Beautiful Sacrifice (35 page)
Her head thumped against his shoulder. “All I was thinking about was getting you alone. I’m an idiot!”
His other arm came around her and he held her close. “I like the way you’re thinking. And don’t call my favorite woman an idiot. You’re insulting my taste.”
She banged her forehead against his chest. “You’re softer than a wall. Barely.”
“Go lower. Things get harder.”
He heard muffled laughter against his chest. Then, more clearly, she said, “I like you, Hunter Johnston. A lot. Only you could make me feel good about being so stupid as to leave the most basic work tools behind.”
“Thank you. I think.”
Her arms went around him as she stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips over his. The touch lingered, deepened, became a sensual mating of tongues. After a long time Lina lifted her head and sighed.
“But I have my sketchbook in the backpack, and you to hold the flashlight,” she said.
Hunter sensed some long hours ahead. The look on her face kept him from protesting.
“Good thing you packed lots of food and water,” he said, sighing.
“U
H, SWEETHEART, UNLESS YOU BROUGHT MORE BATTERIES,
it’s time to go,” Hunter said.
Lina looked up, startled. “What time is it?”
“Time to go.”
Stretching her cramped fingers, she stood. And groaned. “Sorry. I forgot everything but sketching.”
“I noticed,” he said, smiling.
She blinked and looked around, reluctant to leave even though her flashlight was dead and his was losing intensity.
“You owe me a big favor for standing here like a floor lamp all this time,” he said. “Repayment will likely involve costumes and sexual excess.”
She looked intrigued, then interested. Very interested.
He groaned. “I should have thought about that hours ago. C’mon. I don’t want to mess up the religious juju happening here.”
She nipped at his chin. “Unlike other cultures, the Maya have almost no artistic tradition of depicting the act of reproduction. Likely, sex wasn’t that important to them as a culture.”
“Huh. No wonder their civilization fell.”
Lina laughed. “You are such a man.”
He smiled slowly. “That’s because you’re such a woman.”
With a shake of her head, she followed the light beam back to the entrance of the tomb. Most of the candles had burned out, but a few were still waiting for the faithful man or men who had kept the temple clean. Despite the subtle draft from the back of the hall, the remaining flames burned bright and straight, bending only when she passed them.
It took Hunter a few tries, but the stone slab door opened onto the jungle. He let his eyes adjust to daylight before he drew Lina out of the tomb and into the cover of jumbled limestone blocks.
There was no unexpected shadow lurking, no sense of being watched.
“How’s your neck?” he asked.
“Good.”
“Let’s go.”
They covered the distance back to the Bronco quickly. Again, the vehicle was untouched.
“I know a lot of places that would pay big money to have this neighborhood watch system,” Hunter said.
Lina smiled. “Want to drive?”
“How’d you guess?”
“The way your foot kept looking for the brake the whole time I was at the wheel.”
“Did I say anything?”
“No. You earned major points for it, too. Almost as many as you earned last night.”
He gave her a long, sideways look. “Yeah?”
“Oh yeah.” She tossed him the keys.
“That’s supposed to help me concentrate on driving?”
“Concentration equals more points.”
“Huh. Definitely costumes are on the schedule. Along with a few other things the Hindu culture was clever enough to illuminate in the Kama Sutra.”
Lina bit back a laugh and climbed into the Bronco. She didn’t have to give any directions as Hunter negotiated the confusing tracks that ultimately would lead to a better road. She relaxed into the seat, realizing that he was as good at backcountry driving as she had guessed.
“Sometimes I worry that you’re too perfect,” she said.
“What?” he asked, thinking he’d heard wrong.
She started to explain, then made a choked sound as he turned a blind corner and slammed on the brakes.
An old truck was approaching about fifty feet away. When the other driver saw the Bronco, he yanked the wheel and parked across the track, blocking it.
T
HAT’S
P
HILIP
,” L
INA SAID
. “B
UT WHAT’S HE DOING HERE
?”
“Stopping us,” Hunter said.
He eyed the growth on either side of the truck. Too thick and sturdy to muscle through. No other routes in sight, not even the faintest trace of a footpath.
“Wonder what kind of mood he’s in,” she muttered.
“What?”
“Philip can go from jovial to surly in a heartbeat.” She reached for the door handle. “Better get it over with. Waiting won’t improve whatever mood he’s in.”
She opened the door and got out with all the eagerness of someone heading for a root canal without anesthesia.
Hunter was one second behind her, then he was beside her. His glance swept the jungle before focusing on the man waiting in the truck. He was thick through the shoulders and tall enough that his head was close to the Rover’s roof.
“Who the hell is this?” Philip demanded through the open window. “What’s he doing on my land?”
“His land?” Hunter murmured.
Who made him king of the Yucatan?
Lina gripped Hunter’s hand and shook her head. “Let me handle him. You’ll just make him more upset. And don’t take it personally. He’s rude to everyone.”
“So I’ve heard.”
She made the introductions through the open window. Other than a flat look from gray eyes, Philip ignored Hunter.
“You aren’t supposed to be out here,” Philip said to Lina. “Go back to the house right now.”
She blinked. “I was just—”
“I told you there was nothing out here worth looking at,” Philip said over her. “You have no business here.”
“But—”
“You heard me!” Philip shouted.
Hunter decided that he and Philip were never going to be buddies, so there was no point in playing nice. Begin as you mean to continue and all that.
“Lina is the Reyes Balam heir,” Hunter said calmly. “She’s also fully adult. She comes and goes as she pleases.”
She looked at him. “It’s okay.”
“Actually, it isn’t,” Hunter said.
Philip began yelling, telling Hunter to get the hell off his land before he shot him, then repeating it again and again with emphasis, as if he shouted loud enough, long enough, Hunter would get it.
“Philip,” Lina said, her voice sharp. “Hunter is my guest. Because of him, we made an astonishing discovery. Site number nine isn’t a tomb, it’s a temple. It’s beautifully decorated with polychrome art of a fineness that has to be seen to be believed. I don’t expect you to be grateful, but you can at least be—”
“You went inside?” Philip demanded.
“Yes, we—”
“You had no right. I have first excavation—”
“We didn’t excavate anything,” Hunter cut in. “And we’re not the only people who know about it. The passages and main room were clean. Candles were lit. There’s a shrine with fresh petals inside.”
Philip’s weathered skin flushed red, making his eyes appear almost white. “That’s
my
temple. Every scale on Kukulcán is
mine.
”
At that instant Lina realized that not only did Philip already know about the temple, he had studied it.
“You promised you wouldn’t explore it without me,” she said.
“Don’t be childish,” Philip said, dismissing her with a look. “We’ll discuss your behavior at the house. And don’t think I won’t check your car for stolen artifacts.”
With that, Philip threw the Rover in reverse and began the tedious process of turning the vehicle on the narrow track.
Hunter and Lina went back to the Bronco.
“So that’s Philip,” Hunter said as they both got in.
Flags of anger burned high on her cheekbones. “He’s in rare form.”
“That’s really special. Are we going back to talk with him?”
“Maybe he’ll have cooled off by the time we get there.”
Or maybe I’ll shove him in a cold shower,
Hunter thought. But he didn’t say it aloud.
“I suppose I should apologize for not letting you handle it,” he said. His tone said he wasn’t going to. “Gotta say, you deserve better than him.”
“If life was fair, we wouldn’t invent so many religions.”
He gave her a sideways look and a gentle stroke along her tense jawline. “I’ll remember that.”
They drove in silence for a time. Then she smacked her palm against the dashboard.
“I can’t believe he dug without me,” she said. “Oh, wait. I can believe. It just makes me want to take a shovel to that limestone block he calls his head. And now I sound like Celia.”
“You sound like a woman who has been treated like a six-year-old.”
“I should be used to it by now. But…”
“But?” Hunter asked when she remained silent.
“It seems that every time I come back he’s worse. Well, not worse, just more like himself than I remember.”
“That would be worse.”
“Yeah.”
More silence and rough road.
“I keep hoping he’ll change,” Lina said finally.
Hunter didn’t say anything.
“Bad to worse is a change, right?” she asked.
“Not one I’d be happy about.”
He maneuvered around a washout just before the main road. Philip’s vehicle was nowhere in sight. Air flowed through the open windows, rich with the living breath of the jungle.
“Tomorrow morning we’re gone,” Lina said. “I’d leave now, but I promised Abuelita I’d be here for her birthday celebration. Unlike some people, I keep my promises.”
“It’s one of the things I really like about you.”
She looked at him. “Same goes. I’m sorry you had to see him like that.”
Hunter shrugged. “It’s not your fault. If anything, it’s mine.”
“What do you mean?”
“You told me to let you handle him. I just really didn’t like how he was handling
you
.”
“I used to get mad about it,” she said. “Then I figured it was a waste of energy. Today…he was way out of line.”
“He ever hit you?” Hunter asked casually.
She looked startled. “Of course not.”
“No ‘of course’ about it, sweetheart. It’s a slippery slope from verbal abuse to physical. He wouldn’t be the first man—or woman—to slide down.”
“He’s just blustery and rude.”
Silently, Hunter thought someone should have taught Philip manners a long time ago. Or at least fear. But kids were stuck with the parents they had, and loved them despite everything.
“I’ll try to behave better than he does,” Hunter said. “What time are we leaving tomorrow?”
“Early,” she said flatly.
“I’m going to be in your room again tonight.”
Despite her anger and frustration with her father, she gave Hunter a slow smile. “I’m counting on it.”
What Hunter didn’t say was that he’d be there even if he was sleeping on the floor. He didn’t trust Philip. Her father wasn’t lock-him-up crazy, but he wasn’t a poster boy for rationality, either.
Silently they drove to the compound, parked, and walked down a crushed limestone path to Philip’s casita. The morning haze hadn’t thickened into afternoon rain, though thunder rumbled far away. The Casita Cenote guesthouse where Hunter was supposed to be sleeping was barely a pale shadow beyond the fairly mannerly tangle of greenery.
Philip’s residence was a single-story, whitewashed L, with weathered storm shutters and a faded red-tile roof. Despite its occupant, Hunter liked the place a lot better than the mansion where Old World splendor reigned.
At least, he liked it until they knocked on the door and Philip opened it, looking like a wild man. Immediately he started cursing Lina for stealing his life’s work, his only entrée back into the closed world of scholars, and the most valuable Maya artifact ever found.
After about thirty seconds of abuse, Hunter shoved Philip back into the entrance far enough for all of them to come in. Then Hunter shut the door and waited for the old man to run out of breath. From the look of his face—sweaty and pale—it wouldn’t be long. When Lina started to walk closer to her father, Hunter held her back.
“Let him run down,” he said.
And he revised his opinion of Philip from eccentric to borderline nuts.
“Anything he’s saying make sense to you?” Hunter asked Lina when Philip paused for a breath.
“He thinks we stole an artifact from him.”
“I got that. But what?”
Lina bit her lip and shook her head. “That’s where it falls apart. He says we stole the Kawa’il codex.”
Philip erupted again at her words and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her hard. “You traitorous bitch, you think I don’t see through your lying—”
The flat of Hunter’s palm landed on Philip’s cheek. The blow wasn’t hard, but it was shocking. With another swift movement Hunter knocked Philip’s hands away from Lina. Then he got right into her father’s face.
“Settle down before I put you down,” Hunter said flatly.
Philip stared at him. “You—you—”
“You hearing me?” Hunter asked.
For a moment Philip’s eyes went vacant. Then he nodded and sat heavily on an old couch.
“It’s gone,” Philip said hoarsely. “Everything is gone.”
“What’s gone?” Hunter asked.
“Ask her. She—”
“—was with me every moment she wasn’t with her family,” Hunter cut in.
Philip looked at him, baffled, almost childlike. “But it’s gone.”
“We got that,” Hunter said calmly. “When did you miss it?”
“As soon I knew you had been to the temple, I came back here to check it.”
“What—” began Lina.
Hunter’s hand closed over her arm.
She looked at her father and understood he was only relating to Hunter right now. She bit her lip and looked away, tears stinging at the back of her eyes. Nothing new, really. Philip had ignored her all of her life.
