The Mayan Codex

97

Abi watched the four figures approach with a half-smile on his face.

Everything had gone far more smoothly than he had expected. Vau, Rudra, and Alastor had secured the codex and the thirteenth crystal skull with no difficulty whatsoever. The priests, and the three Maya who the Halach Uinic had clearly detailed for guard duty, had all been fast asleep, with the two objects wrapped in calico situated plumb in the centre of their sleepover. Like presents left by Father Christmas.

Now both Sabir and Calque, looking very much the worse for wear, were shambling towards him, flanked by Athame and Aldinach.

Abi chucked his chin at Aldinach. ‘Where’s Lamia? You didn’t kill her, did you?’

Athame approached him and began to whisper in his ear. Abi hunched down, nodding.

‘Right. I want you and Aldinach to take the fastest car we have. There’s only one possible direction she can have gone in, and that’s back towards the Cancun toll road. If she’s got any sense at all she’ll be heading out of the country. Fast. If you push it, you should be able to pick up her transponder signal after maybe fifteen or twenty miles. This whole country is as flat as a damned graveyard.’

‘But I thought you wanted me to question Sabir?’ Aldinach looked crestfallen, like a child who has unexpectedly been deprived of her fair share of the birthday cake.

‘We can manage all that. You and Athame are by far the best shadowers amongst us. I want you to follow Lamia wherever she is going. If she leaves the country, go with her. If you lose her, go straight to the Gypsy camp at Samois. My guess is that you’ll encounter her again there. There’s something more to this than meets the eye. But first things first. Calque and Sabir are going to come on a little trip with us. Put them both in the trunk of the Hyundai.’

‘So you did have a tracker in our car?’ Calque muscled his way a little nearer to Abi. By temperament he was unwilling to engage any further than was strictly necessary with those he thought of as the enemy, but, this time at least, his curiosity had got the better of him. ‘Where did you put it? We turned that vehicle inside out. I’m willing to guarantee that there was nothing concealed inside it.’

‘My brother Vau here is an electronic genius. You hear that Vau? I’m giving you a compliment.’ He turned to Calque. ‘He stuck it underneath the chassis.’

‘Underneath the chassis?’ Calque looked crestfallen. ‘But that’s the best way to ensure it gets knocked off over the first speed bump. Or in heavy rain. Or going through a field. We travelled thousands of miles in that vehicle. You people just struck lucky, that’s all.’

Abi laughed. ‘I said Vau was an electronic genius. I never said he was smart.’

Still shaking his head, Calque allowed himself to be manhandled into the narrow trunk. Sabir was unceremoniously tipped in beside him.

‘What? No conniptions, Mr Sabir? Rocha told my mother that you were terminally claustrophobic. That he’d seen you locked inside a wood box at the camp in Samois, and that you were half raving when they took you out of it. I understand that a similar event occurred around the time you murdered him. In a cesspit, wasn’t it?’ Abi’s words were lightly inflected, but his eyes were dead.

‘I’m not claustrophobic any more. Something happened in the touj. You can lock me in here as long as you want. I won’t care.’ Sabir put as much conviction as he could into the words. The truth was that he was scared witless they’d lock him up in an even tighter space than before. Give him the water treatment, maybe.

‘Oh, never fear. We’ll think of something else for you. We have time to spare for all of that.’ Abi slammed down the Hyundai lid.