about what brought her to Puerto Sierra and the Temple of the Stars.
Tory looked over her shoulder at Guerrero and drew in a deep breath. “Whatever Hugo is cooking, I’m all in. It smells delicious.”
“Don’t eat it all. Save some for me. I shouldn’t be more than ten or fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll probably already be inside the temple. I’ve got a good feeling we’re going to find something significant.”
As Tory continued to stroll toward the eating area, Guerrero stared at her for a long moment. That was how Anna felt the week before she was murdered. She’d thought she was onto something important.
He turned away, his arms stiff at his side as he curled and uncurled his hands. He had a score to settle with whoever murdered his wife. More and more he was sure he was following a trail that would lead to Anna’s killer. Since she died, he’d prayed to the Lord for him to discover who shot her. He would demand retribution from whoever was involved in his wife’s death. Whoever it was would never make it to trial. Guerrero couldn’t take the chance the person would get away with Anna’s murder.
Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord.
The words from the Bible inundated him. No. Guerrero wanted to be the one to take vengeance for his wife and unborn child.
Chapter Seven
Tory emerged from the Temple of the Stars after a grueling morning of painstakingly digging in a large secret room they discovered late yesterday evening. At least yesterday had been peaceful with no incidents. With the discovery of the hidden room, things could heat up. Was this the calm before the storm?
She’d thought about working through the night to see what she could uncover, but all the workers and staff needed a break. After three days had passed since the snake had been found on her cot, tension had strained everyone as though the incident had happened to all of them. Every morning that she woke up, she stiffened her resolve to face whatever was thrown at her. She wasn’t going to let someone destroy or highjack what she and the others were doing here. She knew in her heart they were close to finding a significant artifact.
She paused before going to their common area and stretched. Out of the corner of her eye she caught Guerrero roaming around the ruins. He paused and said something to Mario who squatted near a smaller structure at the dig site close to the trench behind the temple. She and Mario would have to decide how to proceed with uncovering it. Most likely, they would excavate it later after they finished the Temple of the Stars.
She started down the steps.
Guerrero turned from Mario, caught sight of her, and headed in her direction. The whole time he covered the distance between them, he scouted their surroundings. Every night before they went to sleep, Guerrero, Katie, and Tory inspected every inch of their tent while the others did the same with theirs. He also added another guard at night. So far nothing had happened. Three days of normalcy was wonderful.
But she couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched in spite of the fact Guerrero scoured the surrounding jungle throughout the day. After all that had occurred in a week, who could blame her and Guerrero for being extra cautious.
He waited at the bottom of the temple steps, a neutral expression on his face. “Did you find anything yet?”
“A few minor pieces of pottery, nothing intact. We’ll try to put the shards together. This room may take months to process. Ramon is continuing down the tunnel in the opposite direction. I hope before the rainy season starts to have the temple below mapped out as much as possible with the time left. If only we could get more help.”
“If what you believe comes true about the Star People, this place will be teeming with help to process this site. I see Katie is sifting through quite a few buckets of dirt. From the room you’re working on?”
“Yes.”
“My wife could get impatient when the bureaucrats acted in slow motion.”
"Getting permission to work on this site and the people in place to help took a year. I kept biting my fingernails until little was left. I was almost ready to join an expedition in Peru to keep my skills sharp.” Tory started toward the common eating area.
“You’ve specialized in Central and South America?”
“Yes. As a kid on a few of our family summer