The 5th Amulet

by SJ Hailey

  Kevin poked his head out of the communications station next to Eli, Jacob spotted him and waved him over. ‘Get your gear Kevin we are going to Ecuador.’

  Before Kevin could respond Jacob was walking towards the waiting helicopter, Jean waiting impatiently beside it.

  ‘Jacob, can we go now?’

  ‘Yes we can my friend, south to discovery if you please.’

  THIRTEEN

  Laurent had returned to camp for supplies, his venture to discover the secrets of the circular wall appeared fruitless. He said all he found was a clay brick wall, with a lake in the middle. His assistant Marianne was as attentive as always, fussing around him like a mother hen. Fortunately Katherine did not witness it, she may have shot the girl. Three days in the jungle with her hero, Marianne had obviously taken advantage. The rest of the group were aware, only keeping their silence to maintain their position on the expedition. Laurent had his usual smug expression upon his less than triumphant return, probably due the exploration of Marianne and not of the jungle.

  He dumped his gear, and walked over to Katherine, embraced her attempted to kiss her. She pushed him away, unhappy at the public show of lust. ‘Christophe, no.’

  He looked around to check who had witnessed this rejection, everyone was looking at him. Christophe tried to console her, brushed her cheek, she moved away, looking straight at him.

  ‘I had a phone call while you were away.’

  ‘Really, who would bother to call here?’

  ‘Jacob.’

  She waited, arms folded, Christophe’s predictable reaction followed.

  ‘What did he want? Did you call him?’

  ‘No I did not call him.’ which was true, she emailed him, but she let the rat squirm for now.

  ‘So what did he call about? Something trivial no doubt.’

  ‘Actually he wanted to know why you had claimed the find of the walled crater, and everything else here, when in fact I discovered the major find.’

  Christophe flushed crimson, obviously caught out by a far more intelligent foe; he attempted and failed to bypass the question. Katherine was having none of it.

  ‘I can tell you now that Jacob is fully aware of who discovered what, and in future, I will be informing The Institute personally of any other finds!’

  ‘You think you will find more, more things! You only discovered the other items by folly not by design, amateur!’

  At this point Marianne appeared on the walkway behind Christophe and made a vain attempt to defend him.

  ‘Katrine, I think you will find that Christophe gave joint credit for your finds.’

  ‘Firstly it’s KATHERINE, not Katrine, second, you know damn well that you would cover his back if it was inches thick in shit, so shut your mouth and walk away!’

  Marianne stepped forward, glaring and took a vain swing at Katherine, who blocked her attempted slap, and punched her in the jaw, sending her reeling back into the lounge area. Christophe was left alone in front of his furious fiancé, wondering what to say, if anything. Katherine saved him the trouble, ‘Here is your ring back. She threw it off into the jungle, ‘You can keep it, if you can find it! I am not leaving this expedition, I am contracted by Jacob.’

  ‘Are you sure about that, perhaps you should check with Jacob!’

  ‘You can check yourself. He will be here by tomorrow, flying into Quito!’

  Christophe was stunned, Jacob here, undermining him, this would not stand, he must do something. He decided that for now he was best ensuring that all the research and recovery was complete for the wreck, and leave the walled crater for now. He moved silently back from Katherine, still staring at him, backtracked and went down a ladder and through to the dig site, leaving Marianne on the floor.

  Debra Sharpe came over, recently arrived on a supply boat. ‘Nice one Katherine, best move you have made in months, course I would have shot Marianne, but that’s just me.’ Katherine smiled, thankful for the small amount of tension relieved by her close friend. ‘I was considering it, that’s why I left my gun under my bunk, no temptation then eh?’

  Debra gave her a hug, unusual but welcome, took Katherine by the hand, and guided her to the food hall, ‘Jerk Chicken always makes you feel better.’

  Laurent walked swiftly to the dig site, avoiding eye contact from all in his path. Someone had put the conversation out on the walkie-talkies, so by the time he crested the mound near the dig site, everyone was looking at him. He cursed quietly to himself, applied his best fake smile, and addressed the head of the dig.

  ‘Bertrand, what progress have you made since my departure?’

  Bertrand pushed back his thick black hair, tucking it under the black sports cap, wiping the sweat with a muddy hanky. His face red from exertion and the stubble on his face covered with a combination of plant life and debris around the area his mask fitted on.

  ‘We have used MARVIN to locate what appears to be a navigator or Captain’s cabin.’

  ‘Really well which is it? You have ‘ad days!’

  Bertrand hesitated, composing himself, not wanting to enrage an already simmering Laurent. ‘We only discovered this structure yesterday, we are currently excavating the area above it, if you would care to wait I am sure that…’

  Bertrand did not have time to finish his sentence, Laurent’s satellite phone was warbling. Christophe raised a clean manicured palm to Bertrand’s face, while simultaneously answering his phone. The conversation appeared one sided, and he just answered ‘qui’ or ‘non’ to almost everything, then he hesitated and hung up, his face concerned. Bertrand did not want to restart his previous sentence; he walked to the access point carved out above the cabin.

  The team had cut through the roots and silt covering the doorway to the cabin, and were inside photographing artefacts and removing them to the safety of a temporary table. Laurent moved over to the table to inspect the booty, hoping for a prize that would earn him recognition as well as currency, he saw none, just bamboo tubes, wax balls, and jade jewellery. Then with a lot of groaning and shouts of encouragement the team removed a large box from the cabin, one that would have been very familiar to Jacob, but not to Laurent.

  ‘What is that monstrosity?’

  ‘We got a call from Jacob asking to remove it before his arrival, but not to open it.’

  ‘So my bumbling Bertrand, you are taking orders from Jacob Mathias, since when was he in charge of this dig?’

  Bertrand tried to answer as Katherine shouted from behind him. ‘Since he pays the bills and contracts for all of us, including you Christophe!’

  Bertrand smiled behind Christophe’s back. Christophe’s usual bravado did not fail him, blustering out of the dig site, away from the box and other items, he shouted as he left, ‘We will let the expert Mr Jacob Mathias look into this box! I will be in my office on the ship!’

  With that he stormed off the dig, heading to the recently arrived supply boat, bullied the poor boy skippering it to return him to the Arcadia two miles off the shoreline. A bruised Marianne had quickly packed during his foray into the dig site, and scuttled after him.

  Peace and tranquillity returned to the dig, and Debra cracked open a beer for Katherine, and passed one to Bertrand, ‘This is going to taste really good.’

  From the jungle just out of sight, a middle-aged man watched the spectacle unfold. Silently he recorded the removal of the wooden wax covered box. Osvaldo Rodrigo Moreno Borboa was the bank manager of a town sixty miles away in the hills, however he was not in the jungle by chance, but by design, and with purpose. A guardian of the past and future.

  FOURTEEN

  Miami International Airport.

  Jacob had spent many hours in airports, but he did like Miami, temptations were abundant. The layout meant you could probably spend hours exploring, and spend plenty of dollars, the planner’s intention. The main building was a large U shape, with eight concourses coming off it, a giant concrete insect, spreading its limbs out to catch prey. The prey was the
multitude of aircraft, all awaited refuelling and reoccupation. The concourse layout was anti-clockwise from A to J missing out B and I to avoid confusion with numbers, his flight had arrived from Montreal at gate A5, he would not have to rush for his connection in just over an hour at gate C7. There was a constant stream of passengers around, the same as the population of Canada moving through every year, according to the information board which Jacob was studying. He ambled down to the shops in concourse A.

  At 2pm local time, Chui Enzi and his escorts were on Concourse H in the south section of the main building, just stepped off the flight from New York. Using his diplomatic credentials to get himself, Mr Smith and Mr Jones swiftly through US customs, he decided to spend a little time relaxing before the flight to Panama, due to depart Gate D33 in a few hours. His contact had emailed the location of the meeting place, and arranged for a helicopter to collect Enzi’s party directly from the airport in Panama.

  Enzi went to Café Versailles on concourse D to get some Cuban coffee and a pastry, while Jones called the farm to check if they had located Archer Mathias yet. The answer he received was not welcome, and he swallowed hard before approaching Enzi, who was enjoying his refreshments.

  ‘Sir, I have news about our farm guest.’

  ‘And what disappointment are you going to convey to me Jones?’

  ‘Sir, Archer Mathias escaped some time ago, and my men have been searching the area, but to no avail.’

  Enzi put his coffee down, and used his best diplomatic voice to direct his obvious rage at Jones.

  ‘Mr Jones, you have let an American spy escape, not informed me of his escape until, what two days afterwards. He could be anywhere now!’

  ‘Yes sir, we have checked the palace and…’

  ‘I do not care what you have checked, it would be the obvious places, and this man is anything but, that much I have learned.’

  Jones was uncharacteristically silent, looking down at his polished shoes, a scolded servant in the presence of his master. Enzi stood, sipped his coffee and devoured his remaining pastry, pacing. He put out his hand, and Jones handed him a phone, Enzi called someone who could find out any information he required, passed on his targets details and awaited the response.

  Jacob liked seafood, always had, checking the information map he spotted a Sushi bar in concourse E near the hotel entrance, and made a bee line for it. He didn’t think he would get much sushi in the jungle. He walked briskly up through the airport, heading round to the top of the U on the west side of the building.

  Enzi received an email on his phone from his contact, as he suspected Archer Mathias made a call to Uncotto, intercepted seven hours ago.

  ‘Mr Jones, you have a chance to redeem yourself; it appears that my contact has located our lost friend. He is closer than I expected.’

  ‘Where sir?’

  ‘He was due to fly from London to New York, but Mr Mathias changed his ticket at the last minute, he landed here thirty minutes ago. You look relieved Jones. I suggest you go and explore the airport.’

  Archer had departed from Gate 24 as soon as he arrived, heading for the ticket desk to collect his new destination, and contact Paul Stone for an update.

  Paul was in work still, having a change of clothes and en suite bathroom at work was a distinct advantage. His assistant had called him from her house, and brought him breakfast.

  ‘Thank you Linda, these croissants are lovely as always.’

  With a smile and nod, his assistant Linda left the room, catching up on the many tasks Paul had assigned to her during the night.

  His private line caller ID showed Archer’s name, he quickly swallowed and took a slurp of coffee.

  ‘Archer, you just landed in Miami?’

  ‘Yes Paul, where are my tickets?’

  ‘Well, how about, thanks Paul for helping me escape Africa, and getting me dressed, new phone and credit card in the middle of the night.’

  Archer laughed. ‘Thanks Paul for helping me escape Africa, getting me dressed, blah blah blah.’

  ‘Such sincerity.’ Both men laughed, Archer always enjoyed verbally jousting with Paul.

  ‘Listen Paul, all joking aside, thanks for everything, you are a real pal.’

  ‘I have said it before, you are welcome, the son of my best friend, what else can I do?’

  ‘How is he, my dad?’

  ‘He is coping well, throwing himself into work, won’t talk to anyone about your mother’s death, before you ask.’

  ‘Well I have asked him, but he avoided the subject, I just wanted to know why he left her alone. That is why we have not spoken for almost nine months now.’

  ‘I know how long it is, and I obeyed your wishes, I have not told him about the past few days or my contact with you. He really misses you Archer.’

  ‘Does he? So why doesn’t he call?’

  ‘You and he are alike, why have you not called him? And that is probably the same reason?’

  ‘True, true. Where is he, still in Canada?’

  ‘No, he is going to Ecuador, something to do with Canada, said he would fill me in later. He is flying into Miami, you might see him.’

  ‘Paul, this airport is massive; I will deal with this business in Panama and then call him in Ecuador.’

  ‘Okay, be safe, and your tickets are with a lady called Mandi on the American Airlines desk, just show her your ID.’

  Archer said goodbye to Paul, looking out for the blue and red double A logo. He never noticed the tall tanned grey haired man walking swiftly with a Chinese gentleman, deep in conversation.

  Jacob was checking out the database on Inca glyphs, hoping to find out a translation of the scrolls stolen from the institute, but when he opened his email, the ever-efficient Paul had emailed the translations the museum had done.

  ‘Andy the scrolls stolen from the museum, they mention four amulets, and then a fifth that is property of the keystone protector? Any mention of this in the Chinese scripts?’

  ‘Nothing similar, the Chinese understanding of the artefacts is they were linked to the five elements, but they only mention four?’

  ‘Which one is missing?

  ‘Water, which is associated with, amongst other things, death.’

  ‘And the amulet we found in Canada, what symbol do they link to it?’

  ‘Wood, which is associated with birth.’

  So we have one artefact for birth, and a missing one for death, possibly?’

  ‘Does not really help us much, there has to be another link?’

  ‘It is strange that everything associated with these artefacts is four or five.’

  ‘Why is it strange?’

  ‘Because they are both considered unlucky numbers.’

  ‘I knew something about eight being lucky, but why is five and four an issue? My Chinese is not very good as you know.’

  ‘Don’t worry, I am giving lessons on the side in Chinese, many of my friends are, people are getting into the language on a large scale in the west.’

  ‘Planning ahead.’

  ‘Yes Jacob, for when the Chinese rule the world!’

  ‘Don’t joke Andy, if these treasure fleets had continued, I think China would already have ruled for over five hundred years.’

  ‘Maybe. Now the number four is considered an unlucky number in Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Japanese cultures, because it sounds like the word for death, si. Did you know there is no product line with 4 in Nokia phones because of this?’

  ‘Same as American buildings have no floor 13?’

  ‘Exactly. Five is a little more simple, being a negative, it is associated with the word me, wo or the not, wú’

  ‘So we have death and not associated most and all the symbols we have found, and references are all around four and five?’

  ‘Yes, so the Chinese would have seen this place as quite dark, and spiritually associate it with death and negativity.’

  ‘Do you think that is why they were taking the artefacts away?’
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  ‘Perhaps, but that contradicts their actions. We need more information. These objects are not in context.’

  ‘I am hoping that the finds in Ecuador will give us that.’

  Jacob continued to examine the information, and compose his email to Lorraine, his train of thought interrupted by the arrival of his meal, Andy looked a little apprehensive.

  ‘I gather you are a sushi virgin Andy?’

  ‘Well I don’t tend to eat what I cannot identify.’

  Jacob smiled, and began to point out what he had on his dish. ‘We have Hamachi, which is yellow tail, Ika, squid to you, Kani, crab and my favourite Amaebi, a sweet shrimp.’

  Andy was still not convinced, so not wishing to deter him from raw fish forever, ‘What about a Philadelphia roll?’

  Andy looked sideways at Jacob, ‘What is that? A bagel?’

  Jacob laughed almost choking on the Saki he was sipping, ‘No it is smoked salmon, cucumber and cream cheese strips.’

  ‘That would be fine, I can cope with that, you are eating, like advanced sushi, I will have a beginners portion, thanks.’

  Jacob nodded to the attentive waiter, and within minutes Andy was devouring the exquisitely prepared dish. Kevin arrived at the table mid-meal, smiling at Andy relished the fish, ‘So Jacob has given you the sushi baptism?’ Andy did not reply, savouring the combination of flavours and textures. Kevin sat down, and waited for them to finish, ‘Well Jacob, I just had a delicious hotdog, well three actually, nice and simple.’

  ‘Three? Why three? You know you love sushi really Kevin.’

  ‘No, that would be Katherine who loves sushi, remember, and three because I don’t know when or where I will eat next.’

  Archer was enjoying something a little more basic and less refined than his father, but no less satisfying, mushroom pizza. He had just finished wiping the tomato from his mouth, when he answered his buzzing phone, not checking caller ID.