‘Statue heads on the back wall.’ Still cautious, he climbed up for a closer look. Three stone faces stared coldly at him: sleek, aggressive and feline. ‘Big cats – like panthers or something.’ He reached for one—
‘Eddie, don’t touch them!’ Nina cried.
His hand froze an inch short. ‘What is it?’
‘The map, in Paititi – it had jaguars on it. Three of them, at the entrance to the lost city. And something bad was happening. Give me the radio, I need to check with Leonard.’
He tossed it down to her. ‘Leonard,’ she said, ‘do you have the close-up photo of El Dorado from the map?’
‘Just a moment,’ came the crackling reply. A short while later, the German’s voice returned. ‘I have it.’
‘Good. Look at the section with the three jaguars – tell me exactly what you see.’
‘Why? What have you found?’
‘Eddie’s found the jaguars, but I think we might find something else if we’re not careful. What’s on the picture?’
‘Okay, there are . . . three jaguars sitting in a line. To the left is what appears to be a waterfall, with two men being swept away by it.’
‘Eddie, did you hear that?’ she asked, looking up. Eddie nodded. ‘Is there anything unusual about the waterfall? Any objects or symbols by it?’
‘There are . . . small lines beside it,’ the older archaeologist said. ‘Many of them – twenty or more.’
‘Diagonal, pointing up, yes?’
‘Yes, that is right. You have a good memory for pictures.’
‘No, I’m staring right at them.’ She gave the silver skewers a leery look. ‘We’re in a vertical shaft, and one wall is covered with metal spikes.’
‘Wait,’ said Eddie, ‘so the waterfall comes down here?’
‘And washes you into the spikes, yeah.’
‘Oh, that’s fucking magic! I’m coming back down.’
‘No, stay up there,’ Nina said quickly. ‘Leonard, I’m going to get Eddie to describe what he’s seeing, okay?’ She held the radio high so it could pick up his voice.
Unnerved, Eddie shouted a description of the three stone heads. ‘They’re about a foot apart, and . . . ’ He looked more closely, shining his torch beneath them. ‘And it looks like they move. There’s a vertical slot underneath each of ’em, like they’re on the ends of levers.’
‘How far can they move?’ Nina asked.
‘Not far. Six inches, maybe.’
She thought for a moment, trying to compare what Eddie was seeing with her memory of the picture. ‘Leonard, what was on the other side of the three jaguars?’
‘A man climbing some very steep steps.’
‘And are the spikes on that part of the picture too?’
‘Yes.’
‘Two sets of stairs?’ Eddie wondered.
Nina shook her head. ‘There’s only one entrance. No, it’s something to do with the cats.’ She asked Osterhagen to describe the three animals.
‘The two on the left are sitting upright,’ he told her. ‘The one on the right is crouching down.’
‘Two up, one down,’ she said. ‘It’s part of the Incas’ journey, a clue. But it’s like the huaca markings and the khipu - they thought it was one only they would understand.’
‘Well, if you understand it, I wish you’d tell me,’ Eddie said.
‘I think it’s a key – the way to get into El Dorado safely. The two cats on the left are sitting up, so their heads are held high - at the top of the slots. But the one on the right is looking down at the man climbing up the steps—’
‘At the bottom of the slot,’ he concluded. ‘Like a combination lock. Two up, one down, and that stops you having terminal acupuncture.’
‘Exactly. Well, er, I think. I hope.’
‘Yeah, I hope too, seeing as I’m the one who’s going to have to bloody test it!’
‘Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘We can always go back and try to figure out some other way to get up there.’
‘No, I think you’re right,’ he said. ‘They wouldn’t have put it on the map if it didn’t mean something. All the other stuff on it’s worked out so far, so . . .’ He straightened. ‘Let’s give it a shot, then. Here, kitty, kitty . . . ’
He put his hand on the rightmost of the three carved heads, hesitated – then firmly pushed it down.
There was a muffled grinding sound from behind the slot, then silence. He looked up. No water erupted into the shaft. ‘Is it all the way down?’ Nina asked.
‘Far as it’ll go.’
‘So now what?’
‘See if it worked, I guess. Okay, let’s see . . .’ He swept his light along the edge of the third step above