The Bloodgate Guardian (12 page)

The camera panned back to the faces pocked with infection and disease. “It appears as though some kind of plague has broken out. Authorities have quarantined this entire area in hopes of containing the illness. Where will the plague and murdering occur next?”

He paused the show again, leaving a sobbing, grief-ravaged woman frozen in time, her face oozing blood and yellow-green fluid.

It was all Jaid could do not to curl up against Ruin’s chest and bawl in his arms like a baby.

“When we first met, I told you a story about the twins and what happened to their grand city. You asked if I was trying to scare you with tales of curses and werejaguar priests. What do you say now?”

“What do you mean?”

Dr. Reyes leaned forward, eyes drilling her. “The curse has awoken. The innocents of the village have paid the price of destruction. You must tell me exactly what you and your father were researching.”

“Or?” Her voice rasped slightly, but she was proud that it didn’t break with fear.

“At this time, you’re under my protection.” Nerves made her snort out loud, and he arched an eyebrow at her. “Don’t you think the natives know that Americans came here to this ruin that the gods deliberately buried hundreds of years ago? You’ve awakened the curse. Death and disease have returned once more. Maybe it will all end if they kill you, yes?”

Her stomach heaved. Ruin pushed her head down to her knees, or she might have passed out. Panting, she struggled to contain flooding panic and guilt.

What are we going to do? How can I stop demons?

“I need to know where your father is and exactly what he did. If I know the truth, I may be able to help you.”

“Sorry, Doc.”

Still gulping air, Jaid raised her head and stared at Knightley. He touched a Bluetooth headset at his ear and leveled his weapon at her. “I’ve got orders to take over this interrogation.”

Reyes surged to his feet. “You can’t do that!” The weapon swung over at him and he froze. “I’m here on behalf of the Guatemalan government. If you refuse my authority, we will kick you out of our country faster than—”

Reyes’s eyes flared. Jaid realized the comforting hand had left her back. She jerked her head around, searching for Ruin.

Silent and swift, he rushed the guard. Casually, Knightley whipped the gun toward him and fired.

She cried out, clamping her hands over her ears, but there was no retort. The barely audible pop sounded like a party favor. Ruin went down like an elephant tagged by a high-powered rifle. He crashed into a table that shattered beneath his weight, slinging glass, fresh-cut flowers and splinters flying.

Crying, Jaid stood to go to him, but the gun was suddenly pointed back at her. Ruin gave one last twitch and went still. He was obviously dead. The back of his head had been blown away. She didn’t try to stop the acid boiling up her throat. Instead, she aimed it at the guard’s legs.

“Son of a bitch,” Knightley growled. He cocked his arm back and the butt of his gun slammed into her head.

The sound of soft crying persisted until Jaid finally opened her eyes. The room was semi-dark and unfamiliar. She tried to sit up. Her head felt like it weighed a thousand pounds.

“You’re awake! Thank God!” Madelyn crawled over and brushed Jaid’s hair off her forehead, her fingers gentle around the spot that throbbed with each beat of her heart. “I wasn’t sure if you’d ever wake up again.”

“Where’s Ruin?” Grimacing, she shook her head. The man simply had too many names. “I mean, Balam.”

“The man you were with? I’m sorry, Jaid. He’s dead.”

“I know,” she rasped, carefully pushing up to her elbows. “Where is he?”

“Those horrid beasts threw his body over there in the corner. Every time I look at him, I can’t help but burst into tears all over again. They’re going to kill us too.”

In the shadows, Jaid couldn’t tell if the gaping hole in his skull had closed or not.

He’ll wake up. I know he will.

The older woman helped Jaid sit up. She scooted back and leaned her head against the wall. It was too hard to hold it up by herself. Pain splintered through her skull with each move, but she was clearheaded. Too much, perhaps, for her brain immediately raced to fill in—very creatively—Madelyn’s grim prediction.

“Did they take my bag?”

“Yes,” Madelyn replied gloomily. “They grabbed me before I could even call for help. There aren’t any windows, and the door is solid steel.”

Call
. Beyond hope, she reached down and felt her pocket. They hadn’t taken her phone. “Are they monitoring this room?”

Madelyn blinked with surprise, her gaze flickering to the ceiling and corners, checking for cameras. “I never thought of that. I don’t know.”

She had to risk it. Quickly, before a guard could charge in and steal her only hope of salvation, she dragged out the BlackBerry. Good, she still had power. That would have been just her luck to have a dead battery. As long as the signal held…

SOS. Send Dragon.

The door slammed open so hard both women jumped. Guiltily, Jaid tried to hide the phone, but it was too late.

“I’ll take that, Dr. Merritt.” An African-American guard dressed like Knightley bent down and held his hand out. “Knightley will hear about failing to frisk you.”

What she wouldn’t give for a nice heavy tome right about now. She’d crack that smirk right off his face. Blowing out her breath loudly, she shoved the BlackBerry into his hand and pretended to pout. Hopefully the text made it out to Callie.

“No phone calls. Not until you tell us what we need to know.”

“What’s that?” Madelyn retorted. “What have you done with Dr. Gerard?”

“Someone will be down to get you in a while.” He gave Jaid a suggestive look that made her breath catch in her throat. She pressed back harder against the wall and wished Ruin would turn back into a jaguar and eat this jerk’s face. “When we’re ready.”

The guard shut the door, leaving them alone once more.

“Last night, Sam said he was going to be meeting with officials in Antigua,” Jaid whispered. “Did he make it?”

“I don’t know.” Madelyn threw herself down beside Jaid with a heavy sigh. “I haven’t seen him since last night. Maybe he’ll see the news and call for help.”

“Or maybe he’ll rush here and be taken hostage too.”

The other woman dropped her head to her knees and hugged her legs tight to her chest. “I hate this. I can’t stand feeling trapped and weak and useless. Can you distract me? Talk to me about the ruins, the rings, anything.”

Staring at Ruin’s body, she thought she saw a slight twitch. She forced herself to remain still against the wall instead of rushing over to help him. The guards were most definitely watching from some hidden camera. They’d lose every element of surprise if she gave any indication that he was more than a dead body dumped in the corner to terrorize them. “What do you know about the White Dagger?”

“Not much,” Madelyn replied, her voice muffled against her legs. “I know it was mentioned in the
Popol Vuh
as the Knife of Sacrifice.”

“It was a Xibalban weapon, right? Not something in our world.”

The other woman let her head fall back against the wall, her brow creased in thought. “It’s described as a spherical knife, which I never really could visualize. Why do you ask? Is it important?”

Jaid closed her eyes and let her mind fill with knowledge. Her father had once joked that her brain must be like a massive library catalogue. People never truly “forgot” important information; they simply forgot where they put it. They forgot the memory address. She never forgot a single thing, even a page from a book she’d read ten years ago.

“Jaid?”

“I’m thinking,” she replied. Which was true, but not about the subject of the White Dagger. She pulled up everything she’d heard about Venus Star, the researchers here at the compound, and in particular, Madelyn. Could she trust this woman? Her father hadn’t, not fully, even if he was sleeping with her. “Do you know of any archeological findings in another site that mentioned the White Dagger specifically?”

“Seems like I remember something in your father’s old notes. Where did he find the Temple of Days?”

Again, Jaid felt the earth rumble, its hungry belch as it devoured her mother. Pages of her father’s journal fluttered through her thoughts, falling open to a passage he’d copied off the walls in the subterranean temple. “Iximche.”

“I think he found something there about—” Madelyn let out an ear-piercing screech. “Guards!”

“Shut up,” Jaid retorted fiercely. Ruin was definitely moving. “Don’t say anything about him He’s our ticket out.”

The door opened. “What’s going on in here?”

“We’ve had enough,” Jaid said loudly. “We want to cooperate, but I’ll only speak to Dr. Reyes.”

The guard laughed. “Pretty professors can’t stand the hole, huh? It doesn’t matter. You want to talk to the curator, fine. As soon as the copter arrives, we’re out of here.”

Jaid scrambled to her feet and jerked Madelyn’s arm sharply, dragging her gaze away from Ruin. If the guards thought he was dead…

“Please, please, I just want to get out of here. I want to talk to Reyes. I’m sure we can come to some understanding.” Deliberately, she drew on the panic she’d felt the first time she stepped into the ruin. She clutched at the guard’s arm, gripped Madelyn’s sleeve fiercely, and practically ran for the door. “I can’t be down here any longer.”

Rolling his eyes at Knightley, the guard handed the two women over. Jaid snuck a glance back as she ran up the stairs and barely suppressed a smile.

The guard had left the cell door open.

Dr. Reyes had the tabletop covered with stacks of photographs, notes, and journals. He’d dumped her entire carryall out, mixed her papers with her father’s, and totally messed up her orderly filing. She despised people mucking around with her research.

Tight-lipped, Jaid sat across from him without making any demands that her things be returned. Madelyn paced back and forth behind her, muttering beneath her breath.

With his scholarly manner, Dr. Reyes could have passed as one of her colleagues. But it was hard not to see him as an enemy. At least he didn’t have a gun, and he hadn’t been happy when the guards had taken over. If she used him against the guards as an ally, would he simply turn around and arrest her for the Guatemalan government?

“I had a dream, once. A very silly dream, I suppose.” Staring down at the table, Dr. Reyes spoke so low and softly that she leaned forward slightly and concentrated on listening. “The Maya people have been slaughtered for hundreds of years, even by our own government. But you know nothing of such suffering.”

“My friend,” she began carefully, slowly, searching for the right words to reach him and prove herself sympathetic, “almost died here years ago as a boy. His father was an archaeologist, like mine, who fell in love with a beautiful secretary at the Spanish Embassy in Guatemala City.”

Dr. Reyes’s head snapped up and his gaze locked with hers.

“Geoffrey was at school when the demonstration began, but his mother was at work. She was held captive by the demonstrators and died in the fire. He told me that he saw the smoke from school and ran crying through the streets, pushing through the bystanders who could do nothing to help the people trapped inside.”

“The Guatemalan police locked them inside,” Dr. Reyes whispered. “Most of them were peasants, farmers determined to protect their families and their lands. A few were idealistic students who thought they could change the world with a demonstration or two. Instead, they watched helplessly while their friends burned alive and the police did nothing but laugh and congratulate one another.”

“You were there,” she whispered back, her voice shaking.

He inclined his head slightly and flickered his gaze to the Venus Star guard she knew stood behind her. “Many died in the civil war, Dr. Merritt, and their dreams of safety and peace burned with them. A few escaped to live the dream again, praying for the day when their honor and glory might return. They might have taken a young white boy with them to ensure his safety until his American father could be found.”

“Geoffrey Malcolm.” She sat back in her chair, stunned. “You knew him.”

Again, Dr. Reyes gave a tiny nod. “Although he studied El Mirador for the most part, Dr. Malcolm’s name is familiar to me.”

She bowed her head and didn’t hide her grief. “He was murdered, Dr. Reyes. The night before I came here to find my father. I believe his death is connected to my father’s disappearance.”

“I’m very sorry to hear such distressing news.”

She glanced up at his face. He did appear sincere. The grooves had deepened about his eyes and mouth as though he suppressed great emotion.

How many times had Geoffrey come to Guatemala over the years? At least two that she knew of, and always to the El Peten department, although he always traveled through Guatemala City. It was quite possible that he’d continued his connection with Dr. Reyes, and if Dr. Reyes had continued his connections with the guerrillas who’d participated in the demonstration at the Spanish Embassy all those years ago…

He might be able to help her escape from Venus Star.

As if Dr. Reyes knew exactly what she was thinking, he leaned forward, his dark gaze boring into hers. “Did Dr. Malcolm give you something before he died? A word, perhaps?”

She closed her eyes, remembering Geoffrey’s final words. That stupid argument. Then he’d whispered something else about the White Road. Her heart suddenly pounded so loudly that her head throbbed. He’d said
sacbeob
, plural. He hadn’t meant the White Road of death’s journey, but the incredible spanning causeways that had connected El Mirador to its neighboring cities.

“
Sacbeob
,” she whispered.

Tension bled out of Dr. Reyes and he released a long sigh. She knew, then, that he would help her. Her heart ached so much that she rubbed her knuckles against her breastbone. Even from beyond the grave, her gallant golden-haired knight had managed to help her yet again.
Thank you, Geoffrey.

Dr. Reyes dropped his gaze back down to her meticulous notes translating the known location symbols from the temple rings. “Do you believe?”

“Yes.” Wonder sparked through her, relaxing some of her churning worry and grief. She did believe, in Ruin, in the Gates, everything. “It’s all true.”

“Do you remember the legend I told you the first night you arrived?”

The corner of her mouth quirked briefly. He was being very careful indeed with Knightley still standing at the door. “Yes, I do.”

“Does
Balam
…” Dr. Reyes raised his gaze to her face, “…know that legend?”

“Yes.” Jaid watched him glance at the guard at the door, grimace, and drop his gaze back to the papers. “I suspect it was the other brother who took the codex.”

“Do you know why he’s here?”

Softly, she quoted the passage her father had found in Iximche all those years ago.
“‘The Gatekeeper guards the way between worlds and time, between heaven and hell. The Gatekeeper roams the waters of time, never resting until the Return. Beware the Gatekeeper’s wrath if his Gate is violated. His wrath is great.’”

“Yes!” Madelyn whirled around, her eyes lighting up. “That’s the passage I was thinking of! It says something about him walking the Place of Fright and stealing ‘Xibalban power,’ which I assumed was the White Dagger. How on earth did you remember that?”

Uncomfortable, Jaid didn’t answer. People were usually awed or creeped out by her memory. She’d rather the other woman didn’t know the extent of her special abilities, not until she knew whether she could trust her.

“The locals believe the chapel was built on top of Seven Caves, Seven Canyons.” Dr. Reyes held her gaze, his face solemn, his eyes carrying the weight of the world. “Whoever’s behind the massacre in Santiago Atitlan ripped the floor tile away inside the church to reveal the pool. Blood covered the area.”

She felt the skin of her face tighten and knew she’d gone pale, but she didn’t look away. The demons had tried to use the underground water in the church as a Gate. It hadn’t worked, but they’d try again, and again, and again, perhaps at different locations, but always with the same goal. With each failure, the victims’ blood would only give them more power.

Dr. Reyes nodded slightly, a silent acknowledgement of her fear. “We need to determine where they’ll try next, pray they can’t find anyone or anything that helps them, and figure out a way to stop them. If they get the codex…”

“I don’t think that alone will give them what they need.”

“Who are you talking about?” Knightley moved closer. He didn’t have his gun out, but he’d shot Ruin and hit her. She knew where his loyalties lay. “If we have competition, the boss needs to know.”

She asked, “Who’s the boss?”

“Mr. Franklin. He’s excited to meet you and gave me orders to see you safe and sound at any cost.”

She couldn’t help but touch her forehead lightly and wince. Knightley tried to look sheepish, but the hardness never eased in his eyes. He was a paid soldier, a mercenary. He’d been given a job, and he’d do it, no questions asked, even if it meant hitting a woman or killing an unarmed man. “What does Mr. Franklin want? Why is Venus Star so determined for me to work for them?”