A desperate decision made five centuries ago, ripples through time and overtakes a modern archeological dig - with tragic results.

La Noche Triste, the Night of Sorrows, 30 June 1520 - after looting the Aztec island-city of Tenochtitlan, Hernan Cortez and his "not yet" Conquistadors make a run for it in the dead of night. Toting an unimaginable quantity of treasure, the Spaniards are caught strung out along a causeway to the mainland by the enraged Aztecs. In the massacre that follows, half of the largest treasure ever amassed in the New World vanishes, never to be seen again.

Archeologist Catana Perez was weaned on the story of the lost treasure by her discredited, archeologist father. Her dream, obsession actually, is to restore his reputation by proving that the lost treasure wasn't lost; it was hidden. That it might be guarded was never a consideration.

Armed with a centuries old diary, the discovery of a Conquistador's sword provides a clue to the missing hoard. With a team that includes her patron and occasional lover, Peter Alvarado, Catana's quest leads to the forbidding Dos Mesas Plateau. There, with each new and astonishing discovery, Catana and her team plunge deeper into the sad and terrible truth behind a centuries old mystery, and anthropological horror that no one could have predicted. Except perhaps Catana's new colleague, Lauren. Since childhood this beautiful psychic has gleaned images from inanimate objects. In the Dos Mesas however, her visions take on a life of their own.

Based on historical fact.