Fraya suppressed the panic that threatened to overtake her as the tribal men, their faces hidden by their scarves, dragged her into a tent. Her feet and hands had been tied up in the car and a bag pulled over her head, which they had removed once they entered the campsite, but they had left the ropes intact. She tried to fight the two men on either side of her, but soon realized that it was futile. It would be wiser to save her energy. A man stood waiting inside the tent, his back turned to her. As her eyes moved over the crop of blond hair, she stilled. She froze in shock and confusion. Slowly, he turned and greeted her with a lopsided grin.
“Hello, Fraya,” he said softly.
“Andrews!”
The men pushed her forward and forced her down until she sat on the dirt against the side of the tent, her arms pulling painfully up her back in their constraints. Her abductors unwound their scarves, and she flinched when she recognized their faces. Panagakos had a look of pure malice, while Smit had the decency to seem apologetic.
Andrews took a step toward her, a smirk now curving his lips. “Aren’t you going to ask what’s going on?”
“I suppose you’re going to tell me anyway,” she bit out, trying to sound brave.
“No,” Andrews said, closing the space between them, looking down at her. “I have no intention of telling you.”
She winced at the coldness of his tone. “You won’t get away with this. They’ll find me.”
“I’m bargaining on that. Very much. They will find you. When we want them to.”
Panagakos laughed. “They’ll find your body.”
Andrews gave Panagakos a look that shut him up. “Tie her neck to the tent pole. We’re moving at sunrise.”
Fraya watched as Andrews and Smit left the tent. Panagakos took a rope and wound it so tightly around her neck she nearly choked.
“Don’t try to move,” he said with evil satisfaction, “unless you want to strangle yourself.”
He left her after that. Fraya felt weak with fear. There were men moving about the site, but she couldn’t even turn her head to see how many of them there were through the slight opening of the tent flap. All she could do was hear the activity, scurrying sounds of metal clanging and preparations for whatever plans awaited.
Smit came back later to loosen the knots of the ropes around her wrists, feet and neck, and he threw a blanket over her. The cuts in her ear ached when he drenched it with disinfectant before sealing them with mousse glue. He had brought food, hydrated meat pellets, which he tried to spoon-feed her, but she shook her head.
“We’re going to walk a long way tomorrow,” he said. “Try to keep up your strength.”
Still she shook her head. She was too nauseous to eat, but she drank the water he held to her mouth. Watching him closely Fraya wondered if she could evoke sympathy with him. She had to try, at least.
As he wiped away the water that had run down her chin, she searched his face. “How long have we been working together, Greg?”
He looked away from her, refusing to meet her gaze.
“I have a daughter, Greg. Let me go and I’ll make sure they don’t put you behind bars. Andrews will not get away with this.”
Smit turned his face back to her. With sagging hope she saw that his eyes had turned hard.
“He will,” he snapped, before pulling the blanket up to her waist. “Try to sleep. You’re going to need it.” Then he marched from the tent.
No one else came back to see her during the night. Fraya didn’t close an eye. All she could think about was Olivia, and Emilio. Now Emilio would never know she loved him. She never told him, and if she was going to die, that knowledge would go with her to her grave. A sob escaped her throat when she thought about her baby girl. What was to become of her?
At daybreak Andrews threw open the flap. He didn’t enter, but told the two men who did, “Untie her and bring her outside.”
Fraya rubbed at her hands and neck. The men, dressed in traditional tribe wear, pushed her into the clearing where another five men waited, including Andrews, Smit and Panagakos. One of the men pulled out a knife and made sure she had seen it before he shoved her forward, the knife at her back.
“Keep her between you,” Andrews said to the two men. He took Fraya’s chin in his hand and turned her face roughly to meet his. “Don’t attempt anything stupid, unless you want your baby to die.”
Coldness enveloped her heart.
Andrews looked up at the nine thousand eight hundred foot high mountain that formed the back of their campsite. “We’re climbing all the way up there.”
Fraya stared at him in shock.
He smiled grimly. “There’s an old Inca footpath leading to the top. If you try anything, you’ll probably fall to your death before my man gets a chance to knife you down.”
A realization dawned on Fraya as she looked around. “You’ve found the site, haven’t you?”
“Yes.” Andrews swung a backpack onto his back. “Your coordinates were spot-on.”
“I don’t understand...” she started, but then she did. Andrews had found the site, and lied to her about it to get her here. The question was why.
“Let’s move,” Andrews said, taking the lead.
The man with the knife pushed her forward, almost causing her to trip. Fraya looked up at the mountain, its top hidden in clouds. Her heart went cold.
The tribesmen leading Andrews and his team up the mountain clearly knew the secret path. It was well hidden and almost impossible to spot. In two places they had to cross a few stepping stones protruding from the wall of the vertical cliff, which had Fraya’s heart in her throat. She tried not to look down as she maneuvered the stones, a rope connecting her to the man in front of her. At another point they had to use a hang bridge that didn’t seem secure. At first, when Fraya saw the gap in the path, she didn’t notice the ropes that were braided together to form the bridge. It had been loosened on the other end of their path, hanging down the abyss, cleverly hidden under the overgrowth of bushes. The distance between the point where the path broke off and where it continued again a few feet ahead was too big to attempt a jump. The cliff was as smooth as marble. Fraya had thought that they had come to a dead end until one of the tribesmen went ahead, navigated the steep drop with amazing ease, and bridged the gap with nothing more than his bare hands and feet. He pulled the rope up and threw it to Fraya’s side where one of the men tied it around two pieces of rock, enabling them to cross, one by one.
The altitude was making the climb all the more harder. Fraya battled to take air into her lungs. At the bottom of the cliff, the tribesmen had handed out coca leaves for them to chew, but even so, she felt the physical effects taking its toll. All the while her mind raced, trying to analyze Andrews’s reasons for her capture, and to work out his plan.
It was dusk when they finally reached the top. Fraya felt herself pulled up over the edge of the cliff by her hands before the tribesmen hurried on, helping the rest of Andrews’s group over the sharp rocks. Fraya fell onto her back, her eyes closed in exhaustion. There was no possibility of escape, no way she could ever make her way down that scary path, unless she wanted to commit suicide, and the men knew it, because when she opened her eyes again the guard who had held the knife at her back lay a distance away from her, catching his breath, not needing to watch her so closely now.
She sat up slowly and gaped in awe. The cliff had a plato on top, invisible from the valley below because of its height. The plain sloped gently to the opposite side of the mountain, creating an almost-even landscape of bright green grass and stone structures neatly organized in a circular pattern. At the backend, the mountain was hugged by two cliffs, both higher than the one they have just climbed, sheltering the buildings in a three-breasted embrace. A pyramid, not as high as it was wide, dominated the far side of what seemed like a village. It stood on the edge of the abyss, the back of it in line with the vertical drop. There were no plants except for the grass and a lonely tree that stood next to the biggest manmade structure. If it wasn’t for her situation, Fraya would have kissed the ground she sat on. Her father would have been so proud, she thought. The lost Peruvian city. Her predictions had been accurate. The missing link in the ancient sites had been found.
It was magnificent. It was strangely intact, something Fraya had not expected. Ruins, yes. But buildings like these ... they should have long since vanished, leveled to the ground by rain and wind and erosion. The village was constructed as a kind of labyrinth, with steps leading from its far west side up to the pyramid. Half of the buildings were hidden in a thin smog of clouds, giving the place an eerie look. Then the clouds shifted, like the opening of a curtain, and Fraya drew in her breath. Smoke came from several of the buildings, which now seemed very much like houses. The village was inhabited. She almost choked on the knowledge. This was the last thing she ever suspected.
A ray of sunlight broke through the clouds, shining like a spotlight on a llama that grazed a grass terrace. Fraya looked around more carefully, noticing for the first time the other signs of life–the animals, the neatly trimmed grass, the firewood stacked at the entrance of the labyrinth ... and the men coming toward them from that entrance.
If it wasn’t for the cliff behind her, she would have scurried back. Instead, Panagakos roughly pulled her to her feet and prodded her forward with his gun at her back. From the greeting Andrews offered, Fraya conduced that he was familiar with the three men who approached them in tribal wear, knee-length cloths decorated with burgundy and green painted seams. Gold rings adorned their noses, ears, necks, arms and fingers. A reclusive tribe. Fraya had read about them, but up to now the idea had seemed unreal, nothing more than a legend. The leader, judging by the feathers he wore in his long, black hair, paused a little way from the village entrance, and motioned Andrews and his party forward. Two guards, Fraya presumed, judging by their spears, flanked the stocky, short man.
Andrews and his group advanced until they stopped a few paces from the tribesmen. Upon closer inspection, Fraya saw that the chief was much older than what she had first guessed. His shoulders were straight and he exuded an air of authority and power, but his face was weathered and lined. The man on his left seemed to be a witchdoctor of some sorts. She had thought his skin was darker than that of the others, but now she noticed that he was smeared with dirt, his hair caked in mud, and around his neck he wore several bones and teeth stringed together. The younger man on the right stepped forward. The chief said something in a language that was unfamiliar, and immediately the young man said, “You have brought the sacrifice,” his eyes moving to her. In fact, all eyes now surveyed her. Panagakos pushed her forward. The chief scrunched up his face as his gaze moved over her, and then he said something again, his tone one of disdain.
“We thought she would come freely,” the young man said.
“We didn’t say how she would come,” Andrews replied, “but she’s the one. She bears the mark.” He pushed her shirt from her shoulder, revealing her birthmark. “Do you have our gold?”
Fraya suddenly realized the reason for her abduction and shivered.
“We’ve got your gold,” the man said, “but it will be given to you only when the sacrifice has been made.”
“We want it during the ceremony,” Andrews said.
The man translated to the chief, who regarded Andrews for a moment before he nodded. He conferred with the witchdoctor and when they fell silent, the man said, “Tomorrow at sunset.”
The chief stepped aside, and they were escorted to the village. Fraya saw men guarding the walls on the perimeter of the buildings, their heads and spears becoming visible through the clouds as she neared. They were taken to a house on the outskirts of the village. There was a commotion inside the labyrinth walls. People had come from their dwellings to stare at Fraya and the passing party. The men were showed inside the stone house, where a fire burned and a pot bubbled over it. Furs were thrown over two square rocks, large enough to be considered a bed, and Fraya was pushed onto one. She sat down reluctantly, watching as a woman entered and busied herself with setting out clay dishes and dishing up the broth.
Fraya turned to Andrews. “So this was the deal, me for their gold?”
Andrews chuckled. “Don’t sound so shocked. Your innocence is almost endearing.”
“You found the city, and their gold. You knew that it would be inhabited. Then you made a deal–a human sacrifice for their treasure.”
“You’re confused,” Andrews said, sounding amused. “You’re wondering why you, and why I’d steal their gold.”
“It’s crossed my mind,” she bit out.
“You’re familiar with their legends, aren’t you?”
In fact, Fraya wasn’t. She knew about the human sacrifice, and that it involved a virgin being tied to a cross in front of the pyramid, killed with the arrows from the warriors’ bows. She shuddered.
Andrews smiled. “That’s why astronomers shouldn’t try to play archeologist.” He took a bowl from the woman and dug into the maize porridge and stew with his hand. “The tribe hasn’t had a sacrifice for centuries. Their people are dying and their babies are stillborn. According to legend, the gods would send them a golden-haired sacrifice with the mark of the Corona Borealis that would end their suffering.”
Fraya declined the bowl held to her and stared at Andrews in disbelief. “Their babies are probably dying from inbreeding, and all they need is medicine.”
“But that won’t achieve my goal,” he said, wiping fat from his chin.
“I’m no virgin,” she said, “and they’ll know. They’ll know I’m not the one–”
“It’s such a pity you don’t know the history. The virgin was only a virgin until she had intercourse with the chosen men for the sacrificing ceremony.”
Fraya felt her blood run cold. “You can’t be serious.”
“The girl fornicates with several of the tribesmen before the sacrifice, therefore it doesn’t matter if she’s a virgin or not. It’s quite a show, I believe. And then she’ll be tied to a cross positioned against the pyramid, and killed with arrows shot at her breasts and genitals.”
Fraya felt sick now. “You’re a cold-hearted murderer.”
Andrews shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”
“I’ll tell them,” Fraya said, “I’ll tell them you’re robbing them.”
“When I told them I had found their sacrifice, the chief threw a banquet for the whole village. If he changes his mind, he’ll be killed by the mob, and he knows that. No, Fraya.” Andrews wiped his fingers over her cheek. She recoiled. “They will sacrifice you, and I’ll have my treasure.”
“You’ll be arrested the minute you set foot back in Cusco,” she said. “Welser is my ally. He won’t let this go without justice being done.”
Andrews pouted and clicked his tongue. “Welser is the one who thought up the plan.”
Fraya shook her head. “I don’t believe you.”
“We knew from the start what you were working on, Dr. Riber. Why do you think you got such a fat job so fast?”
“That’s impossible. I never told anyone about my research, not until I had already been employed.”
“There are ways of knowing the things you won’t tell. Welser had followed you closely for many years. He has powerful backup, and people who knows how to hack computers.”
She couldn’t digest it. “So he employed me, hoping I would find this place?”
“He played you like a puppet. We both did. The tricky part was getting around Saunders, but you handled him so well, you saved us the hassle. I was hoping for a more harmonious working relationship with you, Doctor,” he looked her up and down, “but well, you can’t have it all. Welser was pretty sure you’d succeed. I believe congratulations are in order.”
Before Fraya could stop herself, her hand shot out and landed hard on his cheek. Andrews sat quiet for a few seconds before his fingers slowly moved to caress the red imprint of her fingers on his face.
“I’ll make sure you die as slow as possible for that,” he said softly, as he got to his feet. At the entrance to the house he turned. “The exit is guarded by the chief’s men, so don’t make a run for it. Anyway, there’s nowhere to go.”
Fraya jumped up. “What about Olivia? What will happen to my daughter?”
The look Andrews gave her made her blood churn. “I think we’ll raise a future sacrifice. She fits the description, wouldn’t you say?”
Fraya ran to the hole that formed the door, murder running through her veins, but the young man who had acted as the chief’s translator appeared in the entrance and blocked it. She witnessed the victorious look Andrews threw at her over his shoulder with a feeling of helplessness. The man stepped into the house, forcing her backward.
“My name is Jonas,” he said in perfect English. He pointed at the woman who stood silently in a corner of the room. “This is Mia. She will help you take a bath and give you clothes to wear. You should eat and drink.”
“Why?” Fraya gave a cold laugh. “You’re going to kill me anyway.”
His eyes seemed compassionate. “When we slaughter a lamb, we first feed it fat on cream and soft pastures. That way, the lamb is happy, and the gods are satisfied with a worthy sacrifice.”
She could only stare at his back when he turned and left. Fraya sat down on the slab of rock. Fear ripped her apart, and worry for Olivia ate at her heart. How could she have been so dumb? She should have trusted her instincts. It all made sense now. The meeting in the plane, the first time she saw Andrews, had been no coincidence. She wiped a hand over her face. A sob broke free. Unwelcome tears fell onto her hands and her legs. She had to escape, but how? The woman approached her again with a bowl of cooling stew, but Fraya pushed her away and lay down on the fur, curling herself into a fetus position with her back to the woman. She heard Mia say something to the men guarding the door, but she couldn’t be bothered to see what they were up to. She needed Olivia. And Emilio. She needed to get away.
Exhaustion won over her determination not to fall asleep. Fraya was woken with a light shake. She shot up, reality coming back to her in a flash, and wiped her eyes. It was Jonas who knelt next to her.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said in a gentle voice, his hand resting on her shoulder.
Fraya almost laughed hysterically at that. ‘Don’t be afraid’, he said, when she was to be killed tomorrow at sunset.
“What do you want?” she asked, shaking off his touch.
“Mia said you refused to eat or bath.”
Fraya did laugh this time. “What are you going to do about it? Kill me?”
He clicked his tongue. “This is no way to go. You should eat a good meal, and clean yourself. The walk was long. There is blood on your face. Your body should be tired. Mia has prepared hot water. It will relax you.”
Fraya felt like clawing at him, screaming, raging, but she knew that none of that would help. An idea crossed her mind. Smit couldn’t be moved, but Jonas seemed kind and sympathetic. Would she be able to convince him to let her escape?
She sat up slowly and saw the look of appraisal that came over his face. “I didn’t come here willingly. I don’t want to be a sacrifice. Surely your gods cannot accept that?”
His eyes were watchful and intelligent. “I know what you’re trying to do,” he said softly, “but you’re wasting your energy. Our gods have accepted much less willing sacrifices over the last few hundred years.”
“You can’t seriously believe in all that, in this day and age?”
“You understand so little,” he said sadly. “This is why my people prefer to remain here, unspoiled, and untouched by your destructiveness.”
“But if Andrews takes your gold, you’ll be powerless.”
“The gods will favor us, thanks to you. We’ll find treasures again.”
Fraya realized with dwindling hope that her efforts were fruitless. Jonas reached out slowly and touched her hair. Fraya moved back, causing the strand to slip from his fingers.
“Let Mia help you take a bath, and then eat. She will give you something to drink that will help you sleep.”
Fraya looked around Jonas to see that this time there were two women in the stone hut, one of them Mia. Mia waited patiently until Jonas turned and said something to her in their language, and when he had left, the guards back in place, she took Fraya’s arm and led her around a corner into another small room that held a square rock, carved out deep, holding steaming water.