Mandrake

Hey, where's mine?

Where is McCall? They should have landed 10 minutes ago.

-Well, I... -What are you waiting for?

Call him.

-McCall. -Please hold for Mrs. Manning.

Hey, where are you?

-How many assistants do you have? -Not enough.

Please tell me you landed.

-I'm on the tarmac now. -Good.

Change of plans. Don't come to base camp.

We found better access three miles downriver from here.

Lin's got Mr. Vargas' maps. Santiago's got the boats.

He'll take care of whatever you need.

That sounds too easy. You always this prepared?

-That's why I need more assistants. -Help's on the way.

Yeah, I'm a doctor.

An anthropologist. He's an archaeologist.

What's he saying?

He thinks you're a terrorist.

What was it, three tours?

That's a lot of Middle East stamps.

Hey, Shugie! Hey, what's the problem?

Pardon me.

These are my people.

Vargas expedition?

You disrespect me again?

Sorry. I apologize. My friend.

Okay, come. Vámonos. We have a long journey.

-I hope you got AIC. -Of course.

Of course. Three kind.

So our good boss, Mr. Vargas,

he's sure going through a lot of trouble for a rusty old knife, no?

It's not the dagger. It's the pedigree.

The Quayin Dagger once belonged to Pedro Arias Alvarado,

one of the most decorated conquistadors of all time.

By "decorated" he means "ruthless."

Tomato, "tomato."

Harry fancies himself a modern-day conqueror,

so he squanders millions combing the world

for any vestige of Spanish imperialism.

If it's so distasteful, why lower yourself for a paycheck?

Hey, his money is as good as anybody's, no?

Look out!

-Are they junta? -No junta this far north.

They're guerrillas.

General Gomez' men.

Don't worry.

We're like brothers. He divorced my cousin last year.

So who exactly is winning this little war of theirs?

How American of you to believe someone actually wins in war.

If they didn't, we'd all be British.

Put it on.

What's this?

Little gift from Carla, so she can keep tabs on us.

Looks like it came out of a cereal box.

Yeah? What's wrong with it?

It's called a hidden treasure for a reason.

There's no maps.

There's a million acres of uncharted land out there.

Without that map, we'd wander around for 10 lifetimes

and never see the same tree twice.

Where does Harry get his intel?

Harry never reveals his sources.

But trust me, they're reliable.

Hey, Lin, what's at the bottom of this Yamballi stele?

-It's calendrics. -Or glyphs.

Instructions of some kind.

No, they're astrological symbols.

The ones at the top, but these glyphs are non-sequential.

All right. Should I be taking notes or what?

What's a glyph?

Tribal writing, like Egyptian hieroglyphics.

That's how they passed down stories.

Boring details like grain inventories, birthdays.

Tribal customs or warnings.

Yes. Ancient secrets, mysterious curses.

It's been well documented. He'd know if he bothered to read.

-What's that supposed to mean? -Figure it out. It's on the quiz.

Get down, get down, get down.

-What? -Get down.

-I said get down. -Get down.

All right, let's go.

Don't you think all the whistles and clenched fists

might be a bit over the top?

You want to go toe to toe with heavily armed guerrillas,

-you be my guest. -Just watch out for the jaguars.

And don't forget the one-armed monkeys.

I thought you said we had a guaranteed perimeter for Gomez.

-We do. -What's that?

Tracks like that wouldn't survive a strong rain.

You, come here!

Where is Makai?

You tell him to pick up his mess.

Where am I supposed to look?

So, Doc, what kind of warning signs should we look out for?

It's okay, Captain. You don't need to placate me.

I look like the kind of guy who placates people?

And it's Sergeant.

It could be pretty much anything.

Invocation of deities to ward off theft,

keep explorers from trampling on their graves.

Invocation. You mean like curses?

Something like that.

Would they have devised defenses?

You mean like booby traps?

Something like that.

It's only in the movies.

-Nobody asked you. -Whatever.

-Hey, check this out. -No, thank you.

No, no. I'm serious. Come here.

When I pull my zipper down, I usually get lucky,

but never like this.

Wow!

A real conquistador.

Flesh and bone.

This thing's got to be 500 years old.

"Jungle of the dead."

That's what the Yamballi call it.

Don't you mean "called it"?

They're extinct, remember?

Why "jungle of the dead"?

Because it's cursed.

Has been for centuries.

A lot of Spanish explorers came to this part of the world.

Not many left.

The name stuck.

Bastards!

Thought the world was theirs to conquer.

It was 500 years ago, man. Let it go.

Lin claims it's authentic.

Sounds like you're getting close.

Any reports of guerrilla movement in the area?

Hold on.

Latest intel has them 40 miles east. Why?

Nothing. Just a hunch.

Let me know if you hear anything.

Yes. Well, I don't care what he thinks. I paid for results.

Look, if he can't do it, get the money back and find someone who can.

Good news, Miss Manning, that's all I have time for.

Happy to oblige.

I uploaded a photo the team just sent through.

It's on the server, and I think you'll find it very encouraging.

I'm boarding now, so give me a minute.

-Good morning. -Good morning.

Excellent.

Sergeant McCall is concerned about the guerrillas,

-but I assured him... -No, I thought we bought a window.

We did. 48 hours.

But General Gomez doesn't exactly hand out receipts.

There it is.

There it is.

You know, that brave man could very well be one of my ancestors.

I think we're close.

With any luck we'll be out of here in eight hours.

There's no such thing as luck, Miss Manning.

Only determination and perseverance.

Guys!

I think this is it.

No, no, no. Hold on.

No one said anything about robbing graves.

The Yamballi connected everything to circadian rhythms,

so all the tombs should face east.

Circadian rhythms?

Most tribal cultures base their customs off the patterns of Mother Nature.

Moon, sun, planets.

Look for the one that runs north-south.

You just said they all face east.

Not the one we're after.

Hey, wait.

Respect the dead or they make trouble for you.

Relax, man.

We're not digging up random graves.

All right? I'll know it when I see it.

Everybody just fan out.

What killed them off, the Yamballi?

The usual suspects.

Germs, guns, steel. White people, basically.

Yeah, next you'll be blaming global warming.

I was going to add multinational corporations,

but I know you're a stockholder.

That's right, baby.

The next time you reach for a life-saving drug,

remember it's from a multinational.

Hey, guys?

North-south.

This looks promising.

These are ideograms.

Glyphs.

"One heart for all hearts."

Come on. Let's get this sucker off. Shovel.

Hold on, hold on. Let me read this first.

Why? You still working on your dissertation? Come on, shovel!

Just give me a second.

You really think they're going to warn us if this thing is cursed?

-Come on, vamos! -I don't know, what if she's right?

You don't know what's in there.

This isn't an anthropology expedition.

It's about one thing and one thing only.

And no one gets paid till we deliver.

Help him out.