CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT JAGUAR TEMPLE CALAKMUL BIOSPHERE RESERVE

JAGUAR TEMPLE

CALAKMUL BIOSPHERE RESERVE

January 10

Jacob soared over the temple compound in the form of a native peregrine falcon. Its speed and fierceness suited him. Beneath his wings, he saw the glowing structures of the pyramids and buildings of Calakmul. In the past, the city of Calakmul had been a dominating force for the ancient Maya. Jacob’s family had deposed the original rulers and taken over the kingdom—renaming it in their image—and made it even grander, more prosperous. It would be so again.

The whir of a drone came from above. Jacob banked sharply and focused his attention on the military weapon used for spying and surprise attacks. It hovered above the protective strings of kem ?m, which formed a semispherical shell around the compound. The military had tested the aerial borders of Calakmul, and each time, the magic had repulsed the drones. But more had been sent, and now Jacob and his people were being monitored with their cameras. With an angry thought, he sent a pulse of magic and fried the circuitry of the drone as he passed it. He saw sparks lash out from its hull, and the drone plummeted until it hit the shell of kem ?m and ricocheted off it into the blackness. He wanted an audience. He just didn’t want to make it too easy for them. Games were no fun when the other side presented no challenge.

Jacob did another circuit around the compound. As he passed over the arena, he gazed down at the crowd assembled there. These were the faithful, awaiting the victory that would put them into prominent positions in the new order. They’d gathered from around the world to protect themselves and their families from the devastation about to be unleashed on the population of the planet. They’d received the glyph that would protect them from the disease ravaging Europe and, soon, the rest of the world. Each had invested time and their winnings from the death games to furnish protective compounds where they’d live while death ravaged the world and depleted the population. There would be tens of thousands of homes left vacant by the plague. And the faithful would inherit them. Gangs schooled in the kem ?m would be Jacob’s enforcers. Already they were preparing to cross the borders and wreak havoc on America. And after that conquest, they’d turn their vision on other countries, which would be destabilized and vulnerable.

Jacob had thought he’d be feeling a sense of triumph. But his victory would feel bittersweet because he’d had to kill Angélica. With her dead, the only other person who knew the general location of Aztlán was Suki Roth. He’d offered her the chance to be someone powerful in his new world, and she’d spurned him. She’d be dealt with. He’d see to it she died too.

Banking sharply, he used his magically enhanced senses to locate Victor, his chief of security. He sensed him down in the plaza near the main temple at Calakmul. Tucking in his wings, Jacob sped down like a bullet and transformed back into a man as he landed.

Victor, walking at a fast pace along a sacbe path, was so startled by his sudden appearance he nearly dropped the satellite phone he was holding. “I need to go,” he said into the phone. “Mr. Calakmul just arrived.” Then he ended the call.

“Who was that?” Jacob pressed, walking alongside his longtime servant. The Maya had made this network of plaster and limestone roads that literally glowed in moonlight.

“Arturo in Cozumel. American paratroopers landed at the ruins in San Gervasio.”

“How does he know they’re American?”

“The patches on their uniforms are from the 82nd Airborne. It’s a quick-strike team.”

It was concerning news, but Cozumel had little strategic interest for Jacob at the moment. His resort on the island was where he’d lured the wealthy into the death games. It had been abandoned, temporarily, and would be returned to after victory was achieved.

“Does Arturo know what they want?”

“He has no idea. I was going to send the Mexican military in to deal with them. I tried to reach Angélica to report this to her, but no one knows where she is.”

Just the mention of her name made Jacob wince.

Victor knew his master’s moods and noticed the reaction. “Is there ... trouble?”

“She’s dead,” he answered flatly, trying to be unemotional about it. He’d invested so much in her. Had cared for her deeply. He felt himself losing control of his composure, his face muscles twitching.

“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 ?m, 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.”

Victor nodded and then headed off toward the arena. Jacob summoned his magic and drew a glyph in the air with his hand.

“Cazador.”

“Yes, Great One.” The voice came through the glyph as if the other man were standing right beside him.

“Go to the chamber of the smoking mirrors. Make your way to the ruins of San Gervasio. There are American soldiers there. Kill all but a few. Find out why they are there. Victor is ordering soldiers to drive them out. See it done and then return.”

“Yes, Great One. It will be done.”

There was no doubt in Jacob’s mind that Cazador would be successful. Surely the jaguar priest would want to be present when the Jaguar Prophecies were fulfilled. But he was obedient. He would obey unswervingly. The obsidian mirror would bring him to Jacob’s resort in Cozumel, and from there he’d travel the jungle in jaguar form to reach the ruins. The Americans would not be allowed to linger on Cozumel.

Jacob gazed up at the pyramid and then began climbing it. He’d sent the victims ahead of time to be made ready for the sacrifice. They’d be afraid. They’d be helpless. That was the point.

His only regret was that he hadn’t killed Mr. Roth sooner.