Ice Shock(43)

He’s obviously happy to see Ixchel, and she’s happy to see him.

“You two should try to get to know each other,” Benicio tells us.

I glance at Ixchel. She gives me a defiant stare.

“What do you think … ,” I begin to ask.

“I think you’re too easily influenced by Montoyo.”

“I am not! And what’s it to you, anyway?”

“You don’t get it, do you? I’ve had it with the traditions of that place. Arranged marriages! As if we were some sort of animal to be bred. Think I want to have one of your little Bakab children? Guess again.”

“Yeah … Benicio … ,” I say, “why do they care if any more Bakabs are born? 2012 is just around the corner. We’ve got the four Books of Itzamna; we can just take them out of their boxes and leave it at that.”

Ixchel rolls her eyes. “You’re so clueless!”

“Josh … ,” Benicio says carefully. “All the ancient technology is protected by a similar ‘curse’—the bio-defense. Only the Bakabs can touch it and not die.”

“Wear gas masks! Use gloves! There are ways around it, aren’t there?”

Benicio nods. “In some cases, yes. But each bio-defense is unpredictable. In other cases, even those protections are not enough. And … the Bakabs have other abilities.”

“Like what?”

“Well, it’s not completely understood. My guess is that the answers are in the Ix Codex, but you know, I don’t have the security clearance to know that, so …”

I think about what Ollie said: That Bakab gene is just the tip of the iceberg. Have you any idea what you’re capable of, if only we could unlock your potential?

Is this what Ollie was talking about? Do I have other abilities that I’m not even aware of? I’d ask Benicio, but I’m pretty sure he’ll just say he doesn’t “have security clearance.”

I turn to Ixchel, ask her straight out if she sent the postcards. She claims she didn’t. Benicio seems interested.

“What’s this? You never told me someone was sending you coded messages.”

“I don’t know who they’re from. But they seem to be talking about my father’s death.”

Benicio suddenly gets a call on his cell phone.

“It’s the automatic defense system of the Muwan,” he says after a few seconds. “It’s detected someone getting nosy. I’d better go check it out.”

He leaves me alone with Ixchel. She watches him go. Then a change comes over her. She leans forward, lowers her voice.

“Josh, there’s something I need to tell you. About that guy in the blue Nissan.”

“His name is Simon Madison,” I tell her, “and he keeps turning up, trying to beat me up. Benicio didn’t say?”

“You think we talk about you all the time?”

I glare at her. “‘Course not. But this is major!”

“Well … Benicio doesn’t tell me everything … and I don’t tell him everything.”

“You’re sneaky.”

“I just want to be my own person. Not a trained monkey working for Montoyo.”

I’m silent, but I’m starting to agree with her about Benicio. Why does he just do everything Montoyo says?

Ixchel polishes off her Sunkist. “I did my last favor for Montoyo back when I rescued you, led you to Ek Naab. That includes marrying you, by the way, which obviously I’m never going to do.”

She doesn’t leave time for me to respond, and I’m actually a bit irritated at the cutting way she says that. I know what she means, but it still isn’t very friendly.

“But later, I saw that blue Nissan in Becan, you know. It was in the parking lot from about four in the morning. I was waiting until the ruins opened so that I could take the bus. I watched him. He stayed in the car for about twenty minutes, then walked into the site. He came back about four hours later. He waited until the restaurant nearby opened, ate a plate of eggs, then he went back into the site with a few tourists. The second time, I followed him. Well, as usual, there were hardly any visitors, and one section was completely empty, except for your blue Nissan guy. And, of course, me. When he thought no one was watching, he went into one of the ruined temples. He disappeared for another two hours. I almost fell asleep waiting for him to return. What was he doing in there? After he left, I followed him out and then to the Nissan. He drove away at around ten thirty in the morning. I went back to take a closer look at that temple, but it looked ordinary. Until I noticed the ground near the back wall. It was really clean and smooth. No grass. Like it had been scraped often by a heavy rock.”