Shaman Winter (34 page)

“Well, only till he gets over the flu. And don't worry, he's sleeping in your and Mando's room. Poor man, he's all alone. His family is like my family—they're too busy to visit us. So we have to take care of each other.”

Sonny gulped. She spoke the truth. So now Max was staying over and she was doctoring him, and Sonny knew he needed to get back in touch with her, with his brother, take care of familia again.

“Come for Christmas Eve,” she said. “I want you and Mando here. Bring Rita, don Eliseo, Lorenza. We need to have the familia together.”

“Have you seen Mando?”

“No, that brother of yours is worse than you. You have an excuse mi'jito, you're sick. But Mando is as healthy as a horse. He called last night. Has a new office, he said. He meant a new bar. And a new
lady friend
.”

“You mean Marlene?”

“Yes. Pobrecita, she's a tejana. He picks them because they have big—you know what. This woman is better fixed than Dolly Parton. And does her hair like Dolly.”

“He always had a passion for chichi,” Sonny joked.

“I spoiled you two,” his mother replied. “I used to hold you, one to each breast. Armando would hurry up and finish to get yours. Ay, que mi hijo. I swear, I don't know where he finds these women. Yes, I do. He went down to El Paso. A used-car dealers' convention, he said. He gets a little money together and he goes to Sunland to bet on the horses. I swear, they should never have legalized gambling in this state. The poor gamble, and they can't afford it. Armando likes to show off. Wants to prove he can compete with his buddies, used-car salesmen. Pendejos. Will he ever learn?”

“He enjoys life, jefa,” was all Sonny could say.

“Then he shows up with Marlene. Broke. Wants to borrow a hundred till payday. He's not working, how can there be a payday? Get a job, Mando, I tell him. Find a nice woman. You're thirty-one and not getting younger. He keeps winding up with these broken-down Texan women that look like those women in bad movies. They wear their hair in beehive hairdos. Pobrecitas, they're so nice. They really like Armando. Now it's Marlene, and she's got two kids. Nice-looking mocositos.”

“So he might make you a grandma—”

“Don't even think it! Ah, what's a mother to do? They're nice kids, I would do anything if it helped Armando get settled.”

“I'll call him,” Sonny promised.

“Promise you'll come for Christmas Eve.”

“I promise.”

Then in a whisper, “I think Max is going to propose.”

“Propose?” The word shocked Sonny.

“Yes. He's been leading up to it. Then he caught the flu. But he keeps telling me he's got a secret Christmas present for me. I think it's a ring. Oh, he's such a good man. And I want all of you here. So we can celebrate. You and Armando need to get to know him better.”

“Yes, yes we do,” Sonny agreed. “I'll be there. And I'll drag Mando if I have to. Adiós, mamá.”

“Bye, mi'jo. Cuidate. Don't get cold.”

“I won't. Un abrazo,” he said, and turned off the phone. “Propose, humph,” he said to himself, and dialed the library. He was going to have to get used to the fact that his mother had found a man she was interested in, a man who treated her with kindness and respect. Ah, she deserved some happiness. He and Mando hadn't been exactly easy to raise after his father died. And now? They didn't see her often enough. She was lonely; she had a life of her own. Yes, it was best for his mother, and he would have to get used to it.

“South Broadway Center Library. May I help you?” the voice on the phone said.

“Hi, Vangie, this is Sonny Baca.”

“Oh, hi, Sonny. How are you?”

“Vangie, I need some help.”

“Okay.”

“I need to get on the Internet. Do you have a computer?”

“We've got a doozy. Sandia Labs donated one to the library.”

“I don't know how to use one. Do you have someone who can help me?”

“I've got one kid who sits at that computer all day long. I swear, I have to chase him to school. He's a little, you know—”

“What?”

“Weird. Oh, I mean that in a nice way. A geek way. The other kids from Albuquerque High come here to use the computers to do their research. They look up the encyclopedias, but Cyber is into stuff I don't even know.”

“Cyber?”

“That's what the kids call him. Short for cyberspace. He's in it, Sonny. He can surf anywhere with the Avenger.”

“The Avenger?” Sonny leaned forward to make sure he had heard correctly.

“That's what he calls the software. A code name he found. I don't know anything about it. Only that he is a genius, and it makes him happy. He hangs around all day, won't go to school.”

“Just who I need.” Sonny smiled. “Is he there now?”

“Yup. He's good, but I warn you, he makes up strange stories.”

“Like?”

“Yesterday he was sitting here saying there's something fishy going on at Los Alamos. At the labs. So I said, ‘Cyber, how do you know?'”

“So what was fishy?” Sonny asked, feeling the hair rise along the back of his neck.

“Said there's a bomb missing. Can you imagine that? I told him, ‘Cyber, they don't make bombs at Los Alamos.' ‘I know, I know,' he said, ‘but that's what the signals are saying.'”

Sonny gulped. “Hold on to him, Vangie. I'll be right over.”

20

Vangie was there to greet Sonny and Lorenza as they entered the South Broadway library.

“Sawnee,” she said with a wide smile, taking his hand in hers. “It's good to see you. Híjola, look at you. You're looking well. You know what they say, you can't keep a good man down. How's Rita?” she asked.

“She's fine, just fine. The restaurant keeps her busy. She said to say hello.”

“Hi, Lorenza, good to see you. So welcome. Come in, come in. Cyber's dying to meet you. I told him you were a private investigator. You're looking for the missing girls, aren't you?” she whispered.

Sonny knew she loved mysteries, and more so if they had local color. She stocked Tony Hillerman novels for her patrons.

“Yes, that's part of it,” Sonny acknowledged. The news media had carried the stories of the missing girls, and people in the city were very concerned about the disappearance of Carmen Abeyta from Barelas.

“That poor girl. It's awful, and so near Christmas. I hope they find her.”

“You're busy,” Sonny said, glancing around. The library was full.

“It's our busiest season. People come in to get out of the cold, to read Christmas stories,” Vangie explained. “The kids aren't in school, so if they're not hanging out in the streets, they come in here. Which is where I'd rather have them. Here instead of out spraying graffiti. Anyway, I told Cyber about you,” she continued, leading them past the main room toward the back.

“Good. I need a hacker, or a surfer, or whatever they call themselves.”

Vangie laughed. “Cyber's the best.”

“Good,” Sonny repeated.

“We're here to help. Just tell us what you need,” Vangie said, and led them into a space reserved for computers. In the back of the narrow cubbyhole Sonny spotted a teenager, fifteen or so, hunched over a keyboard, mouse in hand as if he were hunting lions in deep Africa. Cyber was hunting on the network.

Vangie paused, and in a soft voice she called his name, “Cyber.”

She had to call three times before the boy turned to look at them. His dark shining eyes looked as if he were just awakening.

“Hi,” he murmured.

The thin boy wore a scruffy pair of Adidas, holes in the knees of his baggy jeans, a tattered cotton shirt, and a Cowboys football cap backward. His likewise tattered backpack and parka lay on the floor by his chair. His round glasses fell down on his flat nose. Sonny guessed Cyber was Chinese. But his complexion was dark.

“Cyber, this is Mr. Baca,” Vangie said, approaching.

“Call me Sonny.” Sonny held out his hand.

Cyber smiled. “Sonny,” he said. “Wow. I've heard about you. I never met a PI. You kinda look like that detective I see on the late, late shows. Perry Mason.”

“Oh, the chair.” Sonny smiled.

“Yeah, but you're not as fat as that dude.”

“And this is my friend, Lorenza,” Vangie introduced Lorenza.

“Hi,” Cyber said shyly.

“Mr. Baca needs help.”

“Sure,” Cyber nodded eagerly.

“I need a guide. I've never been on the Internet.”

“Never?” Cyber asked, incredulous. “Don't you have a computer?”

“Yeah, a small one. For a while I couldn't talk, so my friends bought me a computer with a large keyboard. I could type in messages.”

“You couldn't talk—” Cyber's expression grew worried.

Vangie cleared her throat. “Well, here he is. I'll leave you to get acquainted. You help Mr. Baca, okay.” She smiled and turned to leave. “Call me if I can help. There's coffee and cookies in my office. Help yourselves.”

“Thanks for everything,” Sonny called after her. He turned back to Cyber. “I'm better now. But I'm kind of computer illiterate. So I need help.”

“You're a detective, so you look for people, right?”

“Right.”

“That's where they are.” Cyber pointed at the computer in front of him.

“In there?”

“Well, the information on just about everyone is in there.”

“You can find people in there?”

“Yes.”

“You're an investigator, too, huh?”

“Kind of. The Net is just a bunch of networks tied together with telephone lines, cables, fiber-optic lines. If you have a modem and a computer, you can access it, buy stuff, talk to people. It's awesome. I go in there and I feel I'm going to another reality. Sometimes I fall asleep and dream. Right here.”

Lorenza had pulled up a chair next to Sonny. They both looked at Cyber like willing students.

“What do you dream?” Lorenza asked.

“Scary stuff. There are body snatchers in the Net.”

“Body snatchers in cyberland?”

“Oh, yes,” Cyber said seriously. “The teachers keep telling us we're in a new age. The cyber age. Techo-knowledge. Plug in, be in touch, know everything. What they forget to tell us is that sooner or later the body snatchers get you.”

“How do they get you?” Lorenza asked.

“They erase your file,” Cyber replied. “I suppose if there were good cybercops, they could take care of the body snatchers. But all the cops in cyberspace want to do is censor stuff. See, being on the Internet is like an addiction. I don't do drugs on the streets like some of the kids, but I'm addicted all right. To this. When cyberspace crashes, the whole world will crash. Be like Adam and Eve getting tossed out of the garden and starting all over again.”

“Whoa,” Sonny said. “You're going too fast for me. How can we start over?”

Cyber shrugged. “If we don't have the technology, we won't know what to do. We become like cavemen.”

“I see,” Sonny mused. He looked at Lorenza. “I could use some of that coffee Vangie promised.”

“Me, too.” She rose and went out.

“So, you live here?” Sonny asked.

“Here? In the library?” Cyber laughed. “Just about. My mom's got an apartment on Broadway, but—” He paused. “She has to support us, so she spends a lot of time making jewelry. She sells at Old Town, maybe you've seen her?”

“Maybe.”

“Merlinda Chen. She's the best-looking vendor there.” Cyber beamed. He described his mother, the kind of jewelry she created, the place under the portal in Old Town where she sold. Then with a worried expression he finished: “I worry about her. It's been hard since my dad disappeared.”

“What do you mean, disappeared?” Sonny asked, taking the cup of coffee Lorenza offered. “Gracias.” She placed a plate of Christmas cookies on the floor and sat. Cyber reached for one.

“He just disappeared. He was working at Sandia Labs, for Phillips really. One day he just didn't come home. The lab director said he was drinking on the job, and things just got too hard so he split. But I know it ain't true, 'cause he really loved me and my mom. He wouldn't have gone without us. My mom took it so hard.”

“I see,” Sonny said, and sipped the strong coffee. He glanced at the monitor. Cyber found people on the Net; he was looking for his missing father.

“I'm looking for him.” Cyber nodded, biting into the biscochito. “I don't believe the cops. I know he wouldn't leave us.”

“Found anything?”

Cyber shook his head. “Not yet, but I found out other people have disappeared. They're there, in the government files, then they just disappear. Deleted.”

“Deleted?”

“Yeah, like they fall off the edge. Like there's a portion in the hard drive we don't know is there. Like empty space. There's weird things going on in the government. Things I don't understand.”

“Yeah,” Sonny acknowledged. “Maybe I can help.”

“Would you?” Cyber said, his voice rising with hope.

“Well, that seems to be my current specialty, looking for missing persons.” Sonny nodded. “Yeah, I'll help.”

“You don't believe my dad just dropped out?”

“No.”

“You're the first one to say that. Thanks.” Cyber smiled. “I got into the Mormons' mainframe up in Salt Lake,” he continued, munching on his cookie and turning to pat the computer on the table, like a boy would pat a dog. “They have the family tree of everyone who ever lived on earth. Just about. My dad's Chen. He's Chinese from Shanghai, so he's not listed in the Mormon file. But they have my mother's family name in there. We're Navajo. Diné. My great-grandfather had married a Mexican lady from Cebolleta. That was in the 1840s. So I'm part Navajo, part Mexican, part Chinese. One of these days I want to go back to the res. Soon as I find my dad. My mom wants to stay here. She keeps hoping some news of my father will turn up.”