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Antonio nodded. “That’s very generous of you. Perhaps you could relay that to Carlos? He handles the finances for the Institute.”
Sam and Remi went upstairs to Carlos’s office and knocked. He came to the door and beamed at them before welcoming them into his suite. They first discussed the likelihood of a tomb beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and he seemed genuinely excited about the possibility. When talk turned to logistics and their participation, he was reticent to commit to a time line but then noticeably relaxed when Sam floated the idea of a donation to cover the excavation expense.
“That’s extremely generous of you. And I’d imagine it will make it much easier to approve if we have funding in place,” he said.
“That’s what we were thinking,” Sam said. “We don’t want to delay exploration. Say the word and we’ll arrange for a wire transfer to the Institute’s account. It can be there by tomorrow.”
“I don’t think it would be overly expensive if you have a specific location in mind. Really, we’re talking about a few workers, a supervisor, possibly some excavation equipment . . .”
“And a scanner, if you think it would help,” Remi added.
“Probably not, but it doesn’t hurt to budget for it. Figure, mmm . . . fifty thousand American dollars would more than cover it, including the permit. The scanner must be flown in from the United States and operated by a trained technician from there.”
“Consider it done.”
When they returned to their temporary office, Antonio was scrutinizing satellite photography of the location and Maribela was pointing to an area near one of the corners at the pyramid base. “This is the likely spot,” she said, tapping the monitor. “All of the elements in the Aztec’s account are there . . .”
“This may seem like a silly question, but is the actual pyramid, this Temple of the Feathered Serp
ent, solid or hollow?” asked Remi, the thought just occurring to her.
Maribela sat back. “It appears that it’s hollow, but far deeper than could have been reached with any ease from the exterior. What happened is that successive pyramids were built over the prior temples, incorporating them inside. Archaeologists tunneled into it and discovered over two hundred skeletons, as well as human remains at each of the four corners. And they’ve been over it with sonar. There’s no chamber inside.”
“Yes, but sonar has its limitations. I’m all too aware of them,” Sam said.
Remi nodded. “And what about the Adosada platform in front of the pyramid? Have we excluded that as a possibility?”
Antonio shook his head. “That was built at a later date than the pyramid. The Adosada was probably constructed to supplant the pyramid as the place of worship. The manuscript doesn’t discuss it, but, you’re right, it could also be a location. Maybe a sort of sleight of hand of the tomb builders—a misdirection. Or we may be interpreting it incorrectly and it’s none of these.”
“So you think the Temple of the Feathered Serpent pyramid in Teotihuacan is the best candidate?” Sam summarized.
“That’s our belief,” Antonio agreed.
Sam rubbed his face. “Maybe we should go out to the site while we’re waiting for the permit.”
Remi looked out the window. “Once it stops raining. It’s not that far, is it?”
“It’s about forty kilometers away.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Remi said. “Unless anyone’s got any better ideas?”
Sam shook his head. “Sounds like a plan. Here’s hoping for clear skies sooner than later.”
It rained all of the following day, so Sam and Remi immersed themselves in studying everything they could find on Teotihuacan, focusing on the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. The history of the city was fascinating, as was the speed with which it had ceased to be viable—at one point, it was the largest in the world, but it was abandoned around A.D. 700 and destroyed by fire fifty years later. A city that at one point was larger than Rome had become a ghost town. And as little is known about its builders as about the Toltecs, whose own city was only sixty miles north.
They didn’t see Carlos all day but assumed that he was at his other office and would contact them about funding the project when he’d gotten approval for a dig. The day dragged by slowly and by five o’clock they were both more than ready to leave.
Morning brought the blessed relief of the sun and, with it, travel to Teotihuacan to see the layout for themselves. Even though they’d studied it, nothing could have prepared them for the grandeur when they exited their taxi and stood in front of the huge stone figure that acted as a greeter near the museum gates.
They moved with a small group of German tourists and walked onto the long, wide Avenue of the Dead, which bisected the city and terminated at the Pyramid of the Moon. The Temple of the Feathered Serpent was at the opposite end of the unearthed portion of the city, with the Pyramid of the Sun between the two landmarks—an incredible sight and the third-largest pyramid in the world after those in Egypt and Cholula.
Sam indicated the surrounding buildings. “You get a sense of how vast it was and how evolved the civilization must have been. One of the most amazing things is how geometrically precise the layout is. The front wall of the Pyramid of the Sun aligns with the points where the sun sets on the equinoxes, and the Avenue of the Dead points at the setting of the Pleiades. Astronomy played a huge role in this society.”
“The other thing I wasn’t prepared for is how hot it is. I guess no shade anywhere has its drawbacks,” Remi said as they walked up the famed avenue, taking in the city’s size. “And here I was complaining about it being cold just a few days ago on Baffin.”
They strolled along in silence, and, after they had moved halfway along the Avenue of the Dead, Sam held his phone up, as if checking for a signal, and then spoke softly. “Don’t turn around, but our tail’s about two hundred yards behind us.”
“Are you sure?”