A Golden Legend

Chapter 33

Marcelo was mired in his anguish, against which fought for a while until he could shake the negative thoughts from his mind. He then began to formulate specific questions:

“What were the aims of the group to which belonged Ovidio and allegedly Rangel? They had a relationship with the quest for Paititi and the alleged mythical city gold? Or simply sought to protect some particular territory of the presence of strangers, and for what reason? Were they related to any guerrilla or political group? Or with drug traffickers? Or with an organized and armed gang  of ruins looters?” The head gave him turns and soon he became convinced that given his level of information at the time it was not possible to reply neither these nor other many questions spurting in his mind; so he decided to postpone them and concentrate on things he could handle, typical decision of his practical personality. First turned to his companion:

“Huacman, I'll go forward whatever happens, because my girlfriend  can be in the hands of those people, but I cannot ask you to risk in the same way because you were not hired for actions of war but as an archaeological expedition guide. You are relieved of any compromise with me and I will understand if you want to go back.”

“Go with you... There are reasons.”

Marcelo insisted trying to convince the man to return, but he soon saw that his decision was as unwavering as his own. Then he accepted Huacman´s company for what the future could hold for them; deep down, he thanked the decision since it would have been very difficult for him to find his way and follow the tracks if left to his own resources.

Silently they rose the precarious camp and carried their meager equipment in their backpacks. The Peruvian explored the surrounding area for a while, and finally pointed in a different direction to that the one taken by the column of armed men led by Ovidio, and of that from which they had come. Marcelo carefully observed the guide´s proceedings, and had come to perceive some of the signs that determined his choice of traces: crushed herbs, broken branches, small stones recently displaced, which showed moisture acquired in their previous position, and finally footsteps at certain sites; all these data provided the guide not only the track but also information on the state of fatigue of the walkers and the weight of the load they carrying.

McPherson covered his face with his hat to avoid the dust raised by the blades of the military helicopter that had just landed. Then he came to greet the men who descended from it and accompanied them to the tent that served as the expedition office. There the newcomers were presented as the Captain Mayorga from the Direction of Intelligence of the Peruvian National Police, Captain Joaquín Escobar of the Police Directorate of Criminalistics and the Major Gutierrez, of the Peruvian army. The fourth member was simply presented as Mr. Jaramillo, without giving further details or ranks. At the same time, McPherson was accompanied by Jacinto Macario, a Peruvian who oversaw the research activities, and whose participation in the expedition had been suggested to McPherson by Peruvian authorities. Rangel was absent for some reason.

McPherson and Macario made an introduction on the objectives and the activities developed by the team so far, and the news that had reached regarding the murders of members of the group established in Huanuco II. Once completed it, Mayorga asked.

“Is the Argentinean trustworthy?

Painstakingly, McPherson explained the situation that Marcelo was in the expedition, emphasizing the sentimental interest linking him with one of the missing members of the group.

“... for this reason we believe that he is perhaps the person most interested in the resolution of this problem.”

The Peruvian military explained that the authorities were concerned about acts of violence, as well as shocked by an attack on a scientific expedition. Gutierrez added that a group of military men trained in "special tasks" was in the way by road, and they would take in charge the security of camps and the search for the missing members. Escobar, in turn, said that he wanted to start their forensic activities immediately, for which requested information on the members of the expedition. After a group discussion  Macario, who so far had remained silent, suggested.

“I recommend focusing on Ovidio, Huacman... and Rangel.

The military immediately accepted the suggestion, what confirmed the suspicions of McPherson in the sense that Macario was not a simple administrative attaché put by the Peruvians in the expedition, but he had some sort of intelligence functions. The American brought some files that he had compiled on staff, with personal data, photography, blood group and other health information, contacts in case of emergency, etc. He separated the files corresponding to the three selected men and handed  them over to Macario.

“I understand that Ovidio and Huacman are in the other group, and therefore beyond our immediate grasp, but it would be interesting to start interrogating Rangel”“ said Mayorga.

McPherson left the tent and ordered one of the men to search the Venezuelan. After a while the man returned with the news that he had disappeared, along with his belongings.

“No wonder” was the brief comment Macario made “there is no doubt that this expedition had, for some reason that we ignore, an infiltrated cell that carried out intelligence work and perhaps direct action. Rangel was probably the chief of that unit and Ovidio one of his henchmen. We do not know if there are others, so we will assume there are and thus keep our actions confidential.”

The forensic officer opened a laptop and pulled a scanner of another bag . With the latter he swept each of the three files, after which commented:

“I am going to send to Lima this information to determine what information there is about these men. Even a photo scanning to see if  facial recognition can be done.”

Later in the evening arrived a truck with heavily armed soldiers; they were members of an elite group of the Peruvian army. McPherson mused surprised about the importance that the authorities had given to the event. Captain Escobar called to a group meeting to publicize information that he had just received. McPherson appeared immediately, given the dangerous turn which had acquired what had been conceived as a purely academic issue.