Evil Star (15 page)

"Some sort of businessman."

"One of the richest men in South America. Certainly the richest man in Peru. They say he has more money than the rest of the population put together, with his mobile phones and his newspapers and his satellites in outer space." Sebastian rapped a few words in Spanish at Pedro, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor, leaning against the bed. Pedro shrugged. Then Sebastian turned back to Matt. "If I was going to have an enemy, he is not the man I would choose."

"I think he chose me . . . not the other way round," Matt said. Then:

"Where can I find him?"

"Why do you want to?"

"Because I think he must have been the one who kid-napped my friend. He knew we were coming. He got Richard first, and then he tried to get me."

Sebastian raised the bottle to his lips and swallowed some more. The alcohol must have been strong. Matt could smell it from where he was standing. But Sebastian drank it as if it were water.

"Salamanda News International is based here in Lima," he said.

"They have offices all over Peru. What do you want to do? Do you Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star want to visit all of them? It doesn't mat-ter, because you won't find him there. He has his main research base near the town of Paracas.

That's south of here. But he spends most of his time in a farm —

what we call a hacienda — near lea. He is never seen in public. It is rumored that he is very ugly, that maybe he has three eyes or something wrong with his face. If you want to talk to Sehor Salamanda, you go to lea. I'm sure he will be delighted to see you."

Matt ignored the sarcasm in Sebastian's voice. "Can you help me go there?" he asked.

"No."

"Then maybe I'm wasting my time, talking to you."

"Is that what you believe?" Sebastian stared at Matt, now angry.

"Well, let me give you some advice. Don't you worry about your time. Time is cheap here." He stubbed out the cigar. "I must leave you. There are things here I do not understand and there are people I must talk with. Maybe I will help you and maybe I won't. But right now, I would say you need food and you need sleep."

"Can I sleep here?" Matt asked. He was too tired to eat.

“You will be safe in this room. There are blankets. You can sleep on the floor. Not the bed, you understand? The bed is mine! Later today, we will talk again. And we will see what we can do."

Sebastian said something to Pedro. Pedro nodded.

The two of them left the building.

• • •

It took him a couple of min-utes to work some life back into his muscles, which were cramped from lying on the hard floor. At the same dme, he tried to make sense of what had been happening. But that wasn't so easy. He was on his own, thousands of miles from home, stuck in a squalid hut in a town that was, even by name, poison. He was the guest of a man he didn't much like and a boy who had recently robbed him. The richest man in Peru wanted him dead, and it seemed that the police were all too happy to help him achieve that aim.

It was all too much. Matt closed his eyes and groaned.

And yet that was another strange thing. He was sud-denly aware that the pain in his head had gone. He sat up and ran a hand over his chest. His ribs and his stomach were unhurt. It was as if the beating he had received had never happened. Was this another instance of his powers? Had he in some way managed to cure himself? Matt stood up and stretched. He was starving. He wished now that he'd accepted the food he'd been offered. But apart from that, he had to admit he felt fine.

Weird ...

There was a movement at the door and Pedro appeared, carrying a steaming tin of food and a spoon. He handed them over. At the same time, his eyes never left Matt. He was examining him, searching for something.

"Thank you," Matt said. He was feeling increasingly ill at ease.

The tin contained some sort of stew. A lot of beans and very little meat. In normal circumstances, Matt might have sniffed it Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star suspiciously — but right now he was too hungry to care. He wolfed the food down, being careful not to look at it too closely. Whatever the meat was, it certainly wasn't lamb or beef. He tried not to think about the dog he had seen lying outside.

When he had finished eating, Pedro produced a bat-tered metal jug of water and handed it to Matt to drink. It tasted warm and brackish and Matt wondered where it had come from. Did Poison Town have wells or water pumps? Did it even have electricity? There were all sorts of ques-tions he wanted to ask but there was no point until Sebastian returned. Pedro understood nothing.

About ten minutes later, Sebastian came in, carrying a bundle of old clothes. From the moment he entered the room, it seemed to Matt that he was more alert, more ner-vous. He put the clothes down and lit another cigar, almost burning his fingers, and threw the match down.

"I have been speaking to people," he said. "There is a great deal happening in Lima, and none of it is good. You must leave here very soon. You do not have a lot of time."

"They're looking for me," Matt said.

"The police are everywhere. They are asking questions and they are not being very polite. You understand? They have big sticks and they have tear gas. They are searching for an English boy. They say he is a terrorist and they are offering a large reward." He held up a hand before Matt could speak. "Only a few people saw you enter Poison Town, and they won't talk. We have no money. We have no possessions. Maybe that is why we value the things we do have . . .

loyalty and friendship. Nobody will talk, but the police will still come here looking for you. They will tear the place apart. Maybe they're already on their way."

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

"I have to find my friend," Matt said.

"You're wasting your breath. I already told you: If Salamanda does have him, he could be anywhere. He could be in Lima. Or he could be floating facedown in the ocean. If you ask me, that is more likely."

"What about this place you told me about? This farm-house or whatever you called it."

"The Hacienda Salamanda. I do not believe you will find him there."

"I still want to look."

Sebastian thought for a minute. Then he nodded. "It doesn't matter to me where you go," he said. "The only important thing is that you do not stay here. And Pedro must go with you. I have already explained to him. He attacked three policemen, so now they are looking for him, too. They will kill him if they find him."

"I'm sorry," Matt said. "This is my fault."

"No. It's his fault. If he'd been smarter, he would have stolen your watch and your money without waking you up. I always said he made a lousy thief. But it's too late to worry about that now."

Sebastian paused. "There is something else. Your appearance. We must change that."

"What do you mean?"

"A white boy in a white boy's clothes! It doesn't matter where you go in Peru, you'll be seen a mile away." Sebastian gestured at the bundle he had brought in. "Give me every-thing you're wearing."

"What. . . ?"

"Now!"

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Matt was too dazed to argue. He stripped off his jacket, his shirt, and his jeans and gave them to Sebastian. He had no doubt that they'd all turn up in some market the next day.

But that wasn't enough. 'Your shoes and socks, too," Sebastian ordered.

He slipped them off and stood in the middle of the room, dressed only in his boxers. Sebastian had produced a bottle and handed it to him. "Rub this in," he com-manded. 'Your arms, your legs, and especially your face. Pedro will do your shoulders and back."

"What is it?"

"It's a dye made from nuts. It will stain your skin for many weeks.

We must also cut your hair." Sebastian took out a pair of scissors.

Matt hesitated. “Your hair is nice," Sebastian said. "And it will look good at your funeral. But if you want to live, you must look like one of us. We don't have time to argue."

A short while later, Matt stood wearing his new ward-robe. His hair had been cut in the shape of a pudding bowl, with a straight fringe above his eyes. His entire body was dark brown. There was no mirror in the room, so he had no idea what he fully looked like but he felt disgusting. His new jeans were stained, shapeless, and came to an abrupt halt high above his ankles, revealing his bare legs and feet. He'd been given a green Adidas T-shirt, full of holes, filthy, and faded. Instead of shoes, he had a pair of sandals, made out of black rubber — the same as Pedro's.

"They're made from tires," Sebastian told him.

Matt felt his skin trying to shrink away from the clothes. He could imagine that several people had worn them before him. He noticed Pedro watching him with a halfsmile. "What's so funny?" he asked.

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Sebastian translated the question into Spanish, and Pedro answered.

He spoke softly and only uttered a few words.

"He says, now you know how a Peruvian boy feels," Sebastian replied. "But you are still too tall. You must learn to walk in a crouch. Make sure you are never higher than he is. And from now on, you will not be Matt. You will be Matteo. Do you understand?"

"Matteo!" Pedro repeated the word. He seemed amused by Matt's transformation.

But Sebastian was completely serious. “You have to leave Lima," he said. "If you take my advice, you will go south to Ayacucho. I have many friends in the city who will look after you. Perhaps the police won't look for you there."

"I still want to go to lea," Matt insisted.

“You are stubborn and you are stupid — but you care about your friend and that, I suppose, does you credit," Sebastian spat. "Very well. You can stop in lea if you think it will do any good. The first bus leaves tomorrow morning at six o'clock. It is almost certain that the police will be watch-ing the bus station, so we will have to think about that."

"I just want to find Richard and go home," Matt said.

"That would be the best thing for all of us. It is a pity that you came in the first place."

Matt nodded. Suddenly he felt awkward. From the moment he had met Sebastian, he had sensed a sort of hos-tility between them —

without knowing why it was there. "Can I ask you something?" he said.

"What?"

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

“You obviously don't like me very much. So why are you helping me?"

“You're wrong. It's not true that I don't like you very much. I don't like you at all. The police are crawling through the shantytowns, thanks to you. They are asking questions, making arrests. Everything is going to be diffi-cult until they find you."

"So why don't you just hand me over? It's obviously what you want to do."

"It is exactly what I want to do. But it was Pedro who dissuaded me.

He tells me that you are somehow impor-tant. He says that we have to help you because you are on our side."

"How does he know that? He doesn't know anything about me."

"I know," Sebastian said. "It's very strange. Normally, he would have taken your watch and your money and any-thing else that was of any value, and then he would have left you where he found you.

He wouldn't have risked get-ting into trouble with the police. And he wouldn't have brought you here."

"So why did he?"

"Pedro can't understand it. And nor can I. But he tells me . . . he's seen you before." Sebastian shook his head. "He says he's seen you in his dreams."

Chapter 10 Dream Talk

There were eight people sleeping on the floor of Sebastian's house.

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star The youngest of them was only five, the oldest about seventeen.

They had arrived one at a time as the light began to fade, some carrying shoeshine boxes, some with buckets and sponges, one with a basket of brightly colored finger puppets. Sebastian must have already told them about Matt, since none of them seemed surprised to find him there. Nobody tried to talk to him. They ate dinner —

more beans and stew — then spent the rest of the evening playing a game that involved cups and little wooden dice. The room was lit by fat white candles that Matt suspected had been stolen from a church.

He watched them for an hour, listen-ing to the rattle of the dice in the cups as they were shaken and then tipped onto the floor. Pedro was playing with the others. He glanced at Matt once or twice, and for the first time Matt could see a sort of curiosity in his eyes.

"He's seen you before . . . in his dreams. "

Sebastian's words echoed in his head. Matt examined the Peruvian boy as he concentrated on his game, furiously rattling his dice, throwing them down and shielding them with both hands, his eyes fixed on the other players. Matt now knew who he was. How many times had the two of them sat together in the reed boat with the wild cat's head for its prow? He was annoyed with himself for not realizing it sooner.

He remembered the moment when he'd woken up to find Pedro stealing his watch. He had recognized him there and then. But in all the confusion of what was happening, he had thought back only as far as the traffic lights, on the way from the airport. He thought that was when he'd seen Pedro for the first time. But of course he'd been aware of him for many years before that.

Pedro was one of the five. Matt could imagine Susan Ashwood saying the words. She would be delighted. Was it a coincidence that Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Matt had stepped off a plane in a coun-try of twenty million people and Pedro had been almost the first person he'd met? No . . . not at all. There were no coincidences. It was
meant
to happen. That was what the blind medium would have said.

So was Richard meant to be kidnapped? Was Matt meant to be beaten up at the hotel? Did Matt have any con-trol over what was happening or was he simply being pushed around by forces that he couldn't see and which were way outside his own comprehension?