The Last Conquistador: a Novel

A series of child abductions in Peru leads an FBI agent and an archaeologist to uncover the ultimate secret of the Inca Empire On a Peruvian Andes mountaintop, archaeology professor Nina Ramirez and her students make two stunning discoveries: the five-hundred-year-old mummy of an Inca girl, the victim of ritual sacrifice, and in another grave, the corpse of a recently kidnapped boy wearing the same ancient costume. Child abductions are being reported throughout Peru, and when an American boy is snatched in Lima, FBI agent Adam Palma is assigned to the case. At the home of a manic artist who was the sole survivor of similar kidnappings in 1962, Adam is shown a disturbing mural depicting the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro. In the painting, the conquistador?s face looks exactly like his own. Adam teams up with Nina, and with the help of a mysterious boy named Quiso, their investigation takes them deep into the Amazon jungle in a search for a lost city of the Incas, where the ancient sacrificial rituals may still be alive. As Quiso leads Nina and Adam closer to the city and its secrets, Adam realizes that the only way to save the kidnapped children is to make the past repeat itself. Adam, like his distant ancestor Pizarro, must square off against an Inca high priest.