The Mayan Priest (12 page)

Samuel pushed open the door and viewed the sparse but regal room with disgust. The wood cabinetry was rich and expensive, the carpet plush and the curtains extravagant. It was far more suited to someone of Ahaw’s stature than an air force general.

Samuel closed the door behind him and was instantly drawn to the wall left of the door. It was covered in medals of valour and for one brief, traitorous moment he realised that Dale Bright had been honoured for his services to his country. He was akin to a gallant soldier fighting for the survival of his people, a man who did his own dirty work instead of ordering others, like his ahaw. A fleeting moment of anger bubbled in Samuel’s chest before it was quelled by the slam of a nearby door. He was furious; he had dallied and wasted precious time instead of following the commands given to him. A failure here would mean the loss of his life and more importantly, the loss of the disk.

He moved quickly to the desk and immediately noticed various photos and laser images of Tikal. He was no expert in the field, but pointers scrawled in neat black pen indicating the shaft in which the archaeologists were trapped and a connecting tunnel at the base, sent shivers of excitement up his spine. Another passageway could mean only one thing: the shaft and elaborate trap must have been designed to conceal something of great importance … treasure.

Ahaw was right about the treasure all along and would be pleased with confirmation of his judgement. Contemplating the admiration he would receive on deliverance of this new information, Samuel felt as if he would explode with joy. He would receive a feast in his honour and if he was lucky, a piece of the treasure as a keepsake to recognise his loyalty. Goose bumps of excitement ran over his body and he was in the midst of enjoying his forthcoming fruits when a set of heavy footsteps disrupted him. He was suddenly overwhelmed with an emotion that was unfamiliar … panic. Samuel scanned the room but noted that there was little in the way of suitable hiding spots, so he ducked under the first thing he could find – the desk.

The door opened and Samuel watched in absolute fear as a pair of black shoes strode purposely to the desk, paused for a moment and turned to retreat from the room. He let out a huge sigh of relief as the lock clicked shut and he clambered out of the cramped position as quickly as possible. He had to leave before he was discovered. It would ruin everything if they found him.

Samuel grabbed whatever he could, including a few photos and other nondescript documents. He did not have time to sort out what he really needed. He could do that later.

The hallway was clear, but he could hear raucous voices echoing down the passage in the direction he had entered. He had seconds to make his escape.

Samuel exited to the right, passing a room which contained the woman he did not want to name for fear of giving her an identity (he was much happier loathing her) and her father in deep conversation. He longed to capture her and take her as a trophy, but he had just made a critical mistake by indulging in his hatred. He had paused for too long and Dale Bright looked up at the same moment that Samuel stopped.

Dale scowled and reacted immediately, racing for the door as Samuel leapt into action. Samuel made a split minute decision to go back the way he came, knowing he would meet with hostility but also understanding that it was better to deal with a familiar route than arrive at a dead end.

Running headlong down the commercial grade grey carpet, Samuel heard Dale yell after him. He did not look back, extending his stride to his maximum capacity and forcing his way through a group of four men. They were so surprised that they did not take action until Dale’s furious expression signalled the severity of the event. They joined the chase.

Samuel knocked two people over, punched a young woman for standing in his way and tossed three bags of luggage into the face of his pursuers. He could not stop them. They kept coming and as Samuel forced his way to the exit, he prayed to the gods that the yellow sedan he had seen on his arrival was still idling in the driveway. It was, and to his delight it was driverless.

Samuel jumped in and put the car into gear as the officers opened fired into the back windscreen and rear tyres. They shattered the glass and succeeded in splitting a wheel in two, but this did not stop Samuel who slammed his foot on the accelerator and sped down the driveway in record time. The vehicle was a mess, leaving a thick plume of burning rubber in its wake, but it worked in his favour, concealing him from his pursuers long enough to pull into a nearby car park.

He thanked the gods once again for giving him guidance and the intelligence to stake out the surrounding roads. His taxi could be easily accessed by jumping the fence and running through the small playground, which he did just as the trailing cars flew around the corner and pulled in next to the trashed yellow Chevrolet.

Samuel easily escaped, stopping at a local post office fifteen minutes later and faxing to his ahaw all of the documents he had collected along with a couple of photos. On his heading letter, he apologised for not sorting them out, but he thought it best to leave it in the knowledgeable hands of his ahaw to judge what he did or didn’t need.

***

Dale Bright surveyed his desk with disgust. He could not begin to comprehend the events of the last few minutes. This person had brazenly entered and ransacked his office whilst he had been only feet away and was most likely already in the room when he had come to collect his wallet. The lack of crime in this area had caused a lax attitude amongst the men and Dale also admitted to stupidly leaving his office open from time to time. It was bad enough that the GPR images were missing, compromising the security of his men in Tikal and the trapped archaeologists, but he had also lost the photo of Reynata. Even worse was that he had written her address on the back. He had effectively handed her back to the very people she had escaped from.

When they had first found her it had been discovered that she had been dumped, presumed dead, and she had been placed into protective custody for her own wellbeing. It was not known if she had represented a threat to them and as it turned out, she was unable to recall much of her time with the sect anyway. Over the years she had been either unwilling to help Dale break the ring or was simply too petrified. He presumed it was the latter. Despite this, it stood to reason that the group would not know that she had been unable to provide assistance, logic telling them that she was an unacceptable risk to their organisation. She simply knew too much and they would undertake to nullify her as soon as possible. Dale had been left with no choice but to abandon his daughter and travel immediately to her home town of Austin.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Gillian was shocked that Samuel had followed them to the base and gained access with such ease. Surely an American air force base would be the recipient of top security, the lack of which totally surprised her. Her father was a stickler for rules and regulations even going to the extent of locking up the photos of her as a child in case someone misplaced these precious items.

It was for that very reason that the uncommon sloppy safety measures, like leaving his office door unlocked, was totally out of character. Perhaps he simply had too much on his mind, her theory supported by his hurried and unexplained departure to Austin. She had attempted to question him, but the familiar furrowed brow and pleading look of understanding clearly told her this was an important mission for him. She let him go with a nod of acceptance, quite used to his unexplained exoduses.

Gillian was also puzzled by the objects Samuel stole. He had gone to great extremes to obtain the GPR images and the photo of Reynata, the only explanation being that he was aware of the possibility of treasures in Tikal … but why Reynata?

It was all very odd, but it did indicate a connection between the tattoo on her neck, the Calendar Round arriving from Australia and the strange trail of clues left by a priest called Kinix.

Gillian considered the matter of Reynata for a moment. Why was it that she felt there was much more about the woman than her father was telling her?

Yes, the tattoo was rare. Yes, there was a connection with the Mayan society and her father’s explanation of her involvement in the drug ring, but her photo had been in his drawer. He never left photos in his drawer unless they were of great value and importance.

For shit sake, there was only one photo of her, his only daughter, on his desk.

She frowned and left the room to seek any information she could on the robbery.

Unfortunately the intrusion had caused mass chaos at the headquarters, rendering Gillian’s attempts to gain any further information useless. There were simply too many people running around trying to determine the course of events to submit an accurate report to the government for them to answer her seemingly insignificant queries.

One thing was quite clear though: Samuel must have had inside help. There was no way he could have located them and travelled the distance he did without a private jet or helicopter. In the time they had journeyed from Tikal to San Antonio to Houston and back, Samuel had managed to get himself to San Antonio and locate them. She was not even sure if he was behind the helicopter bombing in Houston, which would mean that he must have prior knowledge of their activities and friends in high places.

Suddenly and unexpectedly, Gillian’s thoughts diverted to the Australian they were expecting.

If there was a sinister operation at work, the departure of her father could leave Adam and the Calendar he was carrying overtly exposed.

She cursed her father at that moment, suddenly understanding that she was the only one who could effectively protect him.

Gillian leapt into action as the adrenaline surged through her veins. She pushed her way through the crowds, tapping her pocket as she went, comforted that the tile, Kinix’s diary and Calendar drawing was securely in her large pocket.

She ran from the mess hall to the kitchen and even to the male bathrooms, looking and listening for his Australian accent, but his location eluded her. It was complicated by the fact that she had no idea what he looked like and ten minutes had passed before she received a lucky break. The pilot of the Australian F-111 was still here and when she approached him, thinking he may have been Adam, he directed her to the centre courtyard. Gillian pushed her way passed a couple of grumpy kitchen hands who swore loudly at her and rushed frantically through a pair of French doors and onto the spotlessly clean cobblestone paving.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Gillian laughed as she caught sight of herself in the mirrored doors. God, she was a mess. The last twenty hours had taken its toll and she looked pale, exhausted and with her uncombed red hair, something akin to a fairytale witch.

She managed a wry grin in spite of herself and gazed at the only men in the small paved yard. There were four of them seated on a stone bench to her right. Their uniforms indicated that two were lieutenants and one was a corporal. The plain-clothed man wearing a pair of black slacks, untidy green shirt and brown jacket was so out of place that he virtually screamed the words ‘alien’. He looked extremely uncomfortable and totally out of place.

He was the one she was looking for, but how was she to get him out of here all the while convincing him he was in danger and getting him to trust her.

It was a tough call but she had no choice; failure was not an option.

Gillian calculated the situation. She did not know the men surrounding him and she had no idea where her father’s appointed custodians were. They would not appreciate her just walking up and insisting he leave with her. It would be too suspicious. She knew what to do, but the thought of pretending to be a seductive, half-witted woman made her feel sick; her true nature was the total opposite.

Gillian sighed, smoothed her hair, unbuttoned her top just enough to reveal cleavage and swaggered towards the men with as much confidence as she could muster. She felt like a fool, but the glimmer of interest and wayward expressions assured her of their interest. She hoped her twitching right eye would not give her away.

‘Hello … my name is Jilly.’ Her decision to use Richard’s pet name was made to give them the comfort of familiarity and not to alert them to her true attentions.

They all smiled at her.

‘I would like to guess by your accent that you are the Australian we’re expecting. Welcome, Adam, although this is probably not the greeting you were hoping for,’ said Gillian, gesturing to the racket inside the building.

‘Thank you. It is a little chaotic,’ he said, his voice emitting an unusual twang that was not totally unpleasant.

Gillian sized him up. He was good-looking in a skinny kind of way. He had a generous mop of dark brown hair, intelligent hazel eyes and a boyish grin. She guessed him to be in his early thirties and not the adventurous type, although she had a sinking feeling that was about to change.

‘If you have time, I would like to extend an offer of hospitality and buy you a drink. It’s the least we can do after dragging you so far from your home,’ offered Gillian as she flamboyantly and blatantly interlocked her arm with his and encouraged him to follow her. She did not meet with any resistance from Adam, although the corporal’s expression darkened considerably. He was not happy and clearly the one to watch out for.

‘I would think that would be my responsibility,’ interrupted the corporal, his sharp, eagle-like features and glaring grey eyes flushed with fury. Gillian pretended not to notice and used all of her womanly wiles to her advantage, even bending forward to give them an eyeful of cleavage.

‘Thank you for you kind offer, but I’m sure he’d appreciate the company of a woman,’ she said as she winked at Adam who looked a little flustered but did not argue.

Gillian forced her laughter to be easy and joyous. She wriggled her hips, juggled her breasts and waltzed back into the mess hall with Adam in tow.