The Death Relic (48 page)

Picture after picture, drawing after drawing, all of them depicting the same theme in slightly different forms: the Spanish killing natives in the name of the cross. She had studied them all during the flight to Cholula, but she had not picked up on this common thread until that very moment.

‘Oh my God!’ she blurted, louder than she had intended.

From various sections of the church, heads whipped round in her direction – everyone concerned that they had been spotted by a guard. Payne happened to be the nearest person to Maria. He rushed to her side to find out what was wrong. He was expecting trouble, but she greeted him with the best news possible. She had solved the riddle.

‘What is it?’ he demanded.

‘I’ve figured it out! I know what the Death Relic was.’

‘Already?’

She nodded, fully confident. ‘It was the cross.’

‘The Death Relic was the cross? I don’t follow.’

By this time, the others had rushed to her side as well. She quickly took them through her theory, using the photographs to illustrate her point. ‘It’s all about perspective. From the Spanish point of view, the cross was a relic to be worshipped. They took it into battle, where it gave them power and strength. They fought for the cross. On the other hand, the natives viewed the cross in a completely different way. From their perspective, it was something to be feared. Look at all the natives who were slain in the name of the cross. To them, the relic represented death.’

Ulster stroked his beard in thought. ‘My dear, you might be onto something. In the minds of the natives, who had never seen this symbol before the Spanish Conquest, they had to define it in their own terms. In their eyes, the cross was evil. The cross
was
death.’

Hamilton nodded enthusiastically. ‘That would explain the glyphs! The lone difference between the Death God and the Death Relic symbols was the necklace of bones around the Death God’s neck. The bones were shaped like an X. It must have been their way of depicting the cross.’

Payne glanced at his watch. He hated to dampen the group’s enthusiasm, but he knew time wasn’t on their side. ‘I know this is an important discovery, but given our current location and my desire to avoid a Mexican prison, I was wondering if this information will actually help us find the treasure.’

She nodded. ‘As a matter of fact, it might.’

He tapped his watch. ‘Then let’s get moving.’

She signalled for them to follow her towards the altar. As she walked, she explained what she had in mind. ‘Take a look at the statue. What does it look like from a distance?’

Jones guessed. ‘A really ugly puppet.’

She glared at him. ‘David, that’s a statue of the Virgin Mary.’

He was ready to amend his joke, but thought better of it.

Ulster bailed him out. ‘At first blush, it appears to be a pyramid.’

She agreed. ‘I thought the same thing when I saw it. Not only that, but she’s wearing a medallion around her neck. That can’t be a coincidence.’

Payne was confused. ‘You think the treasure is inside the statue?’

She shook her head. ‘Not at all. I think this statue has another purpose. It was discovered in the 1500s and has been on this altar for several hundred years. According to legend, this statue is said to be the protector of the church. But I don’t think it’s protecting the church. I think it’s protecting what was
hidden
in the church. I think it’s protecting the treasure.’

Maria genuflected in front of the altar and quickly made the sign of the cross. Then she scooted round to the back wall, where the statue was kept in a gilded arch. Unfortunately, the arch started at eye level and soared more than 15 feet up the wall. Resting on an elaborate stand that took the form of a dark serpent encircling a blue globe, the Virgin Mary statue was positioned halfway up the arch. Maria’s mind quickly flashed back to the main pyramid of Chichén Itzá, the one that was attacked by a serpent during the spring and autumn equinox. She wondered if there was a link between that particular deity and the creature on the stand. If so, it would be another indication that the Christian and Mayan worlds were connected at that spot.

She stared up at the statue. ‘Can someone give me a hand?’

Payne was the strongest, so he picked her up and placed her on the stone ledge at the base of the arch. From there, she was able to lean forward and peek behind the statue.

After a few seconds of searching, she started to chuckle. ‘I’ll be damned.’

Jones heard the comment. ‘You
will
be damned if you keep swearing on the altar. That’s the Virgin Mary you’re talking to.’

She ignored him. She was too focused on her discovery. ‘You’re not going to believe what’s back here. There’s a carved circle in the wall. It looks about the same size as the medallion.’

Payne furrowed his brow. ‘A carved circle? What’s so exciting about that?’

She glanced down at the group. ‘Terrence, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Mercado’s journal say that the medallion was the key to unlocking the mysteries of the New World?’

Hamilton nodded. ‘As a matter of fact, it did.’

‘At the time, I thought it was a merely figure of speech, but what if he meant it? What if the medallion is literally a key – a key that gives us access to the treasure?’

Ulster grinned. ‘Trust me, my dear, I’ve heard crazier things in my day. Did I ever tell you about the temple that one of my colleagues unearthed in the rain forest of Cameroon? In order to get inside, they had to shove a stick into the rectum of a hippopotamus.’

Jones did a double take. ‘Excuse me?’

Ulster laughed. ‘Don’t worry, David. It wasn’t a real hippopotamus. It was the statue of a hippopotamus. Nevertheless, it was a crazy place to put a keyhole.’

‘Anyway,’ Maria said, ‘I think this will work, but I’m not quite tall enough to reach the slot. Unless we can find a ladder, one of you is going to have to do it for me.’

Jones pointed at Payne. ‘Dammit, Jon. You heard the lady. Help her!’

‘Don’t swear,’ she said.

‘But, you just swore, like, two seconds ago.’

She reached out her arms. ‘Be quiet and help me down.’

He pretended to pout. ‘Yes, ma’am.’

After moving the statue to the floor, Jones cupped his hands together and boosted Payne onto the stone ledge at the base of the arch. Payne studied the arch and saw the carved circle Maria had referred to. As she claimed, it appeared to be the same size as the medallion.

She handed it to Payne. ‘Good luck.’

Payne took the medallion in his right hand and reached up high. The rectangular slot in the centre of the medallion lined up perfectly with a tiny notch in the middle of the hole. Unsure of the physics, he tried to spin the medallion like a dial, but his hands slipped across the smooth surface of the gold. He tried again, this time pushing hard against the medallion as he twisted it to the right. This time, the dial moved. With every crank of the medallion, it went deeper and deeper into the wall until the arch behind the statue cracked open like a door.

Wasting no time, he swung the arch completely open and peered into the shadows ahead. There was a short hallway, then a stone staircase that curled into the darkness.

‘What’s back there?’ Maria demanded.

‘I can’t tell. Someone give me a flashlight.’

Jones held out his hand. ‘I’ll let you use mine, but we’re a package deal.’

Payne looked down at Jones, Maria, Ulster and Hamilton, and he knew what needed to be done. Having come this far, it would be unfair for any one of them to make the discovery alone. He nodded to Jones, who began to boost Maria up onto the ledge. Payne pulled the group up, one at a time, and helped them through the hidden door.

The space behind the altar was unremarkable in every way. It led to a storage vault that had been carved into the tip of the pyramid below. Made of simple stone, it wasn’t painted or gilded, and it didn’t have any of the architectural flourishes of the rest of the church. Of course, there was no reason to decorate a space that wasn’t meant for visitors.

Instead, the space was designed to be warm and dry.

The ideal place to protect the piles of Aztec gold and the hundreds of Mayan codices that lined the alcoves in the vaults below the church.

Tuesday, 14 February,

Acapulco, Mexico

(190 miles southwest of Mexico City)

Built to resemble an Aztec pyramid, the main building of the Fairmont Acapulco Princess resort towers fifteen storeys above the tropical landscape on the southern coast of Mexico. Surrounded by lush jungles, sandy beaches and the Pacific Ocean, the Fairmont is annually recognized as one of the top resorts in Latin America. On most evenings, the Beach Club Restaurant was the type of place that Payne and Jones would enjoy without hesitation, but as they glanced around the crowded bistro, they realized the significance of the date. It was Valentine’s Day.

Or as it’s known in Mexico:
El Día del Amor
.

The Day of Love.

Jones cursed under his breath when the hostess led them to a cosy table for two, which offered a romantic view of Revolcadero Beach. Lit by candlelight and sprinkled with rose petals, everything about the table setting was designed for romance, including the bottle of champagne that chilled near by. He brushed the petals off his chair before reluctantly sitting down. If not for the growling in his stomach, he would have been tempted to leave.

‘Just so you know,’ Jones declared, ‘it doesn’t matter how much you wine and dine me, you’re
not
getting laid.’

Payne moved the ice bucket out of his way. ‘Don’t worry. You’re not my type.’

Jones considered the comment. ‘You’re
such
a racist.’

‘Yeah. That’s it. You figured me out.’

Unwilling to leave Mexico until Ulster had dealt with the politics of their discovery, Payne and Jones decided to fly to Acapulco for a few days of golf and swimming before returning to the snow and ice of Pennsylvania. After the confusion of Cancún, the violence of Chichén Itzá and the excitement of Cholula, they felt they had earned an actual vacation.

One without gunfire. Or explosions. Or carnage of any kind.

The only thing they wanted to shoot was under par.

As for the treasure itself, the inventory process had yet to begin because of a major disagreement that was brewing between the Catholic Church and Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Since the treasure was reached through Our Lady of Remedies, the Church felt the gold and artefacts belonged to them. Meanwhile, the
INAH
claimed the Mexican government should control the hoard since the vaults were dug into the top of the pyramid. Ultimately, the two groups would come to an agreement, one in which both sides would prosper, but it would take a few more days.

In the meantime, Ulster, Maria and Hamilton patiently waited for an opportunity to examine the treasure. On the night of the discovery, they were rushed for time, which prevented them from grasping the scope of the collection. They realized it was a major historical find – one that promised to address many of the unanswered questions about the Aztec and Mayan civilizations – but they wouldn’t be able to gauge its true significance until they were allowed to study the codices in a proper setting. Before Sunday, there were only three known Mayan codices in the world. Now there were more than 300.

Scholars would be busy for years to come.

For the time being, Payne was more concerned with his best friend than he was about the treasure. He eyed the couples at the other tables. It really was a romantic setting. ‘I hate to point out the obvious, but shouldn’t you be here with Maria?’

Jones shrugged. ‘I don’t know. Maybe.’

‘Maybe?’

‘I thought I had everything figured out until she kissed me. Now I’m confused again. Honestly, I have no idea what she’s thinking – or what I’m thinking.’

‘I saw the kiss. It wasn’t a peck on the cheek.’

He shook his head. ‘No, it wasn’t.’

‘I’m guessing it meant something.’

‘Possibly,’ he admitted. ‘But even if it did, nothing has really changed since the breakup. The attraction has always been there. It’s just, you know, the other stuff that got in the way.’

‘Actually, I don’t know. What other stuff are you talking about?’

Jones groaned at the question. Although Payne had been asking him for years, Jones had never revealed the reason he had broken up with Maria. He figured she was out of his life, so he saw no reason to upset his best friend over the details. However, now that Maria was back in their lives, regardless of how temporary or permanent her presence might be, he felt he owed Payne the truth.

Jones cleared his throat. ‘I know you aren’t going to like this, but here’s the truth. Ultimately I broke up with Maria because of you.’

Payne laughed at the comment. He thought it was a joke. ‘Because of me? Well, I guess that explains the romantic dinner. How long have you felt this way?’

Jones shook his head. ‘Jon, I’m trying to be serious. Maria and I were clicking as a long-distance couple until I asked her to visit me in Pittsburgh. She hemmed and hawed for a couple of weeks until I got sick of the runaround. Eventually, I confronted her about it on the phone. She told me that she didn’t want to visit because she didn’t want to deal with you.’

‘She didn’t want to deal with me? What the hell did I do?’

‘Come on, Jon.’

‘Seriously, what?’

Jones grimaced. ‘You killed her brother.’

Payne raised his voice. ‘A brother who was trying to
kill
her. I saved her life.’

‘I know you did, and I tried to tell her that. Unfortunately, she was still coping with her father’s murder, Dr Boyd’s desertion and a bunch of other issues. I think you got lumped into that mess. Plus, if you remember correctly, you introduced yourself by shoving your gun in her mouth and threatening to blow her head off. That probably didn’t help.’

Payne took a deep breath. ‘Probably not.’

‘Anyway,’ Jones continued, ‘I told her that you were my best friend and a major part of my life. I let her know that I wanted to continue my relationship with her, but
only
if she was willing to work things out with you.’