CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

They met again the next day at La Jolla restaurant, the upscale dining room in the Marquis Reforma Hotel. The décor was understated elegance, an extension of the hotel, which consistently made the coveted Leading Hotels of the World list. Ricardo was dressed casually, in khakis and a soft beige shirt while Kelly and Taylor both had on jeans and T-shirts. They fit the image of tourists having a late breakfast with a Mexican friend.

“Your English is impeccable,” Kelly said as they settled in. “Where did you learn?”

“My parents are upper-middle class. My father is a lawyer, and my mother is an interior designer for commercial buildings. They sent me to an English-immersion school. All my studies, from grade one right through to graduation were in English. I was very fortunate.”

“No kidding. I wish I had a second language.”

The waiter came by and they ordered coffee and breakfast. They waited until he left the table before talking about Monte Alban.

“I spent some time on the Internet going over the lay-out of Monte Alban, but I think we need to visit the site,” Ricardo said. “We have to be very informed on the area.”

Kelly nodded. “That’s what we thought. We’ve already checked on flights. Aeroméxico has daily flights directly to Oaxaca City. Getting there is not a problem. Hotels are mostly basic, but there’s one that looks good. Camino Real Oaxaca. We had Miguel phone and check availability, and there are rooms available. It seems most people leave the city at Christmas time.”

“Probably visiting relatives in Mexico City,” Ricardo said. “It can be tough to find a good hotel room here at this time of year.” He sipped his coffee and asked, “Do you have any sort of plan?”

“A basic idea of how things could work,” Taylor said. “But setting anything in stone before we visit Monte Alban to see exactly what we’re up against is impossible. We need to visit and get a lay of the land.”

“Can you get away?” Kelly asked Ricardo.

“I’d like to stay in Mexico City for Christmas. That’s only three days from now. After that I can fly down and meet you there.”

Taylor glanced at Kelly. “Works for me. How about you?”

Kelly nodded and spoke directly to Ricardo. “Better than we could have hoped for. Twenty-four hours ago your life was normal. Then we drop in from nowhere and dump this on your lap. You’re being very accommodating.”

Ricardo smiled, his olive skin crinkling into soft laugh lines around his mouth. “You enticed me with a lot of money. It’s not often a man gets an opportunity to earn anywhere between a hundred thousand and five million dollars. No, that’s not something that comes around every day. I can be most accommodating with that sort of incentive.”

“Good,” Taylor said. “We may need a couple more people to help us. Who do you know that’s trustworthy?”

“What would they be doing?” Ricardo asked.

“We’ll need someone to play the part of a government official,” Taylor said. “Someone high-ranking in whatever department handles antiquities and treasure.”

“Of course. They will be at Monte Alban to convince the person you are relieving of his money that the treasure is real.” Ricardo nodded at the logic.

“I think so, but we’ll need to use the actual name of someone inside the department, because our man will check.”

“I can get a name,” Ricardo said. “I know a man who could forge an ID badge.”

“Good,” Kelly said. “Whoever you get should be light on his feet and able to think fast, because he might be in the line of fire if Brand realizes he’s been taken.”

“Brand? That’s the man’s name?”

“That’s not his real name, but it’s the one he’s been living under for some time now. The most recent seems the best to use,” Taylor replied.

Ricardo leaned back in his chair, a serious look on his face. He crossed his arms over his chest, the first time his body language had taken a defensive stance. “You realize how dangerous this is. You’re trying to take money from a man who has grown very rich from doing exactly the same thing to other people. He’s going to be savvy to all the tricks, know all the angles. He’ll know something is wrong the second you make the smallest mistake. From what you’ve said, he can be violent. If you corner a man like this, he’ll strike back. You know all these things.” It was a statement, not a question.

“Edward Brand stole almost fourteen million dollars from me,” Taylor said. “He inserted a man into my life who became my husband. He humiliated me.”

“I know this,” Ricardo said. “That wasn’t the point I was making.”

“I know what your point is,” Taylor said. “Brand is all that and more. He’s dangerous. Extremely dangerous. And he’s smart. But we’ve got three things going for us that might give us what we need to pull this off. Straight off the top, Brand doesn’t know we’ve tracked him down and that we know where he is and who he is. He thinks I’m visiting a friend in Houston. To him, I’m a nonentity. That complacency works well for us. It makes me invisible, and if I’m invisible, so is Kelly.”

“All right. He doesn’t know you’re setting him up. He’ll still be suspicious of any opportunity that’s dropped in his lap.”

“True, but what happens if we don’t drop it directly in Brand’s lap?”

“What do you mean?”

“Before Alan went over the cliff at La Laguna, Brand made a phone call from a restaurant just down the road. We suspect he was calling someone to make sure the scuba divers were in place. We tracked the number to its owner. The man’s name is Carlos Valendez, and he lives in Cabo San Lucas. He’s our connection to Edward Brand.”

“So that’s the person I’ll be approaching,” Ricardo said.

“Yes.”

Ricardo nodded and raised an eyebrow. “That’s good. Then once I’ve pitched the idea to Carlos, he goes to Brand and sells him on it. That’s very good.”

“Thanks,” Taylor said.

“Okay, you’ve removed us one layer from Brand and you know a lot more about him than he is aware of. That’s one thing. You said there were three things—what are the other two?”

“Brand has an FBI agent on his payroll. Brent Hawkins is the guy. He’s based out of San Francisco, and he’s probably the resource Brand is using to watch me. But they have no idea we’ve managed to link the two.”

“You know for sure this Hawkins fellow is dirty?” Ricardo asked.

“Positive. Because they don’t know that we know, we can manipulate him.”

Ricardo’s arms uncrossed, and he leaned forward. “How do you manipulate an FBI agent?”

Kelly answered. “By giving him classified information on the Monte Alban excavation that no one else is privy to. Details of the American government’s discovery of unrecorded ruins at the site—ruins that are still overgrown with dense jungle. Satellite information showing new formations, gravity and magnetic studies pinpointing exactly where these ruins are. Then a report by a clandestine CIA operation showing exactly where an undiscovered tomb is located and what is inside.”

“And what is inside?” Ricardo asked. “A wonderful cache of gold and gems?”

“Precisely.”

Ricardo shook his head. “Is what you’re saying true? Is there such information on the American computers?”

“No.”

“Then this doesn’t work. It’s impossible.”

“Not really,” Kelly said.

“Why?”

“Because of the third little trick up our sleeve. I work at the National Security Agency.”

A slow smile spread across the handsome Mexican’s face. His gaze flickered back and forth between Taylor and Kelly. Finally he said, “You can make this data appear on the CIA database?”

Kelly nodded.

Again, the smile. He picked up his coffee cup and drained the last of the dark roast. He leaned forward, his elbows on the table. “Then maybe what you are planning is possible.”

“Maybe,” Taylor said. “Keep in mind one more thing.”

“What’s that?” Ricardo asked.

“Determination. Getting this guy is high on my list.”

“Motivation is important.” Ricardo pursed his lips and tilted his head ever so slightly to the side. “Yes, motivation is very important.”

Taylor stared straight into his eyes. “I won’t be denied, Ricardo. I’ll get this son of a bitch.”

“Perhaps,” Ricardo said slowly. “That remains to be seen.”