Clive Cussler - The Eye of Heaven

As their taxi drew near the Institute, Remi took Sam’s hand in hers and exhaled quietly. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.”

“We usually do, don’t we?”

“Kind of our thing, right?”

“Exactly. But we might need some help on this one. How do you feel about approaching Carlos about it?”

“I’d rather not. Let’s see what we can come up with on our own first. And don’t forget our secret weapon — the one and only Lazlo,” Remi said, her tone not entirely confident.

Sam nodded and squeezed her hand. “Maribela and Antonio certainly seem like they could narrow it down for us if anyone could …” Sam glanced at the side mirror, as he’d been doing periodically since leaving the clinic. “Do me a favor, would you? Tell the driver to keep going past the Institute,” he said quietly.

“What?”

“I’ve seen the same car behind us on the way to the clinic and now here. A black Toyota. I think we’re being followed and I want to find out for sure.”

Remi leaned forward and had a brief conversation in Spanish with the driver, who nodded and continued south.

“What did you tell him?” Sam asked.

“To take us to the best breakfast restaurant he knows in the area.”

“An enterprising choice.”

“Hopefully, tasty too. I could use some eggs and a cup of strong coffee.” She glanced at the mirror on her side. “What do we do if we are being followed?”

“Good question. Maybe try to corner them and find out who it is and why they are following us?”

“That hasn’t always worked out well in the past, has it?”

“Fair enough. Then what’s your vote?”

“We go about our business and lose them when it matters. I don’t see much harm in anyone knowing we’re at the hotel or that we’re doing research at the Institute. It’s not like we’re an unknown quantity in Mexico.”

“Nice to have the brains of the operation thinking clearly. My instinct is to charge in, guns blazing,” Sam admitted.

“Which has its merits in some circumstances, I’ll grant you. But we don’t have any guns.”

“Always pouring cold water on my fun, aren’t you?”

“It’s my life’s work.”

They continued on for another six minutes and then the driver coasted to the curb in front of a popular restaurant, judging by the crowd inside. They walked in and the hostess showed them to a table by one of the large picture windows. The tantalizing aroma of freshly cooked food and dark coffee permeated the room. Sam’s mouth started to water as he took his seat. A glance at the street confirmed that the Toyota had taken up position fifty yards down the block, ending any arguments about its role.

“Sam, I know you don’t like hearing this, but there’s only one person who knew we were in Cuba and now here.”

He nodded. “Not really. Lagarde knew. He had our bags delivered, remember?”

“It’s not Lagarde, I’m telling you. It has to be Kendra.”

“Let’s say you’re right. That’s a difficult situation.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Stop relying on the office until Selma’s back full-time.”

“Why don’t we just fire her?” Remi said. “It makes me furious that she’d spy on us and sell us out. Selma’s own family …”

“How do you think it would make Selma feel if we let Kendra go? No, I think we have to keep it to ourselves and offer as little information as possible from now on. I don’t want to break Selma’s heart.”

A waitress arrived and Remi ordered coffee for them both. Sam pretended to study the menu.

“Know what you’re going to have?” Remi asked.

“Huevos rancheros. Those are on the menu, right?”

“Might help if you weren’t holding it upside down.”

“Come on, my Spanish isn’t that bad.”

“If you say so. Just let me order or you’ll wind up with a hard-boiled pig snout or something.”

“Bacon makes everything better.”

“So we don’t fire Kendra?”

Sam shook his head. “And no pig snout.”

“Phooey.”

Sam and Remi spent a long day at the Institute scrutinizing the relic collection for anything that might be a clue as to which pyramids showed the greatest promise. Dusk was approaching when they were surprised by Maribela’s arrival. Remi was by Sam’s computer, pointing at a photograph of a temple, and realized too late that the manuscript was still up on her screen on the opposite side of the lab table. Before she could switch the image to something more innocuous, Maribela was staring at the scan with bewildered shock.

“You got it! You’re amazing. I thought we’d never see it again,” she exclaimed as Remi hurried back to her station. Remi threw Sam a resigned look and then turned to Maribela.

“Yes. Sometimes we get lucky. The Cubans have been most forthcoming. Perhaps it’s all in the approach …”

“I recognized the document immediately. But it’s still gibberish. That could take years to decode.”

“Actually, we’ve already decrypted it,” Remi said, her tone only slightly arch.

“Really! That’s … unbelievable. You really are miracle workers. What does it say? Anything interesting?”

“We were just discussing it. Basically, it’s an account by a Spanish priest or educated nobleman that tells the story of Quetzalcoatl’s hidden tomb and of the treasure associated with it.”

Maribela seemed taken aback. “I’ve seen the other mentions of the legend, but this was written specifically to relay information about it?”

“In a manner of speaking. The problem is that it’s typical of the era and very vague. If there is a tomb, it’s buried beneath a holy pyramid. That’s the best we’ve been able to figure out.”

Sam moved from his position over to where the two women stood. “We were going to ask you and Antonio to look over the text and help us narrow it down. That is, if it won’t interfere with your current project …”

“But of course! I can speak for my brother. We’d be honored to look at it and offer our thoughts. He’s up in his office. I’ll go get him.”

Maribela hurried from the room and Remi sat down in her chair and glared at the monitor. “That was sloppy of me.”

“We weren’t getting anywhere. Maybe this isn’t the worst thing that could happen.”

“Then why does it feel so wrong?”

“We’re territorial animals. And fiercely competitive. It’s natural to resist sharing ‘our’ discovery.”

“It’s not a discovery yet. It’s only a manuscript. Which may or may not amount to anything.”

“Which is why there’s probably no harm. Besides, Maribela and Antonio would likely be working the dig, anyway, assuming there’s anything to it.” Sam shrugged. “Frankly, if there is a tomb and it’s buried beneath a pyramid, we’d need to get the government’s permission to excavate in a historic site. It’s not like we can just take a backhoe to their national treasures.”

Maribela returned with Antonio and they huddled around Remi’s monitor. Sam couldn’t help but notice that even after a day in the field, Maribela looked like she’d just stepped off the runway in Milan. Remi glanced at him as though able to read his thoughts as she brought up the decoded text on the screen.

They spent the next two hours going over it with the siblings.

“It’s been a long day,” Sam announced as he stood and stretched, glancing at his watch. “Shall we resume this tomorrow?”

“Absolutely. Would you have any problem if we took a copy of both the manuscript file and the decryption so we can study it at home?” Antonio asked, holding up a flash drive on his key ring.

Remi nodded. “Sure. Just treat it as confidential, please. This could be an extremely important find, if we can figure out which pyramid it is.”