Words of Love

chapter SIX



“Bring me the map,” Frederico barked in Spanish.

He set his beer down on the corner of the wooden table with a thud. The ceramic incense burners at the left edge of the table bounced once.

He glanced at them.

Priceless artifacts, they were called. Priceless–what a stupid word. Everything had its price. These ones might fetch tens of thousands of dollars, even caked in dirt like they were. But he preferred to have them clean.

“Wash those out in the rain,” he said, finishing with a burp.

As he heavily sat on the stool, the topographic map appeared in front of him. He spread his hands out on it. Tomás took one of the artifacts and Frederico heard the door open. As if the sound of the pounding rain on the corrugated roof weren’t enough, the sound of the rushing river in the distance was added to it. Then the door closed.

He leaned over the map.

“Where did you go?” he mused out loud. “Where did you take my boat?”

That gringo who rented the boat–something was going on with him. Three years in a row he came during the field season, always by himself, but now with a woman.

He placed a grimy finger on his own location, at Sayaxché, on the Rio Pasión.

“Always the supplies go in,” he muttered. “But nothing ever comes out.”

He traced the thin blue line of the river.

Several famous archaeological sites were nearby–Dos Pilas, Seibal, and Aguateca. He’d marked them with large black dots but there was nothing at those places but ruins. The archaeologists had taken everything. It was the red dots that were more interesting.

His finger slowly ran past them.

These were his own excavations.

Suddenly, he heard something smash outside and then cursing.

Goddamn Tomás!

Frederico’s hand flew to the holster at his side and grabbed the handle of the machete. In seconds, he was through the door, the machete held in front.

Tomás stood there, in the rain, gaping at him–the shards of the broken incense burner at his feet. It was the first one he’d broken but he obviously knew what would happen next. He took off at a run.

Frederico grinned as he hefted the machete in his hand.