“Where are you going,hombre?” Juan called out.
“To countlas calaverasfor your daughter,Señor Jefe.”
“Hey, I like that name,” Juan said, puffing out his chest. “Mr. Boss.It fits me well, don’t you think, Junior Mint?”
Quint grinned in spite of the prospect of many skulls waiting for them up ahead. “ ‘Professor Smartass’ is more like it.”
Angélica stared after Bronko for a couple of beats. Then she zipped the tooth bag into one of her pants pockets and took off after him, with KuTu on her heels, hollering something in Spanish aboutlaserpiente.
Quint knew what that word meant in English. “Great.” He growled under his breath. “As if the stack of human skulls waiting for us isn’t enough, there are snakes waiting, too. I’ve had less frightening, hair-raising nightmares than this reality.”
“I hope there are no scorpions,” Juan said, frowning at the ground. “They’re worse than the snakes.”
Quint shook his head. “Not by far, old man.”
“We have a few venomous spiders around here, too,” Raul told them, being the ever-helpful park ranger.
“Well, isn’t that just the bee’s knees?” Quint muttered.
The ranger looked from Quint to Juan. “What about bee’s knees?”
“Your daughter is going to be the death of me, Mr. Boss,” Quint told Juan and then followed after the Wonder Woman of the jungle.
“I warned you about her,” Juan called after him.
“Yeah, but your warning was vague and I’m a sucker for a pretty face,” he called back. Not to mention the siren’s sexy big brain and mouth-watering curves.
Thanks to the jungle slowing their headway along the old Maya road, Quint quickly caught up with Angélica. KuTu was now in front of her, hacking away at some palm fronds and saplings growing in the middle of the old road.
“Hey, boss lady, what are you thinking here?” he asked as he tried to carefully dodge a low-hanging branch covered with thorns.
She held the branch aside with her machete so he could pass safely. “Are you asking me on record as the trip’s official photojournalist?”
He glanced behind them to see if Juan was within hearing range, but he and Raul were taking their time bringing up the rear. As he passed the branch, another pokey one snagged his shirt sleeve, stopping him.
“I’m asking as the guy who is dating the woman leading thischarge into Mexico’s thorny version of Hell.” He tried to pull free without tearing his shirt.
“Dig deeper,” she said, carefully chopping off the clingy branch at its base and then plucking the thorny bits from his sleeve.
He scoffed. “Wonderful. I just hope my hair doesn’t turn white from what we find when we finally stop digging.”
“If it does, I’ll dye mine so we match when we go out on the town.”
He frowned at the vegetation-congestedsacbeahead of them. What a mess Mother Nature had made of the Maya peoples’ hard work. “Would you look at that? Somebody blocked the road with a damned jungle.”
“Lucky me you’re so burly and good at swinging a machete.”
“Nice try, but I’m not falling for your sweet nothings this time. Flattery isn’t going to help chop through this mess.”
“What if I buy you an Indiana Jones hat when we get home?”
He chuckled, turning her way. “And a whip, too?”
She nodded once.
“Deal, but I’m also going to need some kissing when this is all done.” He pulled out his machete and faced off with the jungle once again …
* * *
