Political intrigue, ancient beliefs and secrets, and a modern Inca dynasty whose leader is bent on power all collide head on with the investigations of two of Europe's leading experts on Inca history, whose discovery in a university library archive leads them to Peru to follow the clues of its strange message. A serendipitous friendship with a local American history buff soon diverts them into the jungle, and to an even more stunning discovery, at the same time pulling them inexorably into the web of shadowy strangers, including a native Inca family dynasty whose leader is conspiring with a centuries old, secretive Spanish order who have only their own interests in mind. Cards are in play, cards that may put the entire country's future in peril, and that place the three colleagues squarely in the sights of those who would use their discovery for their own aims. Will they escape the aims of those closing in from all around? If they are to surive, only their instincts and the clues hidden in their bags will show them the way.