Oracle Read Online Free PDF

activity.
    “ Well, I am an American,” he said finally.
    She shrugged and took another sip, appearing to savor the agave liquor. Professor savored the view. With her athletic but nonetheless very feminine physique, lustrous black hair tied in a long braid draped over her right shoulder, and exotic Hawaiian-Japanese features, Jade Ihara was a feast for the eyes.
    Maddock, how did you let this one slip away?
    He knew the answer of course. Looks weren ’t everything, and he knew from personal experience that Jade was…what was the term? High maintenance?
    That was putting it mildly. Jade could be downright bitchy at times, and he had more than once gotten exasperated at her incessant mooning over Dane Maddock. Still, she was smart, tough and beautiful, and it was only her history with Maddock that kept him at arm ’s length.
    When he had first started working with her in Japan, it had seemed inevitable that she and Maddock would get back together—Jade had a way of getting what she wanted—and Professor had known to leave well enough alone. A cardinal rule of the SEAL teams was that you didn ’t screw around with your swim buddy’s girl; combat and love triangles were a bad combination. Unfortunately, by the time he’d figured out that Maddock definitely wasn’t going to be in the picture, he was already in the friend-zone. That had made his decision to accept Tam Broderick’s offer to join the Myrmidons a lot easier, but Jade, for all her flaws, had stayed in his thoughts.
    She set her glass down and made a point of looking at her watch. “Okay, Prof. The clock is running. Five minutes to explain just what the hell you’re doing here.”
    “ Oh, Jade, I’ve missed you.” He wagged his head, but then became more serious. “You could be in danger here.”
    “ Danger? From who?”
    “ Who do you think?”
    She shook her head. “Not this time. There aren’t any mystical relics here, no magical alien artifacts. This is just straightforward archaeology. There’s no reason why the Dominion would have any interest in what’s happening here, ergo I’m not in danger.”
    “ I can think of two reasons why you’re wrong.”
    “ Do tell.”
    Professor decanted another portion of mezcal into his glass. “What do you think you’re going to find in that chamber under the pyramid?”
    Above her almond eyes, Jade ’s eyebrows drew together in a frown. “How did you even find out about that? It’s supposed to be a secret.”
    “ It’s very hard to keep secrets these days.” He took a sip, and then repeated the question. “What do you think you’ll find?”
    She shrugged. “Probably a tomb. If the chamber served a ceremonial function, it wouldn’t have been sealed off in antiquity.”
    “ Whose tomb?”
    “ How should I know?”
    “ The ancient inhabitants of the city built one of the largest structures in the world over that tomb. I’d say the person buried there must be pretty important, don’t you think?”
    “ You’re wasting time. Get to the point.”
    “ The point, Jade, is that you seem to have forgotten about one of the most important aspects of Mesoamerican culture, something that Dominion is likely to be very interested in. Quetzalcoatl.”
    Jade ’s frown deepened. “Quetzalcoatl the Aztec god? What’s he got to do with anything? The Aztecs didn’t show up in Teo until almost a thousand years after the pyramid was built.”
    “ Worship of the feathered serpent deity in Mesoamerica goes back a lot further than the Aztecs. But as I’m sure you’ll remember, in some myths, Quetzalcoatl is often described as a bearded white man who brought great wisdom to the ancient people who once lived here.”
    Jade rolled her eyes. “Please. I know what comes next. Quetzalcoatl was actually Jesus Christ, bringing the Gospel to the heathens of the Americas. No one believes those old stories anymore. It was just Spanish propaganda designed to convert the indigenous people.”
    “ Some people still