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“What did she do?” Victor asked angrily.
“She betrayed me, but I had my vengeance. I left her bleeding to death in my private cenote.”
Victor sighed and shook his head. “First Uacmitun, then her. I’m sorry, sir.”
“You’ve been faithful and will be rewarded,” Jacob promised. “How is the perimeter?”
“The warriors have been ambushing the Americans sent into the jungle. They are blind to all we do, reliant on night vision and radios. The jungle provides our sense of hearing, sight, and smell. We kill them and then listen to the radios request information. One team at a time, they will fall.”
“Excellent,” Jacob said. That made him feel better. The warriors could leave the protection of the barrier, and through the magic emblems they wore, they were protected from bullets. The jaguar priest Petlacalco was leading them, adding his power to theirs to take out the invaders one by one.
“Are you ready for the sacrifices, sir? Who will be killed first?”
“The Americans, of course,” Jacob responded. “While the satellites watch helplessly. We’ve waited five centuries for this. We wait no longer.”
Victor grinned. “Your father would be proud,” he said.
The words caused a stab of pain in Jacob’s chest. No one else knew what had happened that day in Aztlán. Again, he thought about the look in his father’s eyes before he’d tried to murder Jacob. He must have seen a vision of some kind. Must have. Now, all these years later, he felt a twinge of doubt, stirred by that memory and what that infernal Mr. Roth had told him.
It didn’t matter. He would be firm in his purpose.
They were standing at the base of the temple now. The grooves and edges of the carvings were glowing with kem äm, revealing the pattern of a jaguar pelt up and down the pyramid. In Chichén Itzá and other structures built to honor Kukulkán, serpents were used as decoration, but this temple had been built to honor a different god. A superior one.
“What about that man who helped Suki escape?” Jacob asked. “The one with the orphanage in Cozumel. Is he dead?”
It would make him feel better to know he’d struck back where it hurt. That he’d bested Jonathon Roth in more ways than one.
Victor’s brow quirked with concern. “I was going to tell you later, sir. It was strange. The orphanage was abandoned. Everyone was gone.”
“Gone? Where?”
“We don’t know. They’re hiding somewhere on the island. Or maybe they took the ferry. I have someone looking into it, but there were more important things.”
That was strange. How had that little man evacuated the entire orphanage without drawing attention? Someone would have reported it.
“I want him dead,” Jacob insisted. “If I must, I’ll send a jaguar priest to do it.”
“No need, Mr. Calakmul. We’ll find them.” His satellite phone chirped again, and he answered it. “What is it, Arturo?”
It was time to climb the temple and start the sacrifices. The crowds had gathered in the arena, which faced the east side of the pyramid. They would be able to witness the carnage that was coming, would literally be able to see the blood flowing down the temple steps. In the days of the Aztec, sacrifices could last for days at a time, making rivers of blood as tens of thousands offered up their hearts. That would happen again, except in pyramids built inside the territories farther north. The first would be built in Washington, DC, made out of the rubble from the US Capitol building. The people would come to witness the executions. Just as they had in olden times.
“What?” Victor looked stunned.
Jacob turned and gave his security chief a sharp look.
“Get the marines there at once. Drive them out! Do you hear me? Send in five hundred men. I don’t care how many. Get it done, now!” He ended the call with a furious shout.
“San Gervasio?”
Victor nodded. “A military helicopter landed in the parking lot with another team about a half hour ago.”
Jacob flinched internally. Why was he just finding out about this? Cozumel was sacred to Ix Chel. Was it really a coincidence that the Americans had chosen it? Or was something else going on that Jacob was blind to?
“That’s my island now,” he said forcefully. “Drive them off. See to it. I’m going to send one of the jaguar priests there to assist and interrogate.”
“Yes, sir. Smart move.”
“We’re starting the sacrifices. Nothing will stop us. And find out if the stelae at the other ruins are starting to glow. I heard a rumor that troubles me.”