Текст книги "Lost Empire"

Автор книги: Clive Cussler

Соавторы: Clive Cussler
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“It may be even bigger than that,” Remi said. “If the Orizaga Codex is genuine and the outrigger is what we think it is, somewhere along the way Blaylock may have stumbled onto a secret that was buried with Cortes and his Conquistadors: the true origin of the Aztecs.”

CHAPTER 37

GOLDFISH POINT,

LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA

“THERE ARE A LOT OF LOOSE ENDS HERE,” SAM POINTED OUT. HE grabbed a nearby legal pad and pen and began writing:

• How/when did Morton obtain Blaylock’s journal, his walking staff, and the Orizaga Codex?

• How/when did the Shenandoah’s bell end up buried off the coast of Chumbe Island? How did the clapper come off?

Sam stopped writing. “What else?” he asked. Remi gestured for the pad, and he slid it over to her. She wrote:

• How much do Rivera and his employer know about Blaylock? How did they get involved? What are they after?• How did Rivera know about Madagascar?

She slid the pad back to Sam, who said, “I have an idea about one of these . . . What are they after? We suspect Rivera works for the Mexican government, correct?”

“It’s a safe bet.”

“We also know the current administration, President Garza’s Mexica Tenochca, came into office on a wave of ultranationalism-pride in Mexico’s true, precolonial heritage and so forth. We also know Rivera and his goons all have Nahuatl-Aztec names, along with most of Mexica Tenochca’s leaders and cabinet members. The ‘Aztec Groundswell,’ as the press called it, won them the election.”Sam looked around the group and got nods in return.

“What if whoever Rivera works for knows the truth about the Aztecs? What if they knew long before the election?”

Remi said, “We did find what might be nine tourist murders in seven years in Zanzibar. If our hunch about them is correct, the cover-up goes back at least that far.”

Sam nodded. “If Blaylock truly found what we think he found, this could turn Mesoamerican history on its head.”

“Is that enough to kill for?” Wendy asked.

“Absolutely,” Remi replied. “If members of the current government won the election based on a lie and the truth comes to light, how long before they’re drummed out of office? Or even its leaders arrested? Imagine if after George Washington was elected America’s first president, it was proven he was a traitor. It’s a bit of an apples-to-oranges comparison, but you get the idea.”“Then, potentially, we’re talking about President Garza being directly involved in this,” Pete said.

Sam said, “He certainly has the kind of horsepower that’s been backing Rivera from the beginning. At this point, all we’ve got to go on is Blaylock’s journal and letters. My gut is telling me the answers are hidden there.”“Where do you suggest we start?” Selma asked. “His poem. Do you have it?”

Selma flipped pages on her pad, then recited,

In my love’s heart I pen my devotion

On Engai’s gyrare I trust my feet

From above, the earth squared

From praying hands my day is quartered, the gyrare once, twice

Words of Ancients, words of Father Algarismo

“The first two lines we already figured out-he’s talking about the bell and Fibonacci spirals. Now we just need to figure out the last four lines.”

THEY BROKE INTO GROUPS. Selma, Pete, and Wendy worked on Blaylock’s letters to Constance Ashworth, searching for any clues they may have missed, while Sam and Remi retreated to the solarium to pore over Blaylock’s journal, which Selma had loaded onto their iPads.

Side by side, they reclined on chaise lounges partially shaded by potted palms and billowing ferns. The sun streamed through the skylights and cast dappled shadows across the tiled floor.After an hour, Sam muttered, half to himself, “Leonardo the Liar.”

“Pardon?”

“That line from Blaylock’s journal: ‘Leonardo the Liar.’ Clearly Blaylock was referring to Leonardo Fibonacci.”

“Of the sequence-and-spiral fame.”

“Right. But why did he add ‘the liar’?”

“I meant to ask what that’s all about.”

“The Fibonacci sequence wasn’t discovered by Leonardo; he simply helped spread it around Europe.”

“So he lied about the discovery?”

“No, he never claimed credit for it. And Blaylock, being a mathematician, would have known that. I’m starting to wonder if the line was meant as a reminder to himself.”

“Go on.”

“According to my research, the sequence is most often attributed to a twelfth-century Indian mathematician named Hemachandra who-surprise, surprise-also authored an epic poem entitled Lives of Sixty-three Great Men.”“Another line from Blaylock’s journal.”

“Which was placed directly across from the Leonardo the Liar quote.”

“Certainly sounds intentional,” Remi said. “But what’s it add up to?”

“I’m not sure. I need to see that page again.”

BACK IN THE WORKROOM, Sam told Wendy, “I just need to see the area around the ‘Sixty-three Great Men’ line.”

“Can do. Hold on a moment.” At one of the workstations, Wendy opened the image in Photoshop, made some adjustments, then said, “Done. It should be on your screen . . . now.”

Sam studied the image. “Can you isolate and enlarge the area around the Sixty-three?” Thirty seconds later, the new image appeared. Sam scrutinized it for a moment. “Too fuzzy. I’m mostly interested in the tiny marks above and below the Sixty-three.”Wendy went back to work. A few minutes later Wendy said, “Try this one.”

The new image resolved on the screen:

“I had to do a little color replacement, but I’m pretty sure the marks are-”

“It’s perfect,” Sam murmured, eyes fixed on the screen.

“Care to share with the rest of the class?” Remi said.

“We’ve been assuming Blaylock used the Fibonacci spiral as some kind of encoding tool on the inside of the bell. The problem is, at what scale? The spiral’s starting grid size can be anything. That’s the piece we were missing. Now we have it.”“Explain,” said Selma.

“Blaylock’s line about Leonardo was meant as a pointer to the ‘Sixty-three Great Men’ line. Look above and just to the right of the number three.”

“It’s a quote mark,” Wendy said.

“Or the symbol for inches,” replied Pete.

“Bingo. Now look at the dash directly below the Sixty-three. It’s a minus sign. If you move the inches symbol down and the minus sign up, you get this . . .” Sam grabbed a pad, scribbled something, and turned it around for everyone to see:

Blaylock is telling us the starting square in his spiral is three inches.”

THEY QUICKLY REALIZED the mathematics needed to re-create the spiral were beyond their grasp. Blaylock had devised his bell-spiral combination based on his expertise in topology. To solve it, the Fargos needed an expert of their own, so Sam took a page from Remi’s book and called one of his former professors at Caltech. As it happened, George Milhaupt was now retired and living just seventy miles away on Mount Palomar, where he’d been playing amateur astronomer at the observatory since leaving the institute.Sam’s brief explanation of the problem so intrigued Milhaupt that he drove immediately to La Jolla, arriving two hours after Sam’s call.

Milhaupt, a short man in his mid-seventies with a monk’s fringe of white hair, followed Sam into the work space carrying an old leather valise. Milhaupt looked around, said, “Splendid,” then shook everyone’s hands. “Where is it?” he asked. “Where is this mystery?”

Not wanting to muddy the waters, Sam restricted his briefing to the Shenandoah , the bell, and the relevant portions of Blaylock’s journal. When he finished, Milhaupt was silent for thirty seconds, pursing his lips and nodding thoughtfully to himself. Finally: “I can’t argue with your conclusions, Sam. You were right to call me. You were a good math student, but topology was never your strong suit. If you’ll bring me the bell, your Fibonacci calculations, and a large sketch pad, then leave me alone, I’ll lock horns with Mr. Blaylock and see what I come up with.”NINETY MINUTES LATER, Milhaupt’s scratchy voice came over the house’s intercom system. “Hello . . . ? I’m done.”

Sam and Remi and the others returned to the work space. Sitting on the table, amid dividers, pencils, flexible measuring tapes, and a pad covered in scribbles, was a sketch:

As though playing a slow-motion game of musical chairs, the group walked around the table, eyes fixed on the drawing, heads tilting this way and that, until finally Sam said, “You’ve stumped us.”

“Do you see the tr notation in the upper right-hand corner and the numerals near the curve at the bottom left?”“Yes,” Sam said.

“That’s my handwriting, of course, but they were also inscribed on the inside of the bell. I suspect it means ‘top right.’”

Sam and Remi looked at him in surprise. “We missed that,” Remi said.

“Don’t feel bad. They were minuscule. Without my magnifying glass, I would have overlooked them, too. The tr notations were on the very edge of the bell’s mouth.”“You said ‘notations,’” Remi replied. “As in plural.”

“There were two. I have a second sketch, but aside from the order of the symbols, each is identical to the other. When I saw the two tr notations, I assumed they were intended as both orientation points and end points for a pair of spirals. As to why there are two spirals . . . I suspect that answer is hidden in the rest of that poem of his. As you can see, each X mark is accompanied by a designator; each represents a different glyph. I have a legend with all this written down.”“Amazing,” Sam said. “Imagine the patience all this took.”

Milhaupt smiled and rubbed his hands together. “And now I’d be happy to tackle Mr. Blaylock’s poem.”

Selma read it aloud.

“Well, I agree with your assessment of the first two lines,” Milhaupt said. “As for the other lines . . . I may have some ideas. First of all, this fellow’s a very abstract thinker-which is especially strange for a mathematician.”“He was a character,” Sam agreed. “We also think he may have been a few sandwiches shy of a picnic.”

“Ah, I see. That puts things into perspective. Well, the third line-‘From above, the earth squared’-suggests to me a pair of spirals that are to be viewed from overhead. The notations I found within the bell tend to validate that. Agreed?”Everyone nodded.

“The fourth line-‘From praying hands my day is quartered, the gyrare once, twice’-is a bit trickier, but as we’re fairly certain about the overhead view issue, the ‘praying hands’ may represent two hands of a clock, pointing toward midnight. I suspect the words ‘my day is quartered’ mean Mr. Blaylock has divided his ‘clock’ into four sections-midnight, three, six, and nine. And finally, following this logic, the line ‘the gyrare once, twice’ probably means we’re to rotate our first spiral to the three o’clock position and the second spiral to the six o’clock position.”

Milhaupt demonstrated, rotating his sketches, the first on top with the open end of the spiral pointing to the right; the second below that, the open end of the spiral pointing downward. He looked at each member of the group in turn. “Thoughts?”No one spoke up.

“Me neither,” he said. “How about the last line of the poem?”

Selma recited it:

Words of Ancients, words of Father Algarismo Remi said, “As for the first part-‘Words of Ancients’-we have a hunch what Blaylock means.”“You’re referring to those Aztec glyphs inside the bell?” Milhaupt asked with a Cheshire smile. “I have no idea of their translation, of course. I assume you do?”

Sam nodded. “They’re from the Aztec calendar-thirteen months, thirteen corresponding symbols.”

“Clearly Mr. Blaylock was absorbed with the Aztecs, yes?”

“‘Absorbed’ isn’t the word we’ve been using,” Remi said.

Sam said, “The second part of the line-‘words of Father Algarismo’-has us stumped.”

“I am happy to say I have your answer. At last, my love of obscure mathematical history has come in handy. There is no Father Algarismo, you see. It’s another one of Mr. Blaylock’s tricks. Algarismo is the Portuguese derivation of the word ‘algorithm.’ Quite simply, it means digit.”Remi said, “Then, translated, the last line reads, ‘Words of the Aztecs combined with numbers.’ Sam, you’re the cryptography guy. Is any of this ringing any bells?”

Sam nodded. “Maybe. I seem to remember a page in his journal that was nothing but dots. Did I imagine that?”

“No, I remember it,” Wendy said. “I’ll find it.” She disappeared into the archive vault.

“I can see the gears turning in your head,” said Remi. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t think we’re meant to combine Aztec words with numbers. I think we’re meant to translate them. For example, take the symbol for ‘flint’ and replace the letters with corresponding numbers.”Remi was jotting along on her pad:

6 , 1 2 , 9 , 1 4 , 2 0

“A simple substitution code,” said Milhaupt.

“Right,” Sam said. “I think Blaylock’s spirals are just window dressing. Look at the two rotated sketches. If you straighten out the ends of the spirals, you get a horizontal line of glyphs and a vertical line of glyphs.” “Essentially a grid,” said Remi.

Wendy’s voice came over the intercom. “Sam, I found that page you mentioned. It’s on the screen.”

Selma grabbed the remote and switched on the TV. As Sam had described, the page consisted of nothing more than groupings of seemingly randomly placed dots-row after row, column after column.“How many clusters?” Sam asked.

Remi was already counting. “One hundred sixty-nine. Thirteen down and thirteen across.” She smiled. “Same number as your spiral grid idea, Sam. And the same number of months in the Aztec calendar.”Milhaupt said, “We have a winner. Now you just need to plug your dots into the grid and figure out what it all means.”

HAVING CHASED BLAYLOCK’S RIDDLES for what seemed like months, Sam, now certain he was closing in on his quarry, attacked the “Blaylock Dot Grid Mystery” with a gusto that took him through the evening and into the early-morning hours of the next day.

Translating the Aztec-Nahuatl glyphs first into their Anglicized meanings and then into numbers was straightforward but time-consuming. Once done, he began plugging the dot clusters into their corresponding rows and columns until he had what looked like an LSD-inspired Sudoku puzzle on steroids. Next he began experimenting with various cryptographic methods, hoping to stumble upon something that clicked. Shortly before midnight, he found just that: a binary-type system where the dots’ positions determined which numbers in the grid were used.After hearing Sam’s theory, Remi said, “You’ve worked this out? Tested it?”

“I did. Aside from the ‘empty’ clusters, they’re all latitude and longitude coordinates. This is a map.”

CHAPTER 38

GOLDFISH POINT,

LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA

COFFEE IN HAND, SAM AND REMI WALKED INTO THE WORKROOM at eight A.M. to find Selma, Pete, and Wendy standing before a six-foot-wide map of the Indian Ocean tacked to the wall with blue painter’s tape.Six hours earlier, at Pete and Wendy’s urging, Sam and Remi had gone to bed, leaving them to plot the coordinates on a world map.

“Of the one hundred sixty-nine locations in Blaylock’s grid, eighty-two of them were null,” Pete now explained. “Of the remaining eighty-seven, fifty-three were located in the middle of the ocean, which left us thirty-four latitude and longitude points that matched up with land. That’s what you see plotted here.”

The coordinates were marked by red pushpins connected by white string. In rough, the pins formed a giant inverted V that started near Madagascar, peaked 2,800 miles to the northeast at Sri Lanka, and ended off the central coast of Sumatra, 1,400 miles to the southeast.“Where are the other pins?” Sam asked.

Selma replied, “We pulled some out, most of them well inland. We wanted you to see this particular pattern first.”

Both Remi and Sam recognized the gleam in Selma’s eyes. During the night, she, Pete, and Wendy had discovered something significant.

“Go on,” Remi prompted.

“After you got back from Madagascar and proposed the east-to-west Aztec migration theory, I started doing a little digging. In recent years a number of archaeologists and anthropologists have been finding more and more evidence that the Malagasy people of Madagascar arrived there in the first or second century, having sailed there from Indonesia-specifically, the island of Sulawesi. I came across a map of the route the Malagasy were believed to have taken.”Selma picked up the remote and powered up the TV across the room.

The route, depicted as a red line on a map of the Indian Ocean, from the Indonesian Archipelago to the east coast of Africa, was nearly identical to the one on the workroom’s wall.

“Incredible” was all Sam could say. “So Blaylock beat present-day experts to this theory by a hundred twenty or so years,” Remi said. “That’s impressive, but I don’t-”

“There’s more,” Selma said. Pete and Wendy got up on step stools, removed the pushpins, peeled back the tape, and pulled away the map. Beneath it was a second map, this one spanning from the east coast of Africa to South America. Like the first map, this one was covered in red pushpins connected by white string.“These are all Blaylock’s?” Sam asked.

“Yes.”

The pushpins began near the coastal city of Lumbo in Mozambique and proceeded across the waist of Africa to the west coast of Angola before island-hopping first up the coastline, then west across the Atlantic to the easternmost bulge of Brazil, where they turned north and followed the coast of South America past Trinidad and Tobago and into the Caribbean Sea.Remi asked, “Are we to believe Blaylock visited all these places?”

Sam replied, “He captured the Shenandoah in 1872, then went treasure hunting for his jeweled bird. Who knows how long he was at sea? It could have been decades, for all we know.”“This looks familiar,” Remi said. “Pete, Wendy, put the first map up beside this one, please.”

They did as she asked.

Remi stared at this configuration for almost a full minute before smiling faintly. “Do you see it?” she asked.

“See what?” asked Sam.

In answer, Remi walked to one of the workstations. “Wendy’s been teaching me a little Photoshop. Let’s see how good a learner I am. Everybody go sit down. This might take me a few minutes.”With her upper body blocking the computer monitor, no one could see what she was doing. At the worktable, Sam leaned sideways on his stool, trying to get a peek.

“Forget it, Fargo,” Remi muttered. “Sorry.”

Twenty minutes later, Remi turned in her seat and addressed the group. “Okay. We all remember the Orizaga Codex?”

Everyone nodded.

“Remember the symbol spanning the upper half?”

More nods.

“Turn on the TV, Selma.”

“I’ll be damned,” said Sam. “We were staring at it the whole time. It wouldn’t win any cartography awards, but all the big pieces are there. Remind me: When did the Malagasy arrive in Madagascar?”“First or second century.”

“And when did the Aztecs first emerge in Mexico?”

“Sixth century.”

“The Malagasy blaze the first trail from Sulawesi, then a few centuries later, a bigger armada-a hundred ships if the Orizaga Codex is accurate-arrives in Madagascar, but they don’t stop there. They keep heading west until they find Mexico.”

“The journey must have taken years,” Pete said. “The walk across Africa alone would have lasted six months or more. If you figure, conservatively, eight people to an outrigger, we’re talking about as many as eight hundred people.”

“Sam said it before: an exodus,” Remi replied.“How do we know they didn’t go around Africa’s southern tip?” asked Wendy.

“Two reasons,” Remi said. “First, you’ll notice that area doesn’t appear on their map; second, they may have tried it, but I can’t imagine anybody getting around the Cape of Good Hope in outriggers.”“Those are some of the most unforgiving waters on earth,” Sam agreed. “Here’s the million-dollar question: On your map, where exactly does the big question mark fall?”

“You’ve got me. Indonesia’s a big place. For Blaylock, it was probably where he thought he’d find his treasure. For the Aztecs, it was Chicomoztoc. When King Cuauhtemotzin dictated the codex to Orizaga, he was trying to show where his forefathers came from, but after centuries of having the story handed down through one generation of royalty to the next Cuauhtemotzin himself couldn’t be more specific.”Pete said, “What I want to know is why they left in the first place.”

THAT QUESTION was at least partially answered two hours later when Remi’s old professor, Stan Dydell, called Selma and requested a video conference. The group gathered around the TV in the workroom. Dydell’s smiling face appeared on the screen. In appearance, he was the exact opposite of George Milhaupt: tall, thin, with a full head of salt-and-pepper hair.“Good morning, Remi, nice to see you again.”

“And you, Professor.”

“And that man beside you would be Sam.”

“Nice to meet you, Professor.” Sam introduced Pete and Wendy. Dydell nodded in greeting. “My secretary is helping me with all this. You don’t mind, do you? I think technology has outpaced me a bit.”“Not at all,” said Remi.

“I imagine you’re anxious to talk about your find, so I’ll get right to it. First, let’s talk about the photos you sent. The vessel itself isn’t unique: canoe shaped, two outriggers, and a single mast. The size is impressive, however. Next: I’m probably not telling you anything you haven’t already worked out for yourself, but the carving on the bowsprit looks remarkably like Quetzalcoatl, the Great Plumed Serpent God of the Aztecs.” “Our guess as well.”“We’ve talked about Quetzalcoatl,” Sam said, “but what’s the significance?”

“As in most Aztec myth systems, Quetzalcoatl plays an array of roles that depend on the period and the circumstances. In some cases, Quetzalcoatl was related to the wind, the planet Venus, arts, and knowledge. He was also the patron god of the Aztec priesthood. He was also believed to be responsible for the separation of the earth and sky, and an essential player in the creation of mankind.”“That’s a lot of hats to wear,” Sam remarked. “And what about the other carving, the one on the stern . . .”

“Clearly it’s a bird of some kind, but I don’t recognize it. As for this parchment you have . . . It’s a copy of the Orizaga Codex, but I’m guessing you already knew that, too.”

“Yes,” said Remi.

“Do you also know you may have the only known copy in existence?”

“No, we didn’t.”

“In fact, until now it was believed there were no copies. Just the original. Here’s the short story: Javier Orizaga, Society of Jesus, was said to have arrived in Mexico as part of Cortes’s landing force. He carried with him a whole bevy of monks and such-presumably to help convert the savages.

“A few months after Orizaga penned his codex, he was ordered home by the powers-that-be. When he got back to Spain, his codex was confiscated by the Church. Orizaga was jailed and interrogated for two years, then released, having been denounced by the Church and the state. He left Spain and traveled to what is present-day Indonesia, where he remained until his death in 1556.”“Indonesia again,” Sam murmured. Professor, do we know where exactly in Indonesia?”

“I’m not sure. I can check for you. This codex you have, Remi . . . Where did you find it?”

“In Africa.”

“Interesting. If it’s genuine, it’s an incredible find. Have you had it physically examined?”

“Not yet.”

“You’ll have to do that eventually. For now, let’s assume it’s genuine. There are a number of things about it that are not just remarkable but potentially groundbreaking.”

Sam said, “You mean that it was dictated to Orizaga by the last king of the Aztecs?”

“That and more. I have to admit, the upper part has me stumped. As for the lower part . . . Here’s what strikes me: The scene in the middle of the parchment clearly depicts a sea voyage of a great number of vessels. On the lower left side of the parchment is, I think, a depiction of the Aztecs’ arrival in the area that would become their capital city of Tenochtitlan.”

SEEING THEIR STUNNED EXPRESSIONS, Dydell chuckled and went on: “Let me refresh your quintessential Aztec imagery. Legend has it that the Aztecs knew they’d found their homeland when they came across an eagle perched atop a cactus while eating a snake. The image on your codex is depicting essentially the same thing. The bird is different and the flora is different and there’s no snake, but the theme is present.”“Why wouldn’t it be identical?” asked Sam.

“My guess: It’s a case of what I like to call MDI-Migrational Displacement Iconography. It’s a theory I’ve been toying with for some time. Essentially, it’s this: As ancient peoples migrated, they tended to change their myths and imagery to suit their new geography. It’s quite common, actually.

“If these Old World Aztecs-for lack of a better term-arrived in Mexico nine centuries before the Aztec Empire rose, it’s perfectly reasonable to think their original iconography would have changed drastically-not to mention their appearance as they interbred with the locals.”Sam and Remi looked at each other. Sam said, “I can buy that.”

“Well, that’s good, because that was the easy part,” Dydell said. “The image in the lower right-hand corner, the one clearly meant to represent Chicomoztoc, is where the real wow factor is. How closely did you examine the image, Remi?”“Not very,” she admitted.

“Well, there are a number of differences between the traditional depiction of Chicomoztoc and the one you have. First of all, there’s no high priest at the entrance, and the faces you usually find clustered in each of the seven caverns are missing.” “I can’t believe I missed that.”

“Don’t be hard on yourself. In class, we barely touched on Chicomoztoc. That aside, it is what’s in the center of the cavern I find so fascinating. I took the liberty of enlarging the scan you sent me.” Dydell looked off camera and said, “Gloria, would you mind . . . Okay, good, thanks.” He faced the camera again. “This image is enlarged four hundred percent. Gloria says it should be on your screen now. Do you have it?” Dydell asked.“We have it,” replied Sam.

“The first thing you’ll probably notice is the creature between the two male figures in the middle of the cavern. The placement suggests it is a focus of reverence. The lower half of the creature appears to be Quetzalcoatl. The upper half, though, is hard to make out. It could be the tail, or something else altogether.”Sam said, “One of the figures is standing, the other kneeling. That has to mean something.”

“Indeed. It suggests supplication. Also, did you notice that the figure on the right is holding something?”

“It’s the Nahuatl symbol for flint,” Remi said.

“Right you are. Normally, I would classify this scene as a sacrificial ceremony of some kind, but you have to remember that the Aztecs were highly metaphorical in their ‘written’ language. Flint can also represent separation and the breaking of old ties.

“Now, here’s the kicker: In traditional drawings of Chicomoztoc, you’ll find two sets of footprints: one set going into the cave and one set going out. In your drawing, there is only one set.”“And they’re going out,” Sam said.

“When you combine all of this-the supplicant figure, Quetzalcoatl, the flint, the footprints-you get what I believe is a ceremony of exile. The figure on the left, along with all of his followers, was banished. Based on the rest of the codex, they left Chicomoztoc, boarded their armada, headed west, and ended up in Mexico to become what history considers the Aztec people.”Remi asked, “Professor, do we know what became of Orizaga’s original codex? Did the Church destroy it or is it tucked away in some archive somewhere?”

“Neither, but I’m sure they’d intended that it never see the light of day. In 1992 the Church held an auction of old but generally mundane artifacts-letters, illustrations, etcetera. Apparently someone messed up, and the Orizaga Codex was included in the lot. It was purchased by a Mexican millionaire, I believe. A coffee magnate.”“What was his name?” asked Sam.

Dydell hesitated, thinking. “Garza. Alfonso or Armando, I can’t remember which.”

THEY TALKED WITH DYDELL for a few more minutes, then disconnected. As they often were, Sam and Remi were on the same wavelength. Almost in unison they said to Wendy, “Do you think you can do something to clean up the-”“I know . . . the Quetzalcoatl image. I’m on it.”

Next, Sam and Remi turned to Selma, but she was a step ahead of them, already seated at her computer, typing. “Got it. Alfonso Garza, father of Cristian Garza. Currently known as Quauhtli Garza, president of Mexico and leader of the Mexica Tenochca Party.”Sam and Remi shared a smile. “That’s where it all started,” he said. “Just like Blaylock, Garza got ahold of the codex and caught the bug. It consumed him.”

Remi nodded. “And took him somewhere he didn’t expect.”

THIRTY MINUTES LATER Wendy was done. “I had to do some creative connect-the-dots, but I think I’ve got a fair representation of what it would’ve looked liked like originally.”

“There’s a familiar face,” Sam said.Remi nodded. “Blaylock’s bird.”

THE DAY ENDED with a phone call that Sam and Remi, in their exhaustion, had forgotten they were expecting. Selma answered, listened for a few moments, then hung up and walked to her workstation. A minute later the laser printer started whirring. She walked back to the table with a sheaf of papers.“The lab report on the samples you took from the outrigger.”

“Do the honors,” said Sam.

Selma scanned the sheets, then said, “The wood is from a durian tree, native to Borneo, Indonesia, and Malaysia.”

“Score another point for Indonesia,” Sam said. “There seems to be a trend developing.”

“The resin you scraped from the hull consisted of the sap from a subspecies of rubber tree, also found in Indonesia. Finally, the material you scooped from inside the hull . . . They found traces of pandan leaf, rattan, and gebang palm.”

“Let me guess,” Remi said. “All materials used in the construction of natural sail cloth?”Selma nodded.

“And all native to Indonesia,” Sam added.

“You’re batting a thousand,” replied Selma. “Shall I book your flights now or wait until the morning?”