Trapped in the Mayan Tattoo (24 page)

“How long have you
known?” she asked through clenched teeth.

“Remember that
phrase, the one you don’t want to hear?”

For Abbi, it felt
good to finally be in Washington, D.C., with her best friend.  It felt even
better to make her wait for answers!

As soon as they
arrived at their stop, Shoe Clerk said, “I believe you girls can handle it from
here. I’ll see you later!”

He stayed on while
they left the metro.

“Thanks, Shoe
Clerk! It’s been fun travelling with you,” Abbi said with a laugh and shook his
hand.

“My pleasure,”
Shoe Clerk said and waved good-bye.

“Me, too, but I
think that took two years off my life,” Louise said.

As they approached
the street, Louise began pointing out things.

“Keep your hands
down. You’re looking like a tourist,” Abbi said quietly. “Remember, we work
here. Just talk to me.”

The girls walked
toward The House of the Americas. After the fifteen minute walk, Abbi and
Louise experienced some delay as they came to a crowd of people in front of the
gigantic granite pillars of the building. Dwarfed by the size, Abbi and Louise
both looked up to the top while they waited. By now a crowd began forming
behind them. As they got closer caution tape blocked their entry while they
were still several yards from the gigantic steps leading to the door. They
waited outside near the National Mall until security cleared the area.

“We have arrived,
but this is strange,” said Louise. “Now what?”

“Wait. See if we
can get in, and hope the ambassador can still see us.”

Abbi Abernathy sat
on the curb and looked toward the granite building known as The House of the
Americas, ornate and beautiful, with its huge arches. The building looked
surprisingly different than she’d imagined. Caution tape barrackaded its
entrance.This was the building that housed The Organization of American States
in Washington, D.C. Abbi sat and wondered what caused it to be roped off. She
wondered if she could still accomplish what she’d been assigned to do.

If they could get
into the building, Abbi would assume her role as Miss Kowalski while Louise
would be in the persona of Miss Soufflé. If they could follow their script and
remain in character, they might provide a convincing argument for the
ambassador’s intervention in a foreign country and thus help pave the way for a
sting operation. If, however, the ambassador was corrupt, their attempt could
have dire circumstances for the innocent people caught in multi-national crime.

There were things
she couldn’t figure out, but Abbi knew three things: (1) she had been summoned
here to this building where a powerful meeting was supposed to take place, (2)
there had been a bomb attempt that fizzled earlier this morning somewhere in
this building, no damage done, and the suicide bomber was now being held in
custody, and (3) her mother had gone missing, kidnapped, and was somewhere in
Mexico, and the two attempts to free her had failed.

The massive
construction of the building dwarfed Abbi who, at five-four, felt small and
insignificant in its shadow. She waited with Louise as workers finished
removing the tape. Finally, investigators left the building, allowing the girls
to enter.

Abbi had strict
instructions to follow, procedures, false identity and a script given to her by
a familiar but mysterious woman who did not want her true identity or her
relationship to Abbi to be known. She was to be called Mrs. Hightower.

Marble steps led up
to the portico. Abbi and Louise, still outside, climbed the few steps up to the
large brass doors. Then they sat down as if trying to take it all in. Above
them, along the roofline, they read the engravings of the member states. Abbi
turned around to look up at the colorful flags of the western hemisphere as
they swayed high in the sky against a backdrop of gathering clouds.

The brass doors
were open but the entrance remained heavily guarded.

Abbi noticed that
Louise glanced at a window to catch her reflection.

“You’re fine. I’d
hire you,” Abbi said with a quick grin. “Watch for GK.”

            “Abbi, you think I
don’t know. But I think I’ve figured out who Gate Keeper is. You don’t have to
be so secretive with me,” Louise said, chiding her. “Anyway, my parents are in
town and I want to call them before we go in.”

“Be patient. We
need to park our butts inside here until GK contacts us, and the fewer people
who know the better. And please don’t say his name.”

Abbi straightened
her sleek overly-large skirt that was bunched up at the waist and adjusted her
necklace.

“Do I look old
enough?” she asked as she poofed her blonde wig and allowed herself a moment of
doubt. At sixteen Abbi could easily pass for twelve or fourteen, not something
most girls want. She wanted to pass for twenty-four. She hoped the clothes and
the makeup carried off passing for twenty.

“Twenty-two or -three,
maybe,” Louise said. She flicked some lint off her own skirt.

“Sure I do. So do
you,” Abbi said, only Louise really did. Then, with determination, she added,
“Let’s do this thing.”

The girls picked
up their briefcases and went into the building through the heavy brass-clad
doors that opened up to the massive lobby. Ahead they saw a curved marble
stairway, still roped off in caution tape because of the early morning bomb attempt.
A heavy woman in a security uniform blocked their entrance to the rest of the
building.

“I’m afraid you’ll
have to leave,” she said. “Unless you have state business and I see suitable
identification.”

Abbi flashed an
official-looking badge and the woman let her pass--but not before scrutinizing
her I.D. carefully, passing the security wand over her, checking her handbag
and briefcase, and asking a few questions. The contents of the briefcase raised
an eyebrow, but the security guard closed up the briefcase without comment.

“Who are you here
to see?”

“That information
is most confidential. We have a very sensitive situation here. Let’s just say
I’ve been summoned by someone on a higher government payscale than yours.”

“That’s not
funny.” Turning to Louise to avoid any further interaction with Abbi, the woman
said, “And you, Miss?”

“Oh, Mademoiselle
Soufflé is with me,” said Abbi, blurting in quickly. “If you need it, I have a
memorandum here for you.”

The security
officer took the note, looked at it briefly and handed it back to Abbi without
looking at her.

“I’ll still need
to check you, Miss,” the security officer said to Louise.

Louise, used to
this routine, handed over her own empty briefcase for inspection, the contents
having been removed and placed in Abbi’s, and raised her arms for the security
wand.

“You’re good,” the
security officer said. “You apparently need a lot of maps.”

“Just in case,”
Abbi blurted in. In case of what, she didn’t know. “What can you tell me about
the offices? Have most of them closed for the day?”

“The Venezuelan
staff has not returned. They went to an early lunch. The others are back up and
running.”

“We’re supposed to
wait in the lobby until the Venezuelan delegate comes for us,” Abbi lied.
“Would you mind if we sit over here in the conservatory?”

“They may not be
returning, but you can wait. Anywhere that isn’t roped off is fine,” the
security guard said.

“Thank you,” Abbi
said, happy they were through with that.

Abbi moved out of
the security guard’s earshot and called Shoe Clerk.

“Was this a set-up
or what? We’re in the building, but there was a bomb attempt here. GK is
nowhere around. Now what?”

“He’s been
delayed. If someone doesn’t come in 15 minutes, call me back,” Shoe Clerk said.

The girls moved
toward an isolated area of lofty palm trees at the center of the lobby. The
hope was that this would give them a vantage point but keep them out of the
traffic. Abbi could see inspectors loading up camera equipment into a small
motorized cart along with bags of evidence they had collected. These inspectors
were preparing to leave the building.

Gate Keeper was still
nowhere around.  

A bench that was
situated under the palm trees but near the stairway gave them a place to rest
while they waited.

Louise slid one shoe
off and rubbed her foot.

“I think I’m
getting a blister,” she said.

“Get over it,”
Abbi said. Then she reached into her briefcase. “Here,” she added, handing
Louise a small bandage mechanically.

“I forgot you’re a
walking first-aid kit,” Louise said. “Thanks.”

“Sure,” Abbi said
unconsciously. Thoughts of her mother’s safety occupied Abbi’s mind.

‘Know what you
want. Picture it,’ her mother would say. ‘That’s the first step toward getting
it.’

She pictured her
mother safe and well.

“Things had better
go smoothly,” Abbi said.

From their vantage
point, the girls watched. These trees, towering over them, draped and sheltered
them while large potted plants with pink and yellow blossoms engulged them.
Abbi and Louise remained relatively secluded, and Abbi waited for Louise’s
older brother to appear. After the people loaded up all the equipment, a
security team escorted the investigators out of the building.

“Just call him,”
Louise said.

“I would if I
could but I can’t so I won’t,” Abbi said with a twisted smile.

Then, without
warning, Abbi was witness to a scene that would play over and over in a
succession of nightly bad dreams.

To their right and
barely within sight, Abbi saw the figure of a thin young man, perhaps not much
older than herself. He looked hungry. He entered the building and successfully
passed by the security guard through the metal detector.

Feeling his gaze
seek her out, Abbi looked directly into his eyes and saw hatred, cold hollow
hatred. It was a gaze she had never really seen before. A chill came over her
and she wiped her hands down her arms to relax the goosebumps.

The man’s
mannerisms looked robotic. His face, intense. Abbi tried not to stare. Shivers
continued to run down her spine. She wondered if a man could be so evil as to
have no soul. He gave Abbi a look of intense hatred. After that, the man seemed
to look through her. Instantly she sensed why he was there.

The man glanced at
his cell phone. Suddenly, he clutched his belly. A look of panic controlled his
face. He ran past the bench where Abbi and Louise sat and then continued toward
the widely curving staircase that led to meeting rooms on the next floor.

In the corner of
her eye Abbi caught the security guard putting her hand on her gun and then
yell, “Stop!”

If the security
guard shot her gun, Abbi and Louise would be in the line of fire. Abbi hopped
off the granite bench and pulled Louise down to the floor with her. She
gathered up their briefcases into a makeshift kind of fort, knowing that it
offered no protection at all, and scooted under the bench as much as she could,
pulling Louise in with her.

From somewhere
a phone sounded. Abbi looked back at the man. It
was his phone! The man turned toward Abbi and had a confused, contorted face.
Instantly, a horrible moaning sound emitted from within him. A brief delay
followed, then a muffled blast. The man slumped onto the second step of the
stairway, eviscerated, his insides spilling out and trickling down onto the marble
step.

Abbi fainted.

           
Tina returned to
her bedroom and fell into a feverish sleep. She woke up a couple of times when
her father tried to get her to drink something.

            “You have to try, Tina.
You’re sick.” He raised her up to give her a sip of a soft drink. “You’ll be
glad to know I was able to get that computer delivered!”

            “Thanks, Daddy!” Tina
said.

            Tina tried the
softdrink and then pushed it away.

            “I’m hot and I’m cold.
I just want to sleep.”

            Her father lightly
pinched the back of her hand.

            “You’re getting more dehydrated,
not enough fluids. Try.”

            He held out her drink. Tina
took another sip.

            “I am trying!” she
said. “I’m dizzy and I have this awful headache. If I drink more, I’ll just
throw up.”

            “Don’t go back to sleep
yet. Try to drink as much as you can. Do you think you can handle another
cracker?”

            “Sure! But I’ll get the
crumbs in my bed!”

            “I care about you. I
don’t care about crumbs in the bed.”

            “Will I be able to use
the computer in here?”

            “You should be able to,
but don’t do the social media scene. You won’t, will you?”

            “Why would I do that? I
want to look up this disease, and see what I should be doing.”

            “Start with drinking
more. Clear things. I have broth and a lime gelatin. Do those sound good?”

            “How’d you do that?”

            “Remember, I picked
them up at the drugstore when I got your medicine.”

            “My head is hazy. I
just forgot.”

            “Wait here. I’ll get
you set up. You can download a movie once I get our account established, but
this identity thing will hold that up a few days, I think. I’ll probably need a
credit card.”

            “It’s OK, Daddy. I
don’t plan to be awake long.”

            She closed her eyes for
a moment while her father brought her more crackers and mustard. When she
opened her eyes, he was bringing in the laptop.

            “Remember what I said.”