The Lost City

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Back at their hotel in Lima, the ECHO team and Luis Montoya grabbed a few cold beers and took stock of the mission. This was the first real chance any of them had to think about Ryan Bale surviving the Seastead battle and being back in the team, but it was bittersweet because of Maria’s death. They had also lost Professor Balta to Saqqal and Kruger, but they had finally got hold of the infamous Mask of Inti.

Now, they stared at the ancient golden mask in awe. It was vaguely circular and around twelve inches in diameter, formed into what was clearly a burning sun, with wild flames around the outside. In the center was a rendering of the face of Inti himself. He stared back at them with blank gold eyes and elongated, decorated ears.

Thanks to gold being the least reactive metal, no oxides had formed on the mask, so despite its ancient provenance it was still as glorious as the day it had been forged by the Incan goldsmith. Scarlet especially had a hard time keeping her eyes off it.

“You all right, Cairo?” Hawke asked.

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s that the way you’re looking at old Inti there I wondered if you two wanted to be alone for an hour.”

“An hour? Don’t judge everyone by your own standards, darling.”

He gave her a wry smile but turned away to face the Peruvian. “We’re going to need your help now, Luis.”

“Golden masks were very common in Inca legend,” Luis began. “Gold played an enormous part in their culture because they believed it was literally the sun’s sweat. They would use it for all kinds of jewellery and ornaments and they would beat it down into thin sheets and make plates, disks and of course masks from it.”

“No wonder the Spanish thought they’d hit the jackpot.” Lexi said.

“I’ll say,” said Scarlet, unable to take her eyes of the glittering mask.

Luis frowned. “The pillage of Inca treasure by the Spanish is a sad story full of violence and theft. When Francisco Pizarro led his conquistadors into the Inca lands back in the early 1530s and took Atahualpa prisoner, it is true that they couldn’t believe how much gold was here. Even today Peru is one of the largest gold-producing nations in the world.”

Scarlet walked to the balcony and looked out over the city. She let out a long sigh as she lit a cigarette. “I’ve finally found home.”

Luis glanced at her. “For most of the people in my country, Peru has a very low standard of living by most Western standards.”

Hawke cleared his throat. “Let’s get back to the mask.”

“As I was saying, it was previously thought that Pizarro held Atahualpa hostage until a ransom was paid, and because he was such a mighty emperor, they got their blackmail money. His people delivered more gold and silver than the Spanish had ever seen before — historians claim it was more than could be carried by fifteen thousand Incas — and the invaders happily took it all, including presumably this mask. Today we think it more likely that Atahualpa offered the incredible amount of treasure simply as a way to keep himself alive.”

“Did it work?” Reaper asked.

Luis shook his head. “It definitely did not work. Atahualpa’s generals, including the famous Rumiñawi continued to make war against the Spanish in a bid to free their emperor, so Pizarro staged a show trial for Atahualpa and found him guilty of rebellion. He was sentenced to be burned to death.”

“Bloody hell,” Scarlet said.

“An especially wicked sentence because it was the Inca’s belief that if you were burned to death your soul would not reach the afterlife. Luckily for Atahualpa, a Spanish friar managed to persuade Pizarro to reduce the sentence and he was garrotted to death.”

Lexi raised an eyebrow. “Yes, that does sound lucky.”

“I know what you mean,” Luis said with a smile. “But it was lucky for the emperor because at least that way his soul could go to the Hanan Pacha, their concept of heaven.”

“Anything else we need to know?” Hawke said.

Luis shrugged his shoulders. “Many years after Atahualpa’s death, another Spaniard named Valverde got married to a princess of the same Inca tribe and according to legend she took him to the famous lost treasure — the greatest collection of plates, goblets, salvers and sculptures ever created. The legend said he became very wealthy overnight and then returned to Spain where he wrote what is now known as the Derrotero de Valverde, or Valverde’s Path in which he carefully described how to find the treasure.”

“But obviously no luck?” Lea asked.

“None at all. After Valverde died he bequeathed the map to King Charles V of Spain who in turn sent the map back to South America and ordered a renewed search for the rest of the treasure. Sadly, all expeditions to find the treasure using Valverde’s Path led to nothing but strange disappearances and deaths… unless you count the Blake and Chapman expedition.”

“Do tell,” Scarlet said.

“In 1857, a British botanist named Richard Spruce was on a scientific expedition to discover new plants. He was in South America with the hope of finding a malaria cure when he stumbled upon the map sent there hundreds of years earlier by King Charles. Through a series of conversations over many years, the map ended up in the hands of two Royal Navy sailors named Captain Blake and Lieutenant Chapman.”

“This is getting sexier by the second,” Scarlet said.

“Don’t get too excited,” Luis said. “Soon into the treasure hunting expedition Captain Blake died and they buried him in the Andes but Chapman returned to his ship claiming he had found the treasure and he brought samples to prove it. He left the map with a friend called Albertson in Boston while he took the samples to London for appraisal by the British Museum and then planned to return with a team to find the treasure, except he fell overboard on his way to Albertson in Boston and died.”

“I see what you mean about everyone who searches for this treasure dying,” Lea said.

“So where’s the map?” Hawke asked.

“No one knows. Albertson in Boston was the last person to hold it — if indeed it ever existed. I think with the discovery of this mask we have a much better chance of finding the treasure than anyone with Valverde’s Path.”

Lexi picked up the mask and held it in front of her face for a moment, looking through the eyeholes at the others. “I am your god!” she said.

Luis took it away from her with a frown. “This mask is clearly a priceless work of art simply for its historical and archaeological significance,” he said, “but the merest suggestion that it might contain some kind of clue to the location of Paititi raises its importance to the highest level. This mask could potentially be the greatest archaeological discovery in the history of our country, and maybe the world if the rumors about Paititi are even halfway true. I must say, I still have my doubts, although I am being persuaded slowly that perhaps the Lost City exists after all.”

“We’re not there yet,” Hawke said, taking the mask and turning it over in his hands.

“No, but this is still an amazing artefact. Until the raising of the galleon no one had ever seen it before so this is the first time anyone has really had a chance to see if they are more than mere legends.”

“The second time,” Hawke said with regret. “Kruger’s already had his filthy mitts on it so we have to work fast.”

“Of course,” said the young Peruvian.

“So where are we going next?” Scarlet said.

“Remember what Balta said,” Lea said. “About the mask’s reference to the Nazca Lines?” She called up Google Earth and they zoomed in on the Nazca Lines. Moments later they found the Mandala glyph.

“Professor Balta told us that these pictograms told us we have to ‘Follow the Sun, Cross and Sacred Stone and The Tomb of Pachacuti will illuminate the Path to Paititi.’”

“He also told us no one knows where the Tomb of Pachacuti is,” Lexi said.

“No, that’s not right,” Lea said. “He told us the location of the tomb is disputed.”

“That’s correct,” Luis said. “Some say Machu Picchu but others say Toqocachi, near San Blas.”

“So how does this Mandala thing in the Nazca Lines help us?” Hawke said.

“Balta said it could be some kind of compass.”

They stared at the Mandala again. Do you remember that Balta said he thought we had to line up the sun and the cross of this thing and it would point us in the right direction?”

Hawke nodded. “Use the tool to draw a line through the cross and sun.”

Lea selected the line tool and made the line. “All right — it’s going straight though the middle of the cross and sun, which is making a bearing of about sixty degrees or so. Now what?”

“Balta said it was Fifty Tupus,” Luis said.

Scarlet giggled. “And I think Fifty Tupus…”

Hawke raised his hand. “Don’t even think it, Cairo.”

“Where does it lead?” Reaper said, leaning over Lea’s shoulder.

“Funnily enough,” the young Irishwoman began, “the dropdown menu on Google Earth doesn’t feature any ancient Incan terms of measurement.”

From beside Scarlet on the balcony Ryan called over his shoulder. “It’s about three hundred and thirty kilometres.”

Scarlet twisted her head and faced him. “Christ almighty, Ryan — you really are full of useless drivel.”

“Thanks.”

Lea selected kilometres and a second later her eyes widened like two saucers. “I guess that’s pretty unambiguous then.”

Hawke stared down at the iPhone screen. “Machu Picchu… Pachacuti’s tomb is at Machu Picchu after all.”

“But look carefully,” Luis said. “The line is going just north of the ancient citadel. I don’t think this is a calculation error. I think the entrance to the tomb is just outside the city.”

Scarlet blew out the last of her cigarette smoke and flicked the butt off the balcony. Ryan also turned and they each came back inside the room. “Let’s stop pissing about then and get there,” she said. “Kruger will have beaten this out of Balta by now and he’s probably already halfway there.”