City of Gold, page 18
"Gee, that's too bad," Ronnie said. "What happened?"
"The plane got caught in a storm. Even so, they should've made it. We'll probably never know what happened to bring them down."
"You were tracking it," Nick said. "We should be able to find the crash site."
"I'm afraid it's not that simple," Elizabeth said. "Freddie was tracking the plane by satellite, but he lost it when the storm moved in. We can project the flight path and make a guess as to where it went down, but that's all it is, a guess. They could have been blown off course. We don't know how far they got before they crashed. That stretch of rain forest is unexplored, and it's covered by a thick canopy. There's no way to spot the wreckage from the air."
"The gold Alvarez looted from the pyramid was on that plane," Nick said.
"Won't do him any good now," Lamont said.
"Is anyone going to look for the wreckage?" Selena asked.
"Probably, but it's complicated. The gold comes from Peru but the plane crashed in Brazil. The Inca empire extended to Brazil as well as Peru. The two countries are already arguing about who actually owns the gold. Eventually, someone will go looking for it."
"As long as it isn't us," Nick said.
"I can guarantee that it won't be us," Selena said.
Later that evening, after the twins were asleep and Anna had retired to her private room, Nick and Selena were getting ready for bed. A Miles Davis track played softly in the background.
"It's good to be home," Selena said. "I don't think I've ever been as glad to get back."
"Me neither."
"You remember when I said I never wanted to do this again?"
"I remember."
"I meant it, Nick. That was the last time for me. I'm not going out in the field again. I'm staying home and raise our children. I don't mind working with Elizabeth and doing things here. But I'm not going on another one of these."
"This one was rough, I admit," Nick said.
"Rough? Are you kidding? Valentina almost died. All of us could have died. The only thing that saved us was that shaman, and you had to be dosed with a drug before he decided not to have us killed. For what? So that Brazil and Peru can argue about who owns the gold? Until a little while ago, it was nothing more than a myth."
"Seems like we've spent a lot of time chasing down myths that turn out to be real."
"Well, I'm done chasing them."
"You said that before."
"I did. That doesn't mean I don't mean it now."
"It always comes back to the same thing," Nick said. "If we're honest, we have to admit we're adrenaline junkies. If we don't do this, what do we do?"
"It's true what you say," Selena said, "but it's not worth it anymore. I want to see Jason and Katrina grow up. The fact that we're both still alive after all the things we've done is nothing short of a miracle. If you don't believe me, just take a look at the scars we both have."
"No question that we've been lucky. But we train, we prepare. I think we make our own luck. We know what we're doing."
"Luck always runs out. Just ask any compulsive gambler. Relying on luck is a bad life choice. I'm not doing it anymore. I'm not going to wait for my luck to run out, or yours. We have to stop doing this, Nick."
"Maybe you're right."
"You know I'm right."
"I'll think about it."
"Think hard. I don't want you to get killed. I don't want you to die in some shitty place where people hate us because of who we are."
"Selena..."
"Good night, Nick."
She turned away from him, onto her side.
Nick lay awake after Selena fell asleep, listening to her breathing, thinking about what she'd said. He knew she was right. Maybe it was time to hang it up.
After a long time, he fell asleep, hoping he wouldn't dream.
Notes
The story of the fabled lost city called Paititi has been around for almost five hundred years. It's a story of a hidden Inca stronghold, where the wealth of the Incas was taken to keep it out of the hands of the Spanish conquerors.
The legend gained credibility with the discovery in 2001 of a report by a Spanish missionary named Andres Lopez. Probably written around 1600, Lopez recorded that natives told him of a hidden city called Paititi, located in the jungle on the eastern slope of the Andes. The natives who talked with Lopez told him the city was filled with a treasure of gold, silver, and jewels.
The last stronghold of the Incas was located in a city called Vicabamba. In 1572 the Spanish Viceroy De Toledo sent an expedition to subdue it, believing that the treasure of the Incas would be found there. He was wrong. There was nothing there but a few paltry pieces. The last Inca emperor fled before the troops arrived at the city. Eventually he was captured and beheaded. The missing gold faded into legend.
Captain Gomez is a creation of my imagination, but it seems reasonable to me that further expeditions would have been sent out to try and find the Inca gold.
There's nothing like the lure of gold and a legend of lost treasure to get people looking for it. Over the last hundred years there have been many attempts to find Paititi. The remains of many previously unknown Inca settlements have been discovered, but none have been the City of Gold.
Many gold artifacts were looted from the Inca cities in the sixteenth century, during the conquest of South America by Spain. Most of them were melted down. Today we condemn such treatment of irreplaceable objects of art and culture, but judging the past by the present is an exercise in futility. The wheel of life turns, and what was acceptable to one society becomes anathema to another. There is nothing new about this. It will probably always be the same.
When the Incas realized the Spaniards were not to be trusted, they started hiding their wealth. The Inca Empire stretched for thousands of miles, from Peru to Argentina. The riches of this vast region poured into Cuzco, the capital of the Empire. When the Spanish conquered Cuzco, they found a room whose walls were lined with gold. In the center of the room was a larger than life-sized gold statue of Inti, the sun god in Inca mythology.
Gold was everywhere in Inca art and culture. The Incas were master jewelers and artisans. They made frequent use of jade, silver, and precious stones in their works. The only thing that rivals the volume and craftsmanship of the Incas is the magnificent gold work that comes from ancient Egypt.
To this day, no one knows what happened to the gold that escaped the grasp of the conquistadors. Some say the City of Gold lies in Brazil or Bolivia. I chose to place it closer to the ancient Inca capital, in Peru. If it exists, it is hidden deep within the unexplored Amazon.
The revolutionary group known as the MRTA existed, though to the best of my knowledge it is no longer a threat to the stability of Peru and South America. It was always in second place to the vicious Shining Path, a communist terrorist movement that still causes trouble wherever it festers.
The Amazonian rain forest is a dangerous place. There are a lot of ways to die in the jungle, especially when you leave the beaten path. Poisonous centipedes more than a foot long, vipers whose bite means certain death, spiders with venom that has no antidote, the black scorpion. Not to mention the magnificent Jaguar.
Getting stung by a black scorpion means you are in real trouble and likely to die. It seems to me that people who have always lived in the jungle would know the natural remedies to counteract things like scorpion bites. Every tribal society has a medicine man/woman or shaman who knows the secrets of the plants. Valentina survives the scorpion bite because Llapa knows how to counteract the venom. You or I would probably not be so fortunate.
The description of Supay in the book is based on existing examples of Inca representations and statues. He was the god of death and the underworld, ruling over an army of demons. You wouldn't want to meet Supay in a dark alley.
The drug Llapa forces Nick to smoke in the book is real. It's not a safe drug for recreational use. Think LSD on steroids, and you've got an idea of what it does. In traditional ceremonies, the dosage is carefully prepared by a shaman and is only given with the intention of opening up spiritual perception. The person who takes the drug is closely monitored.
It's unfortunate that use of this drug has spread among those who don't care at all about spiritual knowledge or development.
I hope you've enjoyed the story. Thanks for reading.
Alex Lukeman
September, 2021
Acknowledgments
Neil Jackson, for another great cover. If I have any success with these books, I owe a lot of it to him.
Gayle, because.
All those who labor to post accurate historical information on the internet. In the old days, I would have spent weeks in the library trying to find the core material that forms a background for this book. I remember libraries, with fondness, but I have to say that I'm really glad the Internet exists.
Last, but definitely not least, you the reader. Not much purpose in writing a book if nobody reads it. Thank you.
About the Author
Alex Lukeman writes action/adventure thrillers. He's a former Marine and psychotherapist and is the author of the award-winning books The Tesla Secret and High Alert. He likes riding old, fast motorcycles and playing guitar, usually not at the same time. You can email him at alex@alexlukeman.com. He loves hearing from readers and promises he will get back to you.
*****
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Did you love City of Gold? Then you should read High Alert by Alex Lukeman!
When an American missile submarine is sunk in the Sea of Japan, it's the opening move in a madman's devious plan to plunge the world into war. A day later, the Chinese ambassador to Washington is assassinated. Meanwhile, the unstable leader of North Korea prepares to attack America with a terrible weapon.
The U.S. President calls in the Project, a deep black ops unit that goes places and does things others can't or won't do. They've had tough assignments before: but this time they're up against an unknown enemy, a man bent on vengeance against all of humanity. He won't rest until the world is turned into a radioactive hell… and when it comes to the Project, it's personal.
Can the Project team find him before he unleashes nuclear Armageddon?
Alex Lukeman, City of Gold
