“Of course not.”
William slammed his fist against the table. His glass jumped, and the ice clinked against the sides. “Then where is he?” At seeing the look on Daniel’s face, William regained his composure, taking his drink and settling back into the sofa. “You do know…”
“Yes, I know about Miss Jones. But beyond that, sir, I would suggest you speak with your son directly.”
“That’s the point. I can’t reach him. His friend is missing and it turns out two other friends of Matthew’s are also missing, in the wind, whatever. I have no idea what to believe about anything anymore.”
Daniel proceeded, his voice checked, tone modulated. “I can’t assure you of Matthew’s safety, but I can assure you that he isn’t involved with what happened to Sophie.”
“What do you know?”
Daniel stood. “May I be excused?”
“No, you may not.”
Daniel clasped his hands behind his back, and William shot to his feet. “Tell me,” he demanded.
“Sir, fire me if you have to, but I cannot say any more. It’s a matter of life and death. Please take my word on this.”
“Life and death? Matthew’s?”
Daniel met his eyes now. “It could be. Please, sir, I have worked with you for how many years?”
Stuck on the horrendous possibility that Daniel’s speaking could somehow lead to Matthew’s death, William stepped back.
“Thank you, sir.”
Daniel left the room, leaving William standing there. In shock. Rendered speechless. How was he supposed to stay out of it while his only child was involved with something that could get him killed?
-
Chapter 61
THE FOLIAGE BECAME THICKER AS they neared the structure, resulting in more swipes with the machete to clear a path. It was frustrating to be so close yet have their progress impeded. The sun coming through the aperture above had dimmed, indicating it was early evening. It wouldn’t be much longer before darkness fell. But none of them would stop this close to their destination.
After an hour, they reached the building, and what they had thought to be gold was, in fact, just that. Matthew touched the vegetation-covered pyramid, paying attention to where he placed his hand as he had earlier.
Cal and Robyn started ripping vines and roots from the building. Their thoughts were obviously far removed from any poisonous insects.
“Damn! We really did it!” Cal screamed and turned to shake Matthew’s shoulders.
“It’s not even tarnished underneath here. It’s pure gold,” Robyn observed. “Do you have any idea what this building alone would be worth?”
“Priceless comes to mind,” Cal said.
“Where is all the treasure?” Ian asked.
“You mean besides the entire building being made of gold?” Matthew sneered at Ian, then said, “It’s likely inside.”
“Well, if the treasure’s inside, let’s get in there and move on,” Ian said.
Cal scowled and faced Ian. “Finding the entrance might help.”
Ian lifted his gun.
“Cal, come on.” Robyn yanked on a patch of briar and tossed it behind her.
Matthew had to make the call, and it was better to do so sooner rather than later. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think we’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that.”
“Why?” she asked.
He indicated the fading sun. “It’s going to be dark soon, and the temple is covered. It will take a long time to clear it enough to find an entrance.”
The way her eyes fell told him she recognized the truth in his assessment, even though she didn’t want to accept it.
Juan and Lewis had stopped moving and Matthew found Ian off to the side, picking at some leaf the size of an elephant ear.
“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you,” Matthew said.
Ian quickly pulled his hand back. “Why?”
Matthew shrugged. “You never know.” On past endeavors, he had encountered Venus flytraps that could rival those of Hollywood’s creation. What could seem an innocent plant could mean death.
Ian swept some tall grass aside with his gun, then headed away from the temple. Seconds later, he called out, “Look what I found.”
The rest of them stopped what they were doing and went to Ian. In front of him was a golden staff stuck into the earth. It was to the right of the temple, past where they had cleared a path.
Robyn looked at Matthew. “This must be the rod that Cápac was said to have put in the ground where he planned to build a temple in Inti’s honor.”
She threw her arms around his neck, and when she pulled back, she did so slowly. Their eyes traced each other’s lips. Matthew had the urge to follow through, recalling his earlier regrets for not doing just that, but Cal punched both their arms.
“Hey, we’ve saved Sophie’s life.” He grinned and blinked back tears.
“All I want to know is why no one has found this before now.” Ian gestured toward the crevice above.
Matthew took in the overgrown foliage, figuring that the Incas likely kept it trimmed back to allow direct sunlight. He imagined the temple cleared and sparkling as the sun streamed down on it. It must have filled the entire cavern with a golden glow. This thought brought his mind back to the golden hue of the lagoon. He glanced back at the water. Was it gold due to the fish or something else?
Ian raised his brows at Matthew, impatiently waiting for a response. The memory of the gun pressing into his lower back was a vivid one, so he answered. “Planes weren’t invented until the early nineteen hundreds, and as for treasure hunters, most concentrate their efforts in Peru, Brazil, and northern Bolivia.”
“So we got lucky?”
“If that’s how you want to see it,” Matthew said. “Either way, we found it.”
“I’m not satisfied until we find treasure that we can hold in our hands.” Ian pulled the golden staff from the ground.
“No!” Robyn’s cry came too late.
The mountain started to shake around them, and the macaws that had serenaded them for most of the day flew away with wild flaps of their wings. They weren’t the only ones who were spooked, either. What was happening now?
-
Chapter 62
THE SNAPPING OF ROOTS AND branches filled the air, mixing with the calls of more birds than Matthew had known were there. They had blended into their surroundings so well before, but now they flew away in droves, filling the air with thunderous applause. They all fluttered out the opening of the cavern.
“Put that damn thing back into the ground!” Robyn snatched the golden staff from Ian, who stood there, frozen in place. She tried to return the rod from where he had taken it, but it wouldn’t go back into the spot. It was as if the hole had sealed up.
Just as fast as the quaking had started, it stopped. The calm before the storm?
Robyn pushed the staff hard into the ground, shoving it back into position. “There.”
Nothing happened. But what Matthew guessed was supposed to happen had already occurred.
The greenery was mostly cleared away from the temple. The entire thing was gold, and it butted up against the side of the cavern with its front face meeting the lagoon. There were docks made of gold connecting it to the water. Upon one dock were four figures that resembled Incas with headdresses, and it seemed as though they were standing guard. There was also a lone water mill; it, too, was made of gold.
The tiers of the ziggurat were smooth on the top and sides. There were no carvings of any kind. It must have been so that the sun could better reflect the gold.
It appeared as if half of the building was the temple while the other was full of residences.
“The Sapa Inca and the high priest would have lived here with their families,” Robyn commented. “Sapa was the title
of their emperor.”
No one responded to her, but a reply wasn’t necessary.
Matthew was enthralled by the brilliant and intriguing architecture—pointed, steepled roofs adorned the dwellings, similar to those of Cambodian construction. Each had windows of darkness that beckoned to him, taunting him to investigate. But his feet remained fixed on the earth.
Matthew scanned the temple again. Fourteen layered tiers—each looked to be two feet tall—made it possible to walk up the temple’s side. The roof of the temple area was flat, but to its left was a square, vaulted room.
Then he saw it. Up the center of the temple were three panels. Like an engaged garage door system, the bottom panel now overlaid the one above it, and the temple door gaped open.
The positioning of the building made it necessary to either cross the lagoon on a boat or climb up from the side, as Matthew intended to do.
He took the first step up, carefully balancing, and made it to the first flattened section where he walked around to the center of the structure.
He heard the others following him but continued with his focus straight ahead. As he neared the temple door, he saw steps going down inside the structure.
His heart was pounding, and his stomach was churning. Adrenaline pumped through his system at an alarming speed. He was standing on the temple of Paititi. The intensity of this monumental discovery washed over him, drowning him in emotion.
“Damn, I wish my camera worked,” Cal said.
“And we’re all happy it doesn’t,” Ian moaned.
“Shut the hell up.”
Ian spoke through clenched teeth. “Listen, this isn’t some fun excursion. Let’s just get this over with. We go inside, see the treasure, get the hell out of here, and then let Vincent know where and how to collect it.”
-
Chapter 63
DANIEL LEFT WILLIAM AND RETREATED to the privacy of his own room. He had Lauren bring him a bowl of soup to calm his queasy stomach, but he wasn’t sure it would truly help. For William to approach him like that and so blatantly demand answers—answers that he wasn’t in the place to provide—was hurtful. Daniel loved him because he saw who William was outside of the media light, but the man who’d just confronted him was not the William he knew. Behind the closed doors of his home—a mansion, no less—he was simply made of flesh and blood. Like anyone else, William did what was necessary to provide for his own. Daniel had thought for sure that William was going to let him go. Instead, he’d witnessed in the man what he knew was there all along, a sense of humanity.
While his chicken noodle soup cooled in the bowl, Daniel waited for the next proof-of-life video to come through. Sleep was elusive these days anyhow. Until Matthew and the others returned safely and Sophie was rescued, he didn’t have time to rest.
As if on cue, his phone vibrated with the incoming message. He opened the video and took a few deep breaths before hitting “play.” He found it best to prepare himself. Even though he had already seen three videos of Sophie’s confinement, they didn’t get any easier to watch.
This one had her confined to the bed as the others had, but her eyelids sagged as if she had surrendered to her situation. The spark of hope seemed to have left her.
After being held five days already, Daniel was impressed that her captivity was only just starting to show its wear on her. He assumed she was being physically provided for but surmised sleep was elusive to her, as well.
Since Vincent had slapped her, Sophie hadn’t opened her mouth in any of the videos again. The image of her sitting there gazing into the camera lens in silence was deafening, though.
Daniel watched the video and then replayed it frame by frame. Nothing in it seemed to provide any clues this time. He hoped that Justin had made some progress trying to track the phone via GPS, at least, but the way things seemed to be going, it was unlikely.
-
Chapter 64
AS HE STEPPED THROUGH THE entrance, the hairs on the back of Matthew’s neck and arms rose. He was trespassing on sacred ground. It felt as if the spirits of a lost civilization remained, instilling both fear and a reverential awe.
He flashed his light into the cavernous space. Ten stairs led down to a flat surface. As he swept the beam around the rest of the interior, it reflected back as a spotlight, bouncing off the gold.
Cal had been right when he’d said this place was priceless. First, the structure was made of gold. Second, the building was centuries old and belonged to an extinct people. It was impossible to put a price tag on it.
With each step, his chest tightened a little more. An earthy smell lingered in the air, as if sealed inside. His gaze traced over the walls, then the floor, on his next step. He searched for any indicators that traps had been laid in case outsiders made it this far. Despite the unlikelihood that traps might await them inside the temple, he wasn’t going to let his guard down. Doing so could mean the difference between life and death.
He found his imagination skipping ahead to what they might find down here, including treasure beyond human comprehension. His soul longed to investigate the dwellings, too—the ones on the other side of the temple and those across the lagoon.
Matthew reached the bottom of the stairs, the others still close behind, and their flashlights revealed an area of about twenty feet by twenty feet, but there was no treasure to be seen.
“There’s nothing down here,” he said, and he made a note of how his voice echoed in the space. It truly was empty.
“What do you mean there’s—” Ian brushed past him. His flashlight beam moved in wild arcs, crisscrossing the space. “Where’s the gold? The treasure? It’s not like we can walk off with the temple in our pockets.” Ian raised his gun and pointed it at each of them in turn. “Is this some sort of fucking joke? I will kill all of you right now.”
Matthew wasn’t in the mood to deal with Ian, even if he was armed. “It has to be here somewhere. Everyone spread out but be careful.”
“I’m holding a gun on you and you still think you’re in charge?” Ian cocked his head.
Matthew saw desperation in the man’s eyes, and desperation was the root of most tragedies. Matthew didn’t need Ian making a demonstration of it here. He raised his hands in surrender. “What do you suggest?”
“That’s more like it.” Ian’s jaw jutted outward. He remained silent for seconds, as if he contemplated suggesting another course of action than what Matthew already had. At least a minute later, he said, “Spread out. Don’t think of doing anything stupid, though.”
“What are we going to do?” Cal asked Ian as he walked past him.
Matthew relaxed when Ian lowered his weapon. He started to search straight ahead, as did Cal. Robyn headed to the right, the Bolivians stayed in the middle of the room, and Ian went left.
Matthew looked up, noticing an aperture in the middle of the pyramid. What appeared flat from outside was, in fact, an opening. The floor was made of stone blocks, larger than those the Incas used for building the tunnel walls and came in at approximately three feet by four feet. They’d been laid out in an offset pattern with the ends of the bricks centered at the middle of the bricks beside them.
The walls were gold and smoother than drywall.
As Matthew’s hand came into contact with the gold wall here, the past rushed over him. All the research he had conducted on the city of Paititi summoned up images of the people, their gods, their battles, their victories, and then their destruction. He pulled his hand back as if it had been burned. He hesitated, then touched the wall again, anticipating to be thrust back into the past, but that didn’t happen. This time he simply felt the cool temperature of the gold.
He glanced at the others in the room. They all seemed to be as caught up as he was in the architecture and history.
“I found something,” Robyn called out. “Should I push it?”
Matthew took a deep breath and walked over to her. The others followed his lead. It was round and engraved with what looked like a man’s face with a headdress on his head. Apprehension and excitement swirled through him. This was different from the emblems they had found in the tunnels and so far pushing those were responsible for good and bad luck. Who knew what activating this one would mean.
“It could open up the treasure room.” Cal smirked.
“It could also seal us inside,” Ian countered.
Cal rolled his eyes at Ian. “You’re always so positive.”
“Let’s just get the damn treasure,” Ian hissed.
“Matt, what do you think?” Robyn asked.
Matthew assessed the Bolivians. Juan and Lewis met his gaze.
“It’s up to you, Mr. Connor. We trust you,” said Juan.
There it was again—the weight of a life-and-death decision on his shoulders. He glanced at the open temple door. Then back to the group. Each of them watched him, awaiting his decision. “We have no choice. Push it.”
“Push it? Just fabulous. Now we’re going to die in here,” Ian muttered.
“Do it, Robyn,” Matthew directed.
She nodded at him and pushed the seal.
The ground shook again, a result that was becoming an expected reaction to initializing the emblems.
Their flashlights cast light in the direction of the entrance.
“Good news. It’s not shutting,” Robyn said.
The back wall slid open like a pocket door, revealing an angled golden disc. It was mounted to a type of trolley and came out to the middle of the room on a ratcheting system. The disc was then placed on an angle. It was at least thirteen feet in diameter and was now positioned beneath the opening in the ceiling. In this location, it would reflect sunlight from above into the city.
“It’s just as the legends claim,” Matthew said. “It’s probably the one that was in the Big Temple of Cusco. They must have moved it here to protect it.”
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