“You don’t feel like they should go to a museum or to a government?”
“No,” was all she said with a cryptic smile.
Sean caught himself staring at her. The lightly tanned skin, the deep brown eyes, every physical feature was only enhanced by the fact that she was extremely learned and interested in ancient history.
“Got an extra cup of that coffee?” Emily’s voice startled the two of them.
“Of course,” Adriana said, momentarily caught off guard. She stood and walked back to the coffee maker and poured another cupful.
“Thank you so much,” Emily said, taking the cup with a look of relief.
“How’d you sleep?” Sean piped up.
“Fine, thanks,” she replied and took a seat on the opposite end of the couch from where their host had been sitting. She gazed out the gigantic windows. “What an amazing view.”
“I love the enormity of it,” Villa said.
“So, now that Em’s up, I’ll ask you a question that she and I are both probably thinking,” Wyatt interrupted.
“Yes?” The chocolate eyes probed his face.
“How did you happen to know those guys were going to show up at the Venetian?”
She walked over by the window and gazed out at the sunrise over the far-away mountains as if considering her answer.
“A long time ago, my father told me a story, one that many have heard before. It was a legend really, a myth.”
“Let me guess,” Sean chimed in, “the seven cities of gold?”
Adriana nodded. “Yes. The stories of Quivira and Cibola reached one of my family’s cousin’s, a governor in Mexico. He spent his entire family fortune on expeditions into what is now the southwestern United States, searching for this supposed treasure.”
“Wait a second. You’re not talking about Francisco Coronado? Are you?” He seemed more interested now.
“Very quick to make the connection,” She seemed impressed. “Yes, that is correct. He was a cousin of my ancestors. He frequently sent letters to my family back in Spain, mostly depicting the stories he’d been told about the magnificent cities and how when he discovered them our family would be the wealthiest on the planet. Sadly, he failed miserably and died a bankrupt man.”
“So, you’re trying to pick up where he left off,” Emily threw in her two cents.
“No,” Villa shook her head. “I have no grand delusions about seven cities of gold.”
“Then what is it?” Sean looked sincere as he asked the question.
“When Francisco Coronado first came through the American southwest, he was led to believe there were magnificent golden cities that could be easily overtaken with a small army. He thought the gold could be plundered and taken back to Mexico and then Spain.”
“You said, ‘first came through.’ What do you mean by that?” Sean questioned.
“When the conquistador returned to his estate in Mexico, he realized there must have been some sort of flaw with the story. If there were truly seven cities of gold someone would have discovered them by then. Even rival tribes would have been tempted to overthrow the natives that had built them. Such a construction would have been nearly impossible to keep secret. “That’s when he began to research the idea of the golden cities more deeply. None of the local natives from the Yucatan had ever heard of such a place, save for a few who had only a faint recollection of whisperings from the past.”
“Are you saying the people who told Coronado about Cibola and Quivira were lying?” Emily wondered.
“You two already know the answer.” She pointed to Sean, “Your friends Joe and Tommy figured it out rather easily, I might add.”
The light went on in Sean’s eyes. “Coronado figured out that it was something else. He must have come across some information that told him there weren’t any golden cities but they were actually four golden chambers.”
He wondered how she knew about his friends but decided to let it go for the time being.
“Exactly,” she smiled at him. “But there was something else that Coronado learned of that is of far greater importance.”
Starks and Wyatt looked on, intrigued by the exotic woman silhouetted by the sunlight now pouring into the great room.
“Your friends, McElroy and Schultz realized that there was something more to the chambers than just a treasure. They know that the rooms point to somewhere important for some of the ancient peoples of this hemisphere. What they didn’t realize is what lies at the end.”
“The end?” Emily moved to the edge of the couch, completely intrigued.
Their host turned to face them both. She sipped the last of her coffee and set it on an end table nearby as she stepped closer. “The end of the path.”
Sean nodded. “That’s what Joe called it, essentially. He said that the chambers were beacons, a trail to lead them home.”
“Yes. He is mostly correct in saying that.”
“Mostly?”
“There is something else that your friends don’t know about.”
The audience of two waited, anxious to hear the revelation. She leaned close to both of them, eyeing one then the other. “It is rumored the fourth and final chamber is the resting place of an ancient power, one that, if discovered, could change the course of human events forever.”
Chapter 19
Tommy hadn’t slept well during the night. He didn’t like sleeping in unfamiliar places. Other people always kept their home temperatures either too cold or too hot. Not to mention the fact that he liked to have a floor fan going to provide a little background noise.
Will’s house had been a little cold but he’d had worse. His inability to get any rest had more to do with the events of the previous night than his sleeping environment. A friend murdered for the second time in the last month and the ensuing shootout had rattled him more than anything. Regret and anger mingled in his head as he sat overlooking downtown Atlanta from Will’s mid-town condo. He scratched his messy hair and looked down at his phone.
No messages.
Tommy’s thoughts went back to the events of the previous night. He’d been playing them over and over again in his mind. Who was the killer? They had to be a pro. The only trace of the mystery shooter the police found were bullet casings laying all over the floor of the hallway and near the lab entrance. There were probably more police stationed there since the occurrence. It was still odd they couldn’t find anything. No fingerprints. No blood. Nothing.
He sat, thoughtful, for a few moments and then moved his hand across the glass-top coffee table to grab his cell phone. His fingers scrolled the touch screen until he found Sean’s name and pressed it. The other line rang a few times until the familiar voice came over the other line.
The phone began to vibrate in his hand. Tommy looked down and saw it was Sean. “Hey, man,” he said into the device.
“You doin’ okay?” Sean’s voice asked from the other end.
“I’ve been better,” Tommy replied. “Got shot at last night over at Tech.” He hesitated then added, “Terrance is dead.” His response skipped all pleasantries and got straight to the point.
Tommy let the words sink in for a minute.
“What happened?” Sean asked after a moment of thought.
“Someone broke into his lab. They must have been looking for what we had him working on. I guess when Terrance wouldn’t give it to them, they shot him.”
“Does the family know yet?”
“His ex-wife has been notified. But his son is over in Iraq right now. Not sure if they told him yet or not.”
“I don’t mean to be insensitive but did the software work?” Sean asked, carefully.