Evil Star

at the same time.
    It seemed to take them forever to reach the end of the lane. It was completely dark and the headlights illuminated only a small area ahead of them. Matt only knew they were back on the main road when the wheels began to turn smoothly on an asphalt surface. A few moments later, Micos pulled over to the side and stopped.
    "Listen to me," he said, and with a jolt of alarm Matt saw that he had been even more badly wounded than Matt had feared, that Micos had very little time left. “You must go to Cuzco." Micos coughed and swallowed with difficulty. More blood appeared, on his lower lip. "On Friday . . . the temple of Coricancha. In Cuzco. At sunset."
    He seemed to take a deep breath, as if preparing to tell them more.

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star
    "Please, tell Atoc . . ." he began. But that was all. He was sitting still, his eyes fixed on something in the distance. Matt realized he had just died.
    In the backseat, Pedro whimpered.
    "We can't stay here," Matt said. He didn't care if the other boy understood or not. "Salamanda will come after us eventually. We have to go."
    The two of them got out. The car was parked right on the edge of the road with a slope leading into brushwood. For a brief moment, Matt wondered if they could get back in and drive away. He couldn't drive, but Pedro . . . ?
    He glanced at the other boy. As if reading his mind, Pedro shook his head. Well, if they couldn't use it, they had to get rid of it.
    Otherwise, Salamanda would know they were nearby and on foot.
    Matt turned out the headlamps and released the hand brake. He signaled to Pedro, and the two of them began to push the car. It rolled off the road, out of sight.
    The moon had come out, showing the way ahead. Ica couldn't be more than half a mile away.
    "Are you ready?" Matt asked.
    “Yes." Pedro had understood. And he had replied in English.
    Together they set off along the road.

    Chapter 12 The Holy City
    Once again, Matt and Pedro found themselves in the main square at Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Ica, and this time they were even more nervous than they had been before. It was half past five in the morning, but there were already plenty of people around. It seemed to Matt that life began early in Peru. Even so, everything was quiet. There were no tourists yet. The money changers hadn't come out. If anyone came looking for them, they wouldn't be too hard to find.
    Matt was fairly sure that nobody would be looking for them here. As far as Salamanda knew, they could be a hun-dred miles down the Pan-American Highway — the single road that ran the full length of the country. But he wasn't taking any chances. He had left Pedro to buy the bus tick-ets for the next leg of their journey while he squatted in the shadows. He was crouching on the edge of the pavement, his arms wrapped around himself, pretending to be asleep. It wasn't all pretense. He was exhausted. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep going.
    Pedro returned with the tickets and sat down next to him.
    "Cuzco," Matt said.
    "Cuzco," Pedro agreed, and showed him the two slips of paper.

    Matt hadn't been certain that he would really buy them. He knew that Pedro would have preferred to continue south to the city of Ayacucho — where Sebastian and his friends would be waiting. As he took the tickets, Matt glanced at the other boy. Pedro wasn't looking happy about what he had done but he had evidently come to a decision and would stick by it.
    Matt and Pedro ate a quick breakfast of rolls and coffee bought from a stall, then crept on board the bus at the last moment. Almost every seat was taken and they had to sit apart. Not that it matters, Matt Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star thought to himself. When they were awake, they couldn't speak anyway.
    Cuzco.
    It meant nothing to him. A name spoken by a dying man. It was a town ... a city ... it could be anywhere in Peru. He guessed it must be far away because the tickets had cost almost half their remaining money. As they set off, jolting through the half-empty main square, Matt looked across the aisle at Pedro, who was sitting, cramped, next to the win-dow on the other side of a plump, sweating man.
    What was he thinking? From the moment he had met Matt, his entire life had been thrown into turmoil. Despite everything, Matt was beginning to worry about him. Pedro had said nothing and had shown little emotion since the death of the man called Micos.