"Did you look around the base of the temple? Maybe he fell--"
"I sent four of the archaeology students down to search. They found no sign of the Doc."
"Could any of the students have moved him?"
"I checked. They're all as bewildered as we are."
"Dead bodies do not get up and walk off," said Pitt flatly.
Rodgers looked around the outside of the temple, then gave a shrug. "It looks as if this one did."
The air conditioner whirred and circulated cool dry air inside the long motor home that served as the archaeology project's headquarters in Chachapoya. And the man reclining on a leather sofa was a great deal less fatigued than the men and women in the City of the Dead. Juan Chaco rested languidly while maintaining a firm grip on his well-iced gin and tonic. But he sat up in full wakefulness almost instantly when a voice came over the radio speaker mounted on a wall behind the driver's compartment.
"Saint John calling Saint Peter." The voice came sharp and distinct. "Saint John calling Saint Peter. Are you there?"
Chaco moved quickly across the interior of the plush motor home and pressed the transmit button on the radio. "I am here and listening."
"Turn on the recorder. I don't have time to repeat myself or explain the situation in detail."
Chaco acknowledged and switched on a cassette recorder. "Ready to receive."
"Amaru and his followers were overpowered and taken prisoner. They are now being held under guard by the archaeologists. Amaru was shot and may be badly wounded."
Chaco's face suddenly turned grim. "How is this possible?"
"One of the men from NUMA, who responded to your distress call, somehow escaped from the sinkhole and pursued Amaru and his captives to the valley temple where he managed to subdue our overpaid cutthroats one by one."
"What sort of devil could do all this?"
"A very dangerous and resourceful devil."
"Are you safe?"
"For the moment."
"Then our plan to frighten the archaeologists from our collection grounds has failed."
"Miserably," replied the caller. "Once Dr. Kelsey saw the artifacts awaiting shipment, she guessed the setup."
"What of Miller?"
"They suspect nothing."
"At least something went right," said Chaco.
"If you send in a force before they leave the valley," explained the familiar voice, "we can still salvage the operation."
"It was not our intention to harm our Peruvian students," said Chaco. "The repercussions from my countrymen would spell the end to any further business between us."
"Too late, my friend. Now that they realize their ordeal was caused by a looting syndicate instead of Shining Path terrorists, they can't be allowed to reveal what they've seen. We have no choice but to eliminate them."
"None of this would have occurred if you had prevented Dr. Kelsey and Miles Rodgers from diving in the sacred well."
"Short of committing murder in front of the students, there was no stopping them."
"Sending out the rescue call was a mistake."
"Not if we wished to avoid serious inquiry by your government officials. Their drownings would have appeared suspicious if the correct rescue measures hadn't been taken. We cannot afford to expose the Solpemachaco to public scrutiny. Besides, how could we know that NUMA would respond from out of nowhere?"