been described to me that way. It looks to be made of solid gold, but can’t be because it is not heavy enough. It is an outer shell of gold and has something else inside it. More on that later.”
“It is carved, or cast, in the shape of a head. A Mayan head complete with the decorations of a king or a god. I don’t know its age or what king or god it would be, but it is ancient. The first firm mention we have is over five thousand years ago and it was ancient even then. Legend has it that it dates from before the start of the former Long Count Calendar. That would put it over ten thousand years ago. Most say it is older than that. Much older, perhaps older than the stars.”
“It is said to be dangerous to touch it. Not directly dangerous—it won’t bite you—but it can change your life in bad ways. Or good ways. But usually bad. It brings luck, and that luck can be bad or it can be good, but the choice isn’t yours. This is the biggest risk in our venture.”
“As to our more immediate concerns, our next move is to get out of here. We will leave early tomorrow morning and we’ll check out about six. I’d like to leave earlier, but it might attract attention. Jeb, you leave about six fifteen. We’ll meet at the docks. There will be a shrimp boat at Muelle 9. ‘Truinfo’ is painted on the front and ‘El Triunfo” on the back.
“Triumph. An optimist, then,” Jeb said.
“He is that, but don’t read too much into it. El Triunfo is the little town the Captain grew up in,” Lucy said. “If I’m not there, tell him my name and your name and when and where you last saw me. Let him take it from there.” The little smile was there, but not enough to panic me.
Then Lucy turned pale. No smile at all now. I’ve seen people turn suddenly pale before, including myself. It is seldom a good sign. “Meet me by the back exit,” she said, “in two minutes.” She headed in the direction of the restrooms, her face turned away from the street entrance.
I had a pretty good idea about what had spooked her. I had been watching the street, too. I always did. Did you see him? I asked Jeb. “Yeah,” he said. “The runty guy in the white sport coat? Looks out of place.” That’s the one, I said. He may be a runt, but he looks mean and dangerous. He’s not from here and he’s not a tourist. He’s walked past twice. I don’t think he spotted Lucy, it’s darker in here, but he might have.
LUCY
We checked into the hotel. Carlos and Jeb were getting antsy about the mission, wanting to know more. I didn’t blame them after what had happened on the highway. I planned to tell them what I could. It wasn’t secret, just difficult to explain, but I’d do the best I could. I had planned to wait until we were safely aboard El Triunfo, but their impatience was getting the better of them.
First, we had supper in the hotel dining room and then went to La Parroquia for drinks. I had started to tell them about the mission when right out on the sidewalk in front of La Parroquia I spotted Macalusa! The Runt himself! Just the sight of him made me choke up with fury! That pendejo had killed Gonzalo!
Much as I wanted to run out there and attack him, I thought I had better use some common sense. For one thing, he was unlikely to be alone. For another, we had more important things to do.
I headed for the lady’s room, did what I could to not look like myself, and went out the back way to the hotel.
CARLOS
We headed for the rest rooms and the back door. Lucy was trembling, not from fear, I thought. From anger. She spoke rapidly. “We meet at Jeb’s room. I’m hoping they don’t know about you two, but they’ll recognize me. Jeb had better leave now, and you stay back five or ten minutes.” She ducked into the ladies room. Jeb popped the back door and disappeared. I pretended to be talking on one of the pay phones in the corridor.
Lucy reappeared from the ‘Damas’. At least I was pretty sure it was Lucy, she looked different. Her hair was up, her lipstick and mascara gone and her clothes somehow looked frumpier. The little reading glasses were a nice touch. With a little finger wave she disappeared through the back door.
I thought I’d wait a minute or two. Then I saw the runt out in the restaurant with another, much larger man. They seemed to be arguing, and then the short man, looking disgusted, headed my way. I didn’t think he would know me, but I turned toward the telephone. To my surprise, he barged into the ladies room.
I heard a shout, then some Spanish language that should not be coming from a nice ladies room. Two young women came running out, giggling and shrieking, followed by my runty friend with a middle-aged señora close on his heels.
She was ruining a fairly nice umbrella on his small head. “Goddam it, lady!” he shouted in English. He may be little, but he could move fast when motivated. Everyone was staring, the waiters, the customers. A policeman on the outer walk seemed to be taking an interest. I heard laughter as I slipped out the back door.
We met in Jeb’s room as planned. I recounted Mr. Runt’s ladies room fiasco and we all had a good, if nervous, laugh at his expense. “He’s not really called Runt,” Lucy said, “at least, not to his face. Not twice. Near as I can figure, his name, or one of them, is Macalusa. He and his buddies are the ones who killed our mutual friends. And my big cousin. Shot them in cold blood and enjoyed it,” she said. The smile, this time with a hint of tears. That certainly explained the anger.
She turned away. “We’d better have a new plan for tomorrow. We’ll leave earlier, and take the car. Jeb will drive and cruise around to make sure we’re not followed. You and I will keep our heads down, and we’ll wind up on Muelle 9.”
“It could be a coincidence that those people are here in Veracruz, but I don’t think so. They’re after our ‘Item’ themselves and might come this way anyway, but I think they were looking for me. They knew our travel route out of Nuevo Laredo. They knew the truck. That confirms there’s a leak at the Houston end. Damn.”
We asked for information and now we’re getting it, I thought. Good but not good.
“I won’t be able to call Houston after today without giving our position away if there’s a leak, so I’ll call now. They already know we’re in Veracruz. Besides, there won’t be any telephones where we’re going.”
“I’ll alert Houston to the leak and they can deal with it. No one there knows our movements from here on, and Houston can’t help us in the jungle, anyway. They know more or less where we’re going, of course, and so does the Runt. That’s no secret. He’s going there, too. He’s trying to head us off, get rid of us, before we get there ahead of him.”
“I’d better not call from Jeb’s room, I’ll use the pay phone downstairs, you two keep me covered, just in case. Just watch. I don’t think Macalusa knows about you, but keep a low profile. He’ll figure there is someone with me, but he won’t know who it is. We don’t need the truck for now, and they won’t know about that warehouse because no one in Houston knows about it. We may need that truck and the gun on the way back.” Way back. That was a reassuring concept. Needing guns was not.
LUCY
I called Houston from the hotel and talked to John to tell him about my suspicions and conclusions. He was appalled, but had to agree with my logic.
“John,” I told him, “we aren’t going to be in communication for a while. I can’t trust the Office right now. I can’t take a chance that information is going to get to Macalusa.”
“I
