Aztec Gold

FOURTEEN

Alicia dabbed her thigh and left arm with water then antiseptic before applying a bandage, bemused that the only person in the room trying not to stare at her was Michael Crouch.

“I realize they’re a nice pair of pins,” she said in annoyance. “But at the end of the day they’re just legs. Healey, you ever see this far up a woman’s leg before?”

She was sitting on a couch in their new communal hotel room, jeans resting on the arm beside her as she fixed her wounds.

Russo didn’t try to hide his eyes. “Can’t you do that in one of the bedrooms?”

“Sorry, this ain’t one of the two things I do in a bedroom.”

Caitlyn was also staring, but with admiration. Alicia was the single most confident, powerful woman she had ever encountered. “I have a pair like that, but they can’t do half as much as yours can.”

Alicia grinned rudely. Caitlyn realized what she’d said a second later and blushed. “I didn’t mean—”

Alicia saw Healey gawping between Caitlyn and her. “Ole Zack here’s wondering if you could try, though.”

“I… I… ” Healey didn’t know where to put himself so ended up staring hard out the window.

“He did help save you,” Alicia pressed on. “Maybe a little reward?”

Now Caitlyn was reddening even further. “The only thing I know,” she said after a short pause. “Is that if I’m fighting with you guys I want to be able to fight like you guys. That’s all.”

Now Crouch turned his head from where he’d been in conversation with Jose Cruz. “I like that kind of thinking.”

Alicia nodded, still dabbing her wounds. “And I like a girl that doesn’t quit at the first obstacle. Good for you.”

Healey spoke directly to the window. “I could help to train you if you like.”

Caitlyn nodded. “That would be great.”

They team had been together, resting, recovering and seeking to determine the impact of what Caitlyn had revealed to the enemy, for a few hours. Caitlyn felt the room swell with respect when she revealed that she’d kept their secret even under deadly pressure. It was a moment of comradeship, of new belonging, earned on the front lines and treated with respect.

At last, Crouch had taken the map and the notes out and they’d sat down to figure out a plan of action. Cruz, tired of waiting for the action to be over, had joined him. As Healey put it, the Aztec treasure was out there but where would it lead them next?

Crouch addressed the room. “Working from our notes I’ve managed to calculate that if the Aztec warriors walked roughly north, as the map states, for fifteen to twenty days, which is the closest approximation I can make using their calendar, their detailed, almost perfectly straight route would take them into Arizona.”

“Big place,” Cruz said.

“Sure. And there’s another problem. You remember the accurate dateline they gave us for the entire march?”

Healey finally tore his gaze away from the window. “I do.”

“If it’s right,” Crouch mused. “It means that the caravan traveled beyond Arizona, probably to Utah judging by the timeline, then doubled back before arriving at the point where the poem takes over and starts giving us directions like a treasure map.” He stared around the room for suggestions.

“Misdirection?” Caitlyn submitted. “Now we have two locations.”

“Or they split it up,” Russo said. “Two treasure troves.”

“Or maybe they just scouted Utah, didn’t like it, and went back to Arizona,” Cruz told them. “We can’t second guess them five hundred years later.”

“What’s not to like about Utah?” Russo wondered. “It’s a perfect location for any traveling caravan.”

“I agree with Jose,” Crouch said. “We don’t know. But it has to be checked out. As I mentioned previously the timeline is very accurate. The Aztecs were advanced in almost every aspect of building, guidance and travel. I studied the map itself, using the ancient calendar, and have also fed it into a simple modern geographical program. Both the physical and tech results point to one thing — the area around the Grand Canyon for the second location.”

Caitlyn walked over to Crouch and stared at the computer screen. “Aztec writing has been found far into the US. Utah is what, three thousand kilometers from Mexico City? That would take a fit man fifteen to twenty days to walk, I reckon.”

Crouch nodded. “And in answer to another suggestion, why would the warriors add any kind of misdirection to a map they were taking back to their elders? Doesn’t make sense. Utah, the furthest location, means something, and so does the second, Arizona.”

“How close… ” Alicia waved toward the screen as she stood up and shrugged her jeans back on. “Can you get? I mean, does it point to the right cave?” Her features took on a bemused expression. “That would be nice.”

Crouch made a face. “It’s accurate, but both Utah and Arizona are big places. The poem should help with the Arizona location, another reason to go there second. With Utah, although the timeline gets us fairly close, I think we need boots on the ground and see what pops.”

Caitlyn waved a hand at the screen. “The map Healey copied has several markings. I guess they’re landmarks, and pretty distinctive even in Utah. How closely did you copy the map, Zack?”

The young man shrugged. “I’m a field agent that occasionally relies on being able to read and make sense of a map to save lives, including my own,” he said. “Pretty closely.”

“Then we have a starting point,” Crouch said. “If you guys are ready to try Utah I’ll make the arrangements.”

“One thing’s for sure,” Caitlyn said, glancing around the room. “It can’t be more dangerous than where we are now.”

Alicia winced. “Damn. Now you jinxed it.”

“Story of my life.” Russo snorted.

“Ah, so you’re our jinx?” Alicia shot back. “And here’s me thinking that sunny disposition might qualify you for being our mascot.”

“Life’s a bitch,” Russo murmured. “And so’s our boss.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“Nah. It’s glowing praise.”

“Thought so.”

Crouch closed his laptop. “You ready?”

Healey bounced to his feet, shining with enthusiasm. “Let’s go track it down!”