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.’
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.’
Paco pointed towards the northeast, somewhere between the Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Palace. ‘To honour Huitzilopochtli, construction begins on a temple made of earth and wood. To protect it, you build canals to funnel the lake and rainwater away. Before long, your island is interlaced with bridges and canals that allow you to visit every section of the city on foot or canoe. But there is a problem. The water that flows through your city is brown, muddied by runoff from the mountains. To fix the issue, your engineers build a dike that is ten miles long. It separates the spring-fed waters to the west from the dirty waters of the east. Next comes a pair of aqueducts – three miles each and made of terracotta – that pump fresh water into the city from the springs at Chapultepec. But this water is not for drinking. It is for bathing and toilets. Unlike the savages who came from Europe, our ancestors bathed twice a day and went to the bathroom indoors instead of in the woods.’
Tiffany laughed at the description, as did most of the group. She had never heard Europeans described as ‘savages’ before. Normally, the natives were the ‘savages’, and the conquerors were the ‘enlightened’ – not the other way around. But from Paco’s perspective, the roles were reversed. Until that moment, she had never thought of things in a
foreign
way. Whether right or wrong, she had always viewed things from an American standpoint.
It was probably why so many people hated her countrymen.
Paco was ready to explain a crucial part of Mexico’s history. He waited for the laughter to stop before he continued. ‘In 1428, barely a century after the birth of your kingdom, a pact is made with two neighbouring city-states. Suddenly, three different groups – the Mexica of Tenochtitlan, the Acolhua of Texcoco, and the Tepanec of Tlacopan – are fighting under one name. This Triple Alliance of Nahua tribes is known as the Aztec Empire.’
He spread his arms out wide. ‘For the next hundred years, the Aztecs dominate this valley and beyond. Led by rulers such as Montezuma, Tlacaelel and Ahuitzotl, the Empire stretches from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. And our city – our tiny little island in the middle of the lake – becomes a capital unlike any the world has ever seen.’
Once again, he pointed to the northeast. ‘Remember our temple? The one made of earth and wood? It is no longer suitable for our city. It is rebuilt over and over, seven times in all, until it is an enormous pyramid of stucco and stone. Unlike Egyptian pyramids, the Templo Mayor has no apex. Instead, there is a great platform on top that is over three hundred feet wide. The platform is divided into two shrines – one for Huitzilopochtli, and one for Tlaloc, the god of rain. The shrines are over a hundred feet in height. They house sacred fires that always burn.’
Paco raised his arms while wiggling his fingers to indicate smoke.
‘Surrounding the Templo Mayor is a walled square. It is known as the temple precinct. It is home to more than forty buildings. This includes a temple honouring Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, and several smaller shrines honouring minor gods. We do this to keep them happy. We expand our city even further by building miles of roads upon the water. They stretch west to the mainland and connect us to smaller islands that we have raised in the lake. But these are not normal causeways. They have special bridges that allow boats and people to pass freely. Amazingly, if we are ever attacked, the bridges can be pulled away instantly to protect our city from invading forces.
‘Tenochtitlan was grouped into four zones called
campans
, which surrounded the temple precinct in the middle. Each
campan
had twenty districts, and each district was crisscrossed by perpendicular streets that were half land, half water. This allowed boat and foot traffic throughout the city. Each district, or
calpulli
, had its own marketplace where the Aztecs went to buy products, but they paled in comparison to the main market to the north.
‘By 1492, the year Columbus
discovered
the Americas, the population of Tenochtitlan is more than three hundred thousand people. That is bigger than London, Madrid, or Rome. On a normal day, more than fifty thousand people work and shop at our marketplace in Tlatelolco. Money is not used there. Goods and services are bartered for. Small trades are made. Differences in price are settled with cacao beans. They are small, brown and practically worthless, just like an American penny.’
He winked at Tiffany, who responded with a smile.
‘There are restaurants and hairdressers. Pharmacies and butchers. Art shops and fruit stands. Everything you can imagine in one immense plaza. Best of all, the marketplace is clean and orderly. No chaos, little crime, no garbage on the streets. More than a thousand men work as cleaners. This includes men in small boats who collect the trash and haul it away.’
Paco lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘Do not get me wrong. Our city is not perfect. At night, half-naked women with heavy make-up and painted teeth – yes, painted teeth – roam the alleys looking for men. To attract attention, they chew Aztec gum called
tzictli
as loud as they can. The clicking noise echoes throughout the streets. When the noise finally stops, you know their mouths are doing something else, like …
talking
.’
Everybody laughed at the misdirection. They thought for sure that he was going to say something much dirtier than ‘talking’.
Paco gasped in mock disgust. ‘What you think I going to say? I am a classy tour guide!’
DeJute fiddled with his wheelchair until he was perfectly positioned in front of the control panel. ‘Much better. Now let’s get down to business. What’s your room number?’
Payne gave him the number of Maria’s suite.
DeJute punched the information into his computer and pulled up her registration. He studied it intently. ‘Hmm. Must be some kind of mistake. You don’t look like a Maria.’
‘I’m not. I’m Miss Pelati’s bodyguard.’
‘Her bodyguard?’ He glanced over his shoulder and stared at Payne’s biceps. His muscular arm was almost as thick as DeJute’s withered legs. ‘Now
that
I believe. What, is she an Italian princess or something?’
Payne scoffed at the notion. ‘Sometimes she acts that way, but she’s just a regular person. No better than you or I.’
‘I hear ya, chief. Rich people piss me off.’
‘Me, too,’ he joked.
‘Is she gonna fire you?’
‘If this goes public, she probably will. You know how rich people hate bad publicity. That’s why I didn’t go to the police with any of this. If they get involved, my ass is grass.’
DeJute reached behind him and tapped Payne’s arm. ‘Don’t worry, chief. You came to the right place. We only call the cops if it’s absolutely necessary. They’re bad for business.’
‘Tell me about it.’
‘So, when did this break-in occur?’
‘Late afternoon, early evening. She was having drinks at that bistro by the beach. When she returned to her suite, the place was trashed.’
‘Someone trashed it?’
‘Like a rock star,’ Payne replied. ‘Don’t worry, we straightened things up. Looks almost as good as new.’
‘What did they steal?’
‘Not much. Maybe a few trinkets. The main thing was her passport. Someone swiped it from her nightstand. We’re still trying to figure out if they got anything else.’
‘Jewellery? Laptops? Anything like that?’
‘Nope. Nothing big. Just her passport.’
‘Hmm.’ DeJute stroked his chin in thought. ‘Something smells fishy.’
‘Fishy? What do you mean?’
He turned back and stared at Payne. ‘I mean, I’m not buying it for a second.’
Jones lingered at the edge of the parking lot, waiting for the all-clear signal from Payne. Just to be safe, he checked the reception on his mobile. Several bars were visible.
‘What’s taking so long?’ Maria wondered.
‘Could be anything. Won’t know for sure until he calls.’
‘You’re sure he’ll remember?’
‘Of course, he’ll remember. He’s the most dependable person I’ve ever met.’
‘Ever?’
‘Ever,’ he proclaimed.
Maria struggled with his statement since she’d never had anyone like that in her life. Not a family member, classmate, or long-term boyfriend. No one that she truly felt she could count on if times got rough. And it wasn’t through lack of trying. Over the years, she had made a number of friends, but it seemed like something bad happened whenever she got close to any of them, whether it was a death, a fight, or a personal betrayal. After a while, she became so sick of the heartbreak, she decided to put up walls to keep everyone out.
She glanced at Jones. ‘I know this is going to sound like a funny question, but I’ve always wondered something about you and Jon.’
He cut her off. ‘We’ve never kissed, and we never will.’
She laughed. ‘Good to know, but that wasn’t the direction I was heading in.’
‘In that case, fire away.’
She gathered her thoughts. ‘When the two of you first met, did you click right away? Or did it take a while to build your friendship?’