Temple of the Jaguar (4 page)

“
Nick,” I said. “Oh, really?”

“
Not after we split it.”

I grinned. “You would make a hell of a looter.”

“
I suspect most of us would, when it comes right down to it.”

“
And what if your uncle happens upon the city?”

She set her jaw. “I have plans for my uncle. Now, good night, Nick. I will see you tomorrow.”

She left. I watched her go and when she disappeared down a stairwell, I shut my door and leaned against it, wondering what the hell I had gotten myself into.

Chapter Seven

It was late.

The city had long ago shut down, and the hotel I lived in had long ago settled in for the night. Fuego wasn’t known for its nightlife, which was fine by me. I was sitting in a lawn chair on my balcony overlooking the city. There was no lawn, but I often thought of myself as a maverick. In the distance, Lake Huron glimmered under the moonlight. The rest of the city didn’t glimmer much, although a few lights twinkled here and there. More mavericks.

Smoke from my hand-rolled cigarette curled up before my eyes. The smoke stung but I didn’t show it. Partly because I was growing more and more numb with each inhalation, each lungful of smoke. Partly because this wasn’t exactly a cigarette.

I inhaled deeply. The tip of the cheroot flared briefly, the paper casing crackling and sizzling. At least, I think it crackled and sizzled. This was my second smoke, and anything was possible at this point.

Case in point, the image of a man in my peripheral vision. When I turned my head, he was gone. Or, rather, just managed to slip out of my field of vision. There he was now, apparently lounging against the iron railing, watching me get wasted again. I turned my head quickly, hoping to catch him, but he was gone, baby, gone.

My eyes settled on the near distance. The city lights were blurring. I momentarily puzzled over the two moons. Until I realized one of the moons was a reflection in the water. This took me about two minutes to figure out. The little man appeared again, watching me from the railing. I think he was smiling. It was hard to tell. I turned my head. He was gone, gliding just out of my field of vision.

I had to urinate. So I did. Off my balcony. At least I think I did. When I sat back down, I wasn’t sure why the hell I had gone over the balcony in the first place.

I sucked some more on the cheroot and images of my parents flooded my mind. I saw them smiling and happy. Working together in the field. A true team. My father jotting down notes as my mother carefully analyzed a clay pot. She turned the pot carefully in her hand, her trained eye seeing everything. My father was nodding and writing quickly. This was how they often worked. Two minds working as one. My mother was beautiful. Hard but beautiful. Her arms were more defined than my father’s. In fact, I often suspected that my own muscle tone was inherited from my mother, rather than my father. Then again, I didn’t look anything like my father, so who knew. Maybe there was a UPS driver out there who had gotten lucky one afternoon.

My eyes were watering from the smoke. At least, I think they were watering. I wiped the tears away and moved the burning tip away from my face.

They were nearly cut in two by the machine gun fire. I had been sleeping. We lived in a small house at the edge of town. This was their home base. They worked long hours from this house, in-between fieldwork and lectures. I had my own room in the back, which was where I had been when I heard the truck pull up, followed by some shouting. And as I lay there in the dark, I heard the machine gun fire. And the screams. And the laughter. And more tires squealing. And then silence.

I had waited perhaps ten minutes for my mother to come in and tell me everything was all right. She never did. And what I found outside was so horrible. So damned horrible.

I took another hit, and held the smoke in my lungs and noticed that everything around me was wavering and blurry. The man in my peripheral was gone. He was replaced by a red balloon. But when I turned my head, much slower this time, the balloon was blown off course, just out of my field of vision.

My parents were reduced to slaughtered meat, barely recognizable. No child should have to endure this.

A cool breeze came off the lake. I was sweating. The breeze felt good.

The red balloon drifted up and up, and I watched it go, or tried to watch it go, and then I fell over in my chair, and that’s where I found myself the next morning, covered in ashes, a burn mark on my cheek.

My parents would have been proud.

Chapter Eight

“
Are you sure you’re up for this?”

It was a question delivered with more irritation than compassion. Ms. Da Vinci had arrived the next morning, just after sunrise. She stared worriedly at the red welt upon my right cheek. The devilish, dimpled smile I also inherited from my mom did little to minimize that fact, as well as the redness in my eyes. But, hell, at least I had showered and shaved.

“
I’m fine,” I told her, and then nodded approvingly at the vehicle she brought for our trip. A late model Jeep with the rental company proudly displayed on the back bumper. “Are you sure you can handle this thing? I hear they tip over pretty easily.”

“
It has a wider wheelbase than what you’re thinking of.... But, if it’s my driving that you’re worried about, I’ll let you drive.”

She eyed me smugly, making her all the more alluring. Dressed in khakis with her sunglasses perched atop her head, she could pass for a typical tourist...except for those magical eyes of hers. I tried not to think long on any of it. Just give her a few hours and the humidity should melt away some of the charm.

“
No, that is
my
job!”

“
Well, I’ll be damned...you made it on time!” I said, as Ishi ran up to us. He was carrying a large backpack upon his shoulders. “I see that you remembered the hand picks and trench shovels. Good man.”

“
Who the hell is he?”

“
My right hand man,” I said, dishing out a little of my own smugness. “Ishi, I’d like you to meet the nice lady I told you about last night: Ms. Marie Da Vinci.”

“
It’s a pleasure to meet you...” Ishi’s wide smile died as she huffed and moved over to the Jeep.

“
This wasn’t part of the deal, but we haven’t got all day to discuss this,” she said, opening the back of the vehicle. “Throw your shit in here, and let’s get going.”

She stomped toward the front of the Jeep and climbed in the driver’s seat, immediately starting up the engine.

“
I guess it ain’t your job today,” I told Ishi, grinning wryly. “For now, you had better leave the talking to me.”

He scowled, but nodded in agreement. We hurried to climb into the Jeep before our irritated client laid on the horn.

I cut Ishi a wry grin as we hurried to get into the Jeep

“
Doesn’t look like you’ll be driving,” I said to my friend.

When normally in a rush I wouldn’t bother taking a shower. Hell, once we were in the jungle’s heat it wouldn’t matter anyway. But, for some damned reason I felt I should be as gentlemanly as four minutes would allow. It was just enough to take a cold shower and gargle away the lingering gin from the night before.

Rather than give me any more clues as to what she knew about the disk and the road to Ciudad Blanca, Marie deftly turned the conversation to lighter subjects. That surprised me. Not the subjects themselves, but rather the fact we were soon discussing the Jeep she had rented for us the next day, and a week’s supplies. She didn’t like my joke about getting lost in an unexplored jungle and fighting over the last strip of jerky and a bottle of water before one of us turned into Alfred Packer.

It was an out-of-sync feeling for Ishi and I, since normally its just him and me traveling together to a site. And, it’s not like we hadn’t made a trip before into the hostile jungles surrounding the remains of Ciudad Blanca. Hell, the entire area has been picked over since Cortes failed to find the legendary city and its immense caches of gold and precious gems—not to mention other artifacts that many a museum would pay a handsome fee for.

I prepared to give Marie some well-deserved grief about wasting our time looking for something that was likely no longer there. But her intuitions beat me to the punch.

“
You’re probably thinking we’re headed for the city wall structures that have recently been uncovered. Right?” she said, wearing a smirk not all that unlike the one I had been wearing since we veered from the main highway twenty minutes earlier.

“
Ain’t that where we’re headed?” I snickered softly, and Ishi echoed that sentiment loud enough to draw an angry glance from our present employer.

“
Hmmmm. You’ll see in a moment.”

She suddenly swung the Jeep onto a rutted dirt road that veered away from the excavated walls she mentioned. In fact, there really wasn’t much of a road at all...just a worn truck path through the thick brush and mostly undisturbed vegetation. This would really suck if she hit an unseen boulder or tire-rut that could snap the bouncing vehicle’s front axle.

But just when the bounces threatened to catapult Ishi from his seat and out into the surrounding mangroves, Marie veered onto yet another old road. This one, however, wasn’t anywhere near as difficult to navigate through. Marie rolled down her window while slowing the vehicle down to where it crept along the road. The jungle trees and other plant life had been cleared here long ago, although the mangroves and vines had made a concerted effort to encroach upon the beaten path as it led deeper into the jungle.

“
I don’t suppose there’s a Howard Johnson’s up ahead,” I deadpanned. “According to every legend, map, or drunken Meskito I’ve dealt with since I’ve been down here, there ain’t nothin’ worth the pain in the ass it can turn into out here. In fact, most Hondurans will tell you there isn’t anything out here, period. So, you better not be lost.”

“
I’m not lost,” she said, eying me coyly. I felt like a heel for being an ass a moment ago, and the way her lovely eyes regarded me... “We’re less than a mile from where that photograph of my father was taken. We’ll need to park and walk in a moment.”

Maybe it was the cool comfort inside the Jeep. But she seemed much more in control of herself as compared to the night before. Of course, that would likely change in a few minutes, when the oppressive heat was re-introduced to our lovely companion. Especially considering that the road had a significant incline. Soon she and we would be covered in sweat and dust...I tried not to think what that combination would look like on her if she were naked. But, it sure beat the hell out of thinking of Ishi sans his clothes.

When Marie decided to park, it was damned near as abrupt as when she entered this God-forsaken side-road. She wasn’t in the mood for idle chit-chat, which made me think maybe she’d be all right in the humid heat that would make her clothes cling to her sumptuous curves. Good for me, and a nice distraction to look forward to. As for the destination she sought...well it wasn’t as close as she said it’d be, since she took off looking for it before Ishi and I had exited the Jeep.

“
The place will still be there in five minutes,” I chided her, to little avail, and even less of a reply. She headed up the hill to what looked like a small cave opening that was partially hidden in dense foliage.

“
Why is she so much like a zombie?” asked Ishi. In truth, he likely meant to say a different word. Then again, she was acting like something foreign had taken over her brain.

“
Just take it as the difference between an American and Honduran female,” I said, hoping he’d follow my lead to run after her.

“
I heard that!”