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Isabella’s arms burned and her fingers ached trying to stay wrapped around the dowels. The statue now felt like five hundred pounds. She didn’t want to sound like a whiner but she also didn’t want to drop the statue.
“Alphonso, can we take a break?”
He stopped and she moaned as they eased the gurney down. With her back to the tunnel wall, she slid down to sit on her haunches and pulled out her water bottle. She took two mouthfuls and handed it to her co-conspirator. He smiled and swallowed two hefty swigs.
“How much farther do you think?” She unbuttoned another vest flap and poured a handful of almonds in her hand and passed the bag to Alphonso.
“If we did not take a wrong turn, we should be nearing Templo Mayor in an hour.” He popped some nuts in his mouth and chewed, smiling down at her.
Isabella put one almond at a time in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. In the dark and quiet as they walked, she’d contemplated how much more to tell the young man who had put his life in jeopardy to help her. There had to have been surveillance cameras in the room to have people chasing after them so fast, and he was now on tape stealing from the drug lord.
“I meant what I said about getting you and the statue out of here.” She took the bag of nuts he held out to her.
He shook his head. “I will not leave my family.”
Fear gripped her stomach, causing a nauseous wave to ripple through her abdomen. “I just put you in Garza’s crosshairs. I’m so sorry.”
His lips curled into a wobbly smile. “You did not hold a gun to my head just as Luis did not force me to label the crates. I do these things for the thrill. I am sure my family can hide me until things have settled down.”
Isabella thought of Tino’s words about her committing suicide. If anything happened to Alphonso she would label herself a murderer. “You could go to school in Arizona for a few years while you wait for things to calm down.” She had to convince him to leave with her, and then she could get him protection through WIA.
“We will see. Right now we have to get rid of the evidence.”
“True. Once we get in the museum, we can crate it up like the other artifacts. Then I’ll go back later and put a label on it.”
Alphonso’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “You are becoming a good thief.”
“Please! If my bosses knew, I’d be out of a job.” It was true. She had no doubt she’d lose her tenure at the college and her father would toss her out of WIA for going beyond the mission. But she couldn’t let something this valuable—if it truly was—get into the wrong hands.
She stood up and they both resumed their ends of the gurney. One more hour and her arms would get a reprieve.
~*~
Alphonso proved to be correct. After another hour of agonizing pulling and jarring on her arms, they set the gurney down and he shoved on the crates concealing the passageway. He didn’t reveal the opening slowly. He walked up and shoved at the crate in front of the opening. Before Isabella comprehended the light shouldn’t be on, Alphonso disappeared through the hole and a man she’d never seen before stepped into the passage. He grabbed her roughly, dragging her into the storage area.
Director Bastante had a revolver pointed at Alphonso. He shifted his attention to her. His dark eyes narrowed and his mouth straightened into a line of disapproval.
“Dr. Mumphrey, it is a shame you have become such a nuisance. I have read your papers and hold your writings and great knowledge of the Mesoamerican people in high esteem. It will be a sad loss to your community.” He waved the revolver, motioning the man holding Alphonso to move toward Isabella and her captor.
His words weren’t lost on Isabella. She understood he planned to kill her. That is if she didn’t thwart his efforts. Their only chance was to get back into the tunnel and hide from Bastante and his men in the maze of passages.
She glanced at Alphonso. It was the first time since meeting him that he not only looked scared but baffled. What was it about this situation that puzzled him? Did he know it was Bastante that paid the Bohu gang to label the crates?
“If you shoot us here, you’re going to leave a mess.” She glanced at the surveillance camera and its blinking red light. “Not to mention the fact it will all be on tape.”
Bastante laughed and waved the weapon. “You forget I have access to the cameras. The tape of this incident will be gone before anyone even notices you and your friend are missing, just like the ones that disappeared from the surveillance room.” His eyes narrowed as he glared at her.
He knew she took the tapes.
“What do you mean?” Alphonso’s voice rose an octave. “You told me to help her. You said get her and the statue here and you’d pay me three times what you paid Luis.”
Betrayal ripped through Isabella. She jerked out of her captor’s grasp and turned on Alphonso. “You only helped me to take money from this bastard!” She slapped the young man hard across the face. “I should have known from the first time you tried to rob me that you would never be anything other than a thief.” Her heart hammered in her chest. She had no one to count on but herself to get out of this mess.
Her mind quickly grasped the fact that after wrenching loose from her captor he’d yet to regain his hold. Without a second thought, she pivoted and ducked into the tunnel. Gunshots pinged off the concrete walls. She scrambled over the statue and into the darkness. After packing the thing for hours, she hated leaving it behind, but her survival instincts kicked in. It was her or justice and right now she wanted to live to enjoy life with Tino.
She shuffle ran through the tunnels using her hand on the side to keep a forward motion. When her hand dropped into nothing, she swiveled into that tunnel. Every connecting tunnel she came to, she turned down and didn’t stop until her breathing became loud and her rubbery legs refused to carry her any farther.
Her breathing slowly returned to normal and she listened for anyone following her. The only sound in the tunnel came from skittering rats.
Using her LED light, muted behind her fingers, she found an area where digging had made a rectangular indention in a wall. She sat on the edge and pulled her body all the way to the back and curled up. She’d wait for morning and find her way to the surface. From there she’d mix in with the visitors and find Tino. He was the only person she trusted.
~*~
Tino heard gunfire as he slipped into the basement at the Templo Mayor museum. Rather than rush to the storage room, he hid in the dark recess of the research room doorway and waited. Within minutes Bastante, another man with a revolver, and the kid, Alphonso, hurried out of the storage room.
“I can find her, I know those tunnels,” the kid said. “Didn’t I bring her to you?”
Rage started to build in Tino. Isabella had trusted the kid and he led her into danger.
Bastante backhanded Alphonso, knocking him into the armed man. “I shouldn’t have to buy your loyalty.”
If the kid led Isabella to the museum, then she must have gotten away in the tunnels. He willed the trio to leave so he could get into the storage area and the tunnel. For once his prayers were answered as the three moved down the hall and into another room.
Tino ran to the door they’d left ajar and entered a large room full of crates, packing material, and artifacts. He spotted the toppled crates and the gaping hole in the wall. Without a thought to the darkness, he plunged into the tunnel. His foot rammed into a large heavy object and he barely held his balance in check. Kneeling down he ran his hands over the cold stone and realized it was the stolen statue. The fact reinforced his belief Isabella was in the tunnel somewhere.
He passed the statue and continued into the darkness with his right hand on the wall. His steps became sure and he moved into the inky darkness, straining to see but knowing it was futile. The wall disappeared from under his hand. Tino stopped and waved his hand and arm around. A tunnel. If Isabella was stumbling around in the dark like I am, she’d use the same method of travel. She would also take as many turns as she could to thwart anyone following her.
Tino turned down the tunnel to his right and continued in this fashion. After taking several bisecting tunnels, he stopped to listen. A faint, familiar jasmine-laced scent wiggled through the dank, mustiness of the dirt tunnel.
“Ezzabella, where are you,” he whispered, yearning to have her in his arms where she was safe.
He continued forward and the soft scent seemed to grow in essence. “Ezzabella?” He whispered.
“Tino?”
The softly spoken question accelerated his heart. “Sí. Where are you?”
A soft light illuminated Isabella’s face and the silhouette of her body in an earthen box.
“Querida, I’d feared...” he let the words fade as he knelt in front of the opening and drew his woman into his arms. She trembled and burrowed her face into his neck. “Querida, I am here now. We will find a way out.”
He grasped her head and found her lips. He deepened the kiss, wishing to chase away the salty tears he tasted. Her arms slid up around his neck and he pressed her body close to his. Body to body, lips to lips, the connection between them was more than physical or he would not have known to take the same route as she in the dark.
Easing out of her embrace, he continued to cradle her head in his hands as he whispered. “Do you know if anyone followed you?”
She nodded. “I heard him behind me until I ducked down a side tunnel. After that I didn’t hear him again.”
“Good. We can hope he has traveled a long distance down the tunnel.” He kissed her forehead. “Do you have any idea where we are?”
“I think we’re not too far from where they’ve been digging. The marks in this indention feel a bit jagged like it hasn’t been that long ago that something was extracted from this spot. The smell is cleaner, more earthy and not so musty. There must be a surface opening close by.” Her hands slipped under his shirt and T-shirt but couldn’t climb to his chest because of his holster strap.
“Why did you remain here and not go to the surface?” He released her face and drew her hands away from his skin. He relished her touch but not when he needed to keep his wits about him.
“I was going to wait until morning when I could mix in with the visitors. For all I know Bastante has positioned men around Templo Mayor waiting for me to pop up.”
He should have known she would remain calm and consider all the angles.
“Now there are two of us. We need to get out of here so I can deliver something to Rico and we can get on a plane.”
She squeezed his hands. “But you have to finish your job. And the statue—”
He kissed her and waited for her body to relax before he released her pleasing lips. “Once I deliver what I have to Rico, my mission is through. And that statue can remain in the tunnel. You can write up a report or whatever you need to do to make known its existence.” She started to protest. Tino placed a finger on her lips. “Shhh... No more talk of going back for the statue. You are safe, and we are going to start our life together far from Central America.”
Tino folded his hand around one of Isabella’s and drew her to her feet. “Come. We will find a way out of here and contact Rico.”
Isabella switched on her flashlight, and Tino walked beside her down the tunnel until they spotted a wooden ladder leading to a circle of muted light.
“I will go up first. They are not looking for me. No one even knows I am in this tunnel.” Tino squeezed Isabella’s hand, then released and grasped the wooden rungs of the ladder. He climbed up until he could poke his head through the hole. Carefully, he rotated his head to peer in all directions and check for people lurking about. The only people he spotted were couples strolling along the sidewalk near the hostel.
He moved farther up the ladder and climbed out. He stood near the hole keeping watch as he waited for Isabella to appear. Her head barely appeared before she was standing next to him, slipping her hand in his.
“Come.” He kissed her temple and moved toward the street behind the museum. He ushered her into the shadow of the building at the same moment he caught a glimpse of a man standing not far from where they’d emerged. It didn’t appear the man had noticed them. He remained in his place not moving in their direction.
Tino hurried Isabella along the shadows and continued around the building and to the end of the block. He wasn’t taking any chances Bastante didn’t have the man power to have surveillance within several blocks of the museum. The director had manned up to take down Garza. Tino could care less who won that battle as long as DEA took down the winner.
He had to call Rico and set up a meet. Tino stopped, holding Isabella with one hand and punching in Rico’s number with the other.
“Maño. I have what you want.” Tino smiled at Isabella. And he had what he wanted.
“Are you on foot?” Rico asked.
“Sí. You will have to come to us.” Tino scanned the street. “And make it fast. I want to get Isabella far from here.” Standing around this close to the tunnels wasn’t safe. “Meet us at Salón España.” He punched the off button and started briskly walking. “Come. We will fill our bellies while we wait for Rico.”
“That sounds good. I’ve missed several meals today.”
Tino draped an arm over Isabella’s shoulders, drawing her close to his body to give anyone passing by the illusion they were two lovers on a stroll. He rubbed his hand over the heavy fabric of her vest. With her vest she was easy to spot. “You should take your vest off. It makes you stick out.”
Her steps hesitated. “But how would I keep it with me?”
He stopped, unbuttoned her vest and turned it inside out before draping it over her arm. “Just hold it like a jacket.” Tugging on her braid, he pulled the band from her hair and spread her long straight strands down her back and over her shoulders. “There now you look more like a woman out for the evening than a scholar stealing away from death.”
Isabella stood on her toes and kissed Tino’s cheek. “Gracias.” She’d never been so happy to hear a voice as she had when Tino whispered her name in the tunnel. She’d tried to chase away the fear that had started to play “what if” in her head. Hearing his voice calling to her, she’d at first thought she was dreaming or having hallucinations brought on by her fear.
She snuggled closer to his chest as he held her tight and continued strolling along as if they didn’t have a drug lord and a greedy museum director after them. Shivers crept up her spine and spread like icy fingers through her chest. How would they get out of this country when one of the most dangerous and influential men was looking for them?
“Querida, all will be fine.” Tino kissed her forehead, and they turned down the street leading to Salón España. The crowd seemed double that of the one other time Tino had brought her here. There wouldn’t be a place to sit, but then after spending most of the day and part of the night in tunnels sweating from lugging around the statue...It scalded that she had to leave behind her evidence to Karyme’s scheme. If only it had been one of her little trinkets rather than a two-foot statue.
Her mind slowly emerged from her irritation to register they were no longer walking. Tino gripped her arm with one hand. She looked down and jerked from the sight of his revolver pointing at her side. Disbelief engulfed her as her gaze sought to find reassurance in his face.
His narrowed eyes spit flints of hatred and his face was cast in a stone scowl. Fear stair-stepped up her spine when she shifted her gaze. The Garzas stood beside one of their limos, the door open like the oven door in Hansel and Gretel.
Tino’s phone conversation played in her mind. ... I have what you want... Sí. You will have to come to us.
He’d said he was calling Rico, but he could have called the man studying them with a calculating glare.
Isabella hadn’t slipped through Bastante’s grip only to end up in the Garzas. She stomped on Tino’s foot and yanked from his hold. Her feet pound out two strides before her hair caught and jerked her backwards. She hit a solid wall of body. An arm lashed around her arms and chest while the other one circled her throat. She started to scream but the air was cut off.
Everything went hazy and gray before she floated into a black sea.