The good news? Once an anaconda wolfs down, say, an entire mammal, it won’t be hungry for a few months.
Now it was all set to snack on two.
Unless we stopped it, this snake might not have to eat again for half a year!
At that point, Tommy bravely (or maybe stupidly) grabbed hold of a vine and swung into action!
CHAPTER 59
Tommy went flying, Tarzan-style, through the underbrush.
“Careful, son!” shouted Dad.
“Don’t worry!” cried Tommy. “I remember all those anti-snake self-defense tactics you taught me when I was in kindergarten!”
Tommy didn’t rush up to the head of the snake. Instead, he made a pretty surprising move.
He grabbed the giant snake’s tail, raised the tip to his mouth, and chomped down.
Gross.
When Tommy’s teeth sank into that pointy tip, I could’ve sworn I heard the snake yelp the way a dog does when you accidentally step on its tail.
“The tip of the tail is the most sensitive part of the giant snake’s body,” Dad proudly explained as we watched the monster reptile slither back into the river.
“Thank you!” said the breathless woman, still shielding her scared child. “You saved my daughter.”
“No problem,” said Tommy, spitting out some flecks of snake scales. “Happy to help.”
“You are very brave and heroic,” said the woman.
“And, not for nothing, you speak excellent English.”
“Gracias,” said the woman. “Spanish, too.”
“Because I am the leader of this tribe and she is my wife,” said a man who stepped out of the thick foliage. “Education is a very important priority for me and my family.”
Judging by his purple-and-yellow-feathered headgear and elaborate jewelry, the man who had just joined us along the riverbank was probably some kind of royalty in this neck of the rain forest. Two golden medallions were glittering on the leather necklace dangling on his chest. They reminded me of the amulets Beck and I had picked up when we saved that other chief’s son in the flood.
“Education is very important in our family also,” said Dad, extending his hand, which the local royal took. “That’s why Tommy knew how to defeat the anaconda.”
“Chya,” said Tommy. “Snake Attack 101. I totally did my homework for that class. You goof up on the final exam, there’s no such thing as a do-over.”
“You are most courageous,” said the grateful chief. “Much braver than the American explorers who came this way yesterday on roaring horses that snorted smoke from their tails.”
I think he meant Nathan Collier and his crew on the gas-guzzling ATVs.
“When they saw my wife and child on the banks of the river, about to be attacked by the monster snake, they did not pass the test. They did nothing.”
“The giant anaconda was here yesterday?” asked Beck.
The chief nodded. “But worry not. My wife and child were never really in danger. We have trained the snake to do our bidding.”
“No way!” said Tommy.
“Way,” said the chief. “It is all part of an ancient character test to help us choose the most deserving explorer, for we have long known that this moment would one day come.”
“Um, what moment are we talking about?” I asked.
He glanced at the medallion on my necklace and smiled. “When Inkarri would be made whole and Paititi would rise from its hiding place.”
I wasn’t exactly sure what that had to do with a fake snake attack, but I nodded like I did. The chief had a very spooky way of saying things. He raised his necklace over his head and presented his two golden charms to Tommy.
“Good luck with your quest,” he said.
Tommy bowed slightly as the chief draped the pair of medals over his head.
“You have earned your reward. May Inkarri protect and assist you.”
I checked out Tommy’s new swag. His pair of golden ornaments looked a lot like the two legs Beck and I were still wearing around our necks. Somehow, I didn’t think that was a coincidence.
CHAPTER 60
The chief lent us a guide to assist us on the last leg of our journey.
“She will make certain that you find the ancient Incan temple you speak of,” he told us. “She knows its location well.”
“She?” said Tommy.
“My oldest daughter.”
“We appreciate the offer,” said Dad, “but—”
“But nothing!” said Tommy.
Because the chief’s oldest daughter had just stepped out of the rain forest and into a golden beam of sunlight. Even I knew she was gorgeous. Believe it or not, Mattel makes a Princess of the Incas Barbie Doll. I think the chief’s daughter, whose name was Milagros, might’ve been the model. She seemed to be the same age as Tommy, so of course he tail-spun into love immediately.
With Milagros in the lead, we left the river trail and took a different one.
“This way will be much faster,” she said. “It is an old jaguar path. We will find your missing daughter much sooner if we follow it.”
“So,” said Tommy after we’d hiked maybe another mile, “are you, like, a princess?”
“Yes,” said Milagros. “Because I am a princess.”
“Cool. Is there a prince?”
“Yes,” said Milagros. “That is what my brother has named his dog.”
As we trekked through the steamy jungle, Dad made satellite-phone contact with Mom.
“Nathan Collier and his people, including his despicable son Chet, have kidnapped Storm,” he told her. “Juan Carlos Rojas hired Collier and his team to help him find the Lost City of Paititi. Rojas has promised the gold to the leaders of an Incan cult. They, in exchange, have promised Rojas all the rain-forest trees he desires.”
“Something they do not own,” said Mom’s voice through the speakerphone.
“True,” said Dad. “But if they have all the gold…”
“Then we don’t,” said Mom. We could hear her sigh all the way from Lima.
“And if you and Chaupi don’t back up your plea for the rain forest with an incredible treasure…” said Dad.
“It will fall on deaf ears in the presidential palace,” said Mom.
It’s true; Mom and Dad are so in sync, they often finish each other’s sentences like that.
“The negotiations have hit a roadblock,” said Mom. “Señor Rojas seemed pretty pleased with himself, and now I know why.”
“Probably because Nathan Collier and his crew are very close to finding the Lost City of Paititi.”
“Well,” said Mom, “we can’t let Collier beat us to the treasure this time. If he does, Rojas wins. And if Rojas wins, he’ll chainsaw and torch his initials into more acres of rain forest. I’m coming there to help you, Thomas.”
“Good,” said Dad. “And tell Chaupi to bring the cavalry. We might need major reinforcements. I feel confident that Rojas has hired a sizable army.”
“Thomas?”
“Yes?”
“Be careful.”
“We always are,” said Dad, conveniently not mentioning Tommy, the giant anaconda, or Collier’s plan to perform an ancient Incan child-sacrifice ritual with Storm’s still-beating heart.
“Follow Storm’s GPS tracker when you and Chaupi are airborne,” said Dad. “Have your chopper set down wherever she might be. We plan on being right there with her!”
“Will do. Love you guys. Can’t wait until we’re all together again.”
I felt the same way.
I couldn’t wait until our whole family was one happy unit.
Because that would mean we’d rescued Storm!
CHAPTER 61
With Milagros’s expert knowledge of the jungle, we came to a secluded rise above the vine-choked ruins of what had once been a major Incan temple.
The temple wasn’t much. Just a stone altar set in front of a wall of stacked boulders that glowed like an angry face in the orangish twilight o
f the setting sun. Nathan and Chet Collier and maybe six other goons, their ATVs parked off to the side, stood in a circle with our old friend the cult’s high priest and his knife-wielding buddy Supay.
They were surrounding the stone table in the center of the clearing.
The ancient Incan altar where Storm lay!
But the sacrifice hadn’t started. Storm was just being Storm.
“I need to sack out,” she said with a yawn, stretching out on the stone slab. “Exhausting couple of days. Next time, you guys should bring a spare ATV so your prisoner doesn’t have to walk!”
“Why did you lead us to these ruins?” demanded Collier.
“Because that’s what the secret map said to do.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know. Maybe so you could cleanse your spirit before you press on to Paititi. I know you should definitely cleanse your shorts. I can smell them way over here—”
“Silence!” decreed the phony priest, who was all decked out in full Incan garb. He was carrying that golden corncob staff like the drum major in a marching band. “Watch your tongue, for this is your final night on earth. Tomorrow, as the sun rises, your heart will be offered to Inti, the god of the sun!”
“Um, not to rain all over your delusional parade,” said Storm, feisty as ever, “but if I remember correctly—and I always do—to re-create the sacrificial rite of capacocha, you need a child chosen for his or her perfection, not just the first kid you grabbed in a blowgun raid. I’m pretty sure your sun god is looking for someone who, according to everything I’ve memorized, is healthy, strong, beautiful, and pure. Well, I’m coming down with a cold. Either that or I’m allergic to torture. I’m also not very strong. In fact, I’m probably the weakest member of my family. And, yes, I am beautiful, but not in what you’d call the traditional sense. As for purity? Let’s be honest, guys. The only thing I know that’s pure is a bar of floating soap—”
“Silence!” shouted the high priest again.
“Knock it off,” said Nathan Collier.
“You’ll have to do,” added his son. “Sorry. You’re the only child we’ve got.”
The two Incas eyeballed Chet.
“Whoa. Back off. I turned eighteen on my last birthday.”
“Whatever,” said Storm. “Now, like I said, if I’m going to be your big important sacrifice, I need to get my beauty rest.”
“Fine!” said Collier. “But in the morning you will take us to the gates of Paititi!”
“No,” whispered Dad from our hidden listening post. “Storm’s not taking them anywhere.”
“Why not?” asked Tommy.
“Because we’re going to rescue her!”
CHAPTER 62
Dad turned to Milagros.
“Thank you for bringing us this far. Now you should go home to your family.”
“But—”
“What we are about to do won’t be safe. This mission is for us Kidds to undertake. I can’t ask you to risk your life to help save my family.”
“Why not?” said Milagros. “Didn’t your son risk himself to save my mother and little sister?”
“True,” said Tommy, puffing up his chest. “I did do that. Kind of bravely and heroically, as I recall.”
“With a trained snake,” said Beck, shooting him down.
“Maybe,” said Tommy. “But I didn’t know it was, you know, a fake snake at the time. All I saw was danger. And, of course, the giant anaconda, because, hey, it’d be hard not to see a snake that big—”
“What’s up with the character test anyway?” I asked.
“Father senses the moment for Inkarri to return grows near,” explained Milagros. “This is something our people have been anticipating for a very long time. The golden amulets Tommy now wears around his neck have been in our village for centuries.”
“What do the two things have to do with each other?” I asked.
“I do not know,” said Milagros. “I don’t even know why my father gifted them to you.”
“I think he digs me,” said Tommy.
“Children?” said Dad. “Time is wasting. Please, Milagros. Return to your home. Thank your father for his extraordinary gifts.”
“Including you,” said Tommy with a wink. Then he made a thumb-and-pinkie-finger phone that he wiggled next to his ear as he mouthed, Call me.
Milagros mouthed back, Can’t. We don’t own a phone.
Anyway, as the sun sank slowly in the west, Tommy and his latest girlfriend said good-bye.
As soon as Milagros left and the sky filled with stars, Dad gave us our assignments.
“We need to split up once again,” he said. “Here’s the battle plan. When the guards sit down to dinner, we make our move. Tommy, you swing to the right. Cause a distraction.”
Tommy nodded. “I could kick-start their ATVs.”
“Excellent idea. The noise will draw them away from the altar. Hopefully, one or more of their security personnel will abandon their weapons as they dash off to see what all the noise is about.”
“So you’ll be able to snag a rifle!” said Tommy.
Dad nodded. “I’ll take as many as I can.”
“What do we do?” asked Beck.
“You and Bick grab your sister. If you spy any weapons, grab those, too. Then hightail it back up here. This will be our rendezvous spot. It’s a very defensible position.”
“So, um, this battle plan,” I said. “It’s for a real battle?”
“Yes, Bick,” said Dad. “And it’s a battle we need to win!”
I gulped a little.
And wished Mom had already arrived with whatever kind of cavalry she and Chaupi could muster!
CHAPTER 63
We crept down the hill as stealthily as possible.
I froze when my foot hit a loose rock that sent a shower of pebbles skittering down the slope.
A couple of the guys with guns, sitting on the ground not too far from where Storm snoozed on top of the altar, looked up from their tin dinner plates.
“Did you hear that?” said one.
“Probably just some giant insect,” said another. “Or a tree frog.”
“That sounded more like a rock than a tree frog,” said the first guy.
“Okay. Fine,” said the other one. “Then it’s a rock frog. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m starving here.”
The paramilitary types went back to chowing down on whatever slop Nathan Collier’s Treasure Extractors Inc. had provided for their evening meal. Whatever it was, it involved some serious slurping.
Nathan Collier, his son Chet, the high priest, and the guy called Supay were back at the rocks, studying a map. Six yards away, leaning up against the craggy back wall of borders, were all the security troops’ rifles, neatly leaning against one another like the poles of a tepee.
Very convenient.
We skulked closer to the altar. So close, we could hear Storm snoring. By the way, they were totally fake snores. Storm is the worst actress in our whole family.
Off to our right, we heard the ker-pow blatt-blatt-blatt of a four-stroke engine on a quad sputtering to life. Tommy must’ve goosed the throttle, too, because next we heard a peppy whine-a-chug-chug. A second ATV roared to life. Then a third. I figured Tommy must be dancing around kick-starting them all.
“Someone’s stealing our rides, man!” screamed one of the goons.
“Seize them!” shouted Collier.
“Bring them to me!” cried the high priest. “They will pay for their insolence!”
Just like we had hoped, Collier’s whole gang ran off to chase down the ATV thieves—forgetting their weapons in the process.
Beck and I ran to Storm as Dad ran to the stack of rifles. Once he had one in each hand, he dashed over to the ATVs to help Tommy.
Storm shot out her arms and legs, splaying them across the altar. But she didn’t jump off the high stone table.
“Get up!” I shouted at Storm. “It’s time to go!”
“No,”
said Storm. “Not until they’re all gone!”
“What?” said Beck. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I’m not budging from this altar!” Storm protested.
She locked her fingers around the rough edge of the stone slab and wouldn’t let go!
CHAPTER 64
“Are you crazy?” I hollered. “Let go of the stone.”
“Get off the altar, Storm,” added Beck. “Hurry!”
“No! I need to stay here.”
“No,” said Beck, “you need to come with us.”
“You don’t understand,” said Storm.
“Yes, we do,” I said. “You’re stubborn. Like a mule in molasses!”
While we argued, ATVs were revving all around us. People were shouting and running around wildly. Dad was calling Tommy’s name. It was basically bedlam.
“Storm,” I said, “we don’t have time for this! Beck?”
She nodded. “On three!”
“One… two… three!”
We both shoved with all our might and rolled Storm off the slab.
When we did, we realized why she had been so eager to stay on the altar.
There was a map carved into the stone tabletop.
A map that showed a direct route from the ancient temple to a symbol that—uh-oh—probably represented the hidden location of the Lost City of Gold.
Oops.
I heard the roar of an approaching trail bike. A blinding light seared our eyes. Several times.
It was Nathan Collier. On an ATV. Grinning like crazy. He had just used his phone to take several flash photos of the slab map.
“Aha!” cried Collier. “Another ancient symbol for Inkarri! The final route to Paititi has been revealed. No wonder your secret map sent you here first, Stephanie.”
Treasure Hunters--Quest for the City of Gold Page 11
