Hubert nodded and stroked Sara's hair. "You are wise. They should not see that. My apologies. It is just my concern for the members of my group who are not as strong."
"We got your backs on this, and you won't get to where we're go�ing and find it locked to you,we promise." She looked at Carlos as he and the team nodded.
"We don't roll like that," Carlos said. "At this point, you're family. Especially carrying one of ours. If you want to guard her here on the beach, let me get the team to higher ground, then I can come back and carry Tara myself. However you wanna do this, man, so you're com�fortable."
"That would waste valuable time," Hubert replied, releasing a long sigh of relief. "We trust you."
"Good, because we trust you, and we're not gonna just up and leave you guys this morning," Damali said, looking at Hubert with openness.
"I trust them," Sara said, looking at each member of the small, rag�tag group of hybrids. She turned to Damali. "How will we know which house is the safe place, though, especially in a new land that we do not know? The way we look, we could frighten humans and they could attack us."
"You'll know the fortress Carlos picked by the silver signature we'll light that sucker up with-me and Carlos will be throwing a protec�tive aura over it and prayer barriers from Marlene," Damali said, slip�ping her hand into Hubert's and giving it a supportive squeeze.
"Structurally, what will we be looking for, so we will be sure to re�convene with you quickly?" Hubert asked, seeming a little unsure.
"It's an old stone castle that Carlos found... which just so hap�pened to be vacant, and I'll take that as a positive sign and location, since the kings helped him divinate it from their war table," Damali said as she glimpsed Carlos and smiled sadly, quietly acknowledging their shared memory of doing battle in a castle a couple years ago. "High stone walls, gun turrets, iron gates, but completely modernized and for rent, if you can believe it," she added, shaking her head.
"I'll take care of the paper trail," Dan said with confidence. "We're just a vacationing band on hiatus."
"Cool, work it out," Damali said, leaving Hubert to kiss Dan's forehead. "At nine large a week, it's fully furnished with Old World antiques so everybody can get cleaned up and take a load off and get comfortable for a few hours. It comes prestocked with food and top-shelf liquor when we get there, privately sleeps more than twenty with king-sized plantation beds, linens, the works... has multiple bathrooms, and came with a staff... which we'll dismiss with full pay for the month and tell them we have our own people-which will be Hubert's crew, as a good cover."
"Ninethousand dollarsa week?" Berkfield looked at Marlene. "After we blow it up in a miniwar, what's the insurance rider on that puppy? As it is, the villa and the hacienda are toast... and that's gonna-"
"Richard," Marjorie said in a weary tone, "Dan will work it out."
"I got it, don't worry," Dan said with a half-smile-the first one the group had seen since the previous night. "I'll call in ahead for clothes to be delivered... can tell 'em everybody's sizes and have everything sent up from Cuernavaca, the closest town. I'll be sure to get some wool ponchos and, uh, something Hubert's crew can wear."
"Look up Casa Del Cuernavaca for my man here before we go, would ya, J.L.," Carlos said. "I want a floor plan printed out for each team member, and Hubert's squad, too, so you know the layout before we get there."
Carlos turned to the other Guardians. "Trust me on this, we've all been battling hard and righteous and this may seem trivial, but this is for the spirit. The one thing you gotta take care of when battling is your head. I got this straight from Ausar-water your horses before they drop from mental fatigue. If your mind is right, you can get through whatever happens to the body."
"That ain't no lie," Shabazz muttered.
"It's a welcomed break, man," Big Mike said. "Thanks."
"I got you, brother," Carlos said, trying to buoy the nearly broken spirits gathered on the beach. "Can't always get nice accommoda�tions, but when you can, ya gotta do it to give your soul a break. So, forall our morales, I found us this sixteenth-century jewel, which combinates to the number seven... lush exterior gardens, strategic mountain view, Mexican antiques, huge Jacuzzis for battle-weary bones, fireplaces in each bedroom... stone floors and walls that ab�sorb a silver charge real nice-bounces it off like laser security sys�tems, near lakes and the silver market-which I'll explain in a few. But the thing is, after what just went down, we all need to get our heads right before we throw down in a firefight again."
Rider pounded Carlos's fist, his expression stoic. "Sounds like a good place for an after-funeral repast." He sighed hard and walked away to stand alone. "Just tell 'em to stock Jack Daniel's and Marlboro Reds, would ya?" he said to Dan under his breath as he passed him.
"I got you, man," Dan said and swallowed hard. "Anything you want."
Damali glanced around at the team. "Hubert and company will be safe. No neighbors for miles, and we get a good view of the sur�rounding valley and cities. Carlos honed right in on it, and I trust his judgment."
"I'm beginning to feel a little better about this odyssey, hearing that news," Berkfield said. "But after we get Tara properly buried and the team settled in with supplies, me, Carlos, and maybe Shabazz can take a quick whirl to Nevada to go get Gabrielle."
"Done," Carlos said, nodding. "You were reading my mind, brother." He looked at Hubert. "Your aerial landmark is the Tlahuica ruins. The smoking Popocatepetl volcano is the most active joint in North America that threatens everything within forty kilometers of Mexico City. I'm laying odds that Cain will send up night forces from there, since Damali and our squad kicked his hybrids' asses last eve�ning just before sunset, so you get back to us as soon as you can."
Not wanting to just come out and tell Hubert to dump Tara's body on the closest hallowed ground that could be sensed and haul ass back to the group, Carlos tempered his words for Rider's sake. But the message got through to everyone, even Rider. Waiting for Hubert's squad and the Guardians to absorb the information and nod, Carlos gave explicit instructions, quietly worrying about Hubert's navigation abilities.
"The other ruins you can use as an aerial landmark are right in the center of Cuernavaca-that's the Teopanzolco ruins," Carlos said, drawing a quick map in the sand with his shovel. "There's another ruin under the Palacio de Cortes, and you can see part of it sticking out through the more modern palace. Then there's Coatetlco, which is the one with a ball court and small temple pyramid on the western side of Morelos, and another one twenty-six miles south of Cuer�navaca called Xochicalco. In the older Nahuatl language, that means 'place of the house of flowers' circa seven hundred to nine hundred A.D. Any of this striking a bell with you guys?"
"We'll know it when we see it," Hubert said with false confidence. "Languages change, as well as the phonetics used to speak them."
"Aw'ight, maybe my accent is off with the ancient Aztec," Carlos said, now seriously worrying. "Check it out; you've got Tepozteco. a ceramics complex that sits up on the cliffs. It's six hundred meters up from the base of the valley, right above the town of Tepoztlan in Morelos... It sits on a Ehecatepetl, the 'hill of wind,' man, which is also called Tlahuitepetl, the 'hill of light.' You follow me?"
Growing exasperated, Carlos searched his mind for information that could go back far enough to put a glimmer of true recognition in Hubert's eyes. "That one you should be able to hone in on; it was dedicated to Ometochtli-Tepoxtecatl, god of fertility and harvest." Carlos rubbed his hand over his jaw. "But whatever you do, man, don't get boxed in up at Xochicalco-the Quetzalcoatl pyramid in the complex of that joint is four hundred and thirty feet above the valley, a seven numerically, and has a carving of a feathered serpent coiling around the sides of it, and until we know-"
"That'ssss a cousin!" one of Hubert's men said, swaying with ex�citement. "I know thisss monument. It hassss two hundred and fifty stonessss carved with ssssacred animals."