Moffat's Secret

by J. C. Williams

  Chad tried to hide his excitement. “But, Susan, he isn’t a large headed big-eyed extraterrestrial.” He smiled openly.

  “Nope. No additional proof here on visitors from other planets. However, I would say this person is an alien to the Maya world.”

  “I agree with that,” Chad said. “What do you guys make of the image?” He included Jorge in on the question.

  William answered, “I think the symbolism of the man sitting on the box is an act of protection.”

  “I’d add that the item being protected is a secret,” Susan commented. “You can see how what looks like his cloak is hiding part of it.”

  “What about the stars?” Jorge asked. “What does that mean?”

  Susan responded, “I had mentioned the importance of the number three. It could be that the three stars are emphasizing the importance of this.”

  Chad asked, “We know the sun is very important to the Maya. Is there any evidence that the Maya understood that stars are actually suns? Is there any pictorial of planets orbiting stars?”

  “Hadn’t thought of it, but nothing comes to mind. Susan? John? Jorge?” William asked.

  They all answered no.

  John spoke up. “Perhaps there is a connection with the painting and numbers below the bearded man.”

  Susan raised her light. Chad and William lit it up with their flashlights. They saw symbols, dots, and bars.

  “What does this mean?” Chad asked

  “We know it is a series of numbers,” William explained. “Each column is a number. There are three rows that make up these Maya numbers. They can use many rows for large numbers. It is a base twenty system. The bottom row is the units. They used numbers up to nineteen. When they reached twenty they moved up a row. Each dot represents a one, the bar a five. They can fit 20x19 or up to 380 on the second row and then move on to the next row above. Each dot in that row is 400. The row above that, if there were one, would be 20x400 or eight thousand for each dot.”

  “What is the symbol that looks like an ear?”

  Jorge spoke up, “I know this.” He was excited to contribute. “It is a shell. The Maya used it to represent zero, a place holder. Each row is filled out even if it is a zero.”

  “Okay,” said Chad. “Let’s see. The numbers from left to right are zero, seventeen, nine, two, twenty-one, and thirty-eight. How did I do?”

  “Perfect,” Susan said admiringly.

  “What about the arrows?” Chad asked though he knew he was looking at latitude and longitude coordinates.

  “We have not figured that out,” John said.

  “Not yet,” Susan corrected. “We tried distances from this spot within the structure, using the arrows to mean up and left. We also tried distances outside, using those arrows for north and west. We were hoping it would reveal some hidden object. The problem is that we don’t know what units to use.”

  William broke in. “It’s generally accepted now to use a unit equal to thirty six millimeters. That was derived from the precise distance between dots on a calendar stela. We also have many designs and circles whose diameter is seven hundred twenty millimeters, a factor of twenty, which we know is their base counting system.”

  “That is about two feet? Two feet, four inches?” Chad asked.

  “Yes,” William Answered. “So, we have these six numbers and only two directions. We cannot read them like we would in our numeric system. That is, it is not one seven nine, altogether one hundred seventy nine. If the Maya wanted that they would just use one column.”

  John chimed in, “If it were a lock it might be a combination. However, we do not having evidence of that type of mechanical sophistication.”

  “H-m-m. A quandary for sure. I’ll give it some thought.” Chad scribbled the numbers in a notebook. Can I take a picture?”

  “We discourage flash.”

  “I have a film camera with ultra high speed film. I won’t need a flash.” Chad said. He snapped away.

  Once outside the structure, Chad excused himself to check a text message. He used an app to get his current latitude and longitude coordinates. He stored it. He couldn’t wait to get to his computer and see where the coordinates led him.

  Chad also noticed a message from Sandy.

  Chapter 78

  After a day at the dig, Archer was anxious to shower off the sweat and the dust. Layers of it. He smiled. It was good to work a dig again. Last summer with Doc seemed like more than just a year ago.

  The computer had to wait a little longer. He promised Jorge, William, and his two students a dinner in the city. Santa Elena was an hour and a half from the Tikal site, so once a week the diggers stayed in town. Since Chad was here this week, they made him the reason to go to town. As was the custom, it started late and ran late, with many shots of mescal along the way.

  Finally, in his room, Chad prepared to calculate new coordinates. He was certain that the bearded man was a representation of a man of Jewish heritage. The half hidden box appeared to be as Susan said, a secret. His conclusion was this was a clue that the tablets were moved from Tikal. Now, he would find out where they went.

  Chad calculated a set of coordinates He recognized that the numbers were small and should be added to a reference point. He chose the Tikal site as the reference. To the reference latitude and longitude, he added zero degrees, seventeen minutes and nine seconds north. Then he added two degrees, twenty-one minutes and thirty eight seconds west. He input the new coordinates on the web page and then looked at the map it displayed. Close enough – Palenque.

  Chapter 79

  “Are you still in Lyon?” Archer asked Sandy.

  “I left the day after you did. I’ve been back in the UK. I saw that you called. I tried you a couple time as well.”

  ”I’ve been in some remote sites. No cell coverage. Even at the sites that had coverage, I was inside stone structures.”

  “Any progress?”

  “Some. I visited an old friend of Doc’s and he gave me several good stories for the book. I ran into an old student in Tikal.” Chad hesitated remembering the bugged room in Jerusalem. “Uh, we had some discussions about ideas for a grant request. I’m on to Palenque today. The bus leaves in an hour. Let’s talk in a couple days. Cheerio?”

  “Right. Chad, we don’t talk like that.”

  “I thought I was dating an authentic Brit.”

  “Right. Well, y’all take care, pardner,” Sandy mimicked.

  This is fun Chad thought. Dating that is. Not the upcoming six-hour bus ride.

  On the bus, he studied documents he had downloaded last night about Palenque. Like Calakmul and Tikal, Palenque had been overrun by the jungle after its decline in 800 CE. It existed for a thousand years as a power in Mesoamerica.

  Palenque peaked in the sixth century CE, just after Calakmul defeated Tikal in 562 CE. Was an impending war the reason the tablets were moved from Tikal to Palenque? Who made that decision? Who watched over them?

  Palenque turned out to be a poor choice for stability, he thought. Even though it was not as large as the fifty to hundred thousand people of Tikal and Calakmul, it still became a target of Calakmul. Thirty years after Tikal’s fall, in 599 CE, it was defeated and sacked by Calakmul.

  Chad reviewed a possible timetable for the tablet travels. They began their trip in La Venta from 600 to 300 BCE. El Mirador from 300 BCE to 100 CE. Tikal from 100 CE to 400 CE. Then Palenque from 400 CE to 600 CE. Then where? Did Calakmul take them? Were they sent to Teotihuacan before Calakmul defeated Palenque?

  He hoped he would find some answers at Palenque.

  Chad settled back in his seat and watched the jungle pass by. He looked forward to seeing Juan Ramirez again. The bus made good time but not as fast as the old Ford that passed it driven by the tracker Lupa. Lupa hurried toward Palenque and Juan Ramirez.

  ------

  Two days later Chad’s enthusiasm was waning. There was no discovery of a man and three suns at Palenque. No discovery of a man with a bea
rd. No discovery of a sacred object. No discovery of a set of coordinates pointing to the next protective location.

  Chad was a little sad when Jorge had to leave. The young man had been invaluable and informative.

  Adding to the disappointment at Palenque, was the absence of Juan. Chad was told that Juan and his family were taking a vacation. Also, the vacation was in a remote place. No phones, no television.

  Odd that Juan hadn’t mentioned a vacation.

  Chad learned more about Palenque. Most of the buildings uncovered from the jungle, so far, were part of a rebuilding effort in the 600s and 700s after the defeat by Calakmul. It was likely these newer structures did not hold clues about tablets if they were moved two hundred years earlier. However, only about ten percent of Palenque has been explored. The jungle of cedar, mahogany, and sapodilla trees still hid over a thousand structures. Perhaps one of them housed a clue.

  Chad took a picture of only one possible clue. Among all of the murals, paintings, stelae, and artwork, this was the only thing close.

  It was a circular plate about eight inches in diameter with inscriptions and figures. Around the perimeter was a band of images, heads of people, and hieroglyphs. The center of the plate showed a man with an elaborate headdress. The image knelt on one knee and looked over his right shoulder at a tablet with writing. In his left hand, he held another tablet, also with writing on it. There was an image of another head and what looked like a gear at his feet.

  It was the tablets and the gear that interested Chad. What he needed was an expert in Maya art to interpret the images. Perhaps Gabriela Acosta, the professor that Regan told him about at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México could help.

  Compared to the remote locations of Tikal and Calakmul, Palenque was easily accessible for tourists. It is the one of the most visited of the Maya sites. Though smaller than Tikal and Chichen Itza, its accessibility and the number of structures cleared and open to the public in the core city makes it a visitor favorite. The art, the murals, and the inscriptions intrigued tourists, archeologists, and historians.

  Chad took hours to examine the Palace complex, the Temple of Inscriptions, the Temple of the Cross, the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Skull, the Temple of the Jaguar, and other stepped pyramids.

  He leaned against a stone wall under the shade of an overhanging tree at one end of the ball court. Two parallel ten-foot high mounds with stone steps for access stretched in front of him. Seating for observers, sports fans. Chad’s mind wandered wondering what actually took place here. What kind of game was played? What were the rules? He heard from the guides that it was brutal often resulting in the death of the losers.

  Small groups and lone tourists walked through or around the court, imagining, as Chad was doing, what life might have been like sixteen hundred years ago.

  Chad involuntarily pushed back against the wall trying to disappear into the shadows. A hundred feet away he had seen the man in the blue ball cap, the man he saw in Tikal. More than just the hat, Chad recognized his shape and stature. The man looked left and right. His gaze was more on the other tourists than on the ball court. Looking for what? Me?

  Archer estimated the man to be early forties. He could be older. He was wiry muscular and stood with an athletic balance. Chad stepped out of the shadows and left the court area. The stalker quickly followed.

  Chad walked toward the large complex of structures called the Palace. He could lose himself in the crowds there. He looked back over his shoulder and saw the man following him but looking away. Chad turned right abruptly and quickened his pace. He circled the Palace looking back several times. The man was no longer behind him. Concern became fear, and then fear became anger. Who the hell was this that he should fear? A guardian? Israeli Intelligence?

  As Chad completed the circuit he saw the man again, standing in a cross path between the Palace and the Temple of Inscriptions. Time to change things, Chad thought. My turn to be the hunter.

  He ambled toward the Temple, not in a hurry, not concerned. There were eight levels to climb. He jogged up the steps. Chad knew he was in shape. Let’s test the older man. At the top there were five entrances to the temple. He ducked into the shadows of one of them and stole a look back. The man was hurrying up the steps head down. Chad stepped back out into the light to ensure the man got a good look at his position.

  He made himself wait, counting to ten. Then he entered the Temple, hurried to the far end, and waited with his back to the wall listening. He heard the stalker take a deep breath at the top. It was the instinctive thing to do. Chad counted to three and looked around the column. The man had entered the Temple through the same door that Chad used.

  Chad moved swiftly behind his adversary. The man was four steps ahead. Quietly Chad snuck up on him, grabbed his shoulder, spun him, and slammed his back against the wall. As he was pushing his right arm against the man’s throat, only then did he consider the man might be a trained assassin or a Special Forces soldier. Maybe he should have thought of that before attacking the man.

  “Who the hell are you and why are you following me?” Chad whispered angrily.

  The man struggled to speak. Chad released his grip slightly.

  “Dr. Archer?” the man asked.

  Chad saw fear in the man’s eyes. He began to think he made a mistake.

  “Yes. Who are you?”

  “Bill McDermott. You taught my son James.”

  Chad searched his memory. James was a student in the first class he ever taught. He looked closer and saw the resemblance – father and son.

  “Yeah. But I thought he…” Chad stopped.

  “He did. He died eighteen months ago in a auto accident.”

  Chad released his hold. “I’m sorry Mr. McDermott. About this. About James. I thought you were following me. I have been threatened, you see,” Chad sputtered out. “I’m sorry.”

  “That’s okay. James admired you. You inspired him. He always wanted to visit the archeological sites in Mexico. I’m making this trip in his honor. I thought I saw you on the plane. I had seen you once at Braxton. James pointed you out. Tall, red hair. Then, I saw you at Tikal. I just wanted to say hello.”

  “Again, I’m so sorry,” Chad said, embarrassed.

  A fitting end to a fitting two days of frustration.

  Chapter 80

  Archer checked into a hotel in Mexico City. It was a short hour and a half flight from Palenque. He still had the incident at Palenque with Bill McDermott on his mind. However, he hadn’t forgotten that someone pushed him off a pyramid at Calakmul.

  He wondered if there was a crash course in spy tactics that he could take. He needed it immediately. In the meantime, he had a couple ideas.

  With the help of the concierge, he found an electronics store. The young clerk spoke English well. Chad asked to see bug detectors. There were many variants. He decided the higher the price, the more features. He needed all the help that he could get. He learned it would detect hidden cameras, RF transmitters, GPS trackers, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi frequencies. The clerk was knowledgeable enough to advise Chad that he should turn off his cell phone before a sweep. The phone would definitely emit a signal when it was in data mode.

  Well disguised, thirty feet away, Lupa took note of the items the two men were looking at. Good thing there had not been time to install the bugs in Archer’s room. This was going to be difficult going forward. Lupa called Duncan in St. Andrews.

  -----

  Archer swept the room. He felt a little better when nothing was detected. He wished he had a bug of some type to ensure it worked. He started to place the device in his backpack when it began vibrating like crazy. He found the planted GPS emitter at the bottom of a zippered pocket. Guess my detector works, he thought. How long had it been there? It would explain how he was tracked to Calakmul.

  Chad booted the computer but turned off the Wi-Fi. He set the Word program to no-auto-save. He typed the details of the last few days then saved the document and
pictures on a thumb drive. Placing the drive in an envelope, he addressed it to himself at his parents’ house and dropped it at the front desk for mailing.

  -----

  “Welcome, Dr. Archer. Please have a seat.”

  “Thanks, Dr. Acosta, please call me Chad. I only make my parents call me doctor.” They shook hands and Chad sat across a very clean and neat desk.

  “I can understand, Chad,” she laughed. “Please, I am Gabriela.”

  “Thanks for seeing me on short notice.” Chad assessed the gray haired smiling woman sit opposite him. First impression was warmth, organization, and intelligence. She wore a light orange blouse, a bright blue jacket, and a white linen skirt.

  “It is my pleasure. I checked you out. You have a good reputation. I am flattered that you sought me out. Have you been in Mexico long?”

  “About a week. I would be amiss if I did not contact you, Gabriela. You are the expert on Mesoamerican cultures.”

  “I am flattered again, Chad. Where have you travelled to?”

  “El Mirador and Tikal in Guatemala. La Venta, Calakmul and Palenque in Mexico. I had been in Mexico two summers on excavations. Before I started teaching.”

  “Speaking of teaching, you must have studied under Henry Clark. Did you know him well?”

  “Doc? Sure. He was a mentor to me. I worked every summer with him as a student and up to last year. About ten years. You knew? Doc?”

  “I worked on an excavation one summer with him. Gosh that was twenty years ago. We had a wonderful time.”

  Chad saw distant memories in her eyes.

  “You might help me. I’m writing his biography and would love to hear stories, both about the digs and stories about him personally.”

  “Absolutely. But that wasn’t what brought you here.”

  “I’m looking into two ideas for a grant for excavations. Both require a historian’s insight. I’d like to float both ideas past you.”