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Tino’s chest squeezed so tight it shoved all the air out of his lungs when he rounded the house and saw Isabella follow señora Garza down the veranda stairs and disappear. He rushed to the spot and discovered a door that had to lead to a basement. He hadn’t even known there was an area under the house.
He reached out to grasp the handle on the door.
“Rodriguez! What are you doing?” Garza stood on the veranda that concealed the basement entrance.
“I thought I saw this door close. I was going to see if that was how someone was gathering information.” He straightened, drawing his gun from his holster to give more credence to his belief.
“No one entered that door. It has a coded lock. Get up here, I have a job for you.” Garza strolled across the veranda to the ballroom.
Tino glanced at the door and saw the touch pad to the right of the door. Did Garza know his wife and Isabella were down there? Or was he clueless to what his wife did? He prayed Isabella learned more defensive moves when she joined the WIA, and if the other woman tried anything, Isabella could out fight her and get away.
Pain in his gut had to be an ulcer starting from all the worry his little dove caused him. He climbed the stairs to the veranda and entered the ballroom. Garza’s steady pace down the hall meant one thing. They were meeting in the office. Which one, was anyone’s guess. If he couldn’t take care of Isabella, he wanted to get the information DEA needed and finish his mission. Then the two of them would get the hell out of here and never set foot outside the U.S. It was too dangerous for them both.
He strode down the hall, through the outer office, and entered the usually secured office. What was Garza planning now?
“Shut the door.” Garza fumbled with something in his pocket.
It was most likely the gadget Julio had told him about that scrambled the security equipment. He needed to get his hands on it and enter this room to gather the data for DEA.
Tino turned from shutting the door. Garza paced to the white board with the routes marked and back to this desk.
“I have changed the route for tonight’s shipment three times. And now you will drive to the south of town and use a pay phone in a cantina to send this final route to the driver.” Garza handed Tino a slip of paper.
He didn’t look at the note, just shoved it in his pocket.
Garza narrowed his eyes. “If this shipment gets stolen I will know the traitor is either you or the driver.”
“Sí.” Tino didn’t like being sent away from the compound knowing Isabella was under the building but he had no choice. Not if he wanted to finally put his revenge in motion.
“¡Vamos! I want that shipment moving as soon as you call. Then you sit along the route outside of town and wait for it to pass you. Then follow it to the destination.” Garza slammed a hand on the desk. “If there is any interference call me. I will send out Manny to deal with them. And if I discover you are the leak. I will send Manny after you.”
Tino straightened his back and stared straight into the drug lord’s eyes. “I am not the leak. I have nothing to fear from Manny.” He made sure the man saw he had no fear and leisurely headed to the door. Once outside the room, he exhaled and headed to the garage. If this shipment was intercepted there would be more dead bodies lying around. And one of them would be his.
~*~
Isabella couldn’t believe the excellent shape the two-foot-tall statues were in. They were the carved symbols of the three leaders who made up the triple alliance. The quality of the carvings proved they were made by the same craftsman. But she had yet to find any writing or symbolism that marked them as having made an alliance. That was the marking that would make them invaluable to collectors and museums.
She stretched her neck and back. The past two hours she’d gone over every carved inch of the three statues as Karyme watched her.
“These are magnificent carvings of Itzcoatl, Nezuhualcoyotl, and Totoquilhauztli, but I can’t find any conclusive markings that reflect the alliance they made.” Isabella pulled another book out of her tote bag and flipped to the pages she’d marked about the alliance.
She tipped the first carving off the spinning pedestal and placed it carefully face down on the blanket that had been wrapped around the artifact. On the bottom of the statue a faint image was etched in the stone.
“I need better light.” Isabella couldn’t control the excitement in her voice. If this was what she thought and it was on all three...Her mind flipped through all she’d read about the eagle and coyote symbols in Aztec culture.
“Here.” Karyme leaned close as she handed the high beam light to Isabella. “What have you found?”
“I may have found the connection.” Yes, her eyes had seen correctly. It was a coyote, the symbol for warriors and warfare, on the head of an eagle clasping a serpent; the symbol of the Mexica Valley people.
Leaving the statue tipped, she tipped the next one. Her heart raced as the faint etched lines appeared. Swallowing to push her thundering heart back into her chest, she placed the last statue on its face, closed her eyes, and opened them to see the same symbol on the bottom.
“These are priceless,” she whispered and felt the sting of her hair being pulled.
Karyme’s lips were drawn back in a nasty sneer as she held Isabella’s face inches from hers. “You will not tell anyone of this.”
Isabella had a pretty good idea who señora Garza didn’t want to know about the artifacts, but she couldn’t show her knowledge. “I-I won’t tell anyone.” She cringed at the pain in her scalp and pushed her eye glasses tighter on the bridge of her nose, trying to portray the nerdy anthropologist the woman thought her to be.
“As you have seen there are many men in my husband’s employment who would not think twice about putting a bullet through your head. If you keep this knowledge to yourself, you will live.” Karyme released her hair. “Pick up the books. You will return them to the museum and leave on the next plane. You are not to speak of this to anyone.” She narrowed her eyes. “I have friends in all the archeology circles. If I get wind of this discovery, I will send someone to hunt you down.”
Nodding, Isabella didn’t doubt the woman’s threats. She shoved the books back in the bag and slung it over her shoulder.
Karyme handed the lantern to her. “You go first.”
The sentence told Isabella what she’d suspected. The basement was connected to tunnels that led...where? A trip to the city maintenance for a look at maps of the underground tunnels was in order. If the woman was worried she’d sneak out that way, she should be able to sneak in.
As she formed a plan for the next day, she walked back out the small tunnel opening.
Karyme pushed the crates back in place and propelled her toward the basement stairs. “Leave the light here.” She took the flashlight and clicked the overhead light off.
The shock of the darkness wiped out Isabella’s sense of direction momentarily.
“Go.”
The stern command by a woman who only days ago she’d thought could be a friend, powered Isabella’s feet forward. She found the first step with her toe. If she fell and broke her neck, no one would know where she was or what happened to her. Panic settled in her chest like a vice squeezing her lungs. The woman behind her wouldn’t think twice of dragging her body back into the tunnel and leaving it. She was as hard and power hungry as her husband.
A hard shove on her back propelled Isabella forward. Her heart raced as her feet moved to keep her from falling head first into the darkness.
That thought sent her on cerebral calisthenics. Was Karyme helping Bastante to break down her husband’s business so she could order Bastante around and be the lord? Garza would never allow the woman to rule, no matter how much he loved her, but Bastante... He was under Karyme’s spell.
Isabella’s hands smacked against the door. She turned the handle and shoved on the metal.
Karyme moved past her, glanced around, and grabbed her arm, pulling her out. “Hurry.”
The woman shut the door quickly and ushered her into the ballroom. “Open your books and see what you can come up with to tell my husband about those carvings you were so fond of on your first visit.” Karyme strolled out of the ballroom.
Isabella walked over to the statues she’d wanted to run her hands over the first time she saw them. They weren’t the artifacts stolen from the museum. She had a feeling that theft was masterminded by Bastante. And possibly, Karyme, given the items she had hidden in the tunnel. But Bastante knew nothing, nor was he suspicious of what Karyme had. How would she have gotten her hands on items before the museum? Another puzzle to investigate.
When Alphonso got back to her several things would be cleared up.
After spending the last hours with the alliance statues, she knew these pieces in front of her were carved by the same hand. They would have all been found in the same dig. But where?
Señor Garza entered the ballroom with his wife trailing behind him. “I understand you have discovered something about my latest pieces of art.”
Isabella shot a glance behind him to Karyme. What was she to say, they match the statues in the tunnel under your house? From the glare on the woman’s face that comment would get her killed.
“From the style of the carvings and the detail to the faces, I would say they were carved in the early 1400’s and tell a bit of the story of the triple alliance.” Grasping at small details, she directed señor Garza’s attention to the coyote symbols. “These were statues carved to tell of wars and victories over the enemies.”
“Excellent!” Garza turned to his wife. “Did you hear that Karyme? We have some work that could be traced to the triple alliance.”
“That’s wonderful!” Karyme flung her arms around her husband’s neck. “I knew those pieces were special when they arrived.” The two hugged and Karyme shot Isabella a narrowed warning glare.
Hadda entered the ballroom. “The doctor’s car has arrived.”
Isabella thanked all the deities she’d read about and started across the ballroom.
“Will you be back tomorrow to tell us more?” señor Garza asked.
She pivoted and stared straight at Karyme. “I told your wife I won’t be here tomorrow. I’ve been called back to the college to teach for an injured professor.”
Señor Garza’s eyes now narrowed. “This is sudden.”
“The university called me this morning. I’ll be on a plane tomorrow.” Isabella crossed the fingers hidden behind her tote. “It was a pleasure meeting both of you.” She spun back around and willed her legs to keep an even unhurried stride to the door. Once out, she didn’t plan on setting foot inside this house again. At least not with the owners’ knowledge—and not really the house—the basement.