“A weighty shock,” he said. “Something sharp that cuts deep. Something that changes our outlook on what we see and know. So here, this is for all of you.”
Hayden watched as two men came forward and offered the four new recruits a paper cup. Half filled with a clear liquid it was clearly yet another rite of passage. Hayden saw no choice, trapped and surrounded as she was. Fay took the cup and tipped it back without blinking. One of the men asked what was in it.
“A cushion,” Dantanion said.
Hayden thought, what the hell, and threw it back. Experience was everything, right? Especially in a life that had largely been led hopping from one major case to another. A warmth drifted through her system, dulling her senses and taking the edge off.
A cushion.
But a cushion for what?
She saw at least half the people leave the caves then, and wondered if Dantanion might be conducting a raid on one of the villages tonight. Fear for her friends broke the rising inner miasma for a few seconds, but then the blurriness returned. The stuff was better than three quick shots of neat rum, and was that a fox’s tail now growing out of Dantanion’s head?
Crap. This is not good.
Feeling vulnerable, she folded her arms and leaned back. Dantanion waited for another minute. “Tonight, you will first witness a small feasting. Then, later, in the darker watches, you will offer a part of yourself — to yourself. The fundamental ritual. And it must be completed on the first day. If this shocks you, ladies and gentlemen, just remember — you signed up for it.”
Hayden had signed nothing. Or had she? Truly, she couldn’t remember much past just now and the edges were all blurry. Probably best to just nod and get on with it. She watched dispassionately as Dantanion and two of his followers squatted down to show them how to move differently, how to bend their limbs for some kind of game. She had a feeling she’d seen it before, but couldn’t place the memory. The teaching stuck in her head though. A robed man was then brought forward, his hand placed on a square of stone like an altar sticking up through the floor, and a scalpel introduced to the hand.
Hayden felt a rush of fear, a hot panic, but shrugged indifferently. It was only a sliver of flesh, only a blade, and only a trickle of blood. The portable stove helped cook the flesh and then the man offered it up to Dantanion. In ritual mode, the leader smiled inscrutably, warming the whole room before generously taking the flesh and offering it to another. This man popped it into his mouth and chewed happily, swallowing it down after a minute.
Dantanion addressed the recruits. “When the cushion is removed you will find that your mind has changed,” he said. “The initiations have begun. Be ready for later tonight.”
Hayden allowed herself to sink onto a bed, watching Dantanion walk away and enjoying the experience. Should it worry her that if he grinned at her right now she’d chase after him like a faithful hound? Probably. But she couldn’t seem to care. The deceptive, illusory aspect that now constituted reality didn’t seem half bad.
It took some time, she didn’t know how much, but the effects of the drug started to wear off. Fay ended up beside her, sniffing and staring at the ceiling, mesmerized by the endlessly adjusting cameras.
“You okay?” Hayden asked.
“I’ve been better, and that’s saying something. My head hurts and my throat’s dry but I guess I’ll be okay.”
Minutes passed and then Hayden said, “Did I understand it right? They just ate some guy’s skin?”
Fay pulled a face. “And will make us do it too.”
Hayden laughed. “Yeah, they can try.”
A woman with short-cropped hair was passing, stopped and leaned down to fix Hayden with a worried stare. “I was forced to pass the fundamental ritual last night.” She hugged herself. “It’s bad, very bad, but easier than the alternative. Those that refused… they threw them from the cliffs.”
“Is that a bad joke? Are you kidding?” Fay blurted.
“No, no. They keep saying we signed up for it. Do you remember signing up? The whole thing’s a blur for me. And I sure don’t remember any flesh eating rituals in the friggin’ contract. Nor any cliff divin’.”
“Crossing barriers,” Fay said. “Overcoming taboos. I read the damn form three times and that’s what it said.”
“Well, they weren’t friggin jokin’. After two weeks of this shit my brain’s goin’ to be a jelly.”
Hayden listened, wondering if the woman hadn’t hit the proverbial nail on the head. Dantanion’s process had to be a concoction of drugs, brainwashing and enforcement. Vulnerable people were more susceptible. Those without homes craved families. Any family. In any case, the immediate future was incredibly clear.
She had just a few short hours to find out what she needed to know and get the hell out of there.
CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
Kinimaka made the call very quickly. The rest of the team, apart from Mai and Dahl, stood around for moral support.
“Of course I’m being straight up with you, Secretary Crowe,” the Hawaiian grimaced, “and we’re close to deciding on a plan of action.”
He listened for twenty seconds.
“I realize we’re angling for more time, and this sounds like the perfect way to gain a few days, but—”
He stopped as she interrupted.
Drake leaned over toward Alicia and stage-whispered, “She’s not daft.”
Kinimaka held out a hand as if to say, “why would you?” Drake realized his whisper might have been a little loud.
“Nobody, ma’am, just a passing villager. I speak for all of us when I say…”
Now Alicia whispered back. “She’s got ears like a bat.”
Kinimaka looked like he wanted to throw the phone at her. Again he apologized. Again he brushed the truth with away with a thick, bristly veneer. “They came as we were readying to leave. Hayden was—”
Another interruption. This time, Kinimaka listened and frowned over a much longer period.
“Understood. We’re totally on board with the Egypt situation, ma’am, and anxious to get involved. As soon as we rescue… yeah, I’d better stop talking and get a move on. Bye, then… bye.” He was left staring at a dead phone.
“That went well,” Smyth jested.
“She’s not stupid. She knows something’s not quite right.”
“Next time try to sound more whiny,” Alicia said. “Like when Smyth’s talking to Lauren.”
“Shit,” Smyth growled.
“Or when Taz sees a Reece Carrera movie,” Mai said, having just returned. “Please Reece. Ah, Reece, ah, ah.”
“Hey, I watch those in private.”
Drake was counting bullets. “I’d forgotten your old nickname.”
“Yeah, the bikers gave me it. Seems… out of place… now.”
“There’s something else,” Kinimaka said quietly. “Crowe said, ‘we’ll sort out the consequences later.’”
“Fuck that,” Drake said. “We’ve time for all that. Right now, are we ready to bring this storm down on Dantanion’s head?”
“The cannibals are going to be pissed.” Dahl grinned.
Kenzie finished cleaning her blade. “And Peru made a little safer.”
“We sure the plan’s in place? CIA prepped?” Kinimaka played devil’s advocate.
“Took some doing,” Drake said. “But yeah. They’re ready, and will be along whenever the hell they feel like it.” He took a moment to breathe and then nodded toward Dahl and Mai. “How did you guys get on?”
Mai managed to look a little uncomfortable but Dahl blustered right on in. “Brynn got it very wrong,” he said. “Three she said. Three villagers might know the mountains and only one might be willing to help us.” He sighed. “More like the whole bloody village is gearing up to come along.”