A few seconds later, Payne knocked on the door of the security office, unsure how he would be received by the staff. Just to be safe, he had rehearsed the details of his cover story in his head, over and over again, until he was confident he wouldn’t screw it up. Like most cover stories he had used over the years, this one contained a teaspoon of truth and a gallon of lies. The goal was to get the information he needed while covering his trail for would-be pursuers.
‘Hola?’ Payne said as he knocked again. ‘Anybody home?’
‘Come in,’ someone shouted in English.
Payne opened the door slowly, then stuck his head through the crack. ‘Hello?’
‘I’m in the back.’
Payne closed the door behind him, walked past the unmanned desk on the left and made his way to the back office, where more than twenty video screens lined the far wall. Black-and-white videos, showing different areas of the resort, from the private beach to the guest parking lot, rotated through the monitors in regular intervals.
Watching them all was a single guard, who sat in front of a large panel that looked like the mixing board in a music studio. Without taking his eyes off the screens, he spoke over his shoulder. ‘How can I help you?’
‘I’m here to report an incident.’
The guard yawned. ‘What kind of incident?’
‘A break-in.’
The guard cocked his head to the side, as if he was trying to decide whether the matter was worthy of his time. ‘This isn’t a noise complaint?’
‘No.’
‘Or a lost pet?’
‘Nope.’
‘Or some kid shitting in the pool?’
‘They do that?’
‘Sometimes.’
Payne winced. ‘No.’
‘You’re sure?’
‘I’m positive. No noise, no pets, no shit.’
‘In that case,’ said the guard as he whirled around, ‘you’ve come to the right place.’
Until that moment, Payne hadn’t realized that the guard was in a modified wheelchair, and the guard hadn’t realized that Payne was nearly twice the size of an average man. The two of them stared at each other, revelling in their surprise, but unwilling to comment on the other until the guard could hold it in no more.
‘Wooeee! You sure are a big sucker. They don’t grow ’em like you in this part of the world.’ He pointed to an office chair that had been pushed out of the way. ‘Would you mind sitting down for me? I already got a broken neck. I don’t want to make it worse by staring up at you.’
Payne grabbed the chair. ‘No problem at all.’
‘I’m sure glad you didn’t lose your pet. I can’t imagine how much damage Babe the Blue Ox could do in a place like this.’
Payne laughed at the Paul Bunyan reference. A character from American folklore, Bunyan was a lumberjack of extraordinary size and skill whose lone companion was a massive blue ox named Babe. Working in unison, the two of them cleared tons of timber every day. ‘Unfortunately, I sold my ox when I lost my job. Damn tree huggers got me fired.’
The guard, whose name was Jody DeJute, shook Payne’s hand. ‘Nice to meet another unemployed American. I came south when I lost my gig at a hi-tech firm in Houston. Corporate downsizing or some bullshit like that. But I landed on my feet — so to speak.’
‘How long have you been here?’
‘A year or so. I helped put in this system. Did such a good job they kept me on to run it. About the only running I get to do.’
Payne forced a smile. One of his best friends from the military had lost both of his legs when an IED — an Improvised Explosive Device — blew up under his Humvee while doing advanced surveillance in Iraq. For the first several months, his buddy was so ashamed of his condition and so afraid that everyone was going to tease him about it that he tried to beat everyone to the punch by making wheelchair jokes at every opportunity. ‘What can the system do?’
‘What can’t it do!’ DeJute proclaimed as he whirled back towards the control panel. ‘With the touch of a button I can access any camera I want. I can pan, zoom, or both. For insurance purposes, we store videos on site for a month. After that, we delete the local files, but we keep backup copies on some server in the middle of nowhere. I still have access, but it takes a while.’
Payne shook his head. ‘Don’t worry. The break-in occurred yesterday afternoon.’
‘Yesterday? Shit, I worked yesterday. Did you report this to anyone else?’
‘Nope. You’re the first.’
‘And hopefully the last. I can’t afford to lose another job.’
21
Paco was proud of his Aztec ancestry. He stood in the middle of the plaza and urged everyone to gather round. He didn’t care if they were part of his tour group or not. His goal was to educate as many people as possible about the city his ancestors had built, a city so spectacular that conquistadores wept when they saw it because they thought they had found heaven.
‘Imagine a lake,’ he said as he spread his arms out wide, ‘one that stretches farther than your eyes can see. No cathedrals, no palaces, no buildings. Just a lake, hidden from the world by volcanoes and snow-covered mountains. Can you picture such a place?’
Tiffany closed her eyes and nodded. She could see it in her mind.
‘Now imagine an island, no more than a hundred yards wide, in the middle of the vast water. The land is flat and unremarkable. It is surrounded by marshes, thick with vegetation. And yet, as you stare at it from the distant shore, you see potential. For the past hundred years, your people, known as the Mexica, have been wandering through the wasteland, searching for somewhere to live. You are used to deserts, not lakes. Cactuses, not trees. Everything about this island is foreign to you, but you are guided here by a vision: an eagle with a serpent in its beak, sent as a sign from your main god, Huitzilopochtli. Despite cries of protest from your tribe, you choose this island — this tiny island — as the place to build a city.’
Paco paused briefly, just long enough for the crowd to open their eyes and focus on his weathered face. With his words, he was about to create a kingdom.
‘Amazingly, the gods reward your courage with a miracle. As the northern wind howls, the summer rain fades away. Over the course of a week, the waters of the lake slowly recede and your island starts to grow. What was once a pebble becomes a rock. What was once a rock becomes a boulder. And what was once a boulder becomes your home.’
Tiffany shivered as he said it. Goose bumps covered her arms.
‘The city’s name is Tenochtitlan, and it is founded in the shallows of Lake Texcoco. In less than six months, the rains will return and your home will be underwater unless you can defeat nature. Channels are dug to great depths. Levees are built to soaring heights. Fires burn throughout the night to light your workers’ way. If you fail, you will be killed, whether by flood or revolt, but in your heart, you know you will succeed. You have seen the city in your dreams, one of astonishing size and beauty.’
Paco lifted his arms above his head, then wiggled his fingers to indicate rain. The crowd was so transfixed they half-expected the skies to open at that moment.
‘Whooooosh goes the wind! Crash goes the thunder! And the dark waters start to rise. Standing in the middle of a growing lake, you do not know if you will survive. You pray to Huitzilopochtli with all your might, unsure if he will reward your bravery. Eventually, he gives you his response. Whether by fate or fortune, he answers your prayer and the water is held at bay. The year is 1325 AD. The island is underneath our feet. It is time to build an empire.’