“Well, it appears our resident geoarchaeologist is too impatient to wait any longer.” Quint nudged her forward. “Go kick his ass, boss lady.”
Chapter Ten
Site 5, Cache A-2
(Located OUTSIDE OF THE WALL next to what Juan labeled “Structure I” on Fernel’s fancy map)
The items identified are as follows:
—17 Small knives
—13 Daggers made with bone blades
—8 Daggers made with obsidian blades
—77 Spearpoints made of obsidian
—68 Spearpoints made of chert
—15 Axe heads made of stone
—233 Arrowheads made of obsidian
—212 Three-inch obsidian blades most likely left over from approximately 20 or so macuahuitl
Note to self—Per Angélica, macuahuitl is used for both the singular and plural form of the weapon, but that doesn’t matter because I still can’t pronounce the damned word.
Quint closed his field notebook, stuffing it back into his pack. This afternoon was muggier than themorning had been, but a fraction cooler thanks to a cloud cover that was protecting them from the sun’s rays. That didn’t make the place any less buggy, though.
He pulled his canteen from his pack, shooing away a fly that had been harassing him while he’d tallied the inventory from a second cache found last evening before everyone had headed back to camp for the night.
It wasn’t eagle-eyed Daisy who’d found the goods this time. Instead, Juan was the hero of the moment. An axe head sticking up out of the dirt had caught his eye while he’d been slowly circling the partially collapsed structure on theoutsideof the wall—the very first building they’d come across during their initial search for Site 5, now named “Structure I.”
Its twin inside the wall was designated as “Structure II,” according to the updated LIDAR map of Site 5 on Fernel’s tablet, with more labels to come as they continued to uncover what had been hidden for centuries.
Anyway, Juan had been trying to determine the possible original purpose for Structure I during his walkabout while Bronko and his machete cleared the way, and lo and behold the axe head was discovered. Further vegetation clearing in the twilight had found evidence of more treasures in a second cache, but by then night had fallen, and Juan had ordered everyone to head back to camp for supper and sleep, including his daughter, who had been contemplating working through the night with a flashlight in spite of Quint’s argument against that dangerous notion.
As Quint unscrewed the lid of his canteen, he stared down at the lineup of weaponry bits and pieces. Angélica, Daisy, and Raul had worked steadily throughout the morning hours, diagramming the layout of everything in the five feet by eight feet cache area, taking pictures along the way, and then excavating each item from the partially buried arsenal.
Same as in the first cache Daisy had found yesterday morning, the contents of this second cache were all weapons. However, here on the outside of the wall, the building that held them hadn’t been made of stone, so the natural framing had long ago decomposed, swallowed by the jungle.
Quint looked off to the side of Structure I, where Pedro andBronko were currently slashing through more of the vegetation.
His thoughts returned to earlier this morning at breakfast, when Angélica had told the crew she wanted to figure out if the walled stairwell inside Site 5—where she’d nearly walked into the pit viper before Quint had stopped her—was the entrance to an underground tunnel leading to Structure I on the outside of the wall. She’d assigned Pedro and Bronko the job of clearing more vegetation from the area surrounding Structure I while searching for any signs of a tunnel exit point.
Juan waited until everyone had finished eating and left the mess tent except Pedro, Quint, and Angélica before speaking up. “I disagree with your tunnel theory,gatita.” He reached for his coffee cup. “Those stairs more likely lead to an underground bunker, not a tunnel. Manpower spent looking for an exit hole is a waste of time and energy.”
Angélica pushed her empty plate aside, scowling across at him. “We already talked about this back in the tent. It is not a waste.”
They had? Quint swallowed the last of his breakfast burrito. The discussion must have happened after he’d left to grab some food. The smell of bacon and eggs had lured him along like chum for a shark.
“Gatita, we have a lot more clearing work to do inside of the wall in order to further assess the possible structures noted on Dr. Fernel’s map. We need Bronko and Pedro with their machetes inside the wall.”
“A few hours of machete work this morning outside of the wall is all I’m asking for, Dad.”
Juan downed the last of his coffee. “If that stairwell did actually lead to a tunnel back when Site 5 was in use, the exit on the outside of the wall is most likely buried somewhere under what is left of Structure I. To search for it now when there is much more to be found inside is unwise.”
“We don’t know for certain where the tunnel might lead, Dad. There could be another stairwell access point, similar to the one we found, hidden in the jungle somewhere near Structure I.”
