Not used to being spoken to in this way, Saqqal bristled but said nothing. The truth was he had come to Kruger because he needed him, and for now that meant keeping his mouth shut. He jumped out the chopper and followed the South African. Rajavi, Corzo and Jawad were a few paces behind them.
Settled in behind the Temple of the Sun, Kruger pulled a pair of binoculars to his eyes and surveyed the area for a few seconds. “Don’t want any nasty surprises.”
“Like what?” Jawad said.
“Like the way a cat leaves a shit behind the sofa, Professor.”
“I don’t understand.”
Saqqal sighed. “He means they might have left people up top to keep watch.”
A man in a blue t-shirt and wearing some kind of ID badge around his neck approached and began asking what they were doing. Kruger lowered his binoculars and flashed his submachine gun at the man. “Fuck off.”
The man saw the weapon and after looking up and seeing the other men he staggered backwards, almost tripping over one of the low walls running along the cultivation terraces.
“He’ll call the police,” Jawad said.
“Or army,” Saqqal added.
Kruger was unmoved. “And even by chopper it will take them forever and a day to get here. We’ll be in and out by then. By the time they turn up the only trace of us they’ll find is the corpses of the bastard ECHO team.”
Saqqal smiled with satisfaction, while Jawad shifted awkwardly on his feet. Behind them, Rajavi grabbed Balta by the collar and dragged him away from the helicopter.
Kruger stared at the ECHO team’s chopper parked on the plaza and scowled. “Let’s get this on.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Lea threw the mask up and watched with bated breath as Hawke fitted the Mask of Inti into the recess at the top of the pyramid. They all watched in the damp silence for a few seconds but nothing happened.
“Outstanding,” Scarlet said. “I’ve had more excitement opening a packet of peanuts.”
Then Hawke’s eyes lit up “Wait!”
“What is it?” Lea asked.
“Look!”
The top section of the pyramid began to shake slightly, and then they heard a low, grinding noise before the capstone suddenly dropped an inch lower into the upper section. “It’s opening the entrance to the pyramid,” Reaper said.
Hawke nodded. “If we can get our hands under the gap this thing has just created we can lift it off.”
Lea watched as Hawke and Reaper struggled with the stone lid of the pyramid. They were both red-faced with the effort of lifting the heavy block and grunting as they heaved it up and pushed it away to reveal a small gap.
“Can you see anything?” Lea said.
“Torch,” Hawke said, holding his hand out.
Luis stepped up and gave him his flashlight.
Hawke switched it on and stepped up to the top of the pyramid once again, shining the light inside the small gap and then whistling with surprise.
“What do you see?” Reaper said.
“Yes, come on,” said Scarlet. “Do tell.”
Lea climbed up beside Hawke and peered down inside the gap. She gripped the stone lip of the pyramid as she followed Hawke’s flashlight beam around the inside of the tomb. “Oh my!”
“Exactly what I thought,” Hawke said.
They were looking at the inside of a tomb featuring the strange, seated remains of three dead bodies, mummified and each pointed so they were all facing the center. They were wrapped up in hand-woven textiles and placed neatly around them were various piles of ceramic ornaments, jewellery, weapons and tools for weaving.
“Why are they all sitting like that?” Lea asked, feeling a shiver go down her spine.
“Maybe they were waiting for a bus,” Hawke said.
“No,” Luis said, climbing up between them. “This is not the Inca way, but something much earlier.”
But it was the sun that their dead, covered eyes were staring at that captivated all their attention. It was a large golden sun sculpture inlaid into the floor of the pyramid, and it was looking back at them with timeless eyes carved into the gold. It was two-dimensional, and rose only an inch or two above the floor, and all the way around it were sunbeams made from yet more gold. From what they could see, it looked like the center of the sun might be made from a separate piece of gold.
“I think we need a closer look,” Hawke said. He rubbed his hands together and called out over his shoulder. “Grab me one of those ropes, will you Lexi?”
She handed him the rope and after securing it to the side of the pyramid he lowered it down inside the tomb. “Now then,” he said, clambering over the edge. “No funny jokes involving putting the lid back on and locking me in, all right Cairo?”
“Me?” she said, pretended to be hurt. “Why would I do something like that?”
Hawke gave her a look and then slowly descended inside the pyramid tomb. Due to the angle of the wall as it moved out toward the base the rope dangled straight down without a wall beside it, and he knew that meant a tougher climb back up, but he continued to descend.
His boots crunched down on the tomb floor and kicked up a small cloud of dust. From above, the whole thing had looked eerie enough, but down here, face to face with the mummies on their own turf was downright creepy — especially the way they were all positioned to look down at the sun sculpture for eternity.
He shone the flashlight around the tomb and saw for the first time the murals on the upper walls of the pyramid. “Luis, I think you’d better take a look at this.”
“Me? Go down there? Are you crazy?”
“Yes, yes, and no. Get a wriggle on.”
“What is it, Joe?” Lea said.
“I don’t know, but it looks like the same sort of stuff on the mask.”
Luis climbed down the rope, but with a good deal more grunting and huffing than Hawke. Two-thirds of the way down he gave up and slid down, howling as the friction burned the palms of his hands. He hit the floor of the tomb a second later and began to run around in circles, cursing and blowing on his hands to try and cool them.
Hawke rolled his eyes and shone the flashlight in his face. “Are we ready now?”
“Si… I’m sorry. I haven’t climbed a rope since gym class in school.”
“What was that?” Scarlet called down. “Last week?”
“For your information, I am twenty-five years old!”
“Last week then…”
“Can we move on?” Lea said. “This place is creepy.”
“You’re telling me!” Hawke said. “I’m the one down here with the three amigos.”
“Shit!” Scarlet said, shining her flashlight on the mummy in the north corner. “Did that one just move?”
“What?” Hawke said, taking a step back and raising his fists ready for a fight.
“Oh, sorry,” she said. “I was just making up a load of bullshit for a laugh.”
“Christ, Cairo!” Hawke said. “I’ll get you back for that.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep, darling.”
Hawke shook his head and sighed, and then made his way inside the triangle formed by the three mummies to get closer to the golden sun in the center. He rubbed his hands together and began to turn the dial on the sun’s face. When it had moved ninety degrees he heard a distinct, deep clunking sound and felt something give beneath the dial. “Looks like we’re in business,” he said under his breath.
He pulled on the grooves either side of the dial. Countless centuries had cemented it in place and the resistance was strong, but a few more tugs and it made another metallic clunk sound before coming away in his hands. He placed it down on the dusty floor and looked inside.
There was more pottery and jewellery, all of it bearing various depictions of the sun in the same style as the one they had just opened — but these were all just the support acts. In the center, wrapped in cloth and tied with string, had to be what they had been searching for.