Canyon of the Sphinx by Kathryn Le Veque Read Free Book Online Page B

huts; these were people with structure and
culture."
    Kathlyn had been listening
intently. "A few years ago I was called in on a dig just south of Mexico
City to help locate the tomb of an ancient Mayan King, Xochitlmatcl. I learned
a lot about the Maya during that time. Absolutely fascinating."
    Murphy nodded. "I know. Your
discovery was remarkable."
    Kathlyn shrugged. "The
discovery itself was remarkable. I just happened to be the one to find
it." She leaned forward on her elbows. "So what am I here to help you
find?"
    Murphy met her strong gaze.
"I'm not looking for a tomb, Dr. Trent."
    "I figured that. What are
you looking for?"
    "A missing city."
    Kathlyn sat a moment as if
waiting for him to say more. When he didn't, she lifted her eyebrows
questioningly. "That's it? A missing city?"
    "That's enough."
    "There's got to be more to
it than that."
    "There is," Murphy
admitted. He passed a glance at Adam, seated across from him, silently
confirming their old argument. "You see, Dr. Trent, there are a lot of
people who believe the Egyptians were so worldly that they established colonies
all up and down the eastern shores of Meso and Southern America. Several years
ago when I was working on my thesis, I came across a library at a monastery in
Sao Paulo that stored manuscripts written by monks who traveled all over these
parts back in the fifteenth century. One of the manuscripts was written by a monk
who tried to spread Christianity in the Yucatan Peninsula. Part of his
manuscript told the story of an overgrown city that was marked with a series of
human-bodied, lion-headed statues and avenues painted yellow. La Tierra
Dorada de los Jaguares , they called it."
    Kathlyn was listening closely.
"The Gilded land of... what's the last word?"
    "Jaguars."
    "Jaguars," Kathlyn
repeated slowly. "You know, legends of cities with golden streets are not
uncommon in many parts of the world. Why did this particular story catch your
attention?"
    "Because the buildings in
the city were created of las columnas del agua florecen ."
    Kathlyn had to think a moment to
translate. "Columns of water flowers?"
    Murphy nodded. "He even had
sketches of them. The exact translation from the monk was flores blancas que
dan vida, el loto ."
    It took Kathlyn a minute to get
it. "White flowers that give life?"
    "The lotus."
    "You've got to be
kidding."
    "Not at all. So it became my
objective to find this city. It took me a lot of years of putting in my dues at
other sites, but I'm finally where I want to be, but so far, the city has
remained elusive. That's why you're here."
    "So you want to prove the
Egyptians settled a colony in this area?"
    Murphy shook his head slowly.
"I want to prove that they didn't."

 
    CHAPTER
FOUR
     
    Without Kathlyn and her team
around, the dig was exceptionally quiet. Even Juliana was quiet, going about
her work without her usual sparkle. Lynn knew, as did Marcus, that her heart
was in the Yucatan with Kathlyn.  Marcus never said a word to Lynn about it;
the man was feeling guilty enough, torn between his own wants and those of his
wife.
     It was early in the morning, the
dawn of the third day of Kathlyn's absence, as Juliana made her way across the
encampment toward the mess tent. Lynn was still asleep, having put in about
twenty hours the day before. She left him alone to go get her coffee, feeling
strangely alone in Egypt even with her husband fifty feet away from her. She
kept expecting Kathlyn to pop up somewhere, repeatedly disappointed when she
didn't.
    The smell of strong Arabic coffee
was heavy in the air. It was like one of those cartoons where an odorous hand
slithers out, luring unsuspecting victims with a tantalizing smell.  Juliana
inhaled deeply as she walked across the warm sand, fortunate that she had no
morning sickness yet. Glancing over at Marcus' tent, for no other reason than
she wanted to see if he was up yet, she caught sight of Jensen emerging from
it.  Startled, she watched the woman skulk back