The Bonita Protocol

by P J Skinner

  They put the fruit back into their rucksacks for later and Sam took out her windup torch which she had taken to keeping in her bag as a permanent part of her geological kit.

  ‘Have either of you got a torch?’ she asked.

  ‘And why would we need a torch to sample the veins?’ said Kennedy.

  ‘I’ve got one on my keyring,’ said Marlon.

  ‘Okay, keep close to me,’ she said. ‘And mind your heads.’

  She made her way back into the entrance and wound the torch vigorously for a minute, eliciting sighs from Kennedy.

  ‘Oi! If you don’t want to come, let me know and I’ll leave you here to wait for us,’ said Sam.

  Kennedy blanched and Marlon elbowed him in the ribs.

  ‘Right, let’s have a look. Fingers crossed we might be able to spot some useful geology markers in here.’

  They started slowly down the tunnel, Sam in the front, a chastened Kennedy in the middle and Marlon in the rear with his miniscule light.

  ‘It’s definitely not a cave,’ said Sam. ‘Look at the walls.’

  They crowded around as she pointed the flashlight at the rock wall.

  ‘This was done by hand,’ said Marlon.

  Sam took a photograph of the tunnel and the wall markings. The flash illuminated walls far into the workings. This was a major discovery. The hairs on her arms were erect with excitement. Alfredo would love this. She couldn’t wait to show him the photographs. He had identified the frog cipher on the Inca steps on their first adventure together when he was still a bona fide treasure hunter. Maybe this would ignite his enthusiasm and help him give up drinking again.

  ‘Come on,’ said Sam, pointing her torch down the tunnel and noting the smooth floor. The ancient working followed the strike of a vein into the hill, widening out where it hit an ore shoot and narrowing between shoots. The light from the entrance faded out and when Sam’s torch ran out of battery, they were left in the dark with only Marlon’s keyring illuminating the way.

  Sam handed the flashlight to Kennedy who wound it and handed it back. The newly bright light hit a pile of stones ahead of them in the mine. As they approached, the oblong shape of the stones became obvious. Sam gasped. She picked one up and turned it over in her hand.

  ‘What are they?’ said Marlon. ‘Why are they so smooth?’

  ‘Hammer stones,’ said Sam. ‘Used for shaping rocks. Have you seen the Inca walls at Cuzco? The stones fit together like a jigsaw.’

  ‘There are walls like that in Sierramar too,’ said Kennedy.

  ‘It looks like they manufactured the hammer stones for them from the Cerro Calvo granite but for some reason they stored them in the mine. Perhaps something happened to stop them transporting the stones.’

  She bent over to examine another stone which lay beside the wall of the tunnel. It had an indent in the middle of the stone which ran around its short axis. The indent was silky smooth as if it had been sanded down by years of use.

  ‘I can’t believe it,’ she said, holding it out in front of the beam of light so that the boys could see it. ‘It’s a maul head, like a stone axe or sledgehammer. This is amazing.’

  Sam tucked the maul and two of the hammer stones in her bag. She planned to take them to Alfredo so he could make a judgement on their origins.

  After winding the torch one final time, they made for the exit again.

  ‘If you don’t mind, I’d like this to be our secret,’ she said to the geologists. ‘I have a friend in Quito who is a well-known historian. I’d like him to see these before we take a next step if that’s okay with you.’

  ‘But we’ll come back?’ said Kennedy.

  ‘Of course, I think there may be a lot more to see here. However, if the news gets out that we found an Inca tunnel, we could have an invasion by the artisanal miners looking for new gold veins to exploit. It’s important to keep it secret for now. Agreed?’

  ‘Agreed.’ The two men spat in their hands and put them one on the other. Sam, slightly revolted by this action, did the same.

  ‘Blood of the Virgin.’

  ‘Sacred Honour.’

  Sam shook with excitement. She took a cigarette from Kennedy, which she soon regretted, coughing and spluttering at the unfiltered tobacco, making them laugh. As if to herald their discovery, the clouds opened for a minute and they had a clear view of the camp below them.

  To Sam’s surprise, they could see Rhett preparing to leave. A whole train of donkeys milled around outside the core shed. What on earth was going on? Perhaps Pepe, the mule driver was picking up the samples on a return trip from Monterico? Rhett had not said anything about leaving and he hadn’t said goodbye. She shrugged. Transparency was not his strong point.

  ‘Let’s go,’ she said, and they plunged back into the jungle, half walking, half sliding their way down the slopes towards the adit.

  By the time they arrived back at the core shed, Rhett had left for Arboleda, and the still-steaming piles of fresh manure were the only evidence that she hadn’t imagined the mule train. She gave Marlon a spade and asked him to pile them up for composting. The worms would be a good treat for the chickens before their inevitable demise.

  Despite their exhaustion, the threesome headed for the football pitch before their evening meal to see if there was a game on. There were mule hoof prints on the path heading down to the tailings dam. Perhaps one of the mules had escaped and run down the path, but there were a lot of hoof impressions, maybe the others had followed it.

  As they rounded the bend, Marlon shouted out in surprise.

  ‘There’s a big hole in the pitch.’

  Sam stared at the excavation in disbelief. Someone had tried to fill in the hole and smooth it out without success. There were empty rice sacks left scattered on the surface. Only one explanation made any sense. Rhett had taken a bulk sample of the tailings to Arboleda by mule. How many sacks had he taken? Why hadn’t he told her what he was going to do?

  She frowned, conjuring up a fake memory and slapping her forehead.

  ‘Oh, yes, I forgot. Miss Ballard asked Rhett to take a bulk sample from the tailings sand to test the grade.’

  This qualified as the truth since Rhett didn’t do anything without first agreeing it with Amanda.

  ‘But we can’t play on this,’ said Kennedy.

  ‘It shouldn’t be difficult to fill in. Bring a couple of wheelbarrows down tomorrow and scavenge sand from the edge to refill the dent,’ said Sam. ‘A couple of rainy days will flatten it out again, and we can rely on the weather to provide that.’

  Grumbling, the men set off for the bunk house where minutes later they were playing a ferocious game of volley ball, their ire short lived. Sam sat on her bed and removed the Inca tools from her ruck sack. She caressed one of the hammer stones, feeling its oblong shape sit heavy in her hand. She could imagine its owner dressing a stone to fit into a complex opening. She tied the maul stone to her walking pole with a scarf and swung it gently. The maul flew off the pole and hit the floor with a loud thump.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Selma’s voice floated up the stairs.

  ‘I dropped something,’ said Sam.

  ‘A gold bar? Come and eat your dinner.’

  ‘I’ll be right down.’

  She pushed the tools to the back of the shelf which held some of her favourite samples, covering them with some large pine cones she was drying to take home to London. It had been a long day and her stomach rumbled loudly. She descended the stairs to the canteen.

  ‘What’s for dinner then?’ she said.

  ‘Liver and onions with mashed potatoes,’ said Selma.

  ‘How did your sampling trip go?’ said Javier.

  ‘Successful, thank you,’ said Sam. ‘How many sacks of black sand did Rhett remove from the tailings?’

  Javier’s eye’s widened in shock. He looked about him in panic. Rhett must have given him instructions to keep it secret. They were probably intending to fill in the hole before she saw it but she ruined t
heir plan by going to the pitch after the field trip. She raised her eyebrows in inquiry, fixing him with an unblinking stare.

  ‘I’m not sure. Ten maybe,’ he mumbled.

  ‘I guess he’s testing the Nelson,’ said Sam, letting him off the hook. ‘It could prove useful in the future if it’s working.’

  ‘Yes, that’s what he said.’

  ‘Did he take the rest of the samples from the old drilling?’

  ‘Yes. We can start on the new holes tomorrow. I put a new blade on the core saw this afternoon.’

  ‘Great, let’s eat. I’m ravenous.’

  Chapter XI

  Sam did not get back up to the cave during her shift. Marlon and Kennedy went out on leave for a week to attend a cousin’s wedding, and she had her work cut out updating all the sections and plans with geology by herself. Galo Martin was a revelation. His hard work and cheerful demeanour making Sam’s life a lot easier. His survey had progressed along the lower adit and arrived at the furthest place Sam had visited with Javier. Rather than carry on into the restricted spaces further into the mine, they had entered the upper levels and were mapping them instead. Galo left to be with his family at weekends and Sam laboured to fill in the cross sections with the geology from the drill holes.

  The survey of the mine confirmed Sam’s ideas about the near surface geology. If the indications were correct, they were looking at a high-grade deposit that was too small to finance a plant. This was not the sort of news Amanda expected or desired. Sam had no faith in the samples that Rhett had taken with him. They were sure to return the sort of results that had given Amanda a tantrum. She needed to drill deeper to find a source for the gold bearing fluids. If they could locate that body, the project would be saved. She got the drill crews to reposition the drill at an angle that would penetrate the rocks under the mine.

  Galo’s animated face and the fact he was hopping from foot to foot with impatience told Sam all she needed to know about his excitement at showing her his progress. A model of the mine sat on the table in front of him, the sheets of acetate covered in coloured marker pen.

  ‘May I?’ said Sam, stretching out to grab it without waiting for an answer. She held it against the light. It was not finished but already the geology revealed its mysteries to her eager eyes. A parallel set of vertical veins were intersected by horizontal fractures which had acted as conduits for the gold-rich fluids coursing through them. At the junctions between the veins and the fractures were high grade shoots carrying nuggety gold.

  ‘Wow. This is fantastic. I can design a drill programme to penetrate these veins at depth and see how deep they run. We’ll soon find out what’s going on.’

  ‘I’m thrilled with it, but it’s not finished yet. Do you want me to continue?’

  ‘Absolutely. This is perfect. Can you make me some plans of the mine at approximately fifty metre intervals cutting through at adit level?’

  ‘Give me a couple of weeks to finish the survey and then I’ll finish the model and the mine plans while you are next on leave.’

  Before Sam knew it, it was time to take a break again. She packed her rucksack with the Inca tools cushioned by pushing them into her thickest hiking socks. The rucksack banged against her spine as she walked down the hill through the pouring rain. She stopped in the halfway house for a fizzy drink checking the interior before she entered.

  ‘He’s not here,’ said the owner. ‘But you must have made an impression. He left something for you.’

  ‘For me?’

  He placed a small, package wrapped in a torn plastic bag in her unwilling hand. What if it contained a stolen piece of jewellery from a murder victim? The thought made her legs fold under her and she slumped onto a bench.

  ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes, a little tired.’

  ‘Go on. Open it.’

  ‘No, I’ll open it later.’

  The man grunted in disappointment but her curiosity was outweighed by a feeling of dread. It could be anything, a finger, an ID card, who knew what Muerte was capable of? She put it into her rucksack and finished her drink.

  ‘What should I tell him?’ said the man.

  ‘I don’t work for free. Next time, he pays me,’ said Sam.

  ‘I’m not telling him that.’

  She laughed and put the empty bottle on the counter.

  ‘Hasta la vista,’ she said.

  The flight from Calderon had been delayed so Sam found a quiet corner in the airport and rummaged in her rucksack for her book. Her fingers closed around Señor Muerte’s gift. Whatever it was, she could throw it in the rubbish without a second thought. He would never know. She held it over the rubbish bin but she couldn’t drop it. Curiosity killed the cat.

  She bought a cup of coffee and sat on the floor contemplating the package, twisting it in her fingers. The suspense became too great and she unwrapped it from the plastic bag. It was a small rectangular box with a lid that wouldn’t close properly because of the size and shape of the object inside it.

  She untied the piece of green string that was holding it on and laid it on her lap. Lifting one end of the lid she peered into the box and dropped it again in surprise. How had he known? Had he been watching her? She scanned the terminal but nobody seemed to be interested in the gringa sitting on the floor. She took the lid off and tipped the box into her hand.

  An Inca seal lay in her palm, heavy and reassuringly solid. There was a raised flower at one end of the cylinder and the body of the seal was decorated by odd creatures with a human form and what appeared to be a wolf’s head. They had mouths full of serrated teeth which were open in warning growls.

  Her first reaction was astonishment. Where on earth had he got such a thing? She had never imagined a man like that to have refined tastes. But even though she was thrilled beyond measure with the gift, the coincidence concerned her. It seemed impossible that it was a casual accident of fate, but on the other hand, she had seen no evidence that anyone had entered the cave in modern times.

  She spent the flight in contemplation of the magnificent artefact, rolling it around in her hand, careful not to let it fall. As luck would have it, she had been allocated a seat in the back row and there was no-one around to see her prize. Guilt at its provenance stopped her being on cloud nine, but cloud eight had its merits. Anticipation of Alfredo’s reaction to her treasures built inside her until she thought she might explode.

  Despite her overwhelming excitement, she did not go straight home from the airport. Having learned from experience, Sam dropped by the office, steeling herself for the inevitable tidal wave of abuse concerning the last batch of samples whose results she could confidently predict as average to terrible. She need not have bothered. Amanda was nowhere to be seen.

  ‘She’s in Cali,’ said Marina. ‘They left yesterday.’

  ‘Did she go with Rhett then?’

  ‘No, with Miss Gloria. I think Rhett went to Australia to meet with Jim Ballard about more investment for the company.’

  The house echoed with emptiness when Sam opened the front door. She stored her rucksack in her room and made herself a cup of tea. She had snoozed off when David got back from football practice with Araceli. A small, hot, sweaty bundle settled in her lap and deposited a damp kiss on her cheek.

  ‘I missed you,’ he said.

  ‘Me too,’ said Sam.

  They spent the afternoon and early evening building a metropolis on the floor of the sitting room with Lego and castles and zoo animals. Araceli fed David his tea while Sam watched the news. Cable television had reached Calderon and Gloria had paid for the most expensive package covering every channel, most of which were in English with Spanish subtitles.

  Sam watched in fascination as the commentator reported from the Canadian stock exchange about the junior mining boom that was taking place. One of the shares, a company called Granoro Exploration had leapt in value from ten cents to ten dollars in a matter of months. Sam couldn’t believe it. Mining shares had languish
ed for years due to the low gold price, which hadn’t gone up. Why were investors piling in now? It was tempting to put some of her paltry savings into the market but knowing her luck they would become even more paltry.

  Amanda certainly had good instincts. If there was any time to raise money on the stock exchange this was it. No wonder Rhett had flown home to Australia. Jim Ballard would be champing at the bit to get news of the project and plot the next steps. But if Amanda thought she would be allowed to do this on her own, she was sadly mistaken.

  After David had gone to bed, Sam relaxed in the garden with a glass of wine where she was joined by Alfredo who had stayed at home for once.

  ‘How’s Cerro Calvo?’ he said.

  ‘Hard work. I’m worried the deposit may be a dud.’

  ‘Amanda won’t like that.’

  ‘Thank goodness she’s away. I’m not looking forward to the results from the last batch of sampling. Anyway, that’s not what’s interesting about Cerro Calvo. Are you in the mood for a surprise?’

  ‘Is it a nice surprise?

  While Alfredo waited in the kitchen, Sam retrieved the precious Inca artefacts from her bedroom. She laid them out on the kitchen in front of his astonished eyes. He picked up the seal, caressing it with his thumb and rolling it on the counter, his gaze fixed on the scrolling wolf people.

  ‘You never fail to amaze me,’ he said. ‘Where on earth did you get these?’

  ‘It’s a long story. Can you tell me what they are? I thought they might be hammer stones.’

  ‘These tools are Inca mining implements. They hadn’t discovered smelting yet so they still used stone tools.’

  ‘They built Machu Pichu with stone tools, didn’t they?’

  ‘Amazing isn’t it? And the seal is Manteño.’

  ‘Is it earlier or later than the Inca culture?’

  ‘They were a contemporaneous culture based in the Manta area. They made their living diving for Spondylus, a type of sea shell that was used as currency as far north as Mexico. Its flesh was considered to be the food of the gods. The Inca did not interfere with their way of life and let them continue to trade the shells and flesh because they were the only people specialised in this type of diving.’