Page 141

“There must be a solution,” Torres yelled. “You,” he said, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at Santiago. “Figure this out.”

“I don’t know.” Santiago bristled at being ordered to do what he had already been attempting. “I don’t know what to do! It doesn’t make sense that all of them are deadly. Logic would dictate that at least one should provide us safe passage.”

“Which one?” Torres’s voice was as cold as ice.

Santiago scanned the room again, but if it held any other secrets, they were none that he could decipher.

“Maybe they all have darts, but they’re not all deadly?” Santiago guessed, trying to work it out. “Maybe four of the paths have poisonous darts, and one has ordinary, nonlethal toothpicks. Maybe we just need to be courageous enough to take the chance.”

“Then I suggest you find your courage,” Torres said.

Santiago ran his hands over his hair. The man was really going to make him walk through a tunnel of potentially poisonous projectiles. But what other option did he have? Sit here and wait out Atahualpa’s curse? He was all too aware of the minutes ticking past already. So…which tunnel would he choose?

At least he knew it couldn’t be the llama tunnel. That one had killed Rodriguez instantly. He felt the snake was too obvious an answer, but that didn’t necessarily mean it was wrong. Santiago looked over the other animals again.

The condor was an important symbol to the Inca. It was less of an animal and more of a deity. Often associated with Inti, too, which would be a fitting symbol for the emperor’s tomb.

But it was also associated with Hanan Pacha—the celestial realm. That didn’t fit with the rest of the clues that had led him this far. Those had all been linked to Ukhu Pacha, the realm of the dead.

Likewise, the puma—a symbol of strength and intelligence—was associated with Kay Pacha, the land of the living. It didn’t feel right, either.

The strangest symbol to Santiago was the face of the horse. Horses were not native to South America. They were introduced during the period of Spanish colonization in the 1500s. So why include a depiction of a horse in an Incan burial site?

“If you’re still gathering courage, Rios, I suggest you do it faster,” Torres drawled.

The courage to walk through a tunnel, Santiago thought. In the face of harm. The horse…

Things begin sliding into place in Santiago’s mind.

He turned to Ali, focusing his attention exclusively on her, the way that he sometimes did with Brooke when his surroundings were too overwhelming for thought.

“Do you remember the story I told you of Hernando de Soto’s first meeting with Atahualpa?” he asked.

“Who?” She tipped her head too far to the side, looking confused and a little elated.

Oh no. Santiago briefly forgot about the riddle at hand, queasy with worry. She’s getting loopy.

He shook himself back to the present. He couldn’t save Ali unless he focused. He just…needed to talk it through.

“In Cajamarca, before the Ransom Room,” he reminded her. “I told you about the first time the Spanish encountered Atahualpa, at the Baños de Inca.”

“He rode up on a horse.” Ali giggled. “He went right up to Atahualpa to try to intimidate him.”

“Yes.” Santiago nodded. “De Soto made his horse rear up to frighten Atahualpa, so close that the animal’s front hooves pawed over Atahualpa’s head.”

“And some of its spit landed on the emperor’s cheek!” Ali tapped her own.

“What does this have to do with anything?” Torres demanded.

“Atahualpa wasn’t fazed,” Santiago answered, switching his focus, if only to avoid antagonizing the man. “He didn’t even flinch.”

“You have an idea?” Ali asked, hope lighting her features.

“Maybe,” he said. “Let’s just hope I’m right.”

Santiago approached the horse tunnel and took a deep breath. He began to mov—

“Santiago.”