CHAPTER 54
“Finally,” said the cult member dressed in the priest costume, “thanks to our rich and powerful new friend, we have everything we need to find Inkarri’s Lost City of Gold.”
His warriors rattled their blowguns.
The fanatical leader raised his arms toward the sky. “We have the ancient staff and ceremonial headpiece of the Willaq Umu, the high priest of the sun. We have the girl with the hidden map written inside her memory.”
“Really?” said Merck. “I don’t see her. Maybe you should cut me down so I can help you recapture her.”
“She is with the Colliers,” said the cult guy in a wool hat. “At the temple.”
“There they will learn what I must say to raise Paititi!” said the cult’s priest. “What words I, the high priest of the sun, must say when we offer Inti the ancient sacrifice that he demands—your still-beating heart. Prepare to die!”
“All of us?” cried one of Merck’s goons.
“No,” said the priest. “Just your chief. He who hides one eye.”
“Silence!” the cult leader shouted at Merck’s cronies, who were celebrating the fact that they wouldn’t have their hearts removed. “Supay?”
One of the big guys toting a blowgun fell to his knees. “Yes, Your High Holiness?”
“Prepare the sacrificial tumi. Make certain its blade is sharp so it might cut clean!”
“Yes, Your High Holiness!” Supay ran off.
I wiped some sweat out of my eyes and wondered, What will these guys do to Storm after she takes them where they want to go?
“We’re in luck,” I heard Dad whisper to Tommy.
“Um, how’s that?” Tommy whispered back.
Dad wiggled his satellite phone. “I did some quick research online. Today is definitely our lucky day! We just have to wait a few more minutes.”
“They’re going to kill Merck,” I said.
“No. We are going to stop them.” Dad checked his dive watch. “We just have to wait fourteen minutes and thirty-two seconds.”
We kept still.
We remained quiet.
We waited fourteen minutes and thirty-two seconds.