Kurt had no idea if there was any merit to the tale, but he found it fascinating. “Were there any survivors?”
“A few hundred,” Urco said. “Those who’d lived higher up in the hills. When they tried to rebuild their civilization, they did things differently, constructing their dwellings in the cliffs instead of on the valley floors, where they felt they’d be safe from any future disaster. At first it was simple logic, but as time went by it became their way, their religion. They became the People of the Clouds.”
“Can’t say I blame them,” Kurt added.
“Indeed,” Urco said. “Who could sleep on the low ground after surviving a night like that?”
“Sounds like you’ve got it all worked out,” Kurt said. “What do you need us for?”
“To help me prove it.”
“By exploring the lake,” Kurt surmised.
Urco nodded. “The Peruvian government has given me a permit but denied all my requests for funding or help. They have a vested interest in not diminishing the appeal of the mighty Inca. And I lack the funds to mount a submerged expedition myself. But I tell you, at the bottom of that lake is a flooded city the likes of which no one has ever seen.”
The idea of unearthing something that would change the accepted history appealed to Kurt, but they had a more pressing issue. “I’m sure something could be arranged,” he said. “You help me, I’ll help you.”
Urco stroked his bushy beard. “I was hoping we could do it the other way around.”
“The problem is, time,” Kurt said. “I have to find this missing aircraft before I do anything else. I don’t say this lightly, but everyone here is in danger until that plane is found.”
Urco looked at him with a powerful gaze. “Why would we be in danger?”
“Because NUMA isn’t the only group looking for the missing aircraft. Agents from several other countries are after it as well. They’ve tried to kill my partner and me several times already. Including on the way up here.”
“On the way up here?” Urco asked, suspicious.
“We were attacked on the road,” Kurt said.
“They could still be following you.”
“Not unless they can fly,” Kurt said. “But others will come. And they’re not the kind of people who are interested in striking deals. They won’t hesitate to torture or kill everyone here to get what they’re after.”
Urco sighed and looked away. “I put nothing past selfish men,” he said. “My research has shown it’s our nature to fight and oppress. But how will helping you protect us? Wouldn’t these other groups be more likely to resort to violence if they knew we had chosen sides?”
“All they care about is the missing aircraf
t,” Kurt said. “Once we have it, they’ll have no reason to be here. The danger will be gone.”
Urco took a minute to ponder Kurt’s words. Finally, he looked Kurt in the eye once again. “Nothing good happens to small people when they get in the way of the great powers. Better that this thing is found and taken away so we can continue on with our lives.”
“So you’ll help us?”
“I will. What do you need?”
“Only for you to show me where you were standing when you took the video. Once we match up the surrounding peaks with what’s on the recording, we can extrapolate the precise direction of the craft and make a good estimate of its speed and altitude. With that information, we’ll be able to find the landing site in a matter of hours and haul it away.”
“And once that’s done?” Urco asked.
“I’ll make sure it’s well known that we’ve recovered the vehicle intact,” Kurt promised. “I’ll even tell the world where we found it so that anyone who wants to look for themselves can bypass you and go straight to the crash site.”
Urco stroked his beard. “Very well,” he said. “Then I will help you gladly. But first . . . we eat.”
28
The mountain road to La Jalca had been blocked. The bridge was gone; its twisted metal frame now lay at the bottom of the canyon while the road itself was covered with a swath of gravel, boulders and rock ten feet deep—remnants of the avalanche unleashed by the errant Chinese missile.
The man who’d fired that missile was gone as well, but Daiyu and Jian had escaped by driving back into the shelter of the tunnel and staying put until the rumbling ceased. They sat in darkness until the choking dust began to settle and a small gap of light appeared near the top of the tunnel.