The children jabbered excitedly in a torrent of Spanish, Ethan completely at a loss as to what they were saying. Lopez stepped from the interior of the aircraft, a bright smile touching her features as she listened to the children and looked at Ethan.
‘They’re speaking a mixture of Spanish and Quechua, the dialect of the Inca,’ Lopez explained as she listened to the children. Then her face seemed confused and she frowned as she listened to the children’s voices and then looked at Lucy. ‘They say it has been a long time since they have seen an aircraft land on the water. Normally, aircraft come out of the water and fly away into the sky.’
Lucy nodded as she looked at the lake.
‘The Laguna de Huaypo is a place where unidentified flying objects are often seen,’ she explained. ‘To the extent that the locals barely take any notice of them anymore. However, a major event in 1983 was witnessed by a large number of local people. Supposedly, a UFO took off out of the water and flew low over the village at high-speed, causing many of people to be knocked over as it accelerated by. A young boy was knocked over onto his belly and some sort of exhaust hit him as the aircraft passed overhead.’
‘Was he okay?’ Ethan asked.
‘Yes, after receiving hundreds of stitches. The exhaust apparently lifted the skin off of his back and he had to be taken to a local hospital in Cusco where he made a full recovery. Surgeons at the time said they never seen an injury like it, but there was no permanent damage.’
As she spoke, one of the elderly men who had walked down onto the jetty apparently understood her explanation and began jabbering in their local dialect to Lopez.
‘They see many lights in the sky here,’ Lopez translated. ‘The lights never directly interfere with the people and in fact seem to try and stay out of their way, as though they hide deep beneath the water of the lakes high in the mountains where even native folk cannot go. There are the remains of cities built so high in these mountains that the air is too thin for women to give birth, and even mules and other pack animals can only bear light loads, and yet those cities and buildings are built with stones that weigh hundreds of tonnes.’ The old man looked at Lucy as he spoke and Lopez translated. ‘How could these people have done this, when even we cannot work so hard at such high altitude?’
‘You need to move,’ Arnie said to Jarvis. ‘The paperwork at the airport won’t be hard for your Russian friends to follow and they’ll spot my registration pretty damned quick. If they’re in South America already they’ll make a beeline for us.’
‘I appreciate what you’ve done here Arnie,’ Ethan said. ‘Chances are we’re ahead of the Russians and the Americans at least for now.’
Arnie grinned tightly. ‘I did it for Lucy, and on the agreement that you would never show up anywhere near me again.’
‘Benevolent as ever,’ Ethan said as he extended a hand.
‘Get out of my sight,’ Arnie replied as he shook it, a twinkle in his eye.
‘How far away are we from this supposed ancient city?’ Lopez asked Lucy.
‘About twenty five miles, but most of it is uphill as the city resides high in the Andes,’ Lucy replied. ‘It’s a tough journey, to say the least.’
‘Then we’d best get moving,’ Ethan replied as he looked up at the sky. ‘We’ve only got a few hours of daylight left.’
Ethan saw Jarvis conceal a wince as he imagined the distances they were going to have to cover without any kind of help. He glanced at the vehicles parked near the side of the road.
‘Do you think you could get the locals to help us out here?’ Jarvis asked Lopez. ‘Maybe give us a ride to the mountain?’
Lopez spoke in Spanish to the two elderly men who were standing with their hands behind their backs and watching as Arnie and his wife worked on the Catalina to prepare her for flight. The two men looked at each other and nodded, each of them showing a toothless smile and wrinkles that seemed as old and as deep as the gorges on the flanks of the mountains around them.
‘Looks like we got ourselves a ride,’ Lopez smiled brightly. ‘Ladies first,’ she gestured to Ethan.
Ethan turned to her with a wry smile. ‘Remind me why it was we stopped working together?’
‘You couldn’t take the competition.’
Ethan shook his head as he walked towards the two battered sedans, both of which were painted dark blue, the coat just visible beneath a thick layer of dust that coated both vehicles.
‘The Russians aren’t the only people likely to be on our case,’ Jarvis pointed out as he joined Ethan.
‘Can’t you call in support of some kind, give us the protection we need until this is all over?’
‘My position here is now as unofficial as yours is,’ Jarvis admitted. ‘The Intelligence Director cannot sanction operations out here in Peru without the agreement of Congress and lengthy negotiations with the Peruvian government. Technically, if I wasn’t retired I wouldn’t even be allowed to be here. We’re on our own whether we like it or not.’
‘Now you know how we felt on all those operations that you sent us on,’ Ethan smiled grimly. ‘Not so much fun being a deniable asset yourself, is it?’
Jarvis did not reply as they reached the vehicles, one of the old men hurrying ahead and jumping gamely into the driver’s seat.
‘We’ve got them.’
Aaron Devlin looked quickly at the paperwork handed to him by Lieutenant Veer, who had hurried aboard the Bombadier. Flight plans and passenger manifests detailed the Catalina’s passage into Peru, where it had landed for both fuel and customs duties before continuing on using an Instrument Flight Rules flight plan. The destination was marked as Maria Reiche Neuman Airport.
‘Cusco,’ Aaron said as he examined the flight plan. ‘What’s there?’
‘It’s an ancient Inca city, long since rebuilt. There are considerable Inca remains in and around the city, so it’s possible that is their final destination.’
‘I’d believe that if it were not for the amphibious nature of this Catalina they’ve hired,’ Aaron replied. ‘Are there any major bodies of water between the point of departure near Lima and their landing at Cusco, and have they been registered as having arrived yet?’
‘Local air traffic is not recorded them as having landed yet,’ Veer replied. ‘There are several bodies of water on the flight path, most of them at fairly high altitude but there is one in particular low enough and large enough that the aircraft could both land and depart provided the local air temperatures were not too high.’
‘Is it within the vicinity of any known Inca remains, any cities or archaeological sites of note?’
‘It’s within twenty or so miles of Macchu Piccu,’ Veer said.
Aaron did not need to be told what Macchu Picchu was, its appearance iconic and photographed possibly more than even the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully with one hand. Cusco was indeed an ancient Inca city but a heavy rebuilding programme and a likely dense modern population almost certainly ruled out the chance of any undiscovered tombs or similar archaeological sites being missed over the centuries. But Macchu Piccu sat atop a mountain ridge high in the Andes and was surrounded by other archaeological sites of similar note, any one of which might yet be home to undiscovered remains, exactly the kind of thing that Lucy Morgan was looking for.