Evil Star

policeman had crawled away to hide.
    "Matt!" Pedro called again.
    Matt didn't need any more encouragement. With his hands gripping his stomach, doubled up in pain, he lurched forward. The Peruvian boy waited for him, a fourth stone ready in his slingshot in case anyone tried to follow. But nobody did.
    Pedro reached out and grabbed hold of Matt, and together they ran off as fast as they could. The alarm bells were still jangling, and now they were joined by the scream of sirens as more police cars approached. Seconds later, they pulled up in front of the hotel.
    Captain Rodriguez had reappeared, his face full of fury. But they were too late. The street was empty.
    The two boys had disappeared.

    Chapter 9 Poison Town
    An hour later, they were still running.
    Matt was astonished by how much energy Pedro seemed to have.
    After all, he looked as if he hadn't eaten for a week. But he had kept up the same pace ever since they had left the hotel, pausing only when a dirty blue van with barred windows and the words policia nacional painted on the side came speeding past. Then Pedro ducked behind what looked like a broken-down and abandoned Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star truck, dragging Matt with him. He took one look at Matt and signaled to him to rest. The two of them sat on the pavement.
    As he regained his breath, Matt remembered what Rodriguez had told him. He had no papers. He had entered Peru illegally. At the time, when the Nexus had suggested it, forged passports had seemed like a good idea. But in fact he and Richard had been delivered, gift wrapped, into enemy hands. Matt couldn't prove who he was. There was no record of his arrival, and even when the Nexus realized he was missing and came looking for him, there would be nothing they could do. He would simply have disap-peared.
    "Debemos apresurarnos, " Pedro said, and stood up again.
    They were in a wide, busy road, somewhere on the edge of Lima, standing in front of a row of shops and a restau-rant, all of them missing their front windows and front doors ... in fact, they had no fronts at all. They were like open boxes with their insides spilling out onto the street, the smell of food mixing with the petrol fumes.
    Opposite them, a row of men in jeans and baseball caps sat slumped against a low, concrete wall, seemingly with nothing to do. There were also a couple of shoeshine boys with crude, wooden boxes strapped to their backs. The sight gave Matt a jolt. They were both about six years old.
    "Where are we going?" Matt asked.
    Either Pedro didn't understand or he couldn't be both-ered to answer.
    He was already moving down the pavement. Matt was exhausted, but he forced himself to follow. What else could he do?
    They came to a set of traffic lights, and Pedro's face broke into a grin. It was the first time Matt had seen him smile. There was a truck waiting, open-backed and piled with building materials. Pedro had Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star recognized the driver. He ran forward and began to talk, gesturing a couple of times in Matt's direction. The lights changed to green and at once all the cars behind began to blast their horns. But the driver wasn't in any hurry. He waited until Pedro had finished, glanced briefly at Matt, then jerked his thumb. Pedro signaled to him and, with a huge feeling of relief, Matt climbed with him into the back.
    They set off again.
    Matt was desperately tired. He'd only managed a few hours of troubled sleep the night before. He was also in a bad way following his encounter with Rodriguez. There was a sick pounding in his head and in his stomach and he was sure he'd broken a rib. The police had beaten him up. How could such a thing have happened — and in a public place, in the middle of a hotel? What sort of country was this?
    The driver shouted something out the window, and Matt saw his hand appear, holding a small bunch of bananas. Pedro took them and broke some off, offering them to Matt. Matt shook his head. He was starving, but he couldn't bring himself to eat. He was in too much trouble, too much pain. Pedro shrugged, peeled a banana, and took a bite.
    Matt wasn't sure what to make of this boy. There was no doubt that Pedro had saved him by waiting with his sling-shot, but it was hard to know exactly why. Right now he was ignoring him completely. It was as if Matt were nothing more than an annoyance, like a stray animal following him down the street. Certainly there was nothing very