Terry L Shaffer

Coronado's Deceit Terry L Shaffer

Aztecs and Aztec treasure in Arizona? Preposterous say the experts and historians . . . until archeology professor Sam Owens proves them wrong. The dreams of Carlos Grijalva, a senior shaman of the Tohono O'odham tribe, and Sam's grandfather, and an obscure journal penned by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, lead Sam to an archeological dig on sacred tribal lands. Sam finds evidence of the slaughter of an Aztec village by Coronado's conquistadores in the dig, and a cave where Coronado and his Spanish soldiers cached the treasure but never came back for it. Looters get to the treasure before Sam and his team can. Outraged, Sam traces the treasure to a warehouse in Tucson owned by an unscrupulous art broker. Thwarted in his attempt to locate the treasure, Sam turns to the FBI who search the warehouse and find the art broker and two of his henchmen murdered in spectacular fashion. They have been sacrificed in a traditional Aztec ceremony. Through Carlos's dreams, Sam learns that a wrathful Aztec god of war and sacrifice, Huitzilopochtl, has, through an Aztec talisman, co-opted another henchman and forces the criminal to do his bidding and endows him with unbelievable strength and speed. Huitzilopochtl, bent on vengeance against all those who have desecrated the treasure, adds Sam and Carlos to his list as interlopers trying to stop him and recover the treasure. As the body count rises, Sam and Carlos are the only ones who can locate Huitzilopochtl's henchman. Together, first with the FBI then the Tucson Police Department, they make attempt after attempt to apprehend the killer until he turns the tables and prey becomes the predator.