The Spanish colloquial feel didn’t spread through the entire town — descendants of the Incas still pulled llama trains through the heart of it. The main cathedral attracted many visitors, an impressive baroque structure, but it was the surviving Inca-built walls that fascinated Drake as he strode through the streets — bound together without mortar and incredibly strong, they were an ancient accompaniment to the stone streets.
“It’s like the Incas never left,” he said aloud as they tracked Bruno down. “Despite the Spanish.”
When he clapped eyes on the team, the Cusco Militia’s “transporter” was less than happy. Alicia approached first, giving him the eye, and forced him down a narrow alley. Soon, they found a doorway where they could crowd around.
“It wasn’t my fault,” he blurted out.
“What wasn’t?” Hayden held a hand up, no doubt wondering what he might spill.
“The massacre. Landlords weren’t earning their keep. I told you — I am transport only. I do not make decisions like this.”
Drake decided that they should manipulate more than bully at that point. “All right. We believe you, pal, but now you have to help us.”
Bruno’s eyes shifted uneasily. “Help? How?”
“Dantanion,” Hayden said. “He’s been recruiting, yes?”
“Umm, I guess.”
“You guess?” Alicia hissed, thrusting her body so close Bruno jumped back and collided with the door, making the frame rattle.
“Yeah, well, okay. He been recruiting. Had a batch yesterday. Another today. He recruiting more now than ever.”
“I’m happy to say we had a hand in that,” Smyth grunted.
Drake wasn’t so sure. He wondered what happened to the fresh recruits that turned them into the flesh-eating, capering servants of an unutterable evil. In the beginning though, they were surely as innocent as anyone.
“Today’s batch,” Hayden said. “They still here?”
“Yeah. I’m heading over now to prepare them.”
“Prepare?”
“They transported in a container, placed inside a truck. Then driven to drop-off where men wait. Then,” he shrugged, “taken to mountain house.”
“How many?”
“Four today. Three yesterday. It is not often easy to get—” he stopped suddenly, clearly realizing his next few words might risk his life.
“Any ideas what happens to them?” Kinimaka asked.
“I do not ask questions. Most times, it is better not to ask. From what I see they’re led into the mountains like a herd of goats. I do not know any more.”
“Luckily for you, we don’t need to know any more. But today, Bruno, you have five. Not four.”
He stared, genuine surprise obvious by his outburst. “Are you mad?”
“Time will tell,” Hayden said. “So, you ready?”
“Yes, yes,” Bruno said. “I can do that.”
No doubt it increased his takings. Drake made a point of catching his attention. “Listen up now,” he said. “If you blab a word of this to Dantanion or any of his men, we will all take a piece of you. It will be slow and it will be final. Do you get me?”
“I will say nothing. That is truly what I understand.”
They allowed Bruno to lead by half a block, following the man to his warehouse where he said the container was stashed. The walk didn’t take long, maybe fifteen minutes, but it felt like the fastest quarter-hour of Drake’s life.
“No way do you need to do this,” he tried one last time, falling in alongside the boss. “We always find a way. We could hit Dantanion whilst his men are out hunting.”
“And risk losing another villager? No.”
“We could infiltrate through the mountains.”
“Too risky and you know it. They know every inch of those mountains. We know nothing of them. Even the village elders don’t venture that far.”
“Barrage? A full on assault.”
“Maybe. But that risks everyone.”
Of course, he’d known all along that Hayden would never back down. Alicia had known too and had prepared some last-minute personalized advice.
“Remember what they do up there, Hay. If they offer you any food with the words ‘hung’ or ‘well’ or ‘dong’ in them, just say no. For me, you’re heading in a bit near the knuckle.”
Hayden groaned.
“Close to the bone,” Drake said.
“A knob of butter,” Alicia went on. “Would be far better to choose than a buttered knob. But even then I’d be careful.”
The team wasted no goodbyes as Hayden turned a corner to the right and they went left. Drake fought down every instinct, every impulse that raised its heckles in protest. Would a traumatic event help her with her personal woes? He saw the sense of her actions, and he saw the recklessness.
He saw her cravings too.
Hayden heading into the lion’s den was the only way they could continue to help the villagers.
CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
Trappings of luxury filled the room, the wardrobes and the walls; they reassured his weary mind that all was as it should be, but he did not need them. Dantanion had built this small community from scratch, in his own image and to exacting standards. It appeared now that the small luxuries he had afforded his followers were the very things that had outdone them all.
Temporarily.
He knew of the fighters in the villages and believed they weren’t going away soon. Perhaps the people had clubbed together and bought some protection. Dantanion was starting to believe something would need to be done. His people, his children, deserved nothing less. And speaking of children, the first true child had been born into his care the previous night — one he sired — and one that would be brought up truly and purely within the community he’d built. Celebrations had been intense.
And so to today, when ritual returned. The clock told him he still had eighteen minutes until the next feasting, which presented an opportunity.
Dantanion dialed a number and waited, tapping his finely manicured nails against the highly polished desk.
A rough voice picked up. “Who is this?”
“It is Dantanion. I wish to speak to Toni.” Soft spoken as ever, he knew they would jump when they heard his voice. No need for threats when reputation spoke like the mouth of a volcano.
“Mr. D? How are you?” Toni was allowed a few luxuries partly because he was the leader of the Cusco Militia, but mostly because Dantanion didn’t care what they named him in their world.
“Yes. I find myself tripping over foreign warriors in the hills, Toni. What do you know?”
“Ah, the Americans. They were sniffing around Cusco too about the same time as Joshua was murdered. I cannot tell if they did it.” A pause. “Though there were many that wanted Joshua sleeping inside a horizontal box.”
“You should be wary of the company you keep.” Dantanion kept none but his own.
“True enough, Mr. D. They are a Special Forces team out of Washington DC.”
Dantanion hadn’t expected that. He sank into a chair and reached instinctively for one of the little delicacies his chef had prepared and placed in a round china bowl. The large toe had been stripped of its nail, cleaned, scraped and cooked to perfection. Dantanion bit into the soft flesh and chewed, careful to nibble around the bone.
“Special Forces you say? In Peru? Is there anything we can make our government aware of?”
“I understand what you’re saying. And yes, I could probably incite an incident, but not directly and not quickly. It would have to be routed through channels.”
“How long?”