By the early afternoon they are within an hour of the crater wall, Jacob implied his satellite phone was not in his bag, he pretended to check the canoe, and then shouted over to the other boat if anyone has seen it.
‘Jacob I think you left it in the dining room, as it was not working, would you like to borrow mine? Michael checked it as you requested.’
‘No Christophe it can wait. Would not want to drop that in the river, it is the only other one we have, you hang onto it.’
The river never allowed you to see in a straight line for long, its dark khaki coloured water hid its speed and depth. The land around them appeared to be less flat, with small hills showing above the massive jungle canopy, the river showed some small gorges on their left side.
Osvaldo Rodrigo was sitting behind Jacob, and had been silent for most of the trip, ‘It is near now, we can moor the canoes at some trees that make a jetty just around the next bend.’
‘You sure?’
‘Yes, I know this river, although usually I am coming from further upstream.’
Osvaldo Rodrigo called across to the other local boatmen, and then moved over to the slower water on the left. The tree trunks became visible just past the bend, their two-metre wide bodies half submerged and covered with new moss.
Boats moored safely, their owners staying with them to ensure none drifted, the group set off to cover the short distance of half a kilometre to the waiting wall.
Kevin was in the front following Jacob and Osvaldo Rodrigo, the jungle thick at ground level, all being wary where they stepped, hidden holes from the wash of the river floods, and creatures that did not take kindly to footsteps in their proximity.
Laurent was impatient as always, and had approached the wall from a different direction through the jungle further downstream; he questioned the expertise of their local guides. His previous visit had allowed him to do much more exploring than he allowed anyone to know.
Osvaldo Rodrigo and his companion stopped and stared at Laurent, unnerving him, they turned and pointed. Just above the trees appeared to be the wall of a gorge, not overgrown with greenery, just criss-crossed by moss and vines. The jungle had not encroached near this gorge wall, it had stopped about ten metres from it, not a single tree had grown there, just low-lying vegetation. The group all stopped and looked at the gorge wall, realising what it really was.
‘Jacob, this is your pared del crater, crater wall.’
Jacob took in the scale of the structure before him, the wall curving to the left and right. Even the trees were hesitant to challenge something of this scale. The wall was over one hundred fifty feet high, steeply angled up at about twenty degrees; some areas had collapsed the victims of minor plant growth, or earlier looters. The majority of the wall was overgrown with moss, but some areas showed the mud bricks that formed the structure. They appeared almost melted, the centuries of weathering returning them to the earth, even baked hard mud, could not resist nature’s reclaiming grasp.
Jacob had put his bag down, directed Kevin on what to photograph. Laurent approached him, ‘Do we climb over again? There is only a lake on the other side.’
‘No we do not, Osvaldo Rodrigo knows of an old entrance with some stone inscriptions we may find of interest.’
‘As you wish Jacob, would you mind if I go up to get a better overview, the weather last time did not allow it.’
‘Okay but don’t get lost.’
‘I will take Luis Alfredo with me, I am sure he will have no difficulty leading me to you.’
Laurent and the young man moved off up the wall, climbing steadily but surely, appearing like toddlers climbing an oversized staircase. Kevin took some photos of their ascent before moving off to the right, following Jacob.
Laurent reached the top within minutes and sat regaining his breath, his companion clearly perturbed; checking the contents of the rucksack Laurent had given him.
‘You are sure this will work? I cannot afford any mistakes?’
‘Mr Laurent, my leader will take them to the cave, and once they are inside, I will bring down the keystone supporting the roof, and then I will be leader as will you.’
‘The explosives I supplied they are sufficient, I am not an expert in these…’
‘Yes, I used to go blasting in the mountains, this is more than enough, I am used to dynamite, but this plastic explosive is more controllable.’
‘Will it kill them?’
‘When that roof collapses it will kill them all.’
Laurent smiled at the young man, noticing the blue glow from inside his shirt, looking away before the young man could follow his gaze of fascination.
Jacob moved to the cave a few hundred feet down the wall, an opening around forty feet high in front of them, two rectangular stone pillars supported a large slab. The slab appeared, even from this distance to be several feet thick, and thirty feet across, but more decorative than supportive. There were no bricks on the slab above, but cascades of them running either side of the supporting pillars, the same steep angle on all. Jacob stood directly in the centre of the entrance, Osvaldo Rodrigo next to him, ‘this is the entrance to the complex; there are inscriptions on the columns from other visitors, come see.’
They stepped inside and Osvaldo Rodrigo used a stick to point to the carvings. ‘We have Inca, Chinese, Spanish and La Tolita.’
‘La Tolita, I know this from excavations on the coast.’
‘Yes I know Jacob, how do you think I knew of you?’
‘Osvaldo Rodrigo what else are you keeping from me?’
‘Many things and all will be revealed soon.’
From above them some pieces dislodged, the fragments falling as drifting dust from the gargantuan stone above. The group barely noticed, but Jacob was very aware, he glanced at Osvaldo Rodrigo who also looked surprised. Jacob began to move further into the cave, his guide following rapidly behind him.
Just as they reached the main group, yelling at them to move there was an ear-splitting boom accompanied by a cracking and splintering of rock.
The stone slab cracked in the centre, the shaped charges that Luis Alfredo had applied directing all their force into the ancient stone, the forced fracturing causing it to collapse under its own weight.
From his position above Laurent and Luis Alfredo watched the few seconds it took for the stone to fill the space below, dust and debris flying up at them sixty feet above. One of the stone pillars dislodged from its enclave, dragged across the front by the bulk of the rapidly descending covering slab. The forty-foot pillar was leaning against its old neighbour, propped up like a drunken man late at night.
‘A job well done Luis Alfredo. Now we must meet my friends back at the river.’
Inside the cave full of choking dust it was totally dark. Most people rarely experience complete darkness; there is always some light in the world, artificial or even moonlight. But in true darkness you can hold your hand in front of your face, you know it is there but your eyes cannot see it. For some people this is truly unnerving and they can quickly become hysterical, which was exactly what Kevin was doing. Jacob reassured him, when he saw the blue glow and realised where it was coming from. Both Katherine and Osvaldo Rodrigo had something glowing around their necks.
‘Katherine is that your necklace glowing?’
‘Yes Jacob, but so is Osvaldo Rodrigo‘s?’
When Katherine removed her necklace and held it in front of her, Osvaldo Rodrigo doing the same, they had identical necklaces.
‘Where did you get that Katherine?’
‘Jacob gave it to me, it was my mother’s; she died and left it to me when I became eighteen.’