A Golden Legend

Chapter 31

As they surrounded a high cliff some signs of change began to emerge. A soft whistle indicated a movement of air that eventually began to open the fog. The muscles of their legs and their eardrums showed them that they were descending. By leaving above them the cloud they were coming along, the vision became clearer and they could see that the trail descended quite abruptly, forming a snail on the hills slopes. Beyond it  birds kept flitting around a small valley towards which converged the winding road. Miguel looked at him significantly:

“Marcelo, I don't like those vultures.”

The young man did not respond, fearing the clarification to that comment. On the other hand they sped their steps as much as possible, taking care to not roll along the stony path on the way down. Marcelo felt an anguish that oppressed his heart. He ranged the last stretch of descent almost running, and when he arrived at the small flat surface his breathing was contained. The legs of a man with boots emerged behind a rock. Approaching the spot he got paralyzed by psychological shock: the empty basins of Professor Jimenez eyes silently watched him. The poor man´s clothes were destroyed and countless injuries on the face and arms reflected the action of vultures, only predators to those heights. An ominous wound in the chest had however another source. Marcelo turned after a stone and vomited between seizures. Finally he could control his body and mind. At that moment, he heard a voice behind him.

“Killed by a rifle shot “ ruled Miguel with an apparent calm “ there are other two dead pawns dumped into a Canyon, with bullets in the backs; no doubt someone killed them when they tried to escape. All the camp is stirred, as if they had been looking for something, but communications equipment or other objects of value were not carried.

“Te...? Does Teresa?” babbled Marcelo, swallowing saliva with difficulty.

“No traces of her.”  Miguel placed a hand neither on Marcelo´s shoulder “nor from Francisco or Ovidio. We know that they had formed a group of exploration and left a few days ago. Perhaps they had not returned when the attack occurred. Do not lose hope.”

The young man reconvened his mood as he could, and thanked the psychological support of the Peruvian. In order to keep evil thoughts from their minds, everyone began to perform tasks. Firstly they communicated by radio with McPherson.

The American was inconsolable by the discovery of the corpse of Jimenez, his collaborator of many adventures and personal friend. It was decided that they would send a team to remove the bodies, and it would be accompanied by a strong escort of police or military. The task of Miguel, Marcelo and his companions would only be to preserve the bodies from birds of prey, covering all possible, without touching the remains of the camp, in order not to erase traces or signs and not to jeopardize the subsequent forensic task. McPherson order was strict:

“Nobody leaves camp until reinforcements arrive. Don't do searches on your own. We cannot risk more lives. There is no doubt that there are dangers not foreseen in our mission.”

“I understand  McPherson´s reasons” said Marcelo to Miguel “ but I do not intend to comply with them. I cannot stay with my arms crossed while Teresa and his companions may be injured or lost in the surrounding area. You stay here  with the men, just give me the compass and the revolver. I'll take with me water and food for two days.”

Miguel did not respond as he realized it would have been useless, because he would have done the same. He spoke with the indigenous guide and then returned with Marcelo.

“You will be accompanied by Huacman. He is an expert tracker and will guide you after the traces of the missing members. He speaks little Spanish, but will understand what you say. Take one of the radios with you.”

Reluctantly Marcelo agreed, aware that his lack of knowledge of the area predicted no success if he went alone: despite being tired by all the previous marches up to the looted camp, they rested by only one hour and departed, when there was still light to walk in the mountains.

Huacman quickly found several traces, and among them identified those that he decided to follow.

“Small group... woman... loaded”  snapped in his rudimentary Spanish.

There was no need for more talk. Marcelo nodded and followed the indigenous in his rapid progress between the rocks. The road was soon complicated by skirting the abyss now Teresa and her companions had gone through. They came to the bridge, and Marcelo felt a bristling of the neck hair but went ahead. On the other side of the bridge several paths opened up and traces were less evident, so Huacman took about twenty minutes to discern which of them had been trodden by human beings recently. Eventually he decided by a steep road that opened to the right which forced to frequently climbing sharp crags. After ascending a stretch, the path first  leveled up  and then began to descend in a perceivable form. Xerophytes bushes soon began to appear, spiky barbed, first ambassadors of the vegetable kingdom at that altitude. After a tiring journey of half an hour Huacman pointed a white patch clearly distinguishable on one of the spikes of a bush. Marcelo loosened it and was surprised to find that it was a piece of paper folded in the middle. He opened it and somewhat perplexed could differentiate only a few suggestive lines penciled.

“Do you have idea what can this be?”  asked Marcelo.

The guide looked first at the paper with hesitant air, obviously not very familiarized with the material, then he said in a determined tone.

“Message... pursue.”

Marcelo looked at him surprised and confused, then the ideas started to get in the proper order and caught the meaning. He asked with alarm.

“Do you want to say that it is a message left for someone who is behind them?”

Huacman nodded his head.

Without hesitation Marcelo took the radio and communicated with Miguel, making him aware of the find.

“.. .that is most serious” said the Mexican “it means two things: first confirms that the authors of the m******e of Huanuco II are after their tracks, and second that there is a spy in Teresa´s group. Marcelo, I insist that you come back and wait to the police, this is becoming increasingly dangerous.”

“I appreciate your concern, but I'm not going to follow your advice. Now less than ever, since I know that heartless guys are chasing them and that they have a fifth column among them. I only recommend you to rush reinforcements. You call when you have news. Out.”