Aztec Gold (11 page)

“How is he?” she asked, laying her hand on his arm to try and stay connected with him.

“Shaken. Weak. Apparently Eztli Etalpalli had planned on finishing him off soon, which is why she grabbed Dani.” He jammed his hands into the pockets of his pants and rocked back and forth on his heels, clearly uncomfortable.

She rubbed her hand up and down his forearm, trying to offer comfort. “He’ll be fine.”

“Will he? Will any of us ever be fine again?”

A muscle jumped along the straight line of his jaw and she reached up, stroked his face. “
We
will deal with this.”

He nodded, but the faraway look in his topaz gaze told her that he believed otherwise.

Awkwardly they finished prepping the meal with Cynthia improvising some dumplings from another mix. She added water to the packet and shaped the dough into a rough circle that she laid on the simmering stew. Covering the pan, she hoped there would be enough steam to cook the dough. A short time later, she opened lid and smiled as she saw it had worked. With Rafe’s help, she spooned the finished dumplings into bowls and ladled the thick stew over them.

Dani had helped David clean up a bit and he was ensconced in one of their sleeping bags, his bare chest giving testament to his ordeal. His ribs were sharp ridges in his sides and his previously muscular body lacked any tone. Dark bruises and scratches were scattered across his torso and arms.

As he saw Cynthia enter, he favored her with a stronger smile and there was no denying his resemblance to his older brother. The grin was the same, as was the gleam in his golden eyes, which had a touch more green than Rafe’s.

Dani helped David sit up and lean against Rafe’s backpack for support.

When Cynthia handed him the bowl, his stomach growled noisily, dragging chuckles from all of them.

They sat together to eat, although conversation was minimal. Part of it was hunger. A small part of it.

David quickly finished his bowl and Dani handed over what was left in hers. At his questioning glance she said, “I’m full.”

He didn’t hesitate to take it or the rest of what Cynthia and Rafe offered up as well.

By the time David finished, he was rubbing his belly, which looked like it had a slight bulge that had not been there before. “
Dios
, it feels good to finally eat something normal. Whoever said bugs are protein needs their head examined.”

David’s comment and boyish grin pulled a chuckle from even his brother, who had remained troubled despite their victory over the demon.

“I guess you’ll forgo the chocolate-covered crickets I picked up in Mexico City?” Dani teased.

“You’re kidding, right? Chocolate-covered crickets?” David nudged her with an elbow and she blushed, demurely dipped her head and laughed.

“Just kidding. Unless Cynthia secreted some chocolate in her backpack?”

“Sorry, but I didn’t risk it in this heat,” she said.

“You’re SOL, David,” Dani teased yet again, pulling yet another smile from Rafe’s brother.

The moment of camaraderie was short-lived, however, as Rafe said, “We should clean up and get some rest. We’ll have a lot to do later.”

“Sure thing. I’ll help David get settled for the night,” Dani said and it was clear she planned on staying with David, concern still evident in her gaze.

Which left Rafe and Cynthia to finish cleaning.

They were silent as they gathered up the dishes and returned outside where they sparingly used their water to wash up. The silence lingered, pregnant with anxious thoughts, as they returned to sharing the remaining sleeping bag. They set it up across the way from Dani and David, but rest didn’t come easily.

Rafe’s body was tight against hers. Tense from the events of the last twenty-four hours and possibly with the awareness that only uncertainty awaited them once they returned home.

She didn’t recollect when the tension faded and she fell asleep. Nor when Rafe left her side. She only knew one thing the next morning.

She woke up alone.

Rafe knelt before the ashes of what remained of Eztli Etalpalli, still in disbelief about all that had happened, but the images in his brain of his dead friends and of his brother’s almost skeletal body reminded him that it hadn’t been just a nightmare.

It had all been too real.

He bowed his head low, begging God for peace for all She had taken from this life and promising to make things right for the families of the men who had been killed.

For starters, he would have to go to the authorities and attempt to explain how his men had been killed. Then he would arrange for all of the bodies of his team members to go home.

Home
, he thought, wondering where that was for him now, but then the answer came immediately.

Home was with Cyn.

But with Eztli Etalpalli gone, Cyn and the rest of her team could proceed with their exploration of the temple.

Once he had returned to the village, he would have a different path to follow. One that would take him away from her.

A footstep sounded behind him and he jumped up and whirled, still in overdrive from the events of the day before.

Cyn
.

Standing at the door, her stance hesitant. Wary. Did she now finally comprehend the way that he did? That he might no longer belong in the world that they had once shared. That when this adventure was over, they might head in different directions.

As the light in her eyes darkened, he realized she understood without his even speaking. “You’re not coming with us.”

A statement, not a question.

“I’ll help you get back to the village. After that…there are things I have to finish. People who will want answers from me about the team.”

“Answers that none of us can give without losing our credibility.”

With a brusque exhale, he said, “Credibility.”

He thought of all who had been lost to the demon and said, “Will our credibility bring back all those dead men?”

“No. Nothing can make that right. Ever. But we had nothing to do with that.”

He glanced away and shook his head. “
I
led them here. To Eztli Etalpalli and this god-forsaken temple.”

She strode across the short distance until she stood right before him. He could still smell her underlying scent, fresh and alive, beneath the muskiness. It took all his control not to reach for her, but then she cradled his jaw and urged him to face her.

“You didn’t know what would be here.”

The images of the maps flashed in his brain along with something else. “
You
knew.”

She nodded. “Cordero warned of a demon in his journals. He told of how the demon had carried away and eaten his men.”

He relinquished his control and touched her cheek with the pads of his fingers. Her skin was soft and warm. Vital. He couldn’t imagine not ever touching that skin again and yet…

“If you knew of the danger, why did you come?”

She shrugged, almost nonchalantly. “I had to come for you.”

Emotion overrode all logic and rationale. He enveloped her in his arms, every inch of their bodies making contact. With that physical connection, and the sorrowful joy it brought, the
nahual
energy rose up between them. It enveloped both of them with its strength, charging every cell in their bodies with need. Binding their spirits as their life forces melded, recognizing their souls were meant to be together.

Before it could become more, more than either of them could live or die with, he took a step away, breaking the link.

His body was trembling as was hers, but it had to end here.

“I need to set things to right, Cyn. I don’t know how long that will take.”

“I…”

Cynthia stopped, her throat tight with emotion. Her body abuzz with the feel of Rafe. Of his physical presence. Of the emotions that had swirled around them only moments before.

She wanted to say that she understood, and maybe a part of her did. The logical scientist realized that there would be things he had to do that might keep him away. But the woman wanted to deny what he said. Wanted him to say he would return to her and that somehow they could find a way to be together.

Instead she said nothing, just nodded and left Eztli Etalpalli’s lair with its stench of death and evil.

Left Rafe.

While he might be returning to the village with them, she finally realized that the Rafe she had known and loved was gone to her and that a future with the new Rafe was uncertain.

***

Rafe had David’s arm thrown over his shoulder, supporting his younger brother as they walked from the steam bath to the anteroom of the temple. Dani was at Cynthia’s side and she noticed now that her friend bore a wealth of bruises and some scratches from where Eztli Etalpalli had grabbed her two nights before.

It was Dani and David who paused, almost simultaneously, at the far end of the anteroom and stared down the tunnel to Eztli Etalpalli’s lair.

“We never went down the other hall,” David said and glanced up at his brother.

She could see that Rafe wanted to ask what it mattered what was down that other passage, but he didn’t. Quite frankly, after his many months of imprisonment, David warranted at least that much consideration as compensation for his ordeal. Another few hours in the temple would not change things one way or the other.

With a sympathetic nod, Rafe helped his brother down the tunnel. When it forked, he took the hall that led away from the demon’s lair of death, his lantern held high to illuminate the way.

Cynthia and Dani followed behind, keeping alert in case Eztli Etalpalli hadn’t been the only danger in the temple.

They encountered nothing of consequence as they wound their way along the tunnel, which seemed to take them deeper and deeper into the bowels of the temple. The air grew damp and chilly the farther they traveled. Musty from the humidity deep below ground and the small pools glistening underfoot where water had seeped through the temple walls and collected on the floor. Darkness swallowed up the evidence of their passage, and luckily the path turned out to be the only one to follow. Unlike before, there were no other forks along the way.

Cynthia would have expected more twists and offshoots to discourage any would-be marauders, but then again, maybe Eztli Etalpalli had been enough of a deterrent to invaders.

Even the walls in this area were different, lacking any adornments, as if this tunnel was of no consequence and didn’t rate consideration.

Nearly half an hour had passed in silence when Rafe and David finally stopped. Before them was another large wooden door, barred from outside much as the one to the demon’s lair where Dani and David had been kept prisoner. Eztli Etalpalli had clearly believed no other defense was necessary with her guarding the door.

“Can you stand on your own?” Rafe asked David, and when his brother nodded, he released him and handed him the lantern.

David took a shaky step back to Dani’s side and she slipped her arm around his waist. Because he was so weak that holding up the lantern was difficult, Dani took hold of the light so that they could all see the door clearly.

Rafe shot a look at her and she nodded, worked the bolt on the rifle and brought it to her shoulder to be ready to fire. The gold obsidian blade that had helped kill the demon was tucked into her gun belt, and after a moment’s thought she slung the rifle back over her shoulder and grabbed the dagger instead.

With an accepting nod at her actions, Rafe grabbed the handgun from his holster and with it in hand approached the door.

He easily lifted the wooden beam from across the front of the door and tossed it aside. It landed softly against the dirt of the tunnel floor. The door creaked loudly when Rafe first moved it and seemed to be stiff, as if it had been some time since it had been opened. He had to shoulder it aside forcefully to fully open the door.

As he did so, Dani and David approached with the lantern.

Dani handed Rafe the lantern. He took it in his free hand and glanced back at her and she understood.

They would take this step together.

Rafe and Cynthia moved through the door almost as one, and inside, Rafe held the lantern high as Dani and David immediately rushed in to join them. All four paused just a foot into the room, the sight of the treasures before them stunning them motionless.

Piles and piles of gold, jewels and other riches reflected back the light of the lantern.

The room was the size of a football field and rose about two stories high. The treasures within filled most of the floor space and were stacked to about ten feet above the ground. Small paths ran amid the mounds of precious artifacts. Here and there a crude mannequin wore vestments that were adorned with gold, silver and jewels. Other mannequins boasted armorlike articles made completely from the precious metals and gems.

A city of gold, Cynthia thought and glanced at her partners.

They fanned out to examine the various objects and she soon realized that the artifacts within the room were from a number of different cultures. Spanish. Aztec. Mayan. Pre-Colombian.

Priceless, it occurred to her as she slowly walked back to the entrance of the room and was joined once again by Rafe and the others.

So many riches yet there was only one thing they could do with them.

***

Cynthia stared at thick pile of pages comprising the inventory list from the temple. It had taken them weeks to catalogue all the treasures they had found in Eztli Etalpalli’s City of Gold and even longer for them to lay down the groundwork for a full excavation and restoration of the temple and city walls surrounding it.

Nearly two months had passed since she had seen Rafe, who had been busy dealing with the authorities investigating the deaths of his team and making the arrangements to bring the men home to their families. Contacting their loved ones to explain what had happened.

Although what could he explain that they would believe? she thought, recalling her own team’s reticence to discuss the existence of the demon. Booth and Rogers had waited back at the village, waiting for Hernandez to be stronger and intending to go back to civilization for more help if she and Rafe had not returned in a reasonable time. But she was certain that none of them would say a word about the demon and risk their standing in the archaeological community.

She got the sense that the Mexican authorities hadn’t pressed too deeply about the deaths, apparently aware of the many tales over the years of how people went missing in that area. She only hoped that the family members would accept whatever rationale Rafe and the authorities had decided to use to explain the deaths.

Thumbing through the pages of the inventory again, she realized that once the museum and the Mexican government got the bulk of the items, what remained would be divided between her team and Rafe’s as per agreed-upon finder’s fee. She had convinced her team, however, to donate a part of their portion to the families of the dead men and to the two villages where they had been welcomed during their travels to the temple.

None had hesitated, especially considering that even though they were only getting a small portion of the treasure, there had been so much that their shares were still worth a great deal of money.

She intended to give a large share of her spoils to villages and to the two women who had presented her with the dagger that had saved their lives. As for the dagger—she shot a quick look across the way to the bookshelf in her office where the gold obsidian blade rested in a case she’d had specially made to hold the item.

A knock came at the door and she called out, “Come in,” expecting it to be Dani, who was supposed to review the inventory with her one last time before they passed it up the bureaucratic chain for processing.

Instead Rafe walked in.

Her heart skittered in her chest and her breath caught for a moment before she forced herself to breathe.

Rafe was dressed in a charcoal gray suit whose fabric strained against the massive width of his shoulders. The suit’s color made his hair seem even darker, with blue-black highlights that gleamed beneath the ceiling lights in her office. The longish waves of his hair brushed the collar of his jacket. He wore a brilliant white shirt with a rather conservative blue-and-gray-striped tie. The brightness of the shirt was a marked contrast to the tan he had from his many months in the strong Mexican sun.

She rose as he strode toward her desk and stood there, a large package wrapped in brown paper and twine tucked tight beneath his arm. He crossed his hands before him and laced his fingers together as if to keep from reaching for her.

“You look well,” he said and just the sound of his voice strummed alive passion in her body.

“So do you,” she replied and held out her hand to invite him to sit. Awkwardness filled the air considering how they had parted, with both of them uncertain about their future together. In the long weeks of separation, she had missed him intensely but had not reached out to him, afraid of rejection. Leery of his new powers. Almost as equally scared that she craved what he had become way too much.

She wanted to reach out to him now. Take him into her arms and find out if the bond between them was still strong. Still alive.

But she didn’t move, telling herself she needed him to make the first move while chastising herself that he had by walking into her office.

He shifted the package from beneath his arm and held it out to her with both hands, foreclosing any belated action she might make.

She shot him a quizzical look and he explained. “Medicine Eagle heard about your generosity in giving away such a large part of your reward and asking your expedition to share theirs with the villages. He wanted to thank you for that and for ridding his people of Eztli Etalpalli.”

“And this is his way to say thanks?” she asked and took the package into her hands. It was heavy, the material within the wrapping dense, making her wonder at was beneath the simple brown paper.

She carefully placed the package in the center of her desk and stood there, considering it uncomfortably as Rafe took a seat. His body was poised on the edge of the chair, forearms on his thighs and hands laced together once again as he leaned forward, clearly anticipating what she would do.