Evil Star

Of course, he was used to violence and sud-den death. But he surely hadn't been expecting so much more of it.
    The Pan-American Highway was long and very straight, running through the landscape as if it had been cut with a knife. For the first couple of hours, there was no real view out the window. The edges of the road were lined with garbage — old tires, pieces of plastic sheeting, tangled coils of wire, and mounds of rubble that seemed determined to follow them every inch of the way. Matt had never been anywhere like this before. He had seen garbage dumps in England. There had been parts of Ipswich that were run-down and depressing. But the poverty in this country was endless. It had spread like a disease.
    The sun rose, and suddenly it was hot. Matt looked around him at the other passengers, a mixture of city people, farmers, Indians, and
    — once again — animals. The woman sitting next to him was dressed in brilliant colors, with a bright red shawl tied around her Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star neck, and a floppy hat. Her skin looked like beaten leather. She could have been a hun-dred years old. She was examining him curiously, and Matt wondered if she had seen through the skin dye, the clothes, and the haircut and recognized the English boy underneath. He turned away, afraid she might try to speak to him.
    Another hour passed. Then several more. It was impos-sible to tell how long he had been sitting there. Even worse, Matt was thirsty.
    His mouth seemed to be full of dust and diesel fumes. He closed his eyes. Almost immediately he was asleep.
    "We should have gone to Ayacucho," Pedro said.
    "I know. I'm sorry. Why did you decide to come along?"
    "Because of the man who died. Micos. He died because he wanted to help us. And at the end, when he only had one breath left, he told us to go to Cuzco. It was that impor-tant to him. If we didn't do as he said, his ghost would never forgive us."
    "Do you know anything about Cuzco?" Matt asked.
    "Not much. Sebastian went there once and he didn't like it. It's a long way away . . . high up in the mountains. Sebastian told me that you can't breathe properly because there isn't enough air. A lot of tourists go there." Pedro thought for a moment. "It's not far from a place called Machu Picchu, which is where the Incas used to live."
    "What about the temple of Coricancha?"
    "I've never heard of it."
    The two of them sat in silence for a minute. But in this strange world, a minute could have been an hour or even a day.
    "So who do you think he was?" Pedro asked. "He said his name was Micos but he didn't tell us anything else. And what about the man Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star with the big head? That was Salamanda. ..."
    "Yes." Matt shuddered.
    "I've never seen anyone like that. I mean, there are people in Lima with no legs and no arms and stuff like that. You see it all the time.
    But he was a freak. A real freak. And he was evil. It was like it was oozing out of him. He made me want to be sick."
    “Yes. I felt the same."
    Matt glanced at the boat with the cat's-head prow. He thought that, quite soon, he and Pedro must leave the dream island. There was a whole dream world to explore.
    "Listen, Pedro," he said. "I've been thinking about everything that's been happening. It's all happened so fast — the airport, meeting you, all the rest of it — I haven't had a chance to work it out. But now I have. And maybe I've been stupid. I may have got it all wrong."
    He paused.
    "Let's start with Salamanda. He's our enemy. He's the one who wants to open the gate. He must have paid some-one to kill William Morton and take the diary. But it wasn't Salamanda who snatched Richard. He more or less told me that himself. He seemed surprised we thought Richard was with him."
    "Then who . . . ?"
    "That's what I've been wondering. Richard and I arrive in Lima and we're met by a driver who says that he's work-ing for Fabian. He tells us his name is Alberto but he could have been anyone. He drives us to a hotel where Captain Rodriguez and the police are waiting for us. We're walking into a trap.
    "But on the way, another bunch of people run into us. They shoot at Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star the driver and try to grab us. They take Richard, but I get away."
    "They were trying to stop you! They didn't want you to go to the hotel because they knew the police were there!"
    Matt nodded. "That's right. Micos was one of them. I recognized