Evil Star

to the airport. He's already spoken to the police but he's not sure he can trust them. He's suggested an advertis-ing campaign in the national press."
    '"Have you seen this boy?'" The idea seemed to amuse the American.
    "Someone must know where he is. An English teenager on his own in Peru ..."
    "Assuming, of course, he's still alive." Johnson put down her wineglass. "I'll pay for advertisements if that's what you want," she said. "My New York office can organize it."
    "There's something else. . . ."The blind woman paused, trying to collect her thoughts. Her face was grim. "I've been thinking about what happened. First there was the business with William Morton.
    We were the only ones who knew where he was going to be, and he only told us twenty-four hours before Matthew met him. But Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star someone still man-aged to follow him to St. Meredith's. They killed him and took the diary.
    "And then there's Matthew and Richard Cole. They traveled to Peru under false names, but it seems that some-body knew they were coming. There was an ambush. Fabian's driver was almost killed.
    Richard Cole was taken."
    "What are you suggesting?"
    "That our enemy knows what we're doing. Someone is telling him our every move."
    Natalie Johnson stiffened. "That's ridiculous."
    "I've come to you because I've known you for a long time, and my instinct tells me I can trust you. I haven't said this to anyone else.
    But I think we need to be careful. If there's a traitor inside the Nexus, we could all be in danger."
    "We should warn the others."
    "Not yet. First of all we have to find Matthew Freeman. He's our main priority. The second gate is going to open very soon and he's the only one who can prevent it. It doesn't matter what happens to us, Natalie. If we don't find the boy, we've lost."

    ************************************
    The bus station was like a crazy outdoor circus, a jum-ble of color and noise with people and packages everywhere, street vendors shouting, old women in shawls sitting behind little piles of papayas and plantain, children and dogs chas-ing each other around the rubble, and the ancient buses themselves. Nobody was going anywhere yet but everyone seemed to be in a hurry. Great sacks and cardboard pack-ages were being passed from hand to hand before Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star being thrown up to be tied in towering piles on the buses' roofs.
    There were old tickets strewn all over the ground like con-fetti and fresh ones being sold from cubicles hardly bigger than a small closet. There was an Indian woman cooking cau cau — tripe and potato stew — in a large metal can at the edge of the bus yard, and some of the travelers were squatting on their haunches, eating from plastic bowls, the smell of the food fighting with the exhaust fumes.
    Matt took this all in as he approached the bus station with Sebastian and Pedro. They had walked here from Poison Town, leaving just after five o'clock. Sebastian already had the tickets and had announced that he would be com-ing with them as far as lea.
    Although he had been drunk when he went to bed, he seemed clearheaded enough when he woke up. In his own way, he was even cheerful.
    "There is almost no chance that you will find your friend in lea," he had said. "But after you have given your compli-ments to Sehor Salamanda, you can continue down to Ayacucho. -I will be waiting for you there."
    They walked past a row of shops. Looking through an open door, Matt noticed a dark-skinned boy his own age, dressed in a bright green T-shirt with jeans that stopped a few inches below his knees.
    He had bare feet, black rubber sandals, and black hair cut in a straight line across his fore-head. He was completely disheveled and dirty.
    Matt moved. . . and so did the boy. It was only then that Matt realized that he was actually looking at a full-length mirror. The boy was a reflection of himself.
    Sebastian had seen what had happened. 'You didn't recognize yourself," he chuckled. "Let's hope you can do the same with them."

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star He glanced in the other direction, and Matt felt his mouth go dry as two policemen appeared, both carrying semiautomatic machine guns. They could have been here for any number of reasons, but instinctively Matt knew that they were looking for him. Pedro asked something in Spanish, and Sebastian reassured him. From the moment the other boy had woken up, Matt had