Sebastian waved the comment away. “Of course it’s not the chamber,” he cried. “It’s a burial offering. The Teotihuacans would bury a hundred or so gifts around the burial chamber. Obsidian blades, pyrite mirrors, shells… we must be right on top of it.”
As Sebastian crouched over the spot where the object was buried, Thomas placed a small brush and an archaeological probe into his hands.
“You do the honors,” Thomas said, stepping back.
As a crowd gathered around the pit, chattering in Spanish, English and French, a tall, mustached man in a dark suit moved unnoticed to the front of the group, where he watched Dr. De Rosa.
Sebastian began by carefully pushing the dirt aside with his bare hands. Then he positioned the archaeological probe and gently thrust its sharp tip into the soil, slowly piercing the crust until the long metal spike was nearly buried. Dr. De Rosa felt nothing on the first attempt, so he drew the probe out and tried again.
It wasn’t until his fourth attempt that Sebastian struck pay dirt. Almost as soon as the tip disappeared in the soil, it touched something hard. The artifact was buried less than an inch below the surface. Dr. De Rosa immediately withdrew the probe and set it aside.
“He’s found something,” someone in the crowd whispered.
Sebastian cautiously pushed the dirt away with the brush until he could just make out the rough outline of the object. It was small, about the size of a coin. And round like a coin, too.
“What is it?” Marco asked.
Dr. De Rosa did not reply. Instead, he dug his fingers deep into the soil around the object until his fingers closed on the thing. Sebastian held his breath as he lifted the artifact out of the ground.
“Professor?” Thomas whispered breathlessly.
Finally, soil fell away and the object was revealed. Sebastian let out the breath no one knew he was holding. Eyes strained, but Dr. De Rosa still crouched over the artifact, shielding the thing he had unearthed. When he looked up, Dr. De Rosa found a host of eager, expectant faces surrounding him. He stood, still concealing the mystery in his hand.
Finally, without fanfare, Dr. De Rosa presented the artifact to his audience.
They saw a glint of blue, and a familiar white swirl, and some characters etched onto a circular, rusted surface. There were murmurs. Then gasps of surprise. Finally, Sebastian held the object high enough so that everyone could get a look at the only significant discovery his expedition had made during eighteen months of grueling, backbreaking work—
A rusty metal cap from a cola bottle.
“Vintage nineteen-fifties, I’d say,” a slightly accented voice announced.
Sebastian looked up to see Mexico’s minister of the interior, Juan Ramirez, staring down at him.
“Minister, I—”
But the bureaucrat cut Sebastian off. “According to you, the Teotihuacans’ final gift to their dead king was a Pepsi?”
“Give me one more month,” Sebastian said, still clutching the bottle cap.
Frowning, Minister Ramirez shook his head.
“Can’t do it, Sebastian. Department of the Interior needed results six months ago. We’re putting in another team.”
As the sun set, the Mexican afternoon grew slightly cooler, down from 107 degrees to a pleasant 99. Sebastian De Rosa was in his tent, packing, when Thomas arrived.
“How bad?”
“We lost half the crew,” Thomas said, frowning.
“Bobby leave?”
“Yeah. And Joe. And Caroline. Nick. Jerry and all of Jerry’s crew.”
Sebastian took the news hard. He slumped down on his cot, his shoulders sagging. “Thomas, the burial chamber is here. I know it.” His fingers made a fist. “We’re going to find it—and a link to the Egyptian culture.”
“I know it, too,” the younger man replied, pushing the blond hair from his face. “But without a crew and a new permit to dig, we’re out of business.”
Sebastian stared at Thomas a moment, then got back on his feet. With renewed determination, he threw more things into his pack.
“Hold the rest of the team together for two days. I’ll go to Mexico City… talk to the suits. I’ll get our dig back.”
“I might be able to help you accomplish that, Professor.”
The voice was a stranger’s, deep and with a precise British accent. Sebastian and Thomas turned to find a tall black man standing at the door to the tent. De Rosa estimated the man to be well over six and a half feet tall, and the perfectly tailored London business suit did little to hide his broad chest and thick-muscled arms. Despite his size the man moved with polished grace.
“Do I know you?” Sebastian asked.
“My name is Maxwell Stafford,” the man replied. Then he stepped forward and handed Sebastian a bone- white stationery envelope that bore the embossed monogram of Weyland Industries.
Sebastian tore it open and stared at the piece of paper inside—a personal check from Charles Weyland made out to Dr. Sebastian De Rosa. The number on that check was followed by more zeroes than a carbon-dating estimate. Sebastian looked up at the stranger.
“In exchange for a little of your time,” Maxwell Stafford explained.
CHAPTER 5
The massive, British-built Westland Sea King helicopter designated
Alexa Woods slept soundly, sprawled inside the chopper’s main cabin. She was still clad in the cold-weather gear she’d been wearing when she’d been plucked from the Himalayas. A copy of
Standing at the window near Lex was a tall, skinny man with gangly limbs and a prominent Adam’s apple. On his nose was perched a pair of bottle-thick glasses; he gripped a digital camera in his hand. He placed the camera on a seat in an attempt to take his own photograph. On his first try, all he succeeded in doing was blinding himself. On his second, the chopper lurched and he bumped into Lex.
“Sorry,” the man said when Lex woke. She nodded and was about to close her eyes again when he said, “But since you’re awake, would you mind?”
He held up the camera and tried to flash Lex a seductive smile. It only made him look geeky.
Lex took the camera and snapped the photo.
“I’m documenting the trip for my boys so they know that their father wasn’t always boring,” the man explained. He reached into his parka and pulled out a thick wallet of photographs. He presented a picture to Lex.
“That’s Jacob, and that’s Scotty,” the man said proudly.
“They’re cute,” Lex said out of politeness. “Is this your wife?”
“Ex-wife,” he replied. Then the man thrust out his hand. “Graham Miller, chemical engineering.”
They shook.
“Alexa Woods, environmental technician and guide.”
“Do you work for Weyland?”
Lex shook her head.
