"We've also confirmed the Time-Quest connection. They assign a couple of volunteers to the project, then kidnap them while they send in ringers. Time-Quest comes out clean. Pretty clever"
"Diabolically so. What do you make of Wingate's friendly wave just before the shed blew up and the offhand comment the guards told me he made?"
" 'Nice try'? You have to admit he had a sense of humor for a murderer."
"You don't see me laughing. He was rubbing it in when he didn't have to. Why?"
"He just felt like rubbing it in?"
"Maybe." Austin scratched his chin in thought. "I think it was partly just plain arrogance. He was telling us he knows who we are and that he is part of something so big he can treat us as a joke."
"Bigger than NUMA?"
"I wish I knew, Joe." Austin replaced the publicity photo in the folder "I wish I knew."
Any idea where we go next?"
"No more stings. Lucky I was recuperating when that scheme as dreamed up. We'll keep looking into the hovercraft link and the murder."
"Not exactly a well-lit highway we're following," Zavala said. "What if I flew down to San Antonio and checked out Time-Quest personally?"
"Might be worth a looksee. I'd be interested in Time-Quest's financial backing.
A soft knock came at the door. Trout entered, ducking his head under the jamb. He had a serious look on his face, but this was standard with Trout.
"Sorry I'm late, guys. I've been talking to the Nereus about Gamay."
Clearly worried about his wife, Trout had called NUMA frequently as they flew across the country, to see if Gamay had checked in.
"Any word?" Austin asked.
Trout settled his lanky form into a chair and shook his head. "They confirmed that she got a ride to shore from the ship. That she rented a Jeep. That she left word she was going to meet Professor Chi, the m
useum anthropologist she's been eager to. see. And that she'd be back that evening."
"Did she and this Dr. Chi ever get together?"
Trout shifted uneasily. "I don't know. The folks down there are still trying to get a hold of Chi. Seems he spends a lot of time out in the field, so they said. not to worry. But it's not like Gamay to stay out of touch."
"What do you want to do, Paul?"
"I know you need me here," Trout said apologetically, "but I'd like to get back to the Yucatan for a few days to check things out. It's tough trying to follow Gamay's track based on second or thirdhand accounts."
Austin nodded. "Joe's heading down to Texas for a look at Time-Quest. I'll be in Washington working up a report on the Arizona fiasco. Why don't you take forty-eight hours to see what you can learn? If you need more time I'll 'smooth things with Sandecker."
"Thanks, Kurt," Trout said, brightening. "I've lined up a flight that will get me down there early tonight. I've got a couple of hours before then I can spare for the team"
Any ideas lurking behind that broad intellectual forehead?"
Trout wrinkled his brow "The one thing we've solidly established is that the trigger in all of these incidents is the discovery of pre-Columbian artifacts."
"Yes, that's a given," replied Austin, "but we don't know why."
Zavala murmured, "In fourteen hundred and ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue."
Austin, who'd been deep in thought, looked up with a bemused expression. "What did you say?"
"The first line of a poem from grade school. You probably had to learn the same rhyme."