Torrent by David Meyer Read Free Book Online Page B

manicure was neat but imperfect. Definitely not a professional job.
    On the other hand, she possessed a helicopter. She'd hired the world's foremost authority on the Classic Maya civilization. And she claimed to be friends with the President of the United Mexican States.
    "Miranda called me after the tomb imploded." Emily's eyes lingered on the ancient stone coffin. "She told me you saved the sarcophagus."
    "I had help."
    "Why don't you stick around for a bit? I might need you again before we're done here. I promise to make it worth your while."
    I hesitated, but only for a moment. "I suppose I can do that."
    "Good." Her smile widened and I saw her blazing white teeth. "Who knows? It might be the best decision you ever make."

 
    Chapter 17
    "Well, what do you know?" Dr. Qiang Wu poked his flashlight into the damaged end of the sarcophagus. "There are two sets of bones in here."
    Emily frowned. "Are you sure?"
    From what I'd gathered, Dr. Wu was Emily's personal physician as well as her pilot. His most prominent features were a pair of small eyes and an upturned nose. His black hair trailed down his puffy cheeks, forming an impressive set of sideburns. "There are two skulls and at least three femurs. Also, there's—"
    "What about the gold plates?" Miranda said impatiently. "How do they look?"
    "Nonexistent."
    "That isn't funny."
    "I'm not joking."
    Miranda frowned. "Let me look."
    The doc stood up. Miranda peered into the sarcophagus. Then her shoulders slumped. "Hope must've moved them."
    "Or made them up," Graham said. "It wouldn't be the first time someone exaggerated a treasure trove."
    "I doubt it." Emily's hands vanished into her bag. When they emerged, her fingers held a piece of cloth.
    I took it from her. The cloth wasn't heavy but it felt substantial in my hands. I slowly unwrapped it and feasted my eyes on a sparkling object.
    It was a thin triangular-shaped gold plate, measuring several inches on each side. Two of its edges were sharp and straight. However, the third edge was crimped, as if it had been removed from a larger object.
    "Where'd you get this?" I asked.
    "It was passed down with the diary." She pointed at the crimped edge. "See that? I think it was cut from a larger plate. Hope must've sliced it off before he left here."
    I noticed markings on the plate. "These look old."
    "The Maneros—those are Miranda's language experts—confirmed them as Maya hieroglyphics. And based on tiny particles embedded in the gold as well as other features, Rigoberta concluded they were carved sometime around 800 AD, give or take a century. That places it at the end of the Classic Maya era."
    I turned the plate over and studied the hieroglyphics on the other side. They looked completely different. "Why'd the Mayas write on this?" I asked. "They knew how to make paper. They called it amatl ."
    "We don't know," Miranda said.
    "I didn't even know the Mayas had gold. I thought they valued jade above other metals."
    "They did. But they also owned gold as well. They appear to have held it in rather high esteem."
    I handed the plate back to Emily. "So, what do the hieroglyphics say?"
    "Enough to convince me this was a worthwhile investment," she replied.
    I gave her a curious look. "What kind of company is Arclyon?"
    "We invest in highly complex, unusual projects."
    "Such as?"
    "Mostly little-studied protosciences like oneirology, artificial intelligence, and astrobiology. We pride ourselves on being ahead of the pack."
    "Why is a firm like yours interested in some old gold plates?"
    "Have you ever heard of Ayahuasca ?"
    I shook my head.
    "It's a hallucinogenic drink. For hundreds of years, shamans in the Amazon have used it to cure all sorts of diseases."
    "Sounds like a scam to me," Graham said.
    "It's not. Ayahuasca works. It kills worms and tropical parasites. It also induces vomiting and diarrhea, which expels still more parasites."
    I smiled. "I bet it's a blast at parties."
    "In its best-known form, Ayahuasca is brewed