The screams seemed to go on for hours and Sophia looked pleadingly to Mumford who gazed back disinterestedly. Finally there was silence and she heard the thud of boots coming down the trail. Salvatore appeared and looked at Mumford with a helpless shrug.

"Their packs are filled with treasure from the mine and Anton told us that she has a map of the location."

Sophia quickly reached into her blouse and yanked out the paper, waving it frantically. "Here! Here it is. Take it!"

"Oh, we will, don't worry." Salvatore snatched the paper from her hand just as Dante joined the group, his pant leg smeared with blood as well as the hair on his forearms.

He wiped the blood off with the rag she recognized as the one Anton wore about his head and gasped as she asked in a small voice after her husband.

"Well-l-l, widow Varga, let's say you'd be very proud of old Anton. He's donated himself to the environment. Won't be long before he's part of the ecosystem." The laugh was harsh and brutal and increased as Sophia started to cry.

"Who was the other man with you?" Salvatore interrupted Dante's laugh. Sophia halted her sobs, concerned as to how they new about Jack but then fear overcame wonder and she told them about everything, including Jack's horde of emeralds.

"Two Gun Jack Cavanaugh," Mumford chuckled.

"You know him?" Salvatore asked.

"Know of him, more's like. He ran with a bunch in Camaroon. They did some pirating up and down the Benue River into Nigeria. Stork knows him."

"Stork!" Salvatore spat and slammed his fist into his hand. "That's why he didn't come back. He's joined up with Cavanaugh."

"Doesn't surprise me," Mumford added. "Andy always followed the money. The more there was the faster he ran. Sounds like there's quite a lot too."

Salvatore looked at Dante. "Find out where this Cavanaugh was going."

Dante leered at Sophia. "Don't tell me right away, okay?"

"That isn't necessary, old man." Mumford said to Salvatore. "She'll talk without his interference."

"Mind your own, Limey." Dante snapped.

"Hurt her and you'll hope you don't find Cavanaugh." Mumford warned.

Dante spat and laughed harshly. "You mean Two Gun? Why do they call him Two Gun anyway?"

"Because he wears a felt hat, you pasta-brained idiot." Dante lunged toward the Englishman and stopped with a yelp as the barrel of Mumford's rifle jabbed him hard in the breastbone. "One more step and the ecosystem will have another donor, old boy."

"Enough! I'm sick of this macho nonsense." Salvatore shoved Dante back and grabbed Sophia's wrist. "Where was he headed?"

"To the village near the airstrip. We were going to meet there."

"You're coming with us." He shoved her hard onto the trail and glared the other two into motion.

********

Gretta poked at the dirt with a stick and muttered to herself. The tracks were fresh and they were different than the ones she'd seen previously. The plateau was getting crowded and she was pretty sure it wasn't with tourists.

"S'matter, you look stumped?"

"More company. Looks like four men, but not from the gorge . . . from the airfield. This could be the group that hit the village."

"Who are they?"

"Hang on, I'll call out and ask."

"You know what I mean, don't be so goddamn smart. Do you think they're after the same thing we are? I mean the location of the place that ornament came from?"

"Could be. We'll follow these for a bit and see where they take us."

The scuff marks all around the large boulder showed that two people had done something there and Gretta pulled at her lip, confused.

"This mark here matches one from the four back there but this other one is new." She scratched patterns in the dirt and sighed.

"And then there were five."

"Yeah, but only two here. Why?"

"Hang on, I'll-"

"Don't. Don't even think it, Arny." She smothered a grin at his expression. "These two go that way but four still go this way so that means that sometime later one of the four came back here and met number five and that's their track heading into the gorge."

"Who do we follow?"

She looked at her watch and puffed. "Get Sander on the radio and tell him everything we've found. Find out what lies south of here in that direction. Maybe he can arrange to watch for two people or something . . . I don't know. We'll keep going this way."

The light was fading and Arny was tiring behind the indefatigable Gretta as they slid and scrambled down the narrow trail to the bottom of the gorge. Sander, in his military delivery, had assured them that he was on the job and would have local spotters on the lookout for strangers coming from the direction of the plateau. Meanwhile, Arny was getting hungrier, more tired and definitely not looking forward to a night in some godforsaken ravine.

"Hold it, Arny. Don't move."

"What! What is it? A bear? A jaguar?" Arny was pivoting his head frantically as Gretta stepped forward and knelt down, immediately making a sick sound as she jumped back up and stepped away.

"Either this is number six or we're back to four."

Arny peered down at the dirt and recoiled at sight of the several human parts being devoured by insects.

"Oh shit! What the hell . . . "

Gretta knelt down again and picked something up from the mass.

"Don't touch that stuff! Jesus, Gretta!" Arny turned away and looked down the trail.

"It's a watch. The strap's gone but the watch is intact. It's still ticking."

"Wonderful, a Timex commercial. Let's get out of here."

"A. Varga. It's a man's watch so I guess its Mister Varga. Mister Varga was a member of the original expedition, along with his wife, according to Captain Warez."

"Swell, you think that- that down there is Mister Varga?"

"Be a good bet. And something else, Arny. It wasn't animals. The tracks match those we've been following."

"Oh Jesus, not another sample of that village thing?"

"Look over there." She stepped by him and pointed at the ground. "Four sets of prints . . . hmmm."

"We followed three down here. One's in that- there, and now we have four again?"

"Not only that, Arny, one belongs to a woman. Mrs. Varga, you think?"

"Can we go home?"

********

Cavanaugh and Stork paid the native boatman for the gasoline-choked cruise down the twisting Huallago River and made their way through the town of La Oroya to the train station. The next train was not until the following morning so they sought out a nondescript lodging for the night and holed up, discussing shares and making further travel plans.

"We're gonna need new IDs, mate." Stork stated, eyeing Jack's backpack.

"I've got the name of a source in Lima that should be able to take care of that."

"We have to make sure our trail ends here. No tracks for Salvatore to follow. He and Dante are ruthless bastards; they won't give up."

"What about Mumford? How the hell is he anyway? I haven't heard of him since what . . . Nigeria?"

"Same old Limey fox. Wouldn't turn sideways to him either when it comes to something like that bulge in your backpack. By the way, mate, that's a mighty snappy looking rig."

Jack gave him a long look and made a noise with his lips. "You want to see what's in there, Andy?"

"Like to see my share, mate, right enough."

"Your share will be thirty. I get seventy. And before you object, I have all of it right now. I also have the source for new papers and I did all the work up until you followed and found me."

"I might point out, Jacko, that I could have turned you over to Salvatore or I could have taken your treasure and left on my own."

"True. But your first option left you with nothing let alone thirty percent and the second one would have made you a man in hiding with no quick exit from the country."

Stork huffed and sat up on the sagging bed. "Right then. Positions established and agreed upon. Let's see my share at least."

********

The only plane available was a short hop to La Oroya; from there they could take the train or rent a car. Salvatore muttered a string of obscenities as they were told, after accepting, that it would be another two hours before they could leave. Dante had gleefully regaled Sophia with his descriptions of the assault on the village, enjoying immensely the reaction it had. She sobbed continually as the men force-marched her to the tiny airstrip, warning her all the way to be quiet and to stop her crying.

Mumford inserted himself between she and Dante and dared the younger man to object then he led her off to one side and tried to calm her with assurances that she would be fine and that all they wanted was to find Jack Cavanaugh.

"But I swear, he said he would be here, waiting."

"What did he have with him? What were you two going to run away with when you got rid of Anton?"

Sophia held her breath and forced herself to analyze his questions. How did he know she and Jack were going to run away? How did he guess about Anton? She wiped her fingers over her eyes.

"I don't know what-"

Mumford gripped her arm painfully. "Don't bother to lie, my dear, I know Anton and I know Jack and knowing them, I know you. Now, what did he have?"

"I swear-"

"Last chance, Sophia, and then it's Dante's turn."

She went pale and shot a look across the trampled grassy taxi strip at the big Italian. "Please, he said he found something in the mine that would take care of us for life but I didn't see it, Anton was always too close and he was getting suspicious."

Cyril Mumford evaluated the woman's words, her voice and body language and decided that she was either an excellent actor or she was telling the truth. It didn't matter, Jack probably had found something spectacular and by telling her he was definitely planning on getting involved. He released her arm and kept watching her face.

If Andy Stork had found Jack then either of them could be dead and the other heading for the hills or they teamed up and ran off together. Quickest way home was to fly. Best place to fly from was Lima; Cyril needed to get to Lima- preferably alone. He refocused on Sophia and weighed the prospect of not going alone, coming down on the side of possibly not.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, love, but you'll be doing as I say from here in unless you prefer Dante's company."

Sophia closed her eyes and shook her head. "Whatever you say but what about the other one?"

"Salvatore?" Cyril chuckled. "Salvatore isn't really a hands on individual, hence Dante. Salvatore won't be a problem."

She suddenly realized that this man might just be her salvation and that playing along could get her out of her current mess. Sophia tried a timid smile, adding a little tremble for good measure.