“You’re right,” he said. “It’s near a vast piece of land owned by a foreign landlord. It’s called the Estancia Guerrero.”

“Sarah Allersby?” said Remi.

“Yes,” he said. “It’s an unfortunate coincidence. But anywhere in Guatemala, we would be on or near one of these big estates. They occupy hundreds of square miles, much of it uncultivated.”

“Maybe not so unfortunate,” said Sam. “While she’s trying to get her hands on the codex, she won’t be on her land, causing trouble for us.”

“I doubt that she spends much time on the land, in any case. She leads a very active social, political, and business life in Guatemala City.”

“Sounds good,” said Sam. “While we’re gone and you’re working on the codex, we’ll keep in touch. Selma and her assistants, Pete and Wendy, are ready to offer you as much help as you’d like. Selma you already know. Pete and Wendy are young, but both have plenty of history and archaeology experience.”

Caine looked down at the codex on the table. “Selma told me about the burglary.”

“It hardly deserves that name,” Sam said.

“I’m wondering if it’s safe to keep the codex here while you’re out of the country.”

“Do you have any better ideas?” asked Remi.

“I was wondering if you’d let me look into the possibility of keeping the codex on campus.”

“Normally, there wouldn’t be a problem with keeping it at our house,” said Remi. “But there’s still remodeling going on upstairs, with workmen coming and going all day, and now Sarah Allersby and her amateur burglars know where the codex is . . .” She paused. “Would the university be safer?”

“University campuses are full of valuable things—supercomputers, famous works of art, experimental devices of every kind,” said Caine. “Besides, the university has a few things you don’t—like a police force.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” said Sam. “Look into the possibility of locking it up on campus. If you find it’s practical, we’ll do it. If not, we can rent a joint safe-deposit box in a bank and you can work there.”

“Good,” said Caine. “I’ll talk to my dean and let you know. When can you leave for Guatemala?”

“Tomorrow,” said Sam. “We’d like to get there, verify the site, and get back here.”

“If you do, then maybe we can begin to organize a large team to find one of the big cities on the map this summer. I’d like you to consider joining that team. There’s nobody I’d rather have with me.”

“We’ll consider it,” said Remi, “after we finish our scouting mission.”