Laura 01 The Jaguar Prophecy

by Anton Swanepoel

  Victor takes a deep breath and then continues.

  “Nick contacted the Russian government with the information and tried to sell it to them. They agreed to meet, but Nick got scared. That’s when he set you up. He bought you a ticket for a cruise and sent you a parcel containing some items. The Russians believe that the disc was in the parcel. Then he contacted the Russians and informed them that he will have a contact on the ship with the data. As soon as the Russians transfer the money to his account, he will contact them and give them a description of the necklace his contact is wearing and where the disc is.”

  Laura’s eyes widen as Victor speaks and she starts to turn white, fear choking her.

  “Nick probably intended on having the Russians take the data from you by pickpocketing you without you ever knowing you were part of one of the biggest crimes of all times. Unfortunately the Russians double crossed him, found his home and killed him. They used his computer’s chat log to find out where you lived.

  “The Russians sent five people to get the disc from you, but since they did not know who else was involved, they hired the three thugs that approached you on the ship the first evening. They thought you knew about the disc and would immediately hand it over to them if they threatened you.”

  Victor pauses for a moment then, while looking directly at Laura, continues.

  “I was following you and thought that you were going to make the exchange that night. However, when you openly sat there in the rain, carefree, I knew something was wrong, you were innocent and not part of the plan. When the thugs attacked you, it confirmed my thoughts and I decided to protect you.”

  Laura thinks about all she has heard, and then replies, “So what government do you work for?”

  Victor laughs before replying. “I am freelance, and it is a bit more complicated than you think, the disc contains more than just the list of names and a program.”

  Laura gives Victor a puzzled look, but waits for him to continue.

  “I was hired by the Pope himself; the Vatican wants me to retrieve the disc for them.”

  “Why would the Pope be interested in the identities of secret agents and spies and nuclear missile codes?” Laura asks in surprise.

  “They are not, except to maybe sell it to the US government, but what they are actually after is this file.” Victor had retrieved the file on his phone while he talked and opens the word document. Laura looks at the file, then at Victor, then at the file again.

  “I don’t understand,” she says with a puzzled look on her face.

  “It’s the directions to a lost city in Peru, rumored to contain a vast treasure. I thought with your thirst for mythology and lost worlds you would recognize the directions.”

  Laura looks at the directions again, and then replies, “This sounds like Vilcabamba, the last Inca stronghold.” Victor nods.

  “So the Pope is after treasure then?” Laura is a little bit disgusted about it.

  “Not actually.” Victor smiles when Laura looks up, she is now even more confused.

  “There is more, right?” Laura is now starting to get intrigued.

  “Jup, it is said that hidden with the treasure are ancient scrolls from the lost city of Atlantis.”

  Laura bursts out laughing and then asks in a sarcastic tone, “So what exactly are these scrolls supposed to contain, another lost treasure?”

  “No, death,” Victor replies seriously. His stern tone and answer, together with the look he gives her, tells her that he is not joking, and nor is the Vatican.

  “The Atlantians apparently had technology far beyond what we even have today. They found a way to harness the power of the God particle and use it to create devices of immense power, for war and to power their ships.”

  Laura opens her mouth to comment on Victor’s reply, but words fail her at first and all she can eventually get out is, “God particle?”

  “It’s actually currently called the Higgs like particle by scientists, but the media have dubbed it the God particle since its announcement on 4 July 2012.” Victor sees Laura is confused about all of this; she must not have followed the news he decides.

  “Scientists have known that the original formulas for the standard model for elementary particles are not complete for a long time. They know there must be a twelfth particle, but they can only find eleven. The scrolls describe the twelfth particle, and how to harness its power. For years scientists have been looking for this missing particle in order to harness its power. The discovery of the atom bomb was actually a result of this research. Not until now have scientists been able to find the missing particle. Even so, finding the missing particle is nothing if you don’t know how to harness its power. The method of harnessing this power is contained in the scrolls, and they want it at all cost.”

  Laura thinks for a moment about Victor’s explanation then asks, “Okay, so who are these scientists that found the particle, and if the scroll is lost in some treasure in a lost city in Peru, how do they know what is on the scroll and how did it get in Peru in the first place?”

  “Want something to drink?” Victor asks as he stands up and walks to the kitchen.

  “What? You don’t know do you?”

  “I do, but I like the suspense,” Victor replies, smiling at Laura over his shoulder as he enters the kitchen.

  “Orange juice please,” Laura replies, smiling back. She has to admit that all this is so exciting to her; it is like Indiana Jones and Lara Croft working together. She would love to go looking for this lost city. It would be a dream come true, but she realizes that it will not happen. Victor returns with two glasses of orange juice and after handing Laura one, he sits down again next to her and continues.

  “The scientists that discovered the particle are from CERN.” Seeing her puzzled look he explains further, “European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland, it houses a large Hadron Collider to study particle physics.”

  “Okay, and what about the scrolls?” Laura moves closer to Victor as she speaks.

  “In April 1532, Francisco Pizarro arrived at the edge of the City Tumbez, ready to conquer Peru in the name of the Spanish King. He had 168 men with him, 106 on foot and 62 on horseback. On 16 November 1532, Francisco managed to capture the then current Inca lord, Atahualpa, and killed many of his nobles and troops.

  “Atahualpa promised a roomful of gold for his release, and he made good on his promise. More than forty thousand pounds of gold and silver was melted down from plates and goblets and other Inca ornaments by the Spanish.

  “However, as all generals know, you never give all you have in the first bargain, and the Spanish wanted more.

  “They eventually killed Atahualpa on the eve of Saturday, 26 July 1533 due to the fear of him being rescued by his men, brought on by false rumors. A full out war erupted between the Spanish and Incas and the Spanish placed a puppet king named Manco Inca, to try and stop an uprising.

  “However, Manco Inca turned against the Spaniards and started a rebellion in November 1535. He led successful guerilla attacks against Spanish troops on the roads and retreated deep into the jungle, building Vilcabamba El Viejo, the last Inca city.

  “While at the heights of the war, a Spanish ship, badly damaged, beached on the Peru coastline. The crew of the ship had come across ruins from an ancient city on their search, but suffered damage to their ship in storms.”

  “Where did the ship come from?” Laura asks, hanging on Victor’s every word.

  “Records were lost as to who they were and where they came from, but what is known is that they had treasure and many scrolls with them from a lost world. Packing all the important items they had with them on the horses, they made their way to the Spanish encampment and port to ask for help on returning to Spain. One of the Spanish was a scribe and he made partial copies in a notebook from the scrolls in their possession.

  “While on route to Cusco, they were ambushed by Manco Inca’s warriors and all were killed, their treasure and the
scrolls were taken.

  “The Inca warriors left the bodies in the road as a message to the Spanish about what lot will befall all the Spanish that oppose the Inca king Manco. A later scout group from the Spanish found the bodies and the notebook on the scribe.

  “The book was sent to Rome where over the years the drawings and signs he copied from the scrolls were deciphered and the existence of the twelfth particle was learned. His notes showed partial drawings that would enable one to harness the new particle and create a device that could generate an immense power from a very small device. This would allow one to power massive ships or to build shockingly powerful bombs.

  “What is more worrisome is that this bomb will not leave a radioactive signature as a nuclear bomb, thus whoever uses it can bomb another country today, and simply move in tomorrow to claim what is left.”

  Laura is now even more intrigued by Victor’s story, sitting almost on top of Victor she asks wide eyed, “So why does the Vatican know about this and how do they know the scrolls are not destroyed or that it is even in the lost city?”

  “A young ambitious captain named Villiadiego tried to attack Vilcabamba with 30 men. He failed miserably and was killed along with 28 of his men. Only two men escaped by running away and swimming across a river to safety. They reported that amidst the fighting they saw massive amounts of gold being brought into the city by hand couriers and one of them reported seeing a casket being carried.

  “During the fighting a Spanish horse ran wild after its rider was killed and crashed into the Incas carrying the casket, causing them to drop the casket. The casket broke open and the man recalled scrolls seemingly very old falling out, one of which rolled open, and the men recalled drawings and writings that matched those in the dead scribe’s notebook.”

  Laura thinks for a moment about Victor’s reply, and then comments. “Yes, but the Spanish conquered Vilcabamba and no treasure was ever found, nor any scrolls, and it does not explain why the Vatican is involved.”

  Victor smiles at her then continues. “No, they did not find any treasure when they conquered the city, however from torturing some of the survivors, they learned that the Inca king buried it underground outside the city, but after the work was done he had all the men killed that did the work by placing them on the front lines of defending the city when it came under attack, thus no one knew where it was buried.

  “The Spanish force that conquered the city had limited food supplies and also needed to return to Cusco. Thus, they left the lost city. The notebook interestingly was given to the Vatican to decipher as they were thought to have the best knowledge of ancient languages at that time.

  “Over the years, knowledge that they have this information was kept from the government and the location of the hidden city was kept secret, so that no other country could find it until technology would allow them to do a more thorough search.

  “In the years that they translated the notebook, they worked secretly with scientists in trying to invent the device, hoping that they could use it to crush other religions by sending agents into the heart of the other churches and wiping them out.

  “Imagine the repercussions for the Jewish belief if a bomb would explode on their yearly pilgrimage, taking out the whole of Jerusalem?”

  Laura is shocked at his answer, but then they did have the crusades, nothing really changed but the tactics.

  “So how do you know all of this and how did that file get onto the same data disc, and where did you get the disc?”

  “I do not take a job unless I have all the facts, and even then I do research on what is really going on before I take a job. The reason I was hired is because the Vatican wants to keep all of this secret. The Vatican was afraid that the information may be leaked by book restorers if they kept the original notebook from the scribe and decided to make digital scans of the book and then destroyed it.

  “Your hacker friend at some point hacked into the Vatican servers and stole a number of data files, one of which was this one, containing the partial translation of the scrolls and what it can do, including the location of the hidden city. He tried to sell it to the Russians with the other files. The Vatican wanted to search for the lost treasure long ago, but government changes over the years in Peru before they managed to translate the information and discover its importance, stopped them from doing any large scale search without raising suspicion.

  “When Vilcabamba was discovered by Harim Binga, they sent people to look for any sign of the underground passages, but have not been able to find any. All was secret until Nick stole the files. The Vatican heard that he was trying to sell it to the Russians, and they were afraid that the Russians would enter the lost city, find the scrolls, and build the device. Thus I was hired to retrieve the disc or destroy it, and all who knew about it. Since you did not know about the data at first, I had no reason to kill you.

  “The data is on a Micro SD card inside the pen Nick sent you. I copied the data the evening you gave me the pen to sign for dinner. I tripped Sam to create a distraction to allow me to copy the data.”

  Laura freely laughed for the first time, “So it was you, and you were not downloading e-mails, you were copying the files.” She hits Victor on the shoulder with her fist. “I was so mad at you for downloading e-mails that night, and then I got chloroformed on my way to my room.”

  Victor frowns at Laura for punching him, and then replies, “The man that put you out also stole the pen, he has the information and is on the island. He broke into the cabin of one of the passengers on the ship and stole his identity, that man is now dead. My friends are using the dead man’s description from his picture they pulled from the US traffic department to search for the agent, they’ll let me know if they find anything.”

  Just then Victor’s cell phone rings and as he answers it, Laura stands up, opens the sliding door to the balcony and goes outside.

  The view is stunning, with the full moon reflecting off the calm waters. To the far left she can hear music coming from the bar. There are very few people at the bar and no one on the beach. She hears some of Victor’s conversation.

  “When…. how did he do that……where is he going………crap…….. ok, thank you.”

  Laura hears Victor walking up behind her.

  “The man who drugged you stole a police boat, killed two police officers and left the island. He went westwards as far as they know. I think he is on his way to Cozumel, Mexico where he will probably travel to Peru. It is safe to assume that he made contact with his handlers and has the data with him. It is also safe to assume that he knows now about the treasure and scrolls. Tomorrow I’ll take a plane to Peru to wait for him.”

  Laura at first does not respond at all as Victor speaks, she just stares at the ocean until he is done. “So now that you have a reason and orders to kill me, and a reason to leave, what are you going to do?”

  Laura feels Victor move right up to her, sliding his right arm around her waist and running his left hand through her hair, then he pulls her tightly against him with his right arm. Laura waits for him to twist her head and snap her neck, but Victor gently turns her head to the right and kisses her. Electricity shoots through Laura’s body and her whole body starts to come alive.

  Victor then slides his left hand down from her head and over her breasts, the move shocks Laura, but he only brushes them lightly and brings his hand to her waist, now holding it with both hands. Laura’s heart is beating as fast as it can. Slowly, Victor brings his left hand up to just below her breasts and stops, when Laura does not respond he slowly moves it up and starts massaging her breasts through her T-shirt.

  Victor plays with her erect nipples and Laura’s head starts spinning, her body on fire. Victor drops his left hand to her pants and brushes her groin once before slipping his hand beneath her t-shirt, playing directly with her breasts and nipples while at the same time slipping his right hand around to her bum and inside her pants, squeezing her bum.

  Laura is now makin
g soft moaning sounds from enjoyment. Slowly, he moves his right hand around in her pants to the front and starts to stimulate her directly. Laura’s body is ready to explode, every nerve in her body is on fire and alive. Victor continues to stimulate her until her body responds six times to his touch. Laura’s body slides a few inches down on the railing as her knees weaken and then Victor brings his left hand down, grabbing her t-shirt at the bottom and pulling it smoothly off in one move.

  The moonlight reflects off her soft skin and the gentle breeze caresses her hard nipples, stimulating her even more. Victor turns Laura around and as he does so, she pulls his shirt off, almost tearing it. Laura runs her hands over Victor’s hard body, over his toned stomach muscles. She counts them as her fingers slide down to his pants, eight pack.

  Victor’s hand is still in the front of her pants, stimulating her gently. Laura opens his pants and Victor follows with hers with his left hand. As their clothes drop, he pulls her against him and she feels his warm hard manhood against her. Sliding her hand down, she is surprised at his large manhood. Victor bends over and licks her nipples, Laura responds by bending backwards against the railing and giving a soft moan, her toes curling up from delight.

  Slowly he drops down to her groin and stimulates her with his tongue, while massaging her right breast with his right hand and squeezing her bum with his left. When Laura’s body responds again four more times from his actions he takes her and they make love on the balcony until Laura’s legs cannot hold her anymore. Victor picks her up and carries her to the bedroom; Laura gives a little giggle as he carries her away. Playfully he drops her on the bed before taking her and continuing to make love until Laura pushes Victor a little away and while smiling says,

  “Wow, I never thought I would say this, but please stop, I’m exhausted, you wore me out! Where do you get the energy from?”