Archiwum
- Index
- Diana Hunter [Submission] Services Rendered [EC Taboo] (pdf)
- Diana Copland Grand Jete (pdf)
- Diana DeRicci Beach Bums 2 Swept Away
- Baum, L Frank Oz 38 The Shaggy Man of Oz
- Jessica Thomas [Alex Peres Mysteries 1] Caught In The Net
- Lois McMaster Bujold Omnibus 4 Miles Mystery and Mayhem
- Diana Palmer Big Spur,Texas 02 Passion Flower
- Diana Palmer Long Tall Texans 10 Emmett
- 0914. Palmer Diana W pogoni za szczęściem
- Palmer Diana Dama i pastuch
- zanotowane.pl
- doc.pisz.pl
- pdf.pisz.pl
- epicusfuror.xlx.pl
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hurricane.
Power lines and communications cables had been downed and service was interrupted. As she told her
dad, they might not have a tropical beach in Chicago, but they did have cable.
The Curtises were ready to go home as well. Their weeks of grubbing in the outer reaches of
Quintana Roo had paid great dividends. They not only had plenty to show the Mexican government,
but they also had enough research material for a book and several years of lectures.
A representative of the government was going to meet them early in the morning in the hotel and go
over the crated artifacts with them.
Little did they know, however, that the representative had been waylaid and replaced by a henchman of
the pothunters....
"IT'S GOING TO BE A GREAT relief to have these treasures off our hands," Dan Curtis remarked
over dinner that evening. "Not that I'm sorry we found them, but they're quite a responsibility."
"Did you know that in the early part of this century, archaeologists went to Chichen Itza to look for
artifacts and were murdered there?" Joan added.
"I was watching a program on that on the Discovery Channel," Janine remarked. "It was really
interesting.
After the first archaeologists went there, the Peabody Museum of Harvard had an agent in Mexico
gathering material for them in the early part of the century. It's in drawers in the museum and isn't on
display to the public. But it belongs to Mexico. So why doesn't the Mexican government ask them to
give it back? In fact, there are human skeletal remains in that collection as well, aren't there? Certainly
with all the new laws governing such remains, they should be reinterred, shouldn't they?"
"Those laws don't apply universally," Dan Curtis ventured. "And there probably would be something
like a grandfather clause even if they did. That particular collection dates to the time before the
Mexican Revolution, long before there were such laws." He smiled gently. "It's more complicated than
it seems to a lay person. But believe me, archaeology has come a long way in the past few decades."
"Just the same, it's a pity, isn't it?" Janine added. "I mean, nobody gets to see the exquisite Maya
artwork in the collection, least of all the descendants of the Mayan people in Quintana Roo."
"But they're also preserved for future generations," Dan explained. "Artifacts left in situ are very
often looted and sold on the black market, ending up with collectors who don't dare show them to
anyone." He smiled at his daughter. "I know it's not a perfect system," he mused, "but right now, it's the
best we can do."
"Yes, I know. There are two sides to every story. You both take your work seriously. And you do it
very well,"
Janine said with a smile, because she was proud of her parents. They cared about their work. They
were never slipshod in their excavations or disrespectful of the human skeletal remains they
frequently unearthed.
"I do wish we'd had a little more time," Dan said ruefully. "I think we were onto something. We found
an unusual ceremonial site, unlike anything we've discovered before. We were just beginning to
unearth it when the trouble started."
"A superstitious mind would immediately think of curses," Janine said wickedly.
Dan chuckled, winking at his wife. "Trust a writer to come up with something like that. No, there's no
curse, just bad luck. Senor Perez has been following us ever since we got off the plane. He tried
bribery at first, and when that didn't work he began making veiled threats about intervention by the
Mexican government. We had all the necessary permits and permissions, so the threats didn't work,
either. Then he set up camp nearby and began harassing us."
"Harassing? How?" Janine asked, noting that Canton was listening attentively.
"Sudden noises in the middle of the night. Missing supplies. Stolen tools. There wasn't anything we
could specifically charge him with. We couldn't even prove he was at the site, although we knew it was
him."
Dan shook his head. "Finally it was too much for us, especially after we lost the satellite link. We took
what we had and left."
"But what about the site now?" Canton asked somberly. "Won't he loot it?"
"He thinks we have everything that was there, that's the funny part," Joan said. "We were so cautious
about the newest find that we didn't even let the workers near it. We concealed it and marked the
location on our personal maps. We'll make sure those get into the right hands. Meanwhile," she added
heavily,
"we've got to get the artifacts we recovered into the right hands, before Senor Perez can trace us here
and do something drastic."
"Would he?" Janine asked worriedly.
Dan nodded. "An expedition lost a member along with some priceless gold and jeweled artifacts some
years ago. Perez was implicated but there wasn't enough evidence for him to be prosecuted. He always
hires henchmen to do his dirty work."
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