The Death Relic (32 page)

She nodded. ‘Trust me, I’m quite familiar with the curse part.’

‘Yes,’ he said knowingly, ‘I guess you’ve beaten me in that category. Still, consider this an open invitation. If you ever want to talk, I’d love to hear from you, day or night.’

‘Thanks. That means the world to me.’

Payne cleared his throat from across the table. ‘Sorry to interrupt your whispering – I know how you ladies love to gossip – but shouldn’t we get the show on the road?’

Ulster nodded. ‘I’ve been ready since sunrise. Just lead the way and I shall follow.’

The foursome rode together to the Italian consulate, where Hamilton’s H2 had been stashed overnight. Jones parked the
SUV
in the alley, not far from the private garage, and kept watch while Payne opened the door. He punched in the access code, given to them by Giuseppe, and waited for the light to turn green. As soon as it did, he signalled for the others to join him.

Ulster took charge once they got inside. Although he wasn’t an expert in any particular field, he had a working knowledge of every historical topic imaginable. In a recent interview, he had compared himself to a family physician. He didn’t have a concentrated specialty, like a cardiovascular surgeon, who knew the inner workings of the heart better than anyone. Instead, he was more like a general practitioner, someone who knew a lot about a lot, which enabled him to jump comfortably from one field to another. Compared to Maria, who’d had limited exposure to the Maya, Ulster was an authority on Mesoamerica. He had downplayed his knowledge at breakfast to boost her confidence, but it was obvious to everyone that he was running the show.

While studying the contents of the crate in the H2, he tried to make sense of Hamilton’s ordering system. The artefacts were divided by size and stored in a display case with removable wooden slats. Large objects were packed in bubble wrap and given their own individual compartments. But smaller items, such as stone figurines and pottery shards, were relegated to plastic bags and crammed into the remaining spaces. ‘Did any of you move
anything
?’

Maria shook her head. ‘I examined a couple of bags to see what we were dealing with, but I put them back exactly where I found them.’

‘Did you open them?’

‘Definitely not. I didn’t think it was worth the risk.’

‘Then this is how they were arranged?’

‘Yes,’ she assured him. ‘Why?’

‘Because none of this makes sense.’

Ulster picked up a plastic bag to illustrate his point. Inside were two stone figurines that looked nothing alike. One was quite vibrant. It depicted a half-naked warrior with an elaborate headdress that had been painted in a rainbow of colours. Everything about it was loud and flashy, like a child’s toy from an ancient era. The other was a simple carved head. It was solid and subtle. No wild colours or funky designs. It had a quiet dignity that the other one lacked.

Wearing a pair of cotton archival gloves, Ulster reached into the bag and pulled out the carved head. He held it up for everyone to see. ‘This figurine is Mayan. It has a distinctive face, particularly the curvature of its nose. The carvings along the base are fairly typical of this region during the Postclassic period. That’s the era right before the arrival of the Spanish. If I had to guess, I would say this is from the fourteenth or fifteenth century.’

He handed it to Maria, who was also wearing gloves, so she could show it to Payne and Jones. They stared at it intently while Ulster removed the second figurine from the bag.

‘Now this one,’ he proclaimed, ‘is remarkably different. Everything about it – its colour, its shape, its place of origin – is dissimilar to the first. Of course, there’s a very good reason for their differences. This one
isn’t
Mayan. This one is
Aztec
.’

‘Aztec?’ she blurted. ‘Are you sure?’

He nodded. ‘I am absolutely certain. Over the years, I have worked with artwork from both civilizations, and there are some basic differences between the two. In this case, it’s pretty straightforward. These figurines are prototypical of their individual cultures.’

‘And that’s bad?’ Jones wondered.

Ulster shook his head. ‘Not bad, just confusing. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why he would have placed these items together. It makes no sense.’

Payne knew very little about the Maya, other than what he’d heard or read in the past two days, and his knowledge of the Aztec was virtually nonexistent. So he needed further clarification to make sense of the problem. ‘Both groups are from Mexico, right? But you’re saying you
wouldn’t
find these pieces in the same place?’

Ulster nodded. ‘Even though the Mayas and the Aztecs shared the land that is now known as Mexico, the two civilizations were bitter enemies. The only time they came together was on the battlefield. Thankfully, the two groups were separated by hundreds of miles of desert, or else they would have fought more frequently.’

‘But I thought you said … ah, never mind. You’d know better than I.’

Ulster encouraged him to continue. ‘Go on. Speak your mind.’

He shrugged reluctantly. ‘Yesterday on the phone, didn’t you say Hamilton had a theory about the Mayas and the Aztecs? Something about a shared language.’

‘Not a language, my boy, but you are correct: I did mention a theory during our conversation. I have to admit, I’m surprised that you remembered. You normally tune me out.’

‘It was a quick chat. I didn’t have time to tune you out.’

Ulster laughed. ‘Unfortunately, the theory Terrence mentioned was quite speculative. As far as I know, he never had definitive proof. He based his entire hypothesis on some shared terminology that he had discovered in the histories of both civilizations.’

Maria furrowed her brow. ‘What kind of terminology?’

Ulster explained. ‘As you probably know, the written languages of the Maya and the Aztec were radically different. The Mayan language was a mixture of phonetic symbols and logograms, which are visual characters that represent words. In later years, it evolved into a highly complex language that was used to describe their way of life in great detail. Instead of a pure alphabet, glyphs were used to correspond with nouns, verbs, adjectives and so forth. In many ways, the structure is similar to the modern languages of the Americas.’

‘What about the Aztecs?’ she asked.

‘By comparison, the Aztec language was rudimentary. It was nothing more than a series of mnemonics and logograms that weren’t meant to be read. It was a language that was meant to be
told
. Their codices were essentially pictographic aids for recalling events. The details and the flourishes of the story came from the orator, not from the written word itself.’

Jones frowned. ‘If that’s the case, how could they have shared terminology?’

‘The same way that a word in English can have the same meaning as a character in Mandarin Chinese. They may look nothing alike, yet the translation is similar.’

Jones scratched his head. ‘Then what’s the big deal? If two languages from halfway around the world have similarities, what’s so remarkable about shared terminology between the Aztec and the Maya? I would think it would be a bigger deal if they
didn’t
share similarities.’

‘You are correct. Two languages from the same region should have occasional traits in common, and the Aztec and Maya languages certainly did. But what Hamilton was suggesting went beyond terminology. During the course of his research, he came across what he called “a shared perspective” in the two languages – and that is something entirely different.’

‘A shared perspective? What does that mean?’ Maria asked.

Hundreds of examples from ancient history rushed through his head, but he knew most of them would be far too advanced for Payne and Jones. With that in mind, he chose something from modern history to illustrate his point. ‘For as long as I can remember, there has been conflict in the Middle East. Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and so on – they are constantly arguing about every topic under the sun. Correct?’

Payne, Jones and Maria nodded in agreement.

‘Jonathon,’ Ulster said, ‘you have spent a lot of time in that region. If you had to wager, do you think you’ll see peace in the Middle East in your lifetime?’

‘Not a chance.’

‘Why not?’

‘There’s no middle ground for a settlement. Each country has its own set of beliefs, which prevents them from giving in.’

‘In other words, they have different ideologies.’

‘For the most part, yes.’

Ulster nodded. ‘As hard as this is to believe, those countries are less than three hundred miles apart. That’s much closer than the major cities of the Aztec and the Maya ever were. And yet the basic ideologies of those countries are so drastically different they can’t agree on anything.’

‘I think all of them would agree with that,’ Jones said, smiling.

Ulster missed the joke. ‘Now, let’s shine the spotlight on one place in particular: the city of Jerusalem. It is considered a holy city by three major religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. In less than one square mile, the Old City contains key sites from all three religions, including the Western Wall, the Temple Mount, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Dome of the Rock, and al-Aqsa Mosque. Needless to say, this proximity breeds conflict. During its long history, Jerusalem has been captured and recaptured a remarkable forty-four times.’

Familiar with Ulster’s methods, Payne knew how important it was to keep him on task. Otherwise, he would ramble all day. ‘What’s your point?’

‘My point? Ah, yes, my point! Let me ask you a simple question, one with a complex answer. If a terrorist blew up the city of Jerusalem, who would get blamed?’

‘A black guy,’ Jones cracked.

Payne couldn’t help but laugh.

Maria, who was still trying to understand the concept of a shared perspective, managed to stay focused. ‘Everyone would get blamed. The Jews would blame the Christians. The Christians would blame the Muslims. The Muslims would blame the Jews, and so on.’

Ulster nodded. ‘One catastrophic event in a single city, yet multiple perspectives. Why? Because all of these groups have different ideologies. And different ideologies lead to different points of view. And different points of view lead to different interpretations. And different interpretations lead to different historical records. As a historian, that leads to an interesting dilemma: how do you determine what really happened? If you’re truly neutral, the odds are pretty good that it will be a combination of all of these accounts rolled into one. Right?’

‘Right,’ she said. ‘You look for the common ground.’

‘But what do you do if there’s only one perspective? Do you trust it?’

‘I guess that depends.’

‘Of course it does. It depends on a lot of things, most of which are so transparent I won’t even bother discussing them. What about two perspectives?’

‘The same thing. It depends.’

‘On what?’

‘Whether or not the perspectives are too similar to be distinct. For instance, if I interviewed two Christians about the bombing of Jerusalem, there’s a good chance they would agree on certain things that were influenced by their beliefs. The odds are pretty good they wouldn’t blame a fellow Christian for the violence. They would blame a Muslim or a Jew.’

Ulster nodded in agreement. ‘Let’s go one step further. What if you were given two accounts of the bombing, one from a Christian and one from a Muslim, and both of them said the exact same thing? Would that make a difference?’

‘Definitely.’

‘Why?’

‘Because they never agree on anything, yet they agreed on this.’

Ulster smiled. ‘That, my dear, is a
shared perspective
. As a historian, you live for that moment when all of your sources – even countries at war – are saying the exact same thing. That is when you know you have probably found the truth.’

Maria paused in thought, trying to remember how they had started down this path. ‘And Hamilton found something with the Aztec and the Maya? A shared perspective?’

Ulster nodded. ‘Or so he claimed.’

‘On what topic?’

‘On what
really
happened when the Spanish arrived in the Americas.’

Maria stared at Ulster, waiting for an explanation. ‘What does
that
mean?’

Ulster grinned with delight. He loved it when people were passionate about history. ‘In the grand scheme of things, what do we really know about the Spanish colonization of the Americas? After all, it happened five hundred years ago, long before any of us were born. And unlike the Jerusalem scenario, we don’t have multiple accounts to sort through, because the Spanish burned every native codex they could get their hands on. That means everything in our modern history books was written from one perspective: the perspective of Spain.’

‘What are you saying? Hamilton found something contradictory?’

‘Not only contradictory, but
shared
. The last time we spoke, which was a few weeks ago, he hinted that he had found a shared perspective between the Aztec and the Maya that would cast doubt on what really happened in the 1500s. He didn’t talk specifics, so I don’t know what aspect of the colonization he was referring to, but he was genuinely excited about it.’

‘He was excited when I talked to him, too. But he was reluctant to tell me the specifics. He was getting ready to, but he disappeared before he had a chance.’

‘Sorry to interrupt,’ Payne said, ‘but let’s get back to the artefacts. Could they possibly relate to any of this? I certainly hope so. Otherwise, we just wasted an hour of daylight on a history lesson that could have waited.’

Having worked with Payne before, Ulster wasn’t the least bit offended by his bluntness. He knew the clock was ticking and Hamilton’s life was possibly at stake. ‘Yes, of course, let’s talk about the artefacts. Obviously, I haven’t examined them in depth, but based on first impressions, I would say the only possible connection between the Aztec and the Mayan relics is one I’m not familiar with. In other words, we’ll need Hamilton or a member of his team to tell us how they are related.’