The tomb of the legendary Inca Huayna Capac is found at Machu Picchu, the mountain-top city of the Incas never discovered by the Spanish Conquistadores. Beside the mummified Inca lie treasures far greater than the gold the Spaniards sought: a sacred idol imbued with unimaginable but inaccessible powers and one hundred quipus, Inca records, which hold the key within their mysterious code.

Former MI6 field operative, Harry Winchester, accepts a routine request to accompany the British Museum party taking the idol to London for authentication, but is soon faced with the most high-risk mission of his life. As rumours of the idol s earth-shattering powers spread, criminal masterminds, terrorists and even governments plot to seize it.

So begins the story of a group of modern-day Peruvian freedom fighters branded by some as terrorists. Their aim is to rid their country of corrupt government and establish a new age of democracy. To do this they must first capture the sacred artefacts on their way to London. They choose to fly on the world s largest airliner, an A380 superjumbo, but the plan disintegrates when the flight ditches off Cape Verde.