important person's name was entered into the hospital's records, a flag screen would come up telling the doctor involved to call the relevant government agency.
'Did Norton have any links to militia groups?” Demonaco asked.
'Not a one. Been in the Navy all his life. Technical sup port systems expert—-computers, communications systems, navigation computers. He has an exemplary record. Hell, the man's a goddamn boy scout. The man least likely to betray his country.'
'What about the others?'
'Nothing. None of them has any links to any paramilitary organisations. Every member of the team had to go through a comprehensive security check before they were cleared to work on the project. They're clean. Not a single one of them is believed to even know a member of a militia group.'
'Well, someone does,' Demonaco said. 'Find out who worked with Norton the most, anyone who could have watched him enter his PIN codes every day. I'll make some calls to my people and see what Earl Bittiker and the Texans have been up to lately.'
The Goose kicked up a shower of spray as it touched down on the surface of the Alto Purus River, not far from the base of the waterfall that cascaded out over the table land.
Night had fallen and, mindful of the presence of the rapas in the village, Race and the others had decided that they would moor the seaplane down by the waterfall and re-enter Vilcafor via the quenko.
After Doogie had parked the Goose on the riverbank underneath a dense canopy of trees, the four of them dis embarked. They left Uli in the plane, unconscious and dosed up on some methadone they'd found in a first-aid kit in the back of the plane.
Before they made for the path behind the waterfall, how ever, Race made them do something quite unusual.
Using a couple of wooden boxes they had found inside the Goose and a few energy bars that Van Lewen and Doogie had had on their persons, they set some primitive traps—traps that were designed to catch the monkeys rustling about in the trees above them.
Ten minutes later, they had a pair of furious primates trapped inside the two wooden boxes. The two monkeys screamed and shrieked as Van Lewen and Doogie carried them along the path behind the rushing waterfall and into the yawning stone doorway of the quenko.
Ten minutes later, Race climbed up into the citadel of Vilcafor.
Nash, Lauren, Copeland, Gaby Lopez and Johann Krauss were all gathered in a corner of the citadel watching Lauren as she tried to make radio contact with either Van Lewen or Doogie.
They all turned as one when they saw Race emerge from the quenko with the fake idol in his hands.
Renee, Van Lewen and Doogie came up into the citadel after him. They were all completely covered in mud and grime. Race still had dried droplets of Heinrich Anistaze's blood on his face.
Nash saw the idol in his hands immediately.
'You got it!' he exclaimed, rushing over to Race, snatch ing the idol from him.
He gazed at it adoringly.
Race just watched Nash coldly, and in that instant he decided that he wouldn't tell Nash what he knew about him. Rather he would just wait and see what Nash did from here. They might still get the idol—indeed, maybe even with Race's help—but Race was determined to ensure that Nash wouldn't end up with it.
'It's beautiful,' Nash said wondrously.
'It's a fake,' Race said flatly.
'What?'
'It's a fake. It's not made of thyrium. If you turn on your nucleotide resonance imager again, you'll find that there is still a source of thyrium is this area. But this idol isn't it.'
'But… how?'
'During his escape from Cuzco, Renco Capac got the criminal Bassario to craft an exact replica of the Spirit of the People. Renco planned to surrender to Hernando and hand over the fake idol to him. He knew Hernando would kill him, but he also knew that so long as Hernando got an idol, he would never suspect that it might be the wrong idol.
'As it happened, however, Renco and Alberto Santiago killed Hernando and his men, and Renco—-so the manu script says—proceeded to hide both idols inside the temple.'
Nash turned the idol over in his hands and saw for the first time the hollowed-out cylindrical section in its base. He looked up at Race.
'So the real idol is still somewhere inside the temple?“
'That's what Santiago says in the manuscript,' Race said.
'But… ?”
'But I don't believe him.'
'You don't believe him? Why not?'
'Does your NRI machine still work?' Race asked Lauren.
'Yes.'
'Set it up and I'll show you what I mean.'
They all moved to the open-topped roof of the citadel, where Lauren began setting up the nucleotide
