The office lay ahead, built against the rear of the property. Alicia aimed for the door. She didn’t slow down.
Caitlyn looked up as the door smashed inward. Dingo’s hands were still around her throat, making the whole scene swim before her eyes but the crazy beautiful figure of Alicia Myles was unmistakable. She was Kristen Bell and the Terminator all rolled into one but twice as deadly. Blood soaked her jacket, tears in her jeans indicated knife wounds or even grazes from bullets. Dingo’s instant reaction was to let go of Caitlyn and defend himself.
Alicia’s voice crept through Caitlyn’s haze. “Don’t bother, asshole. You were dead the moment you touched her.”
Dingo flew at her. Alicia stepped clear of his range, then came back in, somehow aiming an elbow to the back of his neck even as she tripped him. Dingo flew headlong, but managed to catch himself, no slouch from his years on the streets. He came in again, this time with more care, fists positioned like a boxer. Alicia backed toward Caitlyn.
“You ready for some fun?”
Caitlyn shook her head, not in rejection but in amazement. How could she stay calm at a time like this? She watched the woman’s body, the way she held herself and adjusted to Dingo’s every move. She sensed the power that flowed through every poised sinew, the pure skill that permeated her every thought.
God, I so wanna be as good as her.
Determination and pride spurred her on. With a last glance her way, Alicia met Dingo’s attack head on, easily matching him blow for blow. Not only that, Alicia caused damage even when defending herself. Dingo’s face grew bloody, his arms heavy. Caitlyn saw the fight go out of him as Alicia broke his nose and left arm in a single maneuver.
“He’s all yours.” Alicia flung the weakened man so that he fell at Caitlyn’s knees. Even then he struggled, hate in his face, bringing an arm around.
Caitlyn thrust the cattle prod into his face.
The fizzling sound of flesh filled the room. Caitlyn pressed on, holding the prongs in place until the man passed out and then began to gingerly press her own throat.
“A few bruises.” Alicia peered closely. “Nothing worse than you’d get from a heavy night out with the boys. You’ll be fine.”
“Thanks.” Caitlyn’s voice sounded deep and husky due to the damage.
“Oh, and perfect that tone and they’ll be eating outta your hand at least, if not your—”
“Thank you!” Caitlyn enthused, almost ready to grab the Englishwoman and start hugging her. “You saved me.”
“We don’t hug in the military,” Alicia said a little gruffly. “Maybe a pat on the back. A smack on the ass if you’re really lucky. You coming?”
Caitlyn rose; battered, bruised and shocked but feeling better than ever. Was this how it felt to have a real family?
She’d almost forgotten.
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.”