Juan leaned closer, speaking low, quiet. “That burly guard bothers me a bit.”
“Why? Because he carries the biggest gun?”
It was more than that, though. There was something almost sinister in his dark eyes, too. And his accent had been different. Still Spanish, but not a local dialect. More tight-lipped with sharper edges on his consonants.
Juan nodded. “That and because he keeps talking about all of the damned snakes slithering around here. I might try to butter him up some, keep him and his big gun on our side.”
Damnedsnakes was right. In addition to the good ol’ yellowbearded bastard, aka the fer-de-lance, and the nightmarish tales of tissue necrosis caused by its venom, the burly guard had also shared knee-wobbling stories about his experiences with rattlesnakes and coral snakes. Oh, and then the tall, skinny guard had added a short epilogue about some kind of jumping pit viper with a hole between its eyes that contained a heat-sensing organ to help it locate warm-blooded prey in total darkness.
Holy hell! The rattlesnakes at the last dig site were starting to seem downright friendly in comparison.
Quint scooted closer to the firelight, checking for slithering visitors around his chair. “Maybe Teodoro can bring a whole shitload of antivenin, along with his other homemade pain meds.”
“And don’t forget María.”
“That’s a given.” The two of them came as a package deal. But, apparently, Juan was back to thinking about food rather than the venomous hissers that had Quint considering wearing two sets of snake gaiters while he slept.
“We’re not going to have the strength to clear out this place without a lot of María’s homemade masa tortillas filled with chicken in that spicy orange sauce of hers,” Juan said, licking his lips.
Something tickled the back of Quint’s neck. Christ, not another worm. He slapped at it only to hit a finger instead.
Angélica chuckled, rubbing his shoulders. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist messing with you after watching you squirm through Bronko’s horror stories about snakes.”
He scowled at Juan. “Has anyone ever told you that your daughter is an evil woman?”
“Yes, but they’re all dead now.”
Including her ex-husband, Quint thought wryly. But the asshole had brought that on himself.
Even though he was enjoying Angélica’s touch, Quint started to rise so she could have his chair, but she pushed him back down again.
“Stay put, heartbreaker. I’m happy to stand for a bit.”
He looked up at her, watching the firelight and shadows ripple across her lined brow. Strands of her auburn hair had escaped her long braid and curled willy-nilly along her face, giving her a frayed-at-the-edges look. “Where have you been?”
“On the satellite phone with my boss. I let him know we’d made it close to the site and wanted to confirm the names of the hired guards he’d helped secure for us.” She glanced back toward the communications tent. “I figured it was worth double-checking. We don’t need any surprise guests at this site.”
“Good thinking.” The “surprises” at the last two sites had nearly been the death of Quint.
“And?” Juan pressed. “Are we good here with these fellas?”
She nodded. “All three come highly recommended with impressive resumes.”
Quint wondered if her boss had come clean tonight about accidentally blowing the whistle on Angélica’s lie about having to cancel the vacation Quint had planned for them due to her job demands.
When Quint had found out from her boss that the choice to change course and come to this site had been hers and hers aloneaftershe’d learned about the geoarchaeologist wanting to check out this place, he’d felt sucker punched. A few beats of silence had come from his end of the phone call before he’d caught his breath, swallowed his surprise, and then continued pitching his idea to her boss for several articles promoting INAH’s exploratory work at remote Maya ruins. The end goal—to bring in more archaeological-tourism dollars for Mexico and show the world that there was much to learn yet about the Maya people.
Quint turned so he could see Angélica without craning his neck. “Did your boss have anything else to say about this place?”
She stared down at him, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Like what?”
Several times as they’d packed for the trek to this site, he’d thought about confronting her, asking why she didn’t tell him the truth. But he’d waited. He wanted her to come clean without prompting. To trust in him to be understanding.
So far, she kept holding her cards close to her vest and not sharing. Damned stubborn woman.
He shrugged, giving up on winning any confessions tonight. “Like if Dr. Fernel had offered enough money to buy his way here yet?”
“Yes.” She scowled at the fire. “Dr. Fernel is now offering twiceas much money if INAH will allow him and his LIDAR data to join us here.”
