Thrilled with the silence of her kill, she hooked her arms under his and dragged his lifeless body towards the nearby woods. She planned to dump him in the weeds before she hustled to the other end of the site, where she hoped to kill an unsuspecting Angel by the visitor centre. But it wasn’t meant to be. Ten feet short of the woods, her plan went to shit when she was spotted by a group of teenage girls, who were doing everything in their power to avoid their parents. There was a brief moment of silence as the girls processed the murder scene in front of them, and then they did what Tiffany had threatened to do earlier.
They screamed so loud people could hear it in Florida.
Jones winced when he heard the sound. ‘What the hell was that?’
‘Howler monkeys,’ guessed Hamilton. ‘They’re surly creatures that prowl the treetops of Central America. However, I must admit I don’t remember their pitch being quite that high. Normally the sound is more guttural than bloodcurdling.’
‘Shut up!’ Payne ordered as he tried to pinpoint the screams. He knew damn well they were human, but they were tough to locate from his position in the jungle. Trees and vines had a way of distorting sound. ‘I think they came from the east.’
His guess was proved correct by a series of gunshots.
They occurred one after another in rapid succession.
‘Definitely east,’ Payne said.
Jones cursed as he pulled out his map. Normally, he would have considered this great news because there was only one group of ruins to the east. They sat nestled in a tiny corner of the site, isolated from the rest of the Great North Platform like a tiny peninsula in a sea of trees. If a skirmish broke out over there, there was a damn good chance the fighting could be limited to that small quadrant, which would keep civilian casualties to a minimum.
Unfortunately for Jones, these weren’t ‘normal’ circumstances, so he didn’t view this as a positive development. In fact, he viewed it as the worst possible news, because the shootout was taking place next to a temple he had never heard of until moments earlier. A temple he didn’t care about until his friend Petr had whispered its name into his ear.
It was the temple where Ulster and Maria were hiding.
61
Angel heard the screams, then a series of gunshots. He immediately used his radio to find out what was happening. They spoke in Spanish. ‘Who is shooting?’
‘The Devil,’ answered Edgar, one of his gunmen.
‘Where?’
‘East of the pyramid. She just killed Pedro with a rock.’
‘A rock?’
‘She bashed in his head.’
Angel made the sign of the cross. ‘Can you see her right now?’
‘Not this moment.’
‘Why not?’
‘She has me trapped behind a pillar.’
‘Trapped? Are you sure she’s still there?’
‘Pretty sure.’
‘Make damn sure!’ he ordered. ‘I won’t send anyone to help unless I’m sure she’s there. We can’t let her slip past us.’
Fearful of Angel’s violent reputation, Edgar reluctantly agreed. He took a deep breath then peeked around the stone column, only to find Tiffany standing 20 feet away with her gun raised. His heart sank at the sight.
‘Shit,’ he mumbled.
Angel heard Edgar’s final word over the radio. It was followed by a gunshot to the east, then radio silence. After a few seconds, he nodded his head in understanding.
‘OK,’ he said. ‘Now we know for sure.’
Payne and Jones sprinted through the jungle until they reached El Mercado. They found Pedro’s body 10 feet from the edge of the trees. He was missing his weapon, his radio and a chunk of his head. They assumed Tiffany was responsible for the scene.
Jones was impressed. ‘She has some skills.’
Payne spotted a second body. It was crumpled next to a pillar on the other side of the market. He went over and plucked the earpiece from Edgar’s ear. ‘A lot of skills.’
Jones surveyed the area. She was nowhere in sight. ‘Now what?’
‘Check on Petr and Maria. Make sure they’re OK.’
‘And you?’
‘I’ll watch your back.’
Jones nodded, then ran across the plaza towards a large ruin.
Known as the Temple of the Warriors, the building features a stone temple on top of three stacked tiers that resemble the bottom half of a pyramid. A Chac Mool is positioned between the temple and the main stairway that leads to the ground below. The complex is fronted by hundreds of carved columns depicting warriors. At one time the columns were painted in bright colours, but now the pigment is barely visible in the afternoon sun.
Jones ignored the ‘warriors’ and the restraining rope protecting them from the general public. He dashed through a gap on the right-hand side of the complex and made his way to the back of the bottom tier, which was shaded by trees and concealed from the rest of the site. According to Ulster, this was where he and Maria would be hiding.
‘Don’t shoot,’ whispered Jones as he inched his head around the corner. He knew them well enough to realize that neither of them was comfortable with a gun. ‘I come in peace.’
Ulster stepped out of the jungle and breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Thank goodness it’s you. We heard shots close by and didn’t know whether to go or stay.’
Jones jogged towards him. ‘Where’s Maria?’
She emerged a few seconds later. ‘I’m right here.’
‘Good. I thought maybe you’d left.’
‘I was thinking about it. I’m not the type to sit on my butt and do nothing.’
‘I know you aren’t,’ Jones said. ‘But I also know you’re not a fan of bullets.’
She nodded reluctantly. ‘Is there anything we can do?’
‘You can stay put.’
‘I mean besides that.’
‘You can stay alive. That’s a pretty important job.’
‘Indeed!’ Ulster said.
‘Come on,’ she whined. ‘Playing hide-and-seek with gunmen is not my idea of fun. Can’t I help as a translator or something?’
Jones smiled at the thought. ‘Actually, now that you mention it, that’s a not a bad idea. Pull out your mobile.’
‘My mobile?’
‘There was a sign in the visitor centre that bragged about having a mobile phone service here. You might actually have reception.’
‘We’re in the jungle.’
‘Just check.’
She glanced at her screen. ‘I’ll be damned. I can’t get reception at my house, but I have reception here.’
Jones smiled. ‘The Maya were way ahead of their time. Their pyramid is actually a giant antenna. They were the first ancient civilization to have Wi-Fi.’
Ulster laughed. ‘I realize you’re just joking about the antenna. However, the Maya were innovators in many ways. Did you know they—’
Jones cut him off. ‘Not now, Petr.’
‘Yes, of course, how silly of me. More important things to deal with.’
She pointed at her phone. ‘What did you have in mind?’
‘Your translation skills might come in handy. Just be ready for my call. I’ll let you know if I need you.’