Sunken Pyramid (Rogue Angel) (23 page)

Chapter 37

Six months later

Vista Verde Memorial Park was located off Sara Road in Sandoval County not far from Edgar’s Rio Rancho home.

All the grave markers, though of various sizes, were flat against the earth, the only raised structure a chapel that had compartments, looking not unlike gym lockers, on the outside walls where the cremated had been placed.

Edgar’s grave, it turned out, had been purchased many years ago. It featured two plots; evidently, he thought he’d stay married and that his wife would join him in eternity.

Annja knelt in front of the marker, tracing the raised bronze letters and looking up. In the distance the mountains filled the horizon—purple-blue this early morning, tinged with snow. Breathtaking. No wonder Edgar had chosen this place.

She’d brought a small shovel and she now dug at the edge of his stone. Annja seemed to be the only visitor around. It was smack in the middle of the week, with cemetery workers busy nearby, preparing a grave. She gently but persistently made a small hole in the earth. The ground was hard-packed and initially resisted her efforts.

When she had the hole about eight inches deep, she reached into her fanny pack and pulled out a piece of flannel, opening it up. The disk was smooth and reflected the light of the glowing sun. It had a good weight to it, and any museum would have welcomed it for a pre-Columbian display. Annja had nearly donated it; it was worth thousands.

The medallion had arrived last week in the mail, in a plain brown shipping envelope, insured and metered from Dairago, Italy. There was no return address and no name. But she knew, or rather suspected, it had come from Garin. The handwriting looked familiar.

The image of a Central American bird, a quetzal, was deeply and intricately etched into the center of it, beak open as if calling out. On the reverse side was a Mayan sun, and in the middle of that was an etched half man/half badger, like she had seen on the walls of the pyramid deep in Rock Lake.

The disk was unpleasantly warm against the palm of her hand and made her skin itch. As she held it, the image of Joan’s sword came to the forefront of her mind and the sensation of its pommel against her hand tried to assert itself. The medallion, like the jade knife Annja had broken at the carnival, did not belong to the present-day world. They were things of ancient power, touched by dark spirits.

She’d wanted to be rid of it.

The medallion would be safe here with Edgar.

She set it in the bottom of the hole, which she filled in with dirt, pressing the brittle grass overtop it.

“Indeed, you had quite the monster for me to chase, dear friend.” She wished she could have caught Aeschelman, the man behind all the murders. But someone would find him, the police or the Feds. There would be justice for Edgar and Papa.

A large colorful bird flew at the edge of the cemetery, circling once on an updraft and then moving on toward the mountains. Annja swore it was an intense, iridescent green and blue, with a tail two feet long that shimmered in the early light and a spot of bright crimson on its belly.

“Impossible.”

She blinked and saw that it was only a common ferruginous hawk.

A moment later, it was gone.

* * * * *

We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin ebook. Connect with us for info on our new releases, access to exclusive offers, free online reads and much more!

Subscribe to our newsletter:
Harlequin.com/newsletters

Visit
Harlequin.com

We like you—why not like us on Facebook:
Facebook.com/HarlequinBooks

Follow us on Twitter:
Twitter.com/HarlequinBooks

Read our blog for all the latest news on our authors and books:
HarlequinBlog.com

ISBN-13: 9781460321744

SUNKEN PYRAMID

Special thanks and acknowledgment to Jean Rabe for her contribution to this work.

Copyright © 2013 by Worldwide Library All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Worldwide Library, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario M3B 3K9, Canada.

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com