by Rob Jones
The sunlight illuminated dust motes as they danced around her mother’s face but she was concentrating too much on the ink’s consistency to notice any distraction. Outside in the yard she heard the gentle call of a hawfinch as it hopped around their neighbor’s pear tree. She loved that tree. It reminded her of morning walks around Xiangshui Lake.
When the ink was ready, her mother selected a soft calligraphy brush and began to write the poem on the paper.
It was so peaceful, she thought.
What happened to my life?
Her mother began to fade, and she was suddenly aware of her surroundings on board the Gulfstream. The gentle grinding of the inkstone and the hawfinch’s song now replaced by the hum of the air-conditioning and the white noise roar of the air outside as the plane cut through it at a thousand kilometres per hour. She wanted to go back to sleep, but she yawned and stretched her arms over her head instead. Real life never went away just because you wanted it to, and somewhere down there Dirk Kruger had to be stopped.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Machu Picchu
Hawke flew the team from Alejandro Velasco Astete Airport in Cusco through the meandering valleys of the Urubamba River. At the end of the flight he increased altitude to fly over the top of a high peak to the south of the small town of Aguas Calientes and then they were all shocked to see the incredible site of Machu Picchu, perched on the backbone of a mountain ridge in the middle of the mountains.
It was unlike anything any of them had ever seen before – a magnificent citadel of ancient ruins in the total isolation of the Urubamba Mountains. Clouds drifted in the valleys below and the whole site was bewitchingly timeless as they drew closer to its crumbling walls and plazas.
He flew on, overpassing the Gate of the Sun and then descended over the southern slopes which lead to the ancient city. Its honey-colored ruins shone in the bright Peruvian sun, highlighted in stark contrast to the luscious emerald greens of the mountainous jungle enveloping it on all sides.
He flew over the top of the ancient guardhouse, the main gate, the sacred plaza and finally intiwatana, the old astronomic clock, before flaring the chopper’s nose and bringing the machine down to the north of the ancient Inca citadel, a few yards away from the Sacred Rock.
After hovering the chopper above the ruins – and more than a few bemused tourists – Hawke found his landing place, and lowered the collective, reducing power to the rotor engine. He brought the helicopter to a gentle touchdown in a plaza at the northern end of what five hundred years ago had been the urban sector and moments later they were jumping out and emerging into an ancient world.
They cleared the slowing rotors and gathered once again to read the compass before heading off due north, just as the markings on the Mask of Inti had told them to. As they had expected from another study of Google Earth on the way, the mask was leading them out of the citadel itself and into the jungle to the north of it.
A thin white mist floated up from the valley and began to shroud some of the lower reaches of the citadel and then formed into full clouds.
“We’re above the clouds,” Lexi said.
Far across on the mountain to the south they watched yet another group of tourists as they ambled around the Gate of the Sun with their cameras before heading back down to Cusco with their memories and their photos.
Lea tried to take it all in but it was like nothing she had ever seen before in her entire life. The air was indescribably fresh, and the sensation of the clouds moving through the valley below her almost made her feel as if it were the mountains moving and the clouds were nothing more than a static sea.
She linked her arm through Hawke’s. “Can’t we give up all of this and just stay here forever?”
“I would, but you do realize there’s no TV up here?”
“What?”
Hawke nodded. “Sad but true.”
“Maybe it’s not such a great idea in that case.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the tourists who were now walking up through the ruins to get a closer look at the helicopter. Following up behind them were a couple of workers from the tourist center. “We’re drawing some attention, guys.”
“When do we not draw attention?” Scarlet said, casually pulling a cigarette from her pocket and firing it up.
Hawke glanced back and took in the tourists once again, amazed by the number of people who had made the laborious trek via trains and hiking to get up here. They swarmed all over the mountain, but for the most part maintained a respectful silence as they took it all in.
He turned and surveyed the ruined citadel from up close and was instantly struck by how much larger it was in reality compared with the many pictures and films he had seen of it over the course of his life. It seemed to tumble and stretch all over the mountain in whatever direction he looked. Here, enormous stone steps leading up to a ruined temple, there, a smooth plaza covered in páramo grass, and at every turn another huddle of tourists in sun hats taking selfies of themselves in front of the incredible citadel.
He also noticed the almost precipitous drop off the west side of the ruins. One false step over there and it was Goodnight Vienna but not before a long and desperate rough and tumble all the way down to the Urubamba River hundreds of feet below.
“Maybe we should be a bit more subtle about this?” Luis said, looking at the tourists and guides.
Ryan scoffed. “Screw them.”
Hawke looked at him but turned away. The last thing Ryan needed now was someone getting too close. “We keep going,” he said, as Luis joined him at the front. “We must be nearly there by now.”
“So we’ve done the Fifty Tupus,” Luis said, causing Scarlet to laugh and shake her head in amusement. “Now for the Fifty Rikras.”
They headed to the Sacred Stone and Luis began to count out the distance as Lexi measured their progress on GPS. They left the citadel and started walking into the jungle.
The sunlight pierced the canopy of the mahogany and yarumo trees as they pushed through the subtropical vegetation all around them. Though a gap in the trees they saw a strip of páramo grass and then the low growling of a tiger heron drifted out from some hidden quarter. A hummingbird flashed past on its way to a vine.
“So you’re sure of how long a rikra was?” Hawke asked Luis.
The Peruvian nodded. “There’s no doubt. One rikra was just over a meter and a half. There are very clear descriptions of it in Incan architecture.”
“And which way are we going?” Lea asked,
“The line from the Mandala ran to the north, so the answer is we’re almost right on top of it.”
They walked on through the jungle and looked around for clues. The walk from Machu Picchu had been down hill, so now they could no longer see the ruined citadel jutting through the jungle canopy.
Dense jungle surrounded them on all sides. Hawke waved a sandfly from his face and surveyed the landscape. “Looks like mostly coca and even some coffee.”
“Please, don’t talk to me about coffee trees,” Lea said. “I had enough of those in Mexico to last me fifty lifetimes.”
“Talking of fifty,” Lexi said. “We’re now exactly fifty rikras due north of the Sacred Rock.”
They stopped and began to search for anything that might be a lead, but the only obvious answer was a broken slab of granite.
Lea kicked it with her boot. “This boy looks a little out of place, wouldn’t ya say?”
“It’s probably just a piece of stone rejected for the main construction,” Luis said, crouching to get a better look at it. “The city was made from granite and also some limestone, constructed with ashlar masonry, a technique to create square blocks which are then smoothed with sand. It was very precise work as you can see from the ruins and it looks like an error was made on this piece so they threw it out.”
“You guys are thinking what I’m thinking, right?” Lea said with a grin.
Hawke nodded and returned the smile. “Oh yeah.”
“What?” Luis asked innocently.
Reaper clapped his arm around Luis’s shoulder. “It’s not that we doubt your theory of the stone being rejected,” he said, roll-up bouncing on his lower lip as he spoke. “But we think maybe this is here for another reason.”
The young Peruvian archaeologist looked confused. “I don’t understand.”
“They used it to conceal the entrance to the tomb, Looo-is,” Scarlet said, still chewing the acullico. She was stepping from foot to foot, pumped by the coca and excited by what was going to happen next. “I take it we have the goods?”
Hawke nodded. “The usual – some C4 and a few blasting caps.”
“Wait,” Luis said, the horror slowly rising in his voice. “C4 is an explosive isn’t it?”
“It sure is,” Scarlet said.
“We like blowing things up,” Ryan said. “Get used to it.”
“You can’t seriously be proposing to blow up this piece of granite just to see what’s underneath? This is part of one of the most important World Heritage Sites!”
Scarlet rolled her eyes. “Been there, done it, and stained the t-shirt.”
“We could destroy valuable archaeological evidence, not to mention the obvious criminal prosecution such an act would demand.”
“Maybe he’s right,” Lexi said.
Luis turned to her, hope returning to his eyes. “Really?”
“Of course not,” the Chinese assassin said. “If you’re frightened of loud noises I’d go over there behind those trees for a few minutes and put your fingers in your ears.”
“I am not frightened of loud noises so I’ll be staying right here with all of you.”
“With us?” Hawke said as he pulled the C4 out his bag and fixed it in the crack where the granite dug into the earth. “We’re going over there behind those trees with our fingers in our ears.”
“Ah.”
“All right, let’s go.”
They moved twenty meters to the west and crouched behind a low ridge for cover. When everyone was safe and Hawke knew the blast zone was clear, he detonated the explosives.
The sound of the explosion roared out in the heavy silence of the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu and echoed off dozens of neighboring mountainsides. Flocks of nightjars, hummingbirds and cinnamon flycatchers took to the air in terror as the violent noise rang out through the valleys below, but only when the shredded canopy of pisonay and alder fell to earth in a shower of splintered granite over their heads did they hear the sound of human screams in response to the detonation. The tourists back up in Machu Picchu were obviously panicking about what had happened, but they had all expected that response.
“Looks like the countdown has begun,” Lea said.
“So let’s get going,” Hawke said.
“What about death traps?” Lexi said.
Luis shook his head. “Incas were actually quite a peaceful people, which is why many speculate they were destroyed and vanished so quickly. They weren’t anywhere near as dangerous and bloodthirsty as the Aztecs.”
“That’s a relief,” Lea said. “I’ve had enough of Aztecs, thanks very much.”
They clambered to their feet and jogged back down the slope to where the granite block had been, but now they were looking at a smoking hole in the jungle floor.
“That’s our boy!” Lea said. “I presume you’re going first, Luis?”
“What?”
“You being the only fully trained archaeologist and all.”
“Well, I…”
“She’s pulling your leg,” Hawke said, pulling a Maglite from his canvas bag and switching it on. He shook his head with amusement as he lowered himself down in the black hole.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The tunnel was extremely narrow and in places their shoulders scraped against the carved walls as they moved through it. They quickly worked out they were walking uphill, and it became obvious where it was leading thanks to the due-south direction compass reading – back to Machu Picchu.
“It’s leading us right back to the citadel,” Hawke said, shining his flashlight into the pitch-black gloom. Walking up the hill was hard work because the tunnel seemed steeper than the path above them, but at least the tunnel was widening now.
“Thank heaven for small mercies,” Lea said, finally able to move up and walk alongside Hawke. “It was less than a hundred yards so we should be there in no time, and then – hang on.”
“What is it?” Lexi called out from behind.
Ryan gave a bitter laugh. “It’s a dead-end. Like my life.”
“Easy, mate,” Hawke said.
“You’re absolutely totally completely fucking kidding?” Scarlet said with a sigh.
“Take a look.”
Hawke shone the light ahead and they all saw the same thing – a solid stone wall blocking the path.
“That’s just arsing fantastic,” Lea said, pulling her hair back with a sigh.
Hawke wiped the sweat from his face and approached the wall. “Luis – get up here!”
The Peruvian moved cautiously forward until he was standing beside Hawke. “What is it?”
“Looks like some kind of markings. Please tell me they mean something that can get us through this wall.”
Luis Montoya immediately saw what the Englishman was talking about. Carved into the walls were several simple bas-relief pictographs similar to the ones on the Mask of Inti. Thanks to their protected environment they were as crisp as they day they had been made and Luis was in awe as he passed his hands over them. “These are exquisite.”
“Can you translate them?”
“I think so, but I’m no Balta. This first one is easy – it looks to me like a depiction of Supay, the Incan god of death and the lord of Ukhu Pacha.”
The ECHO team shared an anxious glance behind Luis’s back. “Go on,” Hawke said.
“Even today the Quechua people observe traditional dances designed to appease him but this depiction is slightly unusual because it seems to indicate that…wait – according to Incan mythology, Unu Pachakuti was a terrible flood caused by Viracocha, the father god. It killed all the tribes living around Lake Titicaca leaving only two people alive so the world could repopulate.”
“I’ve a seen similar story elsewhere…” Lea said.
“The point is I think these carvings are not only a warning but some kind of test. If we get it wrong the tunnel will flood.”
Scarlet stared at him. “I thought you said the Incas were a peaceful people, Teach?”
Luis returned a nervous glance. “Well…”
“Flood?” Lexi asked. “How’s that possible? I don’t see any water around here.”
“Machu Picchu had access to plentiful underground water supplies. Back when it was a thriving city the inhabitants enjoyed flowing water which they collected from fountains. My guess is that this door is connected to the very same water supply that the inhabitants of the citadel used every day for their survival, and that if we fail the test it will unleash some kind of flood. Maybe not on the same scale as Uni Pachakuti, but how big would it really have to be to kill some people in an underground tunnel of this size?”
They shared another worried glance.
“So if you get the combination wrong the tunnel ceiling collapses and we get flooded all the way to hell?” Scarlet said. “Sounds fair and reasonable. Anyone got any more coca?”
“No,” Hawke said with a sideways glance. “And I think that’s just as well, don’t you, Cairo?”
Luis carefully pushed each bas-relief carving in turn and they waited nervously to see if he had gotten it right. With the last one now pushed back into the wall, they heard a deep, grinding sound and then finally the stone wall in front of them lowered into a slit in the ground.
“It’s using gravity to open,” Luis said. “Absolute genius!”
“Boring,” said Ryan.
“So where’s the water?” Lexi said, still sceptical.
Hawke shone his Maglite in
to the newly opened section of corridor and then up onto its ceiling.
“It’s not carved rock any more,” he said, staring up at the new tunnel. “But the same smooth granite blocks that we saw back in the citadel.”
“That’s because we’re now under the citadel,” Luis said. “Wait – shine the flashlight over there. Is that water?”
Hawke moved the light and saw the archaeologist was right. The new section of tunnel that the test had revealed was more of a corridor, with its floor, walls and ceiling constructed of smooth granite blocks instead of carved bedrock, but more than that the ceiling blocks were damp and here and there along the walls water was running down onto the floor.
“We must be beneath some kind of artificial aquifer,” Hawke said. He turned to Luis and patted him on the shoulder. “I think you were right. If you’d cocked up that test we’d all be drowning round about now.”
Hawke took another look at the water and knew they had to move fast. It must have been like this for centuries, but this was the first time anyone had walked through here. He had no idea what their presence might trigger or if there were any more booby-traps. A quick calculation told him that thanks to his SBS training he could probably hold his breath and make it out again, but he knew the others might not be so lucky, and that was presuming the trap didn’t include the other end of the tunnel being blocked as well.
“Let’s keep going,” Hawke said cheerfully. “It’s not beer o’clock yet, you bloody layabouts.”
Lea laughed, and they made their forward deeper into the passage. “Here’s to hopin’ there ain’t no more booby traps.”
“Seconded,” said Scarlet.
They moved further along the passage, noticing there were an increasing number of the strange pictographs as they got closer to the citadel. The granite they had used to construct the tunnel was as smooth as marble, but the limestone above it where they’d carved the symbols was rougher. “This must be the highlight of my career,” Luis mumbled, excited by the ancient carvings. “Of my life!”