Tyler walked over to the pyramid in the pictogram story. “Notice how the Mandala looks like the overhead view of a pyramid. Now look at the lines in the overhead chart. If you follow them, they go from the Mandala, through every one of the animals, and then straight to the Cahuachi pyramid.”
“Of course!” Fay shouted in triumph. “The Nazca would have wanted to protect their find from thieves and separate it from the main population so that the people wouldn’t get sick. The priests would have been the only ones allowed to have access to it. Not only would they hide how to get inside the pyramid, they would have constructed booby traps to keep invaders from taking the treasure. But they didn’t want to hide it so well that the gods wouldn’t find it.”
“The gods weren’t very powerful if they needed instructions,” Tyler said.
“They weren’t considered infallible like the God of Abraham.”
“The pyramid would have been pretty noticeable at the time. Why not just put a big drawing on top of it to draw the gods there?”
“The Nazca might have thought the gods would return to the Mandala to retrieve their treasure. So they created the lines as a pathway to lead the gods from there to Cahuachi. It’s only ten miles away from the Mandala.”
“But the Tunguska blast was huge,” Jess said. “Wouldn’t a similar explosion have destroyed Cahuachi?”
“We don’t know if Cahuachi was built before or after the explosion,” Tyler said. “Maybe it was destroyed and then rebuilt. Fay said the city was only uncovered fifty years ago, and it’s still being excavated.”
“On the other hand, we could be wrong,” Fay said. “The xenobium could be buried at the Mandala and the pyramid has nothing to do with it. But won’t it be fun to find out?”
Fay’s giddy excitement was contagious, and Jess couldn’t help getting caught up in it.
“Have the archaeologists discovered any way inside the pyramid?”
“A few chambers, but to my knowledge they’ve never found anything like that metal.”
“If the Nazca line drawings form a code,” Tyler said, “how does it tell the gods where to find it?
“I’ve been thinking about this,” Jess said. “If these are astrological symbols representing constellations, then they must go in order from the beginning to the end of the year. The straight lines connecting them could be the pathway that Nana mentioned.”
“We can figure out the astrological link by matching the dots in the symbols to star charts. The question is, how does that tell us where to go in the pyramid?”
“Maybe the symbols have something to do with that as well.”
“We’ll try to figure that out on our way there,” Fay said. Then her voice took on an awed tone. “This could be the single greatest discovery of pre-Columbian archaeology, even though it’s found on Easter Island. Not only does it prove that the descendants of Nazca people came here, but it also provides an answer for the mystery of the Nazca lines.”
“Are you sure you’re up for more travel?” Jess said.
“If you ask me that one more time, I’m going to put you over my knee.”
Tyler laughed. “I’d like to see that. All right, you two. We’re all going.”
When they exited the cave, Tyler handed the case to Polk. “Take this to the car and bring Harris back with you to help us reset the boulder.”
“I’ll go with him,” Fay said. “I want to load this video onto my laptop.”
Jess smiled. Most of her friend’s grandmothers were afraid to even touch a computer, let alone download video. Polk led Fay back up the trail.
“Why put the stone back in place?” Jess said. “Colchev doesn’t have the map.”
“We don’t want anyone else to retrace our steps and find the cave until we’re ready to reveal it to the world. Once the stone is covering the opening, I’ll add some marks on the ground to disguise the ones we made.”
Jess gave Tyler a quick hug. “Thanks for being honest with us.”
“It’s only fair. You’re both sticking your necks out to help.”
“Yes, but we dragged you into this. You could have blown us off in New Zealand.”
Tyler leaned against the cliff face. “Remember in college when you asked me why I was in ROTC?”
“Something about your dad saying you shouldn’t do it.”
“Well, there was that. But it was really because of my father that I did it. His service in the military inspired me. It sounds corny, but there’s a lot to be said for being part of something greater than yourself.”
“Then why did you leave the Army?”
“The prospect of getting blown up all the time was one big reason.”
“Did Karen have anything to do with your decision?”
Tyler nodded. “Not because she forced me to, but because being with her was being part of something greater than myself. She was good for my soul. Boy, that sounds like a sentiment on a greeting card.”
Jess stroked his arm in a comforting gesture. “I think it’s sweet. I’d kill to get a greeting card like that. But what does it have to do with this trip to Easter Island?”
“Do you know what Grant and I were doing in New Zealand? Testing the performance of a new car in winter conditions. Fun and important work, but not earth-shattering.”
Jess nodded. “Our find here is earth-shattering.”
“Exactly. The last few years I’ve been part of discoveries that have been revolutionary.”
“And saved a lot of lives in the process. Yes, I did follow your exploits in the news, even though you shunned the press and kept your private life out of the stories.”
“Grant is the glory hound, not me.”
“So you do it for another reason.”
“After Karen’s death, I thought the world had ended. And it had, for me. But since then I’ve realized that I don’t want to go through the motions in life. I want to make a difference. Not to have my name in the history books, but because it’s what makes me feel worthwhile.”
Jess’s lip curled into a grin. “So you’re being selfish, is what you’re saying.”
“See? You get me. You always—”
Before Tyler could finish, he was interrupted by a honking horn, then the clatter of gunfire.
THIRTY-SIX
Before his private jet had landed on Easter Island an hour earlier, Colchev’s men in Sydney reported that they were leaving the hotel after Kessler no-showed, which meant this path to the xenobium was his only option. He didn’t hear from his men again, so he had to assume that they’d been caught or worse.
With the next flight to Easter Island from Peru not scheduled to arrive until later that evening, the only other jet on the island was a C-17, which must have been sent by the Americans to intercept Colchev. The Gulfstream’s refueling stop in Tahiti had to be the reason the Air Force had beaten him here. The C-17’s range was much farther, so it could fly nonstop, perhaps even refueling in mid-air on the way. Colchev’s jet had to go far out of the way to make the vast distance across the Pacific.
He was sure that the Americans noted his Gulfstream’s arrival, but the tail number would only lead them to the billionaire’s front company based in the Bahamas. Still, seeing a bunch of men step off the plane would raise suspicions, so Colchev had hired two models in Sydney to come along on the trip. When the private jet landed and went through the cursory immigration and customs check, the observers on the C-17 would see two of his men, Kiselow and Chopiak, deplane with the girls and think they were nothing more than extravagant tourists.
Colchev’s late arrival on the island meant that the Americans had a head start. Simply going out to the site mapped out on Dombrovski’s photo of the wood engraving wouldn’t work. And his first order of business was to cover his rear, which meant taking out anyone on the Air Force jet.