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It was another hour drive from Miami to Fort Lauderdale. She couldn’t see the beach, but she knew they were close to it because of all of the hotels and resorts. It reminded her a little of Cancún.
As they pulled off the freeway to the exit, Lund turned around again.
“How do you feel?”
“I’m nervous, but now I can’t tell if there’s an external reason for it. I just want to get back to Dad and my brothers.”
Lund’s phone rang. “Jenson. You beat us to Fort Lauderdale? Good. We’re almost there. Is the pilot ready to go? We want to pull in, get on, and take off. Is air traffic control okay with that?” He listened, nodding. “Well done. We should be there in five minutes. See you soon.”
When they passed a Wendy’s, Suki’s stomach growled. She reached for Jane Louise’s hand. “Excited to see your mee-maw?”
“Uh-huh,” Jane Louise said. “I still feel nervous, though.”
“Me too. There’s a word in Mayan that helps me, though. Let me teach it to you. Nake’ik. You try it.”
Jane Louise blinked. “I know that one! Nake’ik.”
“Nake’ik. Nake’ik. Nake’ik,” Suki said soothingly, invoking the power of the kem äm. A peaceful feeling settled in the SUV. Their fear melted away.
They reached the executive airport shortly after getting off the freeway and drove to an access gate with a security guard. The driver rolled down the window, and the guard looked in at them.
“You Mr. Lund? Can I see some ID?”
Lund held out his wallet with a picture. The guard nodded, not looking in the back seat at all, and then made a gesture. The gate was electronic, and it opened with a clacking noise.
Lund called Jenson again. “We just came in. Where’s the plane?” He listened for a response. There was an executive jet—not a Pegasus, thank heaven!—out on the tarmac already. A small set of portable stairs had been rolled up to the open door. “See it. Where are you?”
A man in a windbreaker and Dockers slacks stepped out of the plane and waved to the driver. The driver, who hadn’t said a word the whole time, parked by the ramp and nodded to them.
“Everyone get out from Suki’s door,” Lund instructed. “The SUV will help shield us from sight. Let’s be quick.”
Lund drew his gun and stepped out of the SUV. Suki swallowed nervously and opened her door. The screech of the airplane engines was loud but not earsplitting. Lund gestured for her to head toward the stairs. As she started, she could see the pilot waving to her from inside the window. He was trying to get her attention.
Her gaze shifted to the man in sunglasses waiting at the top of the steps. She sensed the magic of the kem äm instantly. He raised something to his mouth, a flute? No, a blowgun—
She reacted instantly, invoking the power of the ring and bracelet, and put up a shield that wrapped backward like a hemisphere around her and the vehicle. The dart shot at her, then ricocheted back at her attacker, who also used the kem äm to deflect it. The dart pinged harmlessly against the hull of the jet.
“He’s here for us!” Suki shouted, pointing. It wasn’t Jenson. It was a jaguar priest in disguise.
Lund whipped his handgun around and put himself in front of her. “Get back in the car!”
Suki felt Jane Louise squeeze her hand. She’d already gotten out of the car. The intruder leaped over the rail of the stairs and landed gracefully on the tarmac. From his jacket, he drew an obsidian dagger and started toward them.
The driver took off with the passenger door still open, stranding them on the tarmac. Suki felt her mom grab her other hand. The three of them stood there, and suddenly the magic of the kem äm exploded around them. It sucked away the jaguar priest’s disguise and his shield. It sucked the dagger out of his hand and sent it spinning. Suki had never felt the magic this strongly. The three of them, standing hand in hand, had become a vortex of power.
The man’s face transformed from Jenson’s to that of a stranger with glowing eyes, a furious scowl, and a look of panic twitching on his face as he realized his hold on the magic had been ripped from him.
“Shoot him!” Suki said.
Lund fired three quick shots, all clustered into the man’s chest. There was no shield. No protection. He jerked in pain, then collapsed on the tarmac, his glowing eyes fading to brown.
Just like that—he was dead.
The power continued to churn around them. Suki felt it, feared it, understood deep in her bones that if it continued to grow stronger, they would summon a hurricane that would strike the coast of Florida. She’d never felt such a strong surge of power before—a flood of energy that dwarfed her previous uses of the kem äm. Intuitively, she knew it was because she was holding hands with Jane Louise and her mother. Together, the three of them were embodying the power of Ix Chel.
And the goddess was angry.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
