Second Chances (Athena Group Novel Book 1) (3 page)

Her chin tipped up and she looked him square in those beautiful blue eyes and said, “Max Taylor, I’m not scared of you.”

He leaned down and whispered in her ear, “Are you sure? Maybe you should be?” He licked the side of her ear and then pushed passed her and continued on with his run.

She stared after him as her hand began to ache from squeezing the shell so tight the spines were beginning to bite into her hand. Oh she was in serious trouble here.

She was here on vacation with Amanda. She couldn’t help but look down the beach in the direction he ran and wonder.  She had taken him down yesterday, and today he taunted her. Oh it was on. Maybe just once she could best him at his own game.

Caught off guard, Amanda ran up and flung her arms around her neck. “Good Morning Mom!” Backing up a little. “What happened to your shirt?”

Glancing down at the remnants of her run in with a snarky shell her shirt was drenched with sand slowly seeping it’s way between her cleavage. Talk about sand in all the wrong places. Pulling her shirt to shaking some of the sand off. “I wasn’t paying attention to what I was doing.”

Amanda laughed, “I’m so glad you decided to come on this trip.”

She wrapped her arms around Amanda, making sure she got her nice clean shirt just as dirty planted a kiss on her forehead. “Me too, Manda, me too. Are you ready to go exploring?” She looked one last time in the direction Max had run and her ear still tingled from the lick of his tongue.

“You bet!” She exclaimed.

Shelby couldn’t help but laugh at her daughter when she was like this.  She was so enthusiastic and clearly having a wonderful time.

“What time is Pedro coming to pick us up?” she asked.

Pedro was local to Progresso and worked part time as a tour guide for passengers of the cruise ships that would come into the port for the day. He had offered to take everyone out exploring to show them some of the local Mayan ruins and other Mayan secrets. Pedro and his wife Anita were the caretakers for the house. They didn’t live in the house, but would stop by the house daily to make sure that everything was secure when the house wasn't occupied. Liz had bought the house several years ago as a place to escape to when anyone wanted to get away.  Liz was generous with the members of her group.  She made sure that they as well as their families were taken care of.  She was a proponent of family first with all members.

“He should be here anytime.” Amanda said as they walked into the house.

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Max walked in, picking up a towel to wipe the sweat off of his brow, he picked up the phone. John picked up on the third ring.

“Hey Max, I was beginning to wonder about you.”

“Hey John, how are things going?”

“How are they going? You tell me?”

“I’m dealing with it” What was he supposed to say? “It’s interesting to say the least. I met the neighbors next door. The other night I saw one of them out on the beach and went out to talk to her, she took me down right there on the beach in one swift motion. She caught me totally unaware and had me flat on my back. I haven’t seen a maneuver like that since military training.”

“What’s her name?”

“Shelby Matthews, she’s here with her daughter.”

“What does she look like?”

What does she look like? Was he kidding? She looked like the dream that had haunted him for seventeen years. “Why?”

“You remember when I told you we were going to ask for TAG’s help and they put a roadblock in the way by letting one of their members leave the country?”

“Yeah, you mentioned it last week.”

“Shelby Matthews is that member. Liz told me she had gone on vacation, but didn’t tell me where. She is a stubborn and hard woman. She was going to make me wait until Shelby came back before they would give me an answer on helping.” John told him.

“Do you have any idea how long she will be there?”

“She hasn’t said. John I know where this is going!”

“We need her back in the US now. TAG has been putting us off until she is back to decide whether or not they are going to help the bureau.”

“Look I understand the predicament that the bureau is in, but you know why I left.” He certainly couldn’t tell John about his past with Shelby either.

“I do know why you left, but I also know that you are the best at what you do. You are the best handler the bureau has, and this is a situation that I would sign to you as a top priority. Max you need to talk to her and persuade her to help. TAG will go along if she is on board.”

“John, I don’t know about this.” He was in serious trouble if he had to actively pursue her and working with her was going to be pushing the limits of his control.

“Max, their biggest client, Roger Hawk, is whom we believe is responsible for Kim Le’s death.” He couldn’t control the intake of breath at the mention of Le’s name.

“You aren’t serious?” He hesitated. “Let me call you back.” Not waiting for John to answer, he hung up the phone and walked to the window. He watched as the occupants next door were packing a van for their day trip. It looked like he was about to take a trip.

Chapter Four

A short time later they were packed and on their way. It was a two hour drive to their destination. As they drove down the road towards the Mayan ruins, she was able to take in the scenery. She realized as they drove that this part of the Yucatan was still pretty primitive. It was untouched by the tourists of the world. The houses around were made of stucco but had no windows and as you passed by you could see into the small dwellings. From what she could see they were bare. Most of the native residents didn’t need a whole lot of furnishing because hey slept in hammocks at night.

They passed through several small towns driving down the 180 road. The foliage was getting denser the further they went. There were lemon and lime trees along with a strange looking cactus. It had some kind of fruit she had seen previously in the market, but she didn’t know what it was.

“Pedro.” She called up.

“Senora?” He answered.

“What is the cactus that we keep passing with fruit on it?” she asked.

“That is a Hylocereus Cacti. It produces the Pitaya fruit and some call it Dragon Fruit.” he said.

“What is it used for?” she asked.

“It can be used in drinks, but you can eat the raw flesh of the fruit. It is a little sweet, but filled with a lot of seeds that can be hard to digest if not eaten properly.” He told her.

“Mom, let’s get one the next time we see one in the market. We both wondered what they were.” Amanda said.

“Alright we can do that. I must say that my curiosity is getting the better of me.” She smiled at her daughter. Pedro began to slow when she glanced up and noticed something across the road.

“Oh my god. Is that what I think it is?” Steven asked.

“Si, they are common around here. It’s nothing to find them across the road. If you don’t slow down to go around them they can cause your car to go off the road if you try to drive over them,” Pedro told them.

“What kind of snake is it?” Amanda asked.

“It is a Boa.” Pedro said.

Shelby watched as they passed by the snake. It had a huge bulge making her wonder if it had just had dinner. It was huge and was disconcerting to think that they were in their habitat. It’s different when you see them in the zoo behind a thick pain of glass, but out here where they were able to roam free was another thing.

After two hours of driving they arrived at the gates of Chitzen Itza mid-morning. The entrance to the Mayan ruins contained several shops and a small museum they explored while waiting for Pedro to get all of their passes. Shelby watched as visitors poured in from all around and noticed there seemed to be quite a few groups coming in from Cancun. For a moment, she could have sworn she saw Max get off the bus, but that couldn’t be. These buses were from the opposite direction of Progresso.

Amanda tugged on her arm. “You ready mom?” she asked.

“Sure, let’s go.” She smiled at her glancing back around looking for the mysterious man that got off the bus, but was nowhere to be seen. Amanda wrapped her visitors' band around her wrist and pulled her through the entrance.

The minute she walked through the entrance she was transported back in time. The ancient Mayans had built Chitzen Itza around 1200 AD. The main center point of the ruins were the El Castillo temple which reflects the Mayan calendar. It was built to serve the god Kukulkan and was used for astronomical purposes. It represented the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. Shelby listened as Pedro explained that on those days at 3:00PM the sun would shine down on the western balustrade and main stairway to the entrance casting a shadow down the stairs that would give an appearance of a serpent descending.

She watched as another group of tourists came up from the right to listen to their guides' history of the temple. She couldn’t help herself, by scanning the group for a familiar face. She felt a twinge of disappointment when she didn’t see him. Just as she was about to turn back to follow Pedro to the ball court, she saw him looking right at her. She wasn’t fast enough to disguise her shock of surprise. Quickly she turned and caught up with her group as they were entering the ball court.

The ball court had a long narrow field with stone walls on each side with a stone hoop that extended vertically from the center on each side seven meters in the air. At the end of the court were additional stone walls.

Pedro spoke. “There were six field players along with a captain that would attempt to pass the ball through the hoops. The first team that accomplished this was declared the winner. The captain of the winning team was then beheaded.” Shelby felt a shiver run down her spine when she heard Amanda gasp. Pedro continued. “The captains considered it an honor and a guaranteed passage into heaven.” He turned towards the end of the field and began to walk.

The group continued to move down the field as another group moved into the ball court. Pedro stood next to the wall at the far end of the field. He asked everyone to turn and face the wall as he spoke. “The Mayans were very inventive and ahead of their time. When you face the wall you can talk and the people at the other end of the field can hear every word that is said even if you whisper.” They all turned to the wall, and Shelby watched as the others spoke towards the wall.

“Hello Shelby.” She heard his voice. She turned around to find him, but he was nowhere that could be seen. She saw a group at the opposite end of the field. She turned towards the wall and said. “Where are you?” She quickly asked as she noticed that Amanda and the others starting back towards the entrance.

“If you’re hearing me, then where do you think I am?” She heard the smirk in his voice.

“Are you following me?” She demanded.

“Shelby, really?” he asked.

“Oh, right, what was I thinking? You don’t follow anyone, do you? It’s easier to cut bait and run.”

“Mom, are you coming?” Amanda shouted to her.

She turned to her daughter in surprise. “Yes.” They began walking back up the field to continue with the tour. As they passed the other group Shelby saw Max watching her intently as she passed by. She could tell her words had hit their mark. But the man sure did know how to unnerve her. They walked through the ball court opening and continued on to the temple of warriors.

As she walked through the temple, she was admiring the columns which represented the warriors. She saw Max step out from behind one of the columns. She glanced around, and he was gone. She turned only to see him step from behind another column closer to her. Good grief! The man was everywhere. She felt like she was in a hall of mirrors. He was trying to drive her crazy. That was it. She saw him at the last row of the warriors. She started walking towards him, but he turned and walked away. She watched as his group walked towards the entrance of the ruins. She felt both relief and regret at the same time. Relief that she could relax and enjoy the rest of the tour, regret that she wouldn’t see him again.

As they finished up their afternoon Shelby continued to look for Max, but she never saw him again after the temple of warriors. They were walking back out of the ruins when she stopped at a local vendor table. They had intricately carved masks. She had always been a collector of masks and decided she wanted to take one back with her to add to her collection.

They were getting back into the van when Shelby saw the tour bus that Max had exited from earlier. She didn’t see him anywhere, but as they were driving out of the gate area she saw him through the back window. He was standing by the bus watching as they drove away.

Chapter Five

When they got back to the house it was still light out and Shelby wanted nothing more than to sit and relax on the beach with a good drink. She didn’t mind that everyone went into town and left her alone. After taking a shower she went downstairs, grabbed a beer from the fridge and walked outside. She snuck a peek at her email earlier only to find a scathing email from Liz for reading it. Liz had anticipated that she wouldn’t be able to resist checking email despite being told not to. She mentioned that John had come by to talk about a problem the bureau needed help with, but assured her that there was nothing to worry about and they would talk about it when she returned.  Liz said that John wasn’t happy, but of course Liz only did what she felt was right for TAG and its members. Poor John didn’t stand a chance. She wasn’t quite sure what their relationship was, but they had worked together for a long time. She always thought something more was going on between them because every time they were in a room together the air crackled with electricity. But Liz was always the consummate professional and no one ever saw her lose control.