The office has been thoroughly ransacked. Shelves has been overturned, spilling their heavy loads of thick, academic books everywhere. Desk drawers and a filing cabinet had been pulled open and the papers within scattered across the floor. Clay figurines and carved plaques, reproductions of ancient, Meso-American pieces from museums around the world had been callously knocked off shelves and torn from the walls and smashed.

Professor Angelica Cardosa whimpered softly into her gag, looking at the ruin that had been made of her life’s work. It would take her years, if not decades to undo the damage these thugs had done in minutes…assuming the anthropologist was given a chance to try and put this nightmare behind her.

The 38-year old professor sat on a heavy wooden chair in the center of the ruined office. Her arms were behind her back, pinned uncomfortably between her short, slender body and the hardwood back of the chair, wrists crossed and bound with rope. More rope circled Angelica’s torso, running above and below her bust, and around the back of the chair, lashing the young woman to it. Her legs, covered by a long brown skirt, had also been tied with rope, at the knees and ankles, which were then tethered to one of the chair legs.

The sturdy chair and the coils of thick, tight rope were more than enough to convince the slender woman she had no chance of struggling free, so after being taken captive at gunpoint, she had sat meekly, merely watching in horror as the men systematically tore apart her tidy, ordered academic world, looking for something. When she had attempted to protest, they had responded by stuffing a wadded up rag between her lips. Several strips of silvery tape sealed the gag in. Initially, Angelica had thought the four men, dressed in dark jackets, wearing black masks, were just ordinary thieves, perhaps looking for a valuable artifact or trinket they could sell on the black market. But soon enough, from the way the men turned over every drawer and went through each book before tossing it aside, it became apparent that the intruders were looking for one thing in particular.

Just then, Angelica heard the front door of the house open. A figure entered, crossing the house quickly to the office. The anthropologist’s eyes widened in recognition, as she suddenly realized what this was all about. The new arrival was a young woman, in her late twenties. She had pale, white skin and fair blonde hair, almost to the point of being white, worn in a long braided ponytail. The woman had on a khaki uniform shirt and shorts, with hiking boots and tall socks that were pulled up high on her long, slender legs. Angelica recognized her at once; Katherine Von Gruan, infamous in the antiquities community as a notorious grave robber, not above stealing other, honest archeologists’ work and selling artifacts on the black market for personal profit.

The four thugs, hired muscle, stood up from their ransacking as Katherine entered. She crossed the room to where Angelica sat bound and gagged, picking her way around the mess scattered around the floor. The older woman glared up at her, defiantly.

“This place is a mess…” Katherine teased her captive. “You really should tidy it up when you have the chance.” She turned towards her men. “Have you found the journal yet? And the key?” She spoke English, but her voice had an unmistakable German accent to it.

The leader of the thugs, a man named Smith, shook his head. “We’ve searched this place from top to bottom. It aint here…”

“I was right to send it away.” Angelica thought to herself. It wouldn’t do her any good, but it might keep a very important historical discovery out of this wicked bitch’s hands.

Katherine frowned. “I suppose we’d better ask our hostess then…” She turned back to Angelica. With little ceremony, she tore the tape away from the other woman’s mouth. With a wretch, the professor spat out the wadded up rag that had been stuffed in her mouth. “So, Dr. Cardosa tell me…” Katherine asked the captive in accented Portuguese. “What have you done with the map and key?”

Angelica tried to put on a defiant face, despite the fear she felt. “I’ve already sent off both of them. Just before you came,” she replied. “Somewhere far from here. You will never find the Lost City of the Gods!”

Katherine sighed. “You will tell me who you’ve sent them to.” She told her captive sternly. She nodded towards her thugs. “These gentlemen can be quite persuasive…”

The men grinned, gathering around the two women. Helpless in her bonds, Angelica trembled with fear. Never the less, she managed to find the voice to speak. “Go ahead. It…it won’t do you any good. I won’t help you!”

“er…boss.” Smith said, “wonder if the good doctor might be more pliant if we start ‘talkin’ to her friends.” He nodded his head to one side. In that direction was an open door, leading to the kitchen. From the room came the sounds of muffled sobs. Visible through the open door were two more women, both in their early twenties. Like Angelica, they had been securely bound to two sturdy chairs and gagged with tape.

The first was a tall, slender Brazilian girl, with long dark hair. She was dressed in a maid’s uniform and had been the professor’s housekeeper. The girl beside her was shorter, with pale freckled skin and auburn hair. She had on a t-shirt and a pair of white shorts. She was a student, studying at the University and the Professor’s student-assistant.

“No! Please!” Angelica begged. The men ignored her. Smith turned to one of his companions. “Morris, run out to the truck and grab the spare car battery and the jumper cables…” Angelica went pale as the man turned and walked out of the room, stomping the pages of a research paper underfoot indifferently.

“Well, Dr. Cardosa,” Katherine said, “I’ll give you one more chance to be reasonable and save yourself and your companions from a great deal of pain. Tell me, who you sent the map to?”

***

Louise was sitting at a table in the hotel bar, nursing her drink. Since it was still early in the afternoon and the place was all but empty, the bartender, a middle aged Brazilian man dressed in a white dress shirt, hadn’t shot her any ill-looks about taking up space more profitable customers might have used.

Sitting on the table in front of the young woman were two items which had brought her here from London. The first was a metal disc, rough six inches in diameter. The gold had been worked with the glyphs and figures of a Meso-American people, done with such startling detail and craftsmanship it was hard to believe the gold medallion was at least half a millennium old, maybe older. Set in the center was a white crystal of some sort.

The other object was a small black, leather bound booklet. Idly, she flipped through page after page of small, dense writing, done in a very neat hand. Scattered here and there were hand drawn illustrations, sketches of native pictograms and artifacts, alongside maps showing the Amazon River basin in great detail. About three quarters of the way through, the notes trailed off. On the last filled page was a half-finished sketch of a Mayan Ziggurat.

“Why did you send this to me?” Louise thought to herself, troubled. Idly, she ran her hands through her long brown hair. She had known that professor Cardosa, one of her old teachers and a mentor, had been working on discovering the location of the Lost City. It had been a pet project of hers for some time. Last she heard, the older woman had been making a good bit of progress. So why had she suddenly decided to mail her life’s work to her old student, with no explanation as if on a whim?

“And unfinished to…” Louise muttered. The final pages of theories and calculations were extremely promising, enough to convince Louise to set up this expedition, but though the book had narrowed things down to a relatively small patch of jungle, having a definite location would have been far better.

“That book make any more sense, Lo?” A voice said from behind Louise. A second later, the person who had spoken walked around the young woman into view. She was also a young woman, with shoulder length brown hair. She was dressed like Louise, in a white tank-top and a pair of khaki shorts.

“Not really, Naomi.” Louise told her friend and colleague. “We’ll just have to hope when we’re out there on the river, that things will make a bit more sense…”

“Yeah,” Naomi replied. ‘Speaking of which, I’ve got in touch with a captain who has a boat for hire that fits what we need. Want to come with me and check it out?”

‘Alright.” Louise stood from the table, scooping the book and talisman into the leather satchel at her side.

The two women walked out of the hotel onto the bustling street. Naomi flagged down a taxi. As they got in, she gave the driver the address of a small, riverside Marina. The man fought his way through the crush of traffic; automobiles and bicycles and people on foot everywhere before dropping the women off at the riverside.

As Naomi counted out coins for the fare, Louise scanned the long line of piers and the myriad of boats tied up at them; motor boats and sailing vessels, riverboats, yachts and barges, tiny one-man dinghies and boats large enough to sail across the ocean.

“So what boat are we hiring?” Louise asked.

“Um…that one right there. The…Duchess it’s called.” Naomi replied, pointing with her finger as she picked out the boat from the others at the marina. Louise followed her outstretched arm, to a splendid white riverboat, maybe fifty-sixty feet long. The boat had a raised structure on deck, with a pilot house up front, another cabin behind and an open deck area near the stern. A white awning stretched over the deck, to give shade against the hope jungle sun. The whole boat had a look of clean tidiness, especially set alongside some of the other disreputable vessels tied up along the river.

As the two archeologists walked up, they saw a young woman on deck, checking over some of the equipment stored in lockers by the pilot house. Seeing them she called down an open hatch below deck. A second woman soon appeared. In looks the two women were very similar; dark hair, tied back, dressed in nice white uniforms that had a distinctly military air to them. The well cut military blouses showed off their nice, athletic bodies.

“Ahoy!” One of the sailor’s called down as Louise and Naomi reached the gangplank. “Are you the gang that called ahead and said they were interested in renting my boat for a few days?”

Louise nodded. “Yes! May we come up, captain…”

“Powell.” The other woman replied. “Jennifer Powell, and this is my partner, Paula Smith. We run this boat.”
“It’s good to meet you, Captain Powell.” Louise said, walking up the gangplank, a hand extended. ”We would very much like to hire your boat to take us upriver.”

“Where to?” Jennifer asked.

“We’re not sure…” Louise admitted. “We’re looking for some ruins, a lost city. We have a general idea of where it is, but we don’t know for certain. We’re hoping once we get out in the jungle we’ll have more luck figuring out the clues laid down to its exact location.”

“Hmmm…intriguing.” The captain said, thoughtfully. “Well, in that case, I guess I can give you a daily rate. Paid in cash.” The amount she named wasn’t as bad as Louise had thought it might be, but it was still rather steep. Frowning, the two archeologists put their heads together.

“With the money we’ve got, that will only give us a couple of weeks, a month at most.” Naomi said, quickly doing the math in her head. “Do you think we’ll be able to find the city in that time frame?”

“I…think so.” Louise replied, perhaps a little less certain then she would have liked.

“That also doesn’t give us much time to excavate, even if we do find any ruins.”

“If we can find the ruins location, dig up a few artifacts to show back at the university, we shouldn’t have much trouble getting more funds for a second expedition.” Louise replied. She turned back to Jennifer. “It’s a deal. When do we sail?”

“Bring your whole group and any luggage you want to bring back here tomorrow, say, around 7:00.” The captain told them. Louise nodded and the two women shook hands.

As the two archeologists descended the gangplank and walked to catch a cab back to the hotel to make final preparations for the trip, they didn’t notice a man in the crowd, dressed as a tourist, raise a camera and take a quick picture of the two women. He also took several pictures of the boat and the two pretty crew women onboard it…

***

Katherine paced anxiously across the cheap hotel bedroom, like a caged predator, waiting for the cage to open, allowing her to hunt. She and her hired thugs had flown down here, following the clues they had forced the unfortunate Dr. Cardosa had given them…though not before she had subjected herself, and her two companions to some unnecessary torment.

From the next room over, a chorus of muffled moans reached Katherine’s ears. Their torments hadn’t ended there. Unfortunately for the professor and her friends, their nightmare was far from over. They’d been brought along, smuggled bound and gagged in a shipping container, both to keep them from raising any sort of alarm and also as insurance, should this lead prove to be false.

Katherine frowned, listening to the anxious grunts coming from the three women, and the grunts of pleasure from the three men in the room with them. She would have preferred keeping the three crated up, preferably under sedation, but the men she had hired as muscle for this job had insisted on having their “fun” with the three captive women. Well, Katherine thought, if it kept them happy and loyal to her commands, it was just hard luck for the three captives and she spared them little care…

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Katherine walked over and unlocked it. It was Morris, the short, dark haired sneak she had sent out to look for the two archeologists who had the map and key. He had a grin on his face as he walked into the room.

“I take it you were successful?” Katherine asked, closing the door. As she turned back, she saw Smith had come in from the other room, bare chested, wearing cargo pants in a dark jungle-pattern camouflage. Through the open door he had come through, she saw the other bed, the three naked captives stretched out, hands and feet lashed tightly to either end of the bed. The two younger women were being raped by the other two thugs, while Angelica could only watch and wait until her turn came again.

“What’s up, Morris?” Smith asked.

“Well, boss, I spotted the girls the Doc described, two of them anyway, looking to hire a riverboat, like they were going up into the jungle. I managed to snap a coupla’ pics of ‘em.”

“Let me see.” Katherine said sharply, annoyed that he had addressed his report to the other man and not heard. She took the camera and quickly looked through the pictures, recognizing Louise and Naomi at once. “Hmmm…if they’re heading into the jungle…maybe they’ve already deciphered the rest of the map…” she said quietly to herself. But Angelica hadn’t sounded like she was anywhere close to that when she had sent it away…

“I found which hotel they’re staying at to.” Morris said, after a moment. “They’ve got two other girls with ‘em, looks like. Wouldn’t be too hard for us to go there, snatch all four and bring them back before they leave. Right boss?”

“No.” Katherine said, frowning in annoyance that the last part had been said to Smith and not her. “We’re going to follow them into the jungle. With any luck, they’ll lead us right to the city…”

“Hang on!” Smith replied, frowning. “You hired us to rough up a couple of fancy bitches and get you some damn gold necklace, not go off on a fucking jungle safari!”

“I hired you to follow my orders!” Katherine replied, sharply. “You and your men will be well paid for this, believe me. Otherwise, I’ll have to find some new muscle. Now…” She handed him the camera. “I will go and procure a boat to follow them. While I’m out,” she dropped her voice, so it wouldn’t be heard in the next room. “I think the doctor has outlived her usefulness. Take her and her friends and see they’re disposed of.” With that, she turned and walked out of the room.”

“Christ, that bitch.” Morris said, when he was certain she was out of earshot. “You want to waste her, boss?” He asked.

“no.” Smith replied. “I think we’ll follow her just a little bit longer.” He was looking at the camera, turned to the pictures of Louise and Naomi, on the boat, talking with the crew women. He grinned. “Meantime, we got a couple of bitches to dispose of…” Unlike Katherine, he made no effort to keep the ‘bitches’ in question from hearing this, grinning at the moans of terror they gave. “Tell Tom and Dave to pull out and get them crated up again. Then call Burke’s group, find out who the local collector for the Syndicate is, tell him we’ve got three items for sale…” He nodded. “And tell him we’ll have some more soon enough…Seven items, precisely.”

***

“Ugh…it is too early for this.” The young woman said with a groan, setting her bag down on the pier. She was a tall, strikingly pretty woman with red hair cut into a short pixie cut and a pretty face dappled with freckles.

“You said it, Kelly.” Another young woman replied, suppressing a yawn as she dropped her duffel bag beside the first woman’s. She was a match for the other in height and looks, though she had long, straight dark hair and her exotic looks showed off her Chinese ancestry.

“Louise,” Kelly said, turning to the other archeologist, “Why do we have to get up so damned early in the morning to catch a boat we hired?”

“We’re paying for this boat by the day,” Louise told her, “And since we’ve only got so much money for the rental, I want to get the most out of it we can. The earlier we get out onto the river, the more progress we’ll make.”

As she said this, Naomi came up and deposited the last of the bags, with the group’s instruments and camping gear, from the taxi’s trunk. She turned and went to pay the driver.

“Is this your whole group?” A voice from up on the boat called down. Jennifer walked down the gangplank, eyeing the four women on the pier.

“Yes, captain.” Louise said, extending her hand. After shaking the other woman’s hand, Louise waved her hand towards her companions. “This is Miss Kelly O’Brian and Miss Lucy Chu. They’re two graduate students who agreed to come along as research assistants for this expedition.” That Louise suspected the two had been more interested in a free vacation to the Amazon, rather than hopes of finding the Lost City, was left unsaid.

“Well, come aboard, then.” Jennifer told her. “We’ll get your gear stowed away below and then get underway as quickly as possible…”

That was easier said than done. The riverboat had seemed roomy enough the day before when there was just its two crew women, but with six women onboard, plus gear for an extended trip into the jungle, it was far more cramped, especially when Louise and Naomi claimed one of the cabins for an office space, to continue their work deciphering the rest of the map. “This isn’t a pleasure cruise! We’re here to do serious work which will advance the knowledge of mankind!” Louise snapped at her grumbling assistants as they moved their bags out of the cabin.

The sun had risen a good way into the sky before they finally unmoored from the dock and motored up river, dodging around the other craft, heading up and down the Amazon.

Despite what Louise had said, there was little for the archeologist to do the first few days, until they reached the zone of jungle Dr. Cardosa had narrowed down as the Lost City’s likely location, except settle into life onboard and try and keep out of the way of Jennifer and Paula as they ran the boat. Kelly and Lucy set up chairs on deck and whiled away the hours sunbathing in their swimsuits, attracting a fair amount of attention from the other boats they passed on their way upriver.

Louise spent most of her time in the cabin, going over the book for what seemed like the millionth time since it had landed on her deck, trying to make since of the translated descriptions of the Lost City, trying to figure out of this bend in the river, or that hilltop peak was the key to finding its location.

She was so absorbed in her work; she didn’t notice Jennifer coming into the room until the other woman set a hand on her shoulder. Louise jumped, startled from the ancient passage of poetry that Dr. Cardosa had seemed to think alluded to the City.

“Sorry.” Jennifer said, apologetically. “Working hard?”

Louise shrugged. “Yeah, though I don’t know how much real progress I’ve made finding the city’s location.”

“You lot have mentioned this ‘Lost City’, a couple of times. What is it?” Jennifer asked.

“It’s…well…” Louise thought for a moment to put the right words together. “We’re not sure what it is, really. In a lot of ancient stories and legends from the ancient peoples of the region, there’s repeated mention of this ‘City of the Star Gods.’ Supposedly, the high priests of this city made a pact with the gods, in exchange for enormous wealth in gold and gems, they offered a yearly sacrifice of young, beautiful maidens to be taken to heaven to serve the gods there. Supposedly, the city was lost in the epidemics that swept through the region following the arrival of the Spanish. More than one group of conquistadors got lost in the jungle looking for this city and its wealth. Some were never heard from again. Just before the Second World War, the Nazi’s sent an archaeological expedition, looking for the city. Their team went into the jungle and never came back.” She shook her head. “Most experts figure the city was only legends.”

“And you think they’re wrong?” Jennifer asked. “You think it’s out there?”

Louise shrugged again. “Dr. Cardosa…one of my old teachers, thought so, and she made a good case for it. The legends about the gods, and the maiden sacrifices, are probably just that: legends, but even legends have to start somewhere. I think there may be an undiscovered city…somewhere in the jungle. I’m hoping once we reach the area described in her notes,” she gestured to the table cluttered with papers and maps, “I’ll be able to narrow it down somewhat.”

“And what will happen when you find the city?”

“Don’t know. Depends on what we find; a few artifacts, maybe some structures still in place,” Louise grinned. “Or maybe the legends will be true and we’ll get to meet the gods…”