Masked

XII.

"If you hadn't dragged me out I'd still be in there taking pictures", Lara breathed out while getting up. The impact with the ground had probably bestowed her multiple other bruises she had to take care of.

"You'd still be in there. Don't know if you'd be doing much", Jonah answered with a groan. He felt the pain in his body as well.

Lara chuckled while punching her friend in the arm.

"Hey, you want to freshen up? Regroup at the café across our hotel? Doctor Dominguez is supposed to be there tonight."

"Sounds good. I'll try and decipher the riddle – see if the date has anything to do with it. And maybe we should contact Isa and her father as well about the progress."

The two friends began heading down the mountain towards the town and the already setting sun.

"Right. Pink fish, silver-crowned mountains... I'll look into it. By the way, the café is supposed to have really good food... I know the chef."

"Hmm... I'm not very hungry."

"What? After all of that? I'm starving! I could eat a whale..."

--

The first thing Lara did after taking a shower and disinfecting her wound was texting Isa and telling her about the progress.

'I'm free later on if you two want to video call me. Maybe I can help you, I still got the documents of my father here.', she read her female friends answer before a second message came in.

'Though I never heard of that pink fish and silver-crowned mountain thing before. Maybe a clue to Paititi?'

'Could be. I'll first take a look at the pictures I've taken, maybe let's talk in half an hour? I still need to wait for Jonah to get ready.'

'Ugh, it's always the men who take so long in the bathroom. 😉 Fine then, just text me when you're prepared.'

'Will do.'

--

Half an hour later, Lara was sitting on the patio outside of "La Casa Mexicana", the café Jonah spoke of. She still had to wait for him since he got caught up with something, but nonetheless, Lara had printed out and analysed the photographs she had taken. The brunette also was able to get a hold of a map of South America to study, quite determined on getting answers. In between looking at her pictures and trying to find a possible linking between the date, the riddle and why the hell South America could've something to do with it, she checked her laptop of a possible message of Isabelle. Luckily, the waitress of the café had given her their Wi-Fi password, otherwise getting a stable internet connection would've been almost impossible.

Lara also noticed the man she took for Doctor Dominguez (she recognized him from photos in Isabelle's documents), had taken a seat on a table directly in her sight as well. He seemed to wait for somebody, and from the looks of it, he wasn't very patient. The young archaeologist tried to keep an eye on him while studying her pictures.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, she received a pop up, saying her friend was online.

'Ayy, you literally have no idea how much of a pain in the butt my father can be sometimes with all of those projects of his. But I'm ready if you're ready.'

Lara tried to suppress a grin at the message before she started the video call. Isabelle picked it up immediately.

"Hello from the other side! ... Of the world", she instantly could hear her friends dry greeting. "Fancy seeing you here", she then wiggled her eyebrows, "how's the weather? And – woah, that's a nice outfit you got there."