Evil Star

high up in the mountains, they were accustomed to the darkness. Now they used it, flitting in and out of their hiding places, taking out Salamanda's men one by one.
    "Let's get inside," Matt said. Without waiting for Richard to reply, he ducked out of the generator room, underneath the radio mast, and into the building on the other side.
    It had to be the main control center. It was right next to the radio mast, connected to the various satellite dishes by thick cables that Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star looped through the air. Matt didn't know what he was going to find inside. He wasn't armed and knew that he was taking a terrible risk.
    But he couldn't just watch as the Incas fought his battle for him.
    Somewhere in his mind it had occurred to him that if he and Richard could find the controls, they might be able to redirect the satel-lite, send it flying off into a different orbit. Or he might find Salamanda.
    There had been no sign of him so far, but surely he would want to be here now. This was meant to be the night of his triumph. He wasn't just going to stay at home.
    Trying to make as little noise as possible, Matt made his way into a large, fully enclosed chamber. He looked up and took in the glass dome that he had seen from outside. On the other side he could make out the night sky and the radio mast with its satellites towering above.
    All the walls were covered with plasma screens, some filled with digital readouts, some showing what must surely be live footage of the night sky. Mainframe computers stood beneath them and there were twenty or more work-stations set out on a shelf that curved the whole way around. There were about a dozen tables and chairs in the center, arranged like a classroom. They were covered in charts and other papers, some of which had been scattered onto the floor.
    Most of the staff must have left when the fighting began. The whole place had been abandoned. But one man had remained behind. He was sitting alone at one of the tables, busily scribbling away at a pile of papers. As Matt approached, he turned slowly round.
    It was Fabian.
    For a moment, neither of them spoke.
    Then Fabian broke the silence. "Matthew!" he exclaimed. "Mr. ('ole!
    What are you doing here?"

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star
    "I think we should be asking you that," Richard said.
    But it was obvious, really, when Matt thought about it. A driver —
    Alberto — had been sent to the airport to pick him up and deliver him to the police at the Hotel Europa. He had always assumed that the driver had worked for Captain Rodriguez. In fact, he had been working for Fabian — and Fabian had admitted as much the last time they had spoken, on the telephone in Cuzco. And that telephone call had almost been Matt's undoing. The moment he had told Fabian where he was, the information had been passed on to Salamanda and the police.
    Fabian was the traitor. He always had been.
    Fabian seemed to have shrunk since they had last seen him. As always, he was wearing an expensive suit — but this time he had no tie. His clothes hung loose off him and he hadn't shaved. He had been drinking. There was a half-empty bottle on the table and his eyes were glazed. Staring at Richard and Matt, he blinked nervously
    — more embar-rassed than scared or surprised.
    “You ..." Richard swore viciously.
    Fabian looked around him. "Where is everyone?" he asked. "There were a whole lot of people here a few min-utes ago."
    "When did you start working for Salamanda?" Matt asked.
    "Oh — a longtime ago. Before Raven's Gate. As a matter of fact, he's my publisher. He published two of my books and he asked me to meet him. He said he was very interested in some of the things I was writing about. Ancient history. Nazca. The Nexus was interested in me, too. They asked me to join them. But I'd already made my choice...."

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star
    "Why?"
    "Because I want to be on the winning side. The world's going to change, you see. Everything's going to change. And the question you have to ask yourself is — do you want to spend the rest of your life in misery and pain or do you want to be with the winners? That was how Mr. Salamanda put it to me. He persuaded me that the Nexus didn't have a chance. I mean, it had always been predicted that the Old Ones would return. So what was the point of trying to fight against it?"
    "You gave him the diary."
    "I told him about the meeting at the