"Lieutenant Sander Jivaro, sir." Chester took the brisk handshake from the compact little policeman and ushered him inside.

"Take a seat, please and tell me how I can help you." Chester sagged into an armchair, coughing abruptly and waving an apology. "Sorry Lieutenant, I seem to have picked up a nasty bug. I promise not to infect you." He tried a weak smile.

"I have come at the request of my commanding officer in Cerro de Pasco, Captain Miguel Warez. He asked me to give you this letter." Sander handed the letter across and maintained his distance.

"Cerro de Pasco? I haven't heard of that place since I was a young man." Chester smiled more affectionately. "I once visited the metallurgical plant in La Oroya; it was huge and in those days becoming very big in copper smelting."

Sander nodded his appreciation of the professor's knowledge and relaxed a little as Chester read the letter.

"This is very intriguing. What can you tell me about this Bijawi place, I'm embarrassed to say I've never heard of it?"

Sander crossed his legs and plucked at the crease in his pants. Lecturing to an esteemed professor of antiquities was not an opportunity to be missed. He cleared his throat and began solemnly.

"There is an area near where I came from called Gran Pajonal . . ."

"That I've heard of." Chester nodded him on.

"It is a plateau divided into hills, ridges, gorges and ravines. It is called-

"A dissected plateau, I know. Please continue."

Sander shifted in his chair, his enthusiasm dampened somewhat. "It lies at an elevation of about one thousand meters, about thirty-two hundred feet and-"

"You don't have to convert metric for me, Lieutenant." Chester smiled.

"Yes sir. Well, it extends roughly fourteen hundred square kilometers, between the Ucayali and the Perené-Tambo rivers, east and west and the Andes Mountains and the Nevati River, south to north. As you can appreciate, sir, there is little going on in that region. It is accessible only by trails and small aircraft. The only town is Obenteni with a small airstrip, a Franciscan mission and a rarely occupied military post. Since the advent of the Shining Path, most of the military have been deployed elsewhere."

"Bijawi, Lieutenant?" Chester's smile strained.

"Of course, sir. I was simply giving you an idea of the desolation of the villages in Gran Pajonal. Obenteni has a population of several hundred . . . mostly Campa Native Americans and some settlers from the highlands. Bijawi is one of their villages, maybe twenty or thirty people at most. The village is on the edge of a massive gorge on the northern edge of a tall peak in the Cordillera Central of the Andes. It is in this gorge that the Italian expedition was last seen and also where the body of the one member was found."

Chester glanced at the letter again. "Your Captain says that the Italian party was exploring some uncovered mines in the valleys near this Bijawi and that they are all feared to be victims in this, whatever it is?"

"Yes. The last member, or at least the only member found so far, as I said, was a man named Arno Bandotti. He was found by one of the Bijawis in a small riverbed, horribly mutilated."

"Bear? Jaguar?"

Sander coughed into his hand and tugged at his collar. "Uh not as far as we know, we haven't seen the body but the elder from the village insists that it was uhm- that the villagers believe it was a spirit god guarding the old silver mines depleted by the Spanish." He waved a dismissive hand. "Of course we don't subscribe to such nonsense."

"I dare say. Usually there is a logical explanation." Chester smiled at the young policeman with a hint of mischief. "So, your Captain wants a member of our group to do what exactly?"

Sander reached into his inside pocket and withdrew a small envelope. "I was instructed to show you this. It wasn't mentioned in the letter for security reasons; it was given to my Captain by the village elder." He passed the envelope across to Chester who opened it with extreme curiosity. Inside was a small pendant comprised of a silver diamond shape surmounted by a ring that might have represented the sun. In the center was a piece of flat, polished emerald with two gold triangular insets and eight small, round ruby stones. The entire piece was about three inches high and two wide.

"This is astounding!" He repositioned his glasses and turned on the light beside his chair, leaning over and examining the piece with great interest. "You say the elder gave this to your Captain?"

"It was on the body of the Italian; it was hidden beneath his armpit."

Chester looked up. "His armpit? You mean the body was moved and examined?"

Sander pulled at his chin. "It was removed to the village for a ceremony..."

"Ceremony?" Chester coughed again and rested his head on his hand until his breathing settled.

"The Bijawi believe that the dead require a thorough preparation before moving on to the next uhm, level of existence. They aah- they remove all the organs, bundle them in special mixtures of their own devising, reinsert them and burn the lot in a very religious ceremony. They found that while working on the dead man."

Chester began coughing again and fell back in the chair, his face pale one moment then flaming red the next.

"Sir! Sir, are you ill?" Sander jumped up and went to the professor.

"Call- call the desk and get them to- to fetch Miss Lawrence . . . she's at- she's at the dining room of the- the Agua Calienti . . ." Chester's voice trailed off and he slumped in the chair, eyes closed.

********

Sander shifted from one foot to the other under Gretta's intense stare. They had hurried from dinner to find the professor unconscious and being attended by the hotel doctor who immediately ordered an ambulance and had Chester whisked away post haste.

"We were talking, I showed him something my Captain had sent to him and he suddenly had a coughing spell then collapsed." Sander twisted his cap in his hands. "I am deeply sorry if I was in any way-"

"What's this something you brought to him?" She dismissed his concern.

"It's there, on the side table."

Gretta walked over and picked up the ornament, turning it slowly in her fingers. "What is this? Why did you bring it to Professor Stilton?"

An hour later, Gretta, Arny and Sander sat quietly in the hospital waiting room having dissected the story of the Bijawi discovery, their habits and their elder's ultimate trek to Cerro de Pasco and finally the meeting with the professor. Gretta studied the ornament over and over, her experience and training kicking into excitement mode over the possible age and source of the item. Arny left to find a vending machine, passing the doctor on the way.

"How is he?"

"He has an acute respiratory condition that caused his collapse but . . ."

"But what?"

"Are you a relative?" The doctor started walking and Arny turned back to follow.

"No but we are close."

"Is Miss Lawrence available?"

"She's right there in the lounge."

Gretta stood as Arny and the doctor approached. Her eyes probed for bad news and she inhaled deeply when the doctor described Chester's condition.

"Has he ever mentioned pains or digestive problems . . . anything unusual?"

"No. I doubt I would have noticed anyway. Chees- Professor Stilton was quite personal about himself. All I know is he developed that cough down here and it wouldn't let go."

"It's actually incidental to the real threat but serious nonetheless. I'm going to have to keep him here until we can determine the best approach to treatment. The respiratory condition will have to be taken care of first in any event."

"We were due to fly home day after tomorrow." Gretta chewed her lip, noting she would have to cancel the reservation she made.

"Not Professor Stilton, I'm afraid."

"May we see him?"

"You can . . . for just a few minutes. He's reacting to his medication and might seem dopey."

Arny nodded and pointed to Sander. "I'll stick with him."

********

The Congress of International Antiquities acknowledged Gretta's information with grave concerns; they would not be able to fund any investigations currently due to financial commitments to other agents working around the world. The best they could offer was to have the Congress's plane redirected to Collao and remain on site until they could fly home. As far as the faxed image of the ornament Gretta sent for verification, interest was high but their experts couldn't agree and would have to examine the real article.

Gretta was advised not to undertake any investigations on her own, as they would not be able to arrange the necessary documents from the government and local administrators for some time. They suggested her primary duty be to stand by Professor Stilton; a proper operation regarding the artifact could be launched at a later date.

"Guess that puts the kibosh on our vacation." Arny sighed, gazing from the balcony out into the Pacific.

"It wasn't a vacation, Arny, the professor and I came down to work."

"You know what I mean." Arny had enjoyed traveling with Gretta when she was on assignment, particularly since they had settled into simple visits to exotic countries and interesting archeological digs- nothing like the first time when he discovered who she really was and what she was capable of doing after the hair-raising experience in Mexico.

Arny and Gretta had set up a kind of housekeeping together in his place and came to enjoy a warming relationship. Arny still worked at Cutter and Glimb as chief of account promotions and as such had a fairly liberal schedule for performing his duties on site; most of his business was conducted by telephone or e-mail.

"I know. Getting off to the beach would have been a treat since the convention ended half a day early. Didn't expect this though." She hugged herself and stood next to him by the balcony rail.

"So now what?"

"I'm going to see how long they think Cheesy will be laid up and then I'm going to take a short trip to Cerro de Pasco."

"Gretta! The Congress specifically-"

"Yes, and I could really care less. This is strange enough to be very big, Arny. I want to speak to Sander's boss personally."

"And me?"

"You can carry my bags."

"What a wonderful life."