a mask on, so all you saw were eyes.”

Kate felt a little put out because it sounded like her father might be defending Ace, which was funny because Vic had never liked him until the previous summer, when he’d had to team up with Ace to rescue Kate and Carlotta. Somehow, the two of them had formed a bond. Ace had tried to make up with Kate then, too, but she wasn’t ready for it and she sure didn’t need her father sticking up for the guy.

“Yeah, it probably wasn’t him,” Sylvia piped in. “What would the FBI be doing knocking off a museum?”

“Maybe Ace is moonlighting?” Gertie suggested.

Kate almost laughed, but then a rustling sound up ahead caught her attention. Her blood turned to ice.

“What’s that?” She hated the shaky edge to her voice. “Are there snakes in here?”

Gertie shrugged. “Might be. Everything else is down here. I saw a big fat rat earlier.”

Something scurried over Kate’s foot and she froze. A tiny squeak escaped from her mouth.

Carlotta turned back to look at her, a frown creasing her forehead. She knew about Kate’s snake phobia, but hadn’t seen her daughter actually freeze up since she was ten years old. “What is it?”

Kate couldn’t say anything. She just stood there with the deer in the headlights look and her heart in her throat. She felt weak, her vision blurry. There wasn’t much that stopped her in her tracks, but snakes freaked her out. She felt the same sinking feeling she’d felt in Stockholm. It was as if she were sinking into a black abyss, helpless to move her limbs or speak.

“Kate!” Carlotta was shaking her shoulder and Kate managed to slide her eyes over to look at her mother.

Carlotta tapped her cheek lightly. “Kate, snap out of it. There’re no snakes here. That was a cute little mouse.”

Carlotta’s voice broke through the haze in Kate’s brain. Right, it was just a mouse.

“And anyway,” Carlotta continued. “You can handle a little thing like a snake. You’ve handled much worse.”

Like Damian Darkstone
, Kate thought.

Carlotta’s soothing words brought Kate back from the edge. “Take a deep breath,” Carlotta commanded.

Kate did as she was told. She sucked in a deep breath, her chest expanding as far as it could. She held the breath until she started to feel dizzy.

“Now let it out.”

Kate whooshed out the breath and started to feel normal again. Then she started to feel ridiculous. Who froze like that over a stupid reptile? She was tougher than that.

“What are you guys doing?” Vic’s voice echoed from further down the tunnel. “We need to get a move on here. We don’t know if they will send someone down one of the other tunnels and cut off our exit.”

“They can’t,” Gertie said. “The only entrances between here and our exit are blocked up, so it’s smooth sailing for us.”

“Where is the exit?” Carlotta asked.

“Alleyway on Smith Street. Just jimmy open the manhole cover and climb out. Sal is waiting in a car for us.”

“What would they send someone in for, anyway?” Kate looked down at the ripped painting with a sinking stomach. “I ruined the painting. This was all for nothing.”

“Not nothing. You got half of it.” Gertie gestured to the painting and Kate held it up to assess the damage.

“Yeah, sure, but what good is it now?” Kate asked.

Sylvia looked over Gertie’s shoulder at the painting. “Wait a minute. Let me see that.”

Sylvia leaned forward, angling her head to see the painting better. Kate heard her sharp intake of breath.

“Yeah, I know. It’s trash now,” Kate said. “Max is going to be really mad. And I left the money so he’s out all that money and I only got half a painting. Even if we had the other half, it’s not going to be worth much now that it’s ripped.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” Sylvia’s voice was tinged with excitement. “If I’m not mistaken, this painting is the
Secret of Itizuma
. The painting disappeared fifty years ago. Very few people have ever seen it and there were no pictures of it, so I can’t be certain … but from what I’ve heard, this looks like it could fit the bill.”

“Great. I ruined a valuable, famous work of art.”

“Well, it’s not so much the painting itself that was so valuable. The painting reputedly has clues that could help archaeologists solve a five hundred year old mystery.”

“What’s that?” Carlotta asked.

“The location of the tomb of Itizuma.”

“
I
didn’t say
anything to either of you about my suspicions because I wasn’t sure the painting Estelle had really was the
Secret of Itizuma
,” Max said through Gideon’s speakerphone two days later as they were sitting in the lab at the
Ritzholdt Museum
. “This whole legend is a well-guarded secret that only a few people know about. I couldn’t be positive until we got it in-house.”

“I didn’t know a thing about it myself, but I’ve done a bit of research and I think it’s the real deal.” Gideon frowned at the half-painting that lay stretched out on one of his tables next to a folder stuffed with research. “Of course, I only have half of it to look at.”

Kate grimaced and Gideon hastened to add. “But it was actually a blessing in disguise that the painting ripped in half because otherwise we would have never discovered the icon hidden inside the wooden stretchers.” Gideon pointed to the little figure that had fallen out of the painting when it ripped in half.

Max laughed. “All these years, everyone thought the clues were in the actual painting when maybe they were really hidden inside a hollowed out compartment in the stretchers.”

“And we never would’ve discovered that if Kate hadn't gotten into a tug-of-war with it,” Gideon smiled.

Kate simply sat in her chair and beamed. She’d expected Max to be mad that the painting had been ripped in half, but apparently it turned out she was a hero. Too bad she couldn’t see the expression on Max’s face because he was out of town and Gideon could only raise him on speakerphone. Gideon had emailed Max pictures of the painting and the little gold figure. Kate glanced over at it and repressed a shudder—it was a snake in the shape of a figure eight, swallowing its own tail. Yech.

“So that’s what Markovic wanted with it, then? He must have gotten the same lead you did and planned to decipher the painting so he could follow the clues to this Aztec burial tomb,” Kate asked.

“Yes. The painting disappeared over fifty years ago, but I’d gotten a lead that a famous archaeologist, Reginald White, had it in his possession. He passed away some years ago but the painting never resurfaced. Of course, it was all based on rumors and, since no one alive had ever actually seen the painting and there were no pictures of it, that made tracking it down difficult.

“I figured it was worth the investment because finding that tomb would be a huge coup for the museum. The only other Aztec tomb that has been found is that of Emperor Ahuizotl which was found under modern-day Mexico City, but that tomb is submerged in water.”

“Sounds like something like that would be very valuable,” Kate said.

“We could be discovering untold riches, not to mention the historical significance,” Gideon added.

“That’s right,” Max said. “Reginald White researched the Aztecs extensively and had some archaeological finds in Mexico. But when I contacted his family, they didn’t have the painting. Much of his collection had been sold off in an auction by Sotheby’s, but their records showed no such painting either. We knew the painting would be a landscape of a desert area with hills and nothing they sold matched the description.

“And then one of the family members told me about the big estate sale and I was able to track down the person who ran it and get a listing of what was sold. On that listing were several paintings. I tracked down each one and this was the only one that fit the bill, so I sent Kate out to acquire it and the rest is history.”

Gideon twisted his mouth as he looked at the painting. “I think the painting itself might still hold clues but the figure is most important. I’ve dated it to fourteen twenty-five”

“That’s about the right timeframe for Itizuma,” Max said. “But what we don’t know is how it got
in
the stretcher. Clearly the painting is of a much later date—it’s only about three hundred years old.”

“I inspected the stretchers and it looks like the painting was re-stretched at some point,” Gideon said.

“So someone somewhere in the last three hundred years wanted to leave some clues to this guy’s tomb,” Kate said.

Gideon nodded. “Also, I can see where someone has been trying to use solvents to see if there is an under-painting. That looks recent and I suspect that’s what they were doing at the
Lowenstaff
under the guise of restoration.”

“I’m not surprised they would think the clue would be an under-painting. That’s what I thought, too, and it wouldn’t be the first time something was painted over something else that was much more important,” Max said.

“But in this case, the clues go deeper.” Gideon tapped the figure. “This figure is symbolic. I’ve traced its origins to an area in Mexico just outside the Mayan ruins of Tulum.”

“The Aztecs were mostly situated in Mexico City, but Itizuma was an early ruler and I have heard he was near the coast,” Max said.

“That’s right. And it’s also where Reginald White did some serious archaeology back in the day.”

“Well, it looks like we have a lot to go on to try to find this tomb,” Kate said.

“We have a lot, but we don’t have everything,” Gideon cautioned. “Markovic still has the other half of the painting and possibly other clues that might’ve been inside the stretcher.”

“Sure, but this seems like enough to go on. The figure is certainly a clue, although I don’t know what the painting means. But if we take a little trip out there, maybe it will become evident,” Kate said. A trip to Mexico was looking mighty appealing, especially since she didn’t want to go back to her desk and shuffle more papers.

“I agree with Kate,” Max said.

“There is one other problem,” Gideon added.

“What’s that?”

“Kate swears one of the masked men inside the
Lowenstaff
was Ace Mason.” Gideon glanced at Kate for confirmation and she nodded.

“What would the FBI be doing in disguise and why would they be interested in this painting?” Max asked.

“That’s what I was wondering,” Gideon answered.

“Well, you know the government. They have to get their hands into everything,” Max said. “Sounds like they might’ve been on some sort of an undercover mission, or maybe it wasn’t the FBI. Kate could have been mistaken. I mean, they did have masks on, right?

“Right.” Kate’s top teeth worried her bottom lip. The men had been wearing masks, but she was sure the person she’d locked eyes with was Ace. On the other hand, it did seem crazy to think that the FBI would be breaking into the museum like that. Everyone else was probably right she must’ve just
thought
it was Ace.

“I just think we might need extra caution on this. Markovic’s people might be following clues along the same trail and who knows what these other people are doing. Whether they are the FBI or not, we have to watch out for them,” Gideon said.

“I trust you’ll outfit Kate with the appropriate tools for the job and we’ll put surveillance on Markovic’s people so we know their every move,” Max said.

“I’m sure I can handle it,” Kate said. She wasn’t afraid of Onion Mole, Snake Ring or Ace Mason. She could take care of herself and she was intrigued by this find. Being the first to uncover an Aztec emperor’s burial tomb would be a huge coup for the museum and a heck of a lot of fun.

“Okay, well that leaves only one problem, then,” Gideon said.

Kate’s brows tugged together. “What?”

Gideon opened the folder that lay next to the painting and leafed through a few of the pages. “According to my research, the secret of Itizuma comes with a curse.”

“A curse?” Kate scoffed. “Don’t tell me you believe in some stupid old curse?”

“Well, I think Reginald White should have believed in it. You know that he disappeared mysteriously on an expedition to find the tomb, right?”

Kate’s laugh was a bit higher-pitched than usual. “I doubt that had anything to do with a curse. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation. The tomb is in a remote place, right? He could have been attacked by animals or something. What, exactly, is this curse, anyway?”

Gideon adjusted his coke bottle glasses, picked up the page and held it close to his face. “According to what it says here, the curse says something like this—‘He who takes of greed will suffer with need in time’.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Kate asked. “It doesn’t even really rhyme.”

“I don’t know what it means, but do you want to suffer with need? I know I sure don’t.”

“Hold on there,” Max cut in. “I know all about this curse and apparently so does Markovic. That’s why I sent you out to the museum with money. So that we wouldn’t be ‘taking’. We paid for that painting fair and square, so we shouldn’t suffer the curse. Not that I believe in curses, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.”

“That sounds good to me,” Kate said.

Gideon shrugged. “Well, if you guys aren’t worried then I’m not. I did some additional research and came up with the name of a guy you can talk to about the tomb. I can arrange a meeting. Not sure how accurate what he has to say will be, but it’s better than nothing.”

“I can be on a plane tomorrow.” Kate batted away the doubts that flapped around in her brain like rabid bats. She didn’t believe in curses.

Her glance fell on the ripped canvas that lay on the table. She was sure that the fact that they would probably
need
the other half of the painting to find the tomb was just a minor bump in their plan and had nothing to do with a stupid curse.