Look What the Wind Blew In (26 page)

“Dad!” Angélica interrupted. “Don’t you think that’s enough muckraking for one day?”

“It’s not really muckraking since we’re not exactly prominent people,
gatita
. Besides, it’s just Pedro.”

“What’s ‘muckraking’ mean?” Pedro asked.

“It’s still humiliating.”

“You’re overreacting.” He turned back to Pedro. “Diego was bit by a coral snake this morning.”

Pedro winced with his whole upper body. “
Ay yi yi
.”

“He’ll be okay, thanks to Teodoro’s quick thinking, but that leg is going to smart for a while.”

“So all of this is because of her curse?” Pedro nodded in Angélica’s direction before taking a sip of his coffee.

“My curse?” Her dad must have filled him in on everything else when he had flown to Cancun to get his tooth fixed. “Really, Dad?”

Juan had the decency to look a little sheepish.

“Sounds like hanging around here isn’t going to be good for my health.” Pedro lowered his cup to the table. “Especially if someone will be muck-cracking me.”

“Pedro, not ‘muckcracking,’ it’s
muckraking
,” Angélica explained. “And you’re staying for two weeks no matter what.” She needed him more than he could imagine.

“Of course I am,
mi angelita
.” He patted her hand in his usual brotherly way.

“Angélica thought maybe we could start having a couple of men pull night watches,” Juan stirred more sugar into his coffee. “What do you think?”

“
Es bueno,”
Pedro agreed.

“We can’t spare any men completely from the day shift,” she said. “But maybe if we split the nights into four-hour shifts, it won’t cause that much of a ripple effect in the workload.”

Pedro finished his coffee, bringing his cup down hard like a judge’s gavel. “I’ll cover the first shift tonight. Have Rafael pull the second.”

“You sure? You just flew in.”

“I’m well-rested and fresh compared to the rest of you.”

“True.” Juan leaned toward Pedro, a fat grin popping up on his face. “You’ll never guess who I caught Angélica with in this very tent yesterday morning, and they weren’t in here drinking coffee.”

Her mouth fell open.

“
Por favor
, don’t tell me it was Dr. Steel?”

“Nope. It was—”

“Dad!”

Pedro might be practically family, but some things did not need to be shared.

“Would you look what’s falling out of the sky these days,” Quint’s voice behind her made her jump. “Pedro Montañero in the flesh. I’ll be damned.”

Angélica hoped like the dickens that Quint hadn’t heard what her father had been saying a moment before. She lifted her coffee cup to her lips, trying to hide behind it.

“Quint Parker!” Pedro stood as Quint rounded the table. “A big, old birdy told me you were here.” He pumped Quint’s hand. “Have you been staying out of trouble all these years?”

Angélica peered over her cup at Quint. Freshly shaven, damp hair combed back with a few wavy tendrils already breaking free, smelling of soap, he looked good enough to eat in one tempting bite.

“Hell, no.” Quint grinned. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Pedro patted the bench seat next to him. “Join us,
amigo
.” After Quint grabbed some coffee and settled in across from her, Pedro elbowed him lightly. “Quint, what does ‘muck-er-aching’ mean? Angélica keeps saying something about it to Juan.”

“She does, huh?” Quint shot Angélica a raised brow. “It’s kind of like mudslinging.”

Pedro’s whole face rounded in a whopping smile. “Ah,
sí
. I’ve seen those shows—two women in bikinis covered with mud while they fight.
Ay yi yi.
”

“
Ay yi yi
is right,” Quint said with a wink at Angélica.

Angélica wrinkled her nose back at him, then squeezed Pedro’s hand across the table. “Pedro, you have a wonderful way with English, but that’s not the kind of mudslinging I’m talking about.”

“What I said was not exactly muckraking,” Juan said to Quint. “I was filling Pedro in on what’s been going on around here.”

“Ah, gotcha.” Quint looked at Pedro. “It’s sort of like whistle-blowing.”

Angélica stole a line from Lauren Bacall in
To Have and Have Not
, one of her mom’s favorite movies. “You know how to whistle don’t you, Pedro,” she said, her voice smoky. “You just put your lips together and … blow.”

Quint’s gaze was glued to her mouth. He puckered and let out a quiet wolf whistle, finishing the scene Bogart style.

Pedro tried to copy Quint’s whistle, but it sounded weak, so he gave up and trilled instead, which made Juan laugh.

“Try again,” her father encouraged.

While Pedro and her dad fooled around with whistling, Quint tapped her wrist, getting her attention.

He leaned across the table and spoke low. “I ran into someone outside your tent.”

Jared!
Her grip tightened on her cup. “What a coincidence. He was just asking about you this morning.”

“That should be the last time. My side of the deal is done.”

She blinked in surprise. “That was quick.”

“I don’t mess around.” He sent her a cockeyed smile. “Except with women who know how to whistle.”

Flirt!
Okay, now that the whole blackmail mess was behind them, she needed to get back to business, to keep her mind on her work—not Quint. “I believe I owe you a big thanks.”

Quint shot her a smoldering look. “Or something else.”

Her new resolve buckled just like that. She gulped some coffee, careful not to swallow her tongue.

“What does whistling have to do with the curse?” Pedro asked, bringing them back around to where they’d started.

Juan snapped his fingers. “I know! Think of it as being dragged through the mud.”

“Why would she think you were dragging me through the mud?” Pedro asked Juan.

She needed some fresh air. Too many of her senses were suddenly tuned into the All-Quint-All-Night radio show going on in her head. Standing, she told Pedro, “I meant he was exposing what’s been going on around here.”

Pedro shrugged. “Teodoro fills me in every Tuesday when he calls from the village.”

“You knew about all this?”

“Not all. I missed Teodoro’s call yesterday. But I knew about the curse.”

She growled in her throat. Was there no such thing as a secret around this place? That was it. She needed a few hours alone in the Dawn Temple to find her happy, orderly, get-her-shit-together place.

Pointing her cup at Quint, she changed back into boss mode. “You’re with Fernando again today. Dad, you take Jared and Pedro.”

“Will do,” Juan picked up his coffee. “As soon as I finish this. Where are you running off to?”

“I have a report to write,” she lied.

“Right.” He stirred his drink. “Be careful,
gatita
. Sub Chambers Q and V are extremely unstable.”

* * *

This trip to jungle hell was turning into reunion central. First Steel and now Pedro. Quint snorted. If only Dr. Hughes would make an appearance, he could turn in his name badge and leave the party.

Or not.

He had a few things to sort out with Angélica first.

“Quint!” Pedro called, catching up with Quint just outside his tent and handing him a large manila envelope. “I have something for you.”

Quint held up the envelope. “From you?”

Pedro shook his head. “From Jeff Hughes.”

“I didn’t realize you know Jeff.”

“He called three days ago, said he found
mi nombre
and number in some of his
madre’s
things and wondered why.”

Quint wondered why, too. Maybe the answer was in the envelope in his hand.

“I told him you and I used to work together for his
papa
and I would be seeing you soon. He asked if he could ship this to me to bring to you.”

Quint squeezed the envelope. It felt like some kind of thin book. He itched to open it, but not in front of Pedro. “Thank you for making sure I got it.”

“
No problema.
” Pedro hitched his bag over his shoulder. “Now which of these tents was Alonso’s? Juan said I can sleep there.”

Quint pointed across the way. “That green one.” He picked at the corner of the package, working it loose.

“
Gracías
. Wish me luck. I’m working with Jared this morning. He
is … what do you say? A fun blower.”

“You mean a fun-sucker.”

Pedro chuckled. “Some things never change,
sí
? Save me a seat at lunch.”

He watched Pedro walk away, debating whether he should ask him to keep quiet about Jeff’s delivery. No, that might make him curious.

As soon as Pedro was out of sight, Quint tore open the top of the envelope. What could be so important that Jeff had to ship it via Pedro? Why had Mrs. Hughes been in possession of Pedro’s name and number?

“Quint!” Juan was headed his way.

He lowered the envelope, trying to discreetly tuck it behind him.

“Fernando wants me to take you over to where he’s working.” Juan came to a stop in front of him. “He moved inside the temple to one of the chambers.”

Of course he had. It was undoubtedly hotter, tighter, and a helluva lot more dangerous inside. Quint couldn’t wait to dig in.

“It’s like a maze in there,” Juan added. “Can be dangerous if you don’t know where you’re going.”

Juan was doing a bad job of selling today’s task, but Quint had no choice. Angélica needed the help, and he needed to get to the bottom of these Dr. Hughes’ clues. He rubbed his thumb over the torn piece of envelope. Jeff’s package would have to wait until later, along with the new questions Pedro’s news had drudged up.

“Let me grab something from my tent.”

At Juan’s nod, Quint stepped inside, glancing behind him to make sure Juan didn’t follow. Unable to resist, he peeked inside the envelope and saw a letter clipped to the front of a notepad. He opened the envelope wider and read:
I finally found Mom’s notes! They were in
…

“You coming, boy?” Juan’s voice interrupted.

“Be right there.” He stuffed the envelope under his cot, his pulse rat-a-tat-tatting about what answers he was going to find in that envelope.

* * *

Angélica ducked under a broken support beam and carefully stepped into the dark chamber in the heart of the Dawn Temple. Shining the beam of her flashlight around the walls, she stared at the fissure cracks splintering across them like spider webs without really seeing them.

Instead, she was busy racking her brain, trying to come up with who would be trying to shut down her dig site this year and why.

Was it some drug cartel members who wanted the site to grow cocaine or store guns? No, they’d just come in with guns blazing.

Could it be another archaeologist who’d found out what she and her father were up to? Someone who had located clues at another site that led to this one? She’d heard of some unorthodox competitive personalities in the field, especially with so few new career-boosting finds happening these days.

Could Quint be behind it like Jared had hinted? Could he be charming her on one hand while trying to destroy her career with the other? But why? Dr. Hughes had done some monumental work at this site, but nothing extraordinarily newsworthy. At least nothing that she or her parents had found in their years here.

A warm body bumped into her, bringing her back to the present and her search.

“Where are we?” Pedro whispered in the dark chamber.

“Sub Chamber Q.”

“Didn’t your dad say we should NOT come in here?”

“No, he just warned that it’s dangerous.” The air smelled stale, felt heavy; this chamber’s dust hadn’t been stirred for over a year.

“Oh.” He directed his beam of light downward. “What are all of these stones doing on the floor?”

She took hold of his light and shined the beam at the ceiling. “They used to be up there.”

He cursed, using a few combinations of the Spanish language that she hadn’t heard before. “Maybe I should wait in the hall.”

“Go ahead.” She hadn’t wanted to drag him in here anyway. He was supposed to be helping her father.

He didn’t move. “Is finding this piece of rock really worth risking your life?”

“Yes.” It was what she’d lived for the last few years.

He sighed. “Fine. I’ll stay, but I’m not happy about it.”

“I don’t know why you’re here in the first place.” She stepped further into the chamber. “I told Dad to keep you with him.”

“He said he’d feel better if I came with you.” Pedro reached up and ran his finger along a crack in the ceiling. “Now I know why.”

“Pedro, you don’t have to stay in here. You can wait out front.”

“Yes, I do,” he said with finality. “What makes you think you can find this rock in here? There are more rocks on the floor than in the walls and ceiling.”

“Well, it wasn’t in Sub Chamber V, so it has to be in here. We checked the rest of the temple last night.”

“What if it’s not in here?”

She stepped further into the room. “I don’t want to think about that. It’s in here.” She rolled a stone over and checked it with her flashlight. “It has to be.”

“If you say so, but I think you should have the
Lolcatali
ceremony,” he said switching subjects mid-sentence.

Where had that thought come from? She glanced over at him. He was still checking out the ceiling.

“No, Pedro.”

“You’re not thinking of your men and their needs.”

She checked two more stones. “I offered more money.”

“That’s not enough. Fear is stronger than greed.”

Angélica turned to him, hands on her hips. “And you think the ceremony will keep them here?”

“
Sí.
”

“It’s just a ceremony, not magic.”

He shined the flashlight on her, making her shield her eyes. “To you it’s just a ceremony. To them, it’s like a … what do you call that thing in
Star Wars
… a force-field. It protects them from future
Xtabay
attacks.”

She didn’t want to think about the mess she was in with her crew right now. “Come on.” She tugged his arm, pulling him over to a small pile of rocks with a large flat one on top. “Help me move this.”

Pedro nudged her aside and lifted the rock. “Teodoro said he could be ready to have the ceremony within a day.”