Evil Star (30 page)

Nobody spoke. The gardener, a cheerful man in a straw hat, had finished mowing the lawn. Now he had disap-peared behind the bushes but they could hear the snapping of his shears as he trimmed the leaves.

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

"St. Joseph of Cordoba predicted that the second gate would open on Inti Raymi," Richard said. Professor Chambers leaned over and began to translate quietly for Pedro. "He was here with the conquistadors. He somehow discovered the secret of the lines and it drove him mad. Salamanda stole the diary because he wanted to know the secret. And he hasn't given up! He's chased Matt all over Peru because he's afraid of him. There must be something he knows that we don't."

"Qué sobre el pajaro en su sueno?"
Pedro asked.

"He's asking — what about the bird in your dream?" Professor Chambers translated.

Matt wondered how much of the conversation Pedro had been able to follow, even without Atoc being there. It seemed that the more time they spent together, the more he was able to understand.

"What does he mean?" Chambers asked.

"I was going to tell you," Matt said. "But I didn't because I wasn't sure if it was part of it. But it's true. I've been hav-ing bad dreams about a swan."

"God! I'm an idiot. . . ." Professor Chambers closed her eyes for a moment. "Cygnus," she said. "That's Latin . . ."

Everyone looked at her.

". . . for swan." Richard completed the sentence.

Chambers held up a hand for silence. Matt could see the thought processes going through her head. At last, she looked up. Her blue eyes had never been more alive.

"Listen," she began, "I thought the lines were a warning, but suppose I was only half right. Let's imagine they were something more than Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star that. You came to Peru looking for a gate. We still don't know where it is. But if it's closed, there must be something that keeps it closed."

“You mean ... a sort of lock," Matt said.

"That's right. And if so, why can't it be a combina-tion lock?"

"I don't understand."

"It's simple. Think of the Nazca Lines as a fantastic time lock. They sit there, keeping the gate closed. That's why they were built. Only when the stars form the right pat-terns, only then will the gate open and the Old Ones will be free. That's how it works."

"But the whole purpose of the gate was that it should
never
open,"

Richard said.

"That's right," Chambers continued. "Which is why the gatekeepers made sure that the stars would never align. But two nights from now, they'll come close. In fact, it's as close as they'll ever get. Just one star is going to be missing. . .."

"And Salamanda is going to replace it!" Matt inter-rupted. "When I was in his house, I heard him talking." It was all coming back to him. "He said something about a silver swan. There were coordinates. He had to move it exactly into position."

He stopped. Suddenly the answer was obvious.

"A satellite," he said.

"Exactly," Professor Chambers agreed. "Salamanda launched a new satellite just a week ago. It's been in the newspapers. Everyone knows. And what he's going to do is, he's going to position it exactly where Cygnus ought to be. An artificial star instead of the real one.

The satellite will complete the pattern of light. The time lock will be acti-vated. And . . ."

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

"And the gate will open," Matt said, fear in his voice.

"We can stop him!" Richard said.

Chambers shook her head. "I don't see how. The satel-lite's already in space. Salamanda will be controlling it by radio. If we knew the frequency, perhaps we might be able to jam the signal, but we'd have to get our hands on the right equipment and I wouldn't even know where to begin. Anyway, the transmitter will be at the SNI compound at Paracas and we could never get in."

"Where is Paracas?" Matt asked.

"Not too far-from here. That makes it perfect for Salamanda. It's on the coast, about three hundred miles north. Not too far from the Nazca Lines ..."

"Can we see it?"

"We can drive there. But I've gone past it a couple of times, Matt —

and I'm telling you, you'd need a small army to break in."

************************************

Salamanda's Research and Telecommunications Center at Paracas was a few miles inland, a hi-tech compound sur-rounded by desert.

Not one but two fences surrounded it. The first was ten meters high, with razor wire stretched end-lessly around the top. The second carried bright yellow signs that warned would-be trespassers in three languages. The outer fence was electrified. The space in between was pat-rolled, day and night, by guards with dogs. Two watchtowers looked over the desert, one at each corner. The only way in was through a gate that slid open electronically to allow vehicles to pass. But there was a control room and a barrier that only rose once every driver had been checked.

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star The compound itself consisted of a cluster of low, ugly buildings made of red bricks, with panels of mirrored glass. The scientists and staff might be able to look out, but nobody could look in. A radio mast loomed over them, standing on metal legs with satellite dishes turned up toward the sky. The building closest to it was also the most modern, a glass dome at the center of the roof but no win-dows at all. This had to be the control center.

Three lines of identical, whitewashed houses stood at the perimeter.

They were also made of brick but looked more primitive. Matt suspected this was where the staff had to live. They had been constructed around a rough, con-crete square which seemed to double as an eating area and a soccer field. There was even a television on a metal stand, surrounded by wooden benches. At night, the workers could watch TV in the open air.

There seemed to be at least two hundred people work-ing there. Matt had seen some of them, dressed in gray overalls with the letters
SNI

in red print on their sleeves. He had also seen laboratory technicians and scientists. Salamanda had a fleet of electric cars, little more than golf carts, to ferry them between buildings. There was also a launchpad with a small black helicopter parked in the mid-dle.

Armed guards in military dress patrolled the entire compound on foot, and security cameras, mounted on cor-ners, swiveled to take in anyone who passed.

Matt, Pedro, Richard, and Atoc were lying on a sand dune, some distance away, examining the compound through binoculars that Professor Chambers had found for them. She herself was waiting in Paracas. Atoc had a bandage around his neck and moved slowly —

but he had insisted on making the journey with them.

"What do you think?" Richard said.

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

"Professor Chambers was right," Matt said. "We'd need a small army to break in here."

“Yes." Atoc nodded. "And we have one."

• • •

They came the next day with the setting sun. It had taken them twenty-four hours to cross Peru, coming by car and by train, but Atoc had called for them and now they were here, assembling on the beach at Paracas.

The Inca army was about fifty strong, dressed in dark jeans and black shirts, ready for the attack that would take place that evening.

But if their clothes were modern, their weapons were not. They had brought with them the arms and armor that their ancestors had used.

As deadly as they looked, Matt couldn't help but think that it looked like a bizarre mix.

Some of the Incas wore padded cotton jackets. Some had helmets made out of some sort of wood that was pitch-black and as hard as iron. Some carried wooden shields covered with deerskin and many of them had a club with a strange, star-shaped head made out of stone. This was the
macana,
a favorite weapon of the ancient Incas.

One blow could crack open a skull or fracture a leg.

There were other weapons, too. Matt saw spears, sling-shots, and halberds — which were a combination of spear, hook, and ax at the end of a long pole. A few of the Incas carried bolas, three copper balls tied together on leather cords. Thrown properly at a man's neck, they would swing round and strangle him, perhaps knocking him senseless at the same time.

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Professor Chambers had watched the arrival in silent astonishment.

If she hadn't known about the Incas before, she certainly knew now.

The soldiers were all physically similar — more Indian than Peruvian. And their weapons were instantly recognizable. She sat down heavily on a rock and began to fan herself. A crab scutded in front of her and she nudged it away.

Fifty men. They stood silently on the sand, with the sil-ver waves beating down behind them. A few pelicans eyed them warily, sitting on a broken jetty. A flamingo took fright and hurried along on its way. There was nobody else in sight. Perhaps they knew what was happening here. Per-haps they had been warned to stay out of the way.

Atoc had told the men what they had to do, speaking in their own language. Now he turned to Matt.

"We are ready," he said. “You stay here with Pedro, the professor, and your friend. We return when job is done."

"No." Matt didn't know what he was saying. Or, rather, he didn't know why he was saying it. A short time ago, in England, he hadn't even wanted to come to Peru. But since then, everything had changed. Every fiber of his being told him that he couldn't let the Incas take on his fight alone. "I'm coming with you, Atoc. I started this and I want to be there at the end."

"
Yo tambien,
" Pedro said.

Atoc hesitated for a moment. But he could see some-thing in Matt's eyes that hadn't been there before, and slowly he nodded. "We will obey you," he said. "For it is true, as the Inca said. You were sent to lead. ..."

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

"Then it looks like I'm coming, too," Richard said.

Matt turned to him. “You don't have to, Richard. You can stay with the professor."

“You're not getting rid of me that easily." Richard sighed. "I told you back in York. My job is to look after you, and that's what I'm going to do. All the way to the bit-ter end."

"Then let's do it," Matt said.

He raised a hand. And at that moment he was in com-mand, the head of an army that had assembled to do what he asked.

As one, they set off to do batde.

The night of Inti Raymi had arrived.

Salamanda's compound lay ahead.

Chapter 19 Control Center

Darkness had already fallen as the Incas took their posi-tions around the compound, stretching out in a long line across the sand. Matt couldn't believe he was with them. A thousand years before, the Inca army had swept across South America: fast, merciless, and unstoppable. Now their descendants were at war again and they were here because he and Pedro had called them. Pedro was right in the mid-dle of them, next to Atoc. He didn't look afraid. Anyone watching might have thought he was in command. Matt hardly recognized him as the beggar boy he had met in the streets of Lima.

With every minute that passed, he was becoming more like the Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star figure he had seen on the gold disc. Manco Capac, the first lord of the Incas.

The razor-tipped wire of the perimeter fence loomed in front of them. Atoc gave a signal, lowering his palm toward the sand. At once everyone dropped to his knees. It was ten o'clock at night but the compound was still active with lights burning in many of the buildings and the occa-sional vehicle crossing from one side to the other, its engine whining like an oversize mosquito.

Atoc pointed at the radio mast and spoke quietly in his own language. Matt understood what he was saying. This was the primary target. Once the transmitter had fallen, Salamanda would be unable to control his satellite -— his silver swan. Matt glanced upward. Already the stars were appearing in the night sky. He could see them twinkling over the mountains, falling into positions that had been dictated for them twenty-six thousand years ago. But one of them was a fake, a ton of aluminum and steel, sneaking in to complete a deadly combination. Which one of them was it? Matt thought he could see a pinprick of light moving faster than the others

— but he couldn't be sure. All he knew was that the swan was up there, just as it had been in his dreams, and that unless they stopped it, it would soon be in place.

Two of the Incas shuffled forward and took up positions closer to the wire, crouching on one knee. They were each holding a spear, a three-meter length of wood whose point had been hardened in flames. Silently, they waited. Atoc took one last look around, then nodded. The two Incas ran a few paces and threw the spears, aiming upward. Matt was astonished by their strength and precision. The spears flew into the night, rising above the compound. There were two soft thuds and, high up in the watchtowers, two guards turned Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star and crumpled. One disappeared from sight. The other slumped forward and lay still, with his head and arms hanging toward the ground. The spear had gone straight through him.

The attack had begun — but they still had to get inside the compound and that meant passing through the electronic gates. Atoc signaled a second time and a low, open-backed truck covered in a tarpaulin rolled up to the security barrier. The driver — bored and unshaven — leaned out of the window and hooted as if he didn't want to be in here and was in a hurry to get home. Three guards, all of them armed, came out to meet him. They were mov-ing warily.

Matt guessed that they would have been told to allow nobody in.

Not tonight. The entire compound would be on a state of alert.

"Quienes usted ?i Que quiere ?"

The words sounded faint and distant. The driver mut-tered something, but so quietly that the first of the guards had to lean into the cabin to hear what he said. It was a mistake. Matt saw a hand lash out, clutching the guard around the neck. At the same time, the tarpaulin was thrown back and two figures leaped out, each swinging a club with a star-shaped head. A second later, all three guards were unconscious. The driver raised a hand toward Atoc.