Jack stuck his hands in the air. “Easy, pal. You’re getting no trouble from us. We’ll pay whatever toll you want if you’ll let us go on our way.”
“You’re a long way from the tourist spots,” the scar-faced man said. “No policía this far out. We’ll take what we want as we please. Paco, Eduardo… get the bags.”
Two other men slung their rifles and dragged the heroes’ bags over to the bandits’ leader, who waved the tip of his rifle at Jack. “Out of the car, señor. Let’s have a look at the four of you.” He handed his rifle to another man, drew a pistol, and advanced on him.
Sally quivered like a racehorse before the starting pistol. Running would be treacherous on the slick mud, but it would hamper the bandits’ movement just as much as it would hers. The leader examined each of them close enough that they could smell the stink of his breath. “Nice and healthy, yes? No alcohol, no tobacco. Good clean living. I love americanos. You take such good care of your bodies.”
Several of the men burst out in laughter at this. The others looked confused until one of them translated in rapid-fire Spanish.
“I’ll tell you what,” said the leader. “I’m in a great mood today. I’ll let three of you go, and I’ll even let you take the car. The fourth one… stays with us.”
“Take me,” said Jack.
“Shut up, Jack,” said Doublecharge. “No deal. We all leave together.”
“What? You let your woman speak for you, señor? I’m shocked!”
“Not as shocked as you’re going to be.” A tiny spark snapped in one of Doublecharge’s eyes.
The leader smiled at her with a mouthful of rotten teeth. “I’ll take this one. She looks like she’ll provide a bountiful harvest.”
“No!” Jack leaped toward the leader. Several guns thundered and Jack spun about in midair as the bullets impacted all over him. He tumbled to the ground and lay still. Sally and Glimmer threw themselves to the ground, as did Doublecharge and the bandit leader.
“Goddammit, don’t shoot while I’m out here, you assholes!” The leader shook his fist at his men. “Somebody check that pendejo and see if we can salvage anything.”
Sally began to get an icky, cold feeling in the small of her back as she saw two men come forward with large coolers and knives. Salvage? What did that mean? Suddenly it came to her. In the Consular Sheets, she’d read a short little blurb about people being kidnapped for their organs. The State Department had discounted the tales as rumors.
Something flashed past her, fast enough only to be a blur to everyone else. Her brain protested that such a thing had to be a figment of her panicked imagination.
A feathered, winged snake with a razor-sharp blade for a tail whipped past the two men who approached Jack. It caught each one across the throat with its tail and left a spray of bright arterial blood in its wake. Everyone froze for a moment as the two men swayed before they toppled, and then all hell broke loose.
Doublecharge hit the leader with such a hard jolt of electricity that he flew backward through the air, knocked right out of his boots, and bounced down the slope until he fetched up against a tree with his fatigues and skin blackened and smoldering. Glimmer grunted with the effort of concentration and three men dropped to the ground, either unconscious or dead from his psionic attack. Jack uncurled from his fetal position to reveal a short, ugly pistol in his hand. He fired the entire clip into the largest grouping of opponents, unconcerned about their return fire.
Sally wavered, uncertain what to do. A man who aimed his gun at Doublecharge galvanized her into action. In a flash, Sally moved next to him, dropped his clip from the weapon and popped out the unfired bullet. He pulled on the trigger, but got only an empty click. Before she could do anything else, the feathered serpent looped around his head and stuck its tail straight through the back of his neck. Blood spattered Sally and she recoiled in shock.
As suddenly as the fight had begun, it was over. Silence reigned across the mountainside except for patter of rain on leaves and a few muffled gurgles from men as they bled to death.
Jack got to his feet, his clothing shredded from the gunfire. “Everyone okay?”
Sally’s stomach clenched and she barely remembered to hold her braids back as she vomited up her lunch.
Doublecharge was by her side in a moment, her hands cool on Sally’s head. “You all right, Sally?”
Sally wiped her mouth with a hand that shook like a leaf in a gale. Glimmer handed her a water bottle. She spilled half of it.
“You’ve never been in lethal combat before, have you?” Stacey asked.
Sally shook her head, glad it was still raining so they couldn’t see her tears.
“Listen, Sally…” Jack slipped a new clip into his pistol, and tucked it back into his belt. “These guys were bad. Real bad. They would have killed us all without a second thought and stolen our body parts to sell on the black market. It was either us or them. Me, I’m glad it was them.”
She nodded and risked a tiny sip of water into her queasy stomach. The winged snake had curled around a low tree branch and regarded them with curious, bird-like eyes. “What is that thing?” Glimmer asked.
“I think it’s called a Quetzalcoatl,” said Jack. “It shouldn’t be here. They’re mythical.” The snake stuck a forked tongue out at Jack and flicked it back and forth.
Sally got the distinct idea that it was laughing at them. “Do you think it understands us? Hola, señor serpiente. ¿Usted me entiende?”
The snake bobbed its head up and down in an unmistakable yes.
“This is all very interesting.” Doublecharge looked around. “But it’s not getting us to Porto San José any faster. If the snake wants to talk things over, it can do it on the road. I’ve had about all the surprises I want for one day, and I want to get out of this goddamned rain.” She shook her bedraggled locks for emphasis.
The snake dropped from its branch to the ground. With a flash and a smell of ozone, rain flashed into steam and instead of a winged snake, they saw a slight boy, maybe sixteen years old, huddled naked in a fresh crater in the hillside.
Jack’s pistol appeared in his hands so fast that even Sally didn’t see him draw. “Hold it right there.”
The boy raised one hand to comply but left the other to cover himself and stayed hunched over. “Please, señor, no be afraid. I no speak when I am el Quetzalcoatl.” His accent was thick but decipherable.
“Who are you?” Doublecharge asked. Lightning crackled around her fist.
“Diego. You American superheroes, sí?”
“Whatever gave you that idea?” Jack’s eyes narrowed.
“You shot lots, not hurt. She shot lightning. She very fast.” He pointed to each of them in turn.
“You were watching us?” Glimmer asked
“Sí. I follow los bandidos de riñónes y de ojos.”
“The what?” Sally didn’t recognize the words he’d used.
“Stealers of kidneys and eyes,” said Jack.
“Very bad men. Deserve to die.”
“No argument from me there,” said Doublecharge.
“You here for compound?”
“A compound, Diego?” Jack asked.
“You destroy it? Bad place.” The boy’s voice was hopeful, but his face fell as he looked at the four of them. “Only four of you. Not enough”
Doublecharge and Jack exchanged glances. “Diego, where do you live?” asked Stacey.
“Porto San José, with mi madre.”
“Want a lift back to town? You can ride on the running board.”
“I fly back, but then I no speak to you.” He looked down at himself. “Lo siento. My clothes lost when I become Quetzalcoatl.”
“We’ll see what we can round up for you,” said Doublecharge. “Sally, you’re the only one small enough to have anything that might fit him. Think you could find him a pair of pants?”
Sally nodded. Diego was an attractive boy, with smooth brown skin, shoulder-length black hair, and straig
ht teeth. Although he wasn’t bulked-up like Jason, she could see the play of every muscle under his skin. He smiled up at her from his crouched position. “Gracias, señorita.”
“De nada.” She blushed.
They left the bodies where they had fallen. Jack said the jungle would take care of them with its own quick efficiency.
In a few minutes, they had stowed the luggage back onto the Bug and were on their way. Diego stood on the passenger-side running board and held onto the door for balance. He wore only a pair of Sally’s cutoff jeans around his narrow hips. Although he mostly spoke to Doublecharge, he often glanced back at Sally in a way that made her feel embarrassed. This Guatemalan boy had a raw sexuality about him that had her hormones all in a twist. Maybe it was because he was foreign. Maybe it was just her body’s reaction to the high stress of the combat.
“Tell me about this compound, Diego,” Doublecharge said.
“It there long time. Tribes afraid. Many people gone. Whole villages in mountains gone. Maybe people there.”
“Who’s in charge of it?” Glimmer asked.
“I no know English word. Un extranjero.”
“A foreigner,” said Sally.
“American? A black man?” Jack asked over his shoulder.
“No. White man, yellow hair.” Diego reached out and stroked Sally’s hair for a second. She was so surprised she didn’t recoil from the sudden familiarity from this boy she barely knew. Sally figured the man had to be Heinrich Kaiser.
“How did you learn what you know?” Doublecharge asked.
“Compound soldiers buy supplies in Porto José. Sometimes they get drunk. I listen. Mi madre has a bar.”
“How long have you been able to turn into a quest… quelt…?” Sally floundered over the unfamiliar word.
“Quetzalcoatl is new to me. I get very sick, almost die.”
“Have you seen a black American man in town? He’d be about my age and very smart, maybe buying electronic and mechanical parts?” Jack asked.
“Sí, I see him. He here very long time. Many crates come to him at port. He no drink. Mi madre says never trust man who won’t take drink.”
“Your mother sounds like a wise woman.” Jack chuckled. “Do you know of a place we can stay while we’re in the port?”
“Sí. Rooms above the bar. Very clean. Very nice.”
“We’ll pay cash for them.”
“Bueno.” Diego grinned as his hair flapped in the breeze.
“One last question, Diego,” said Jack as the Bug cleared the edge of the trees. The lights of Porto San José twinkled in the near distance. “Do you by any chance know a man named Luís de la Barros?”
Diego’s smile vanished. “El traficante. He stays at port hotel. Many guns. You buying?”
“Sí,” said Jack.
“Who’s that?” Sally whispered to Glimmer.
Our CIA contact, said a voice inside her head which made her jump. He turned his head to look at her. Don’t ask too many questions. Diego is telling the truth as far as he knows it, but I sense something deceitful about him, something hidden deep in his mind.
“There it is,” called Diego as he pointed toward the ramshackle town crouched on the seaside. “Porto San José!”
“I’m sure we’ll find what we’re looking for there,” said Stacey.
“I’m sure we’ll hate what we find,” countered Jack under his breath.
Chapter Nineteen
The battle between members of Just Cause and the criminal Destroyer dealt a strong wake-up call to the organization. Prior to that event, Just Cause had been primarily a reactionary organization—responding to specific parahuman crimes but not actively attempting to prevent them. The deaths of six past and present members of Just Cause—Lionheart, Sundancer, Danger, Fast Break, Audio, and the destruction of the Steel Soldier—could be linked directly to the failure of Just Cause to follow up on the whereabouts of Harlan Washington, builder and operator of the Destroyer battlesuit after his escape from juvenile detention.
Subsequently, Just Cause became much more proactive: seeking out the criminals before they committed their crimes; building the Deep Six prison facility; performing surveillance and raids.
-Just Cause: Sixty Years of Heroism, by Dr. Grace Devereaux, 2000
February, 2004
Porto San José
Glimmer hadn’t dared to perform deep telepathic scans on Diego or his mother. Since he believed Diego’s mind had been tampered with, he didn’t want to risk setting off any post-telepathic compulsions. He said it as the telepathic equivalent of a booby trap.
“I don’t trust it,” he said when they all met in Jack’s room after a delicious dinner of spiced pork and rice, courtesy of Diego’s mother. “It’s all too neat, too perfect. We were expected.”
Jack stood by the window, an unlit cigar in his lips that Doublecharge had forbidden him to light or she was going to make him eat it. “You think he’s a plant?”
“Absolutely,” Glimmer said. “Maybe not for us specifically, but I’m certain his appearance was no accident.”
Doublecharge frowned. “He’s a sleeper, then.”
“That’s my assessment. I’ve found traces that he’s been manipulated, or at least read recently. And by someone talented,” he said with a glum sigh.
“Better than you?” asked Jack.
Glimmer didn’t looked up. “Maybe. I don’t dare scan any deeper.”
“We need information about this mysterious compound he mentioned,” said Stacey.
“He seems anxious enough to please,” Sally said as she brushed her hair. “Maybe we could just ask him.”
Stacey stood up. “You packed a swimsuit, didn’t you?”
“Well… yes,” said Sally, embarrassed.
“Good. Why don’t you take our little friend to the beach in the morning and find out what he can tell us about the compound? We need as much information as you can pump out of him.”
“You don’t mean… that, do you?” cried Sally.
Doublecharge gave a slight smile, as amused as Sally had ever seen her. “Of course not. This isn’t a primetime melodrama.”
“Why have me do it? Wouldn’t Jay be better?”
“Certainly, but Diego doesn’t have a crush on Jay. He does seem infatuated with you. Therefore, you’re elected,” said Jack.
“There should be a recount, then,” said Sally. “What are the rest of you going to do, go shopping?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. Of a sort,” said Doublecharge. “Jay will check with our CIA contact to get any updated information. Jack will search town for signs of Washington, since he’s had the most firsthand experience with him. I’ll be checking the docks for more information about Washington’s incoming freight and his relationship with Kaiser.”
“By yourself?” Sally was shocked.
“I don’t really think I have to worry about being mugged. Do you?”
“I guess not.”
“Good,” said Doublecharge. “Then get a good night’s rest. Tomorrow we track down Destroyer.”
As they broke the meeting, Glimmer asked, “Sally, have you got a minute?”
“Sure.”
“Would you mind if I set up a telepathic recorder in you?”
Sally stopped in mid-stride. “You want to run that past me again?”
“It’s a technique I developed. Basically it optimizes your brain for information retention, keyed to a specific telepathic contact.”
“English, Jay. I’m tired.”
“I want to turn you into a telepathic camcorder.”
“I see.”
“Most people have faulty memories. Their brains don’t record all information available; just enough to get the general idea. It’s not a flaw. It’s just how the mind is constructed. We’d all go crazy if we had to store all the information our senses record constantly.”
“You’re going to make me go crazy?”
“Of course not. You’re not going to have direct acce
ss to those memories. I’ll access them from a telepathic key later. You won’t even know they’re there. This way we can make sure you don’t miss any important details, or even minor details that at the time seem unimportant.”
“Oh. Will it hurt?”
“Not at all. You won’t feel a thing, I promise.”
Sally was about to agree, but stopped. “Don’t take this the wrong way or anything, Jay, but you’re not going to, like, read my mind or anything like that, are you?”
He raised a hand. “I swear. Your thoughts are your own. All I’m going to do is make your memory perfect for the next day or so.”
“Well… I guess that’s okay. What do I do?”
“Don’t do anything. I just need a moment.” He closed his eyes. Sally concentrated on herself, to see if she felt any sign of him poking around in her mind. Not that she would know what it felt like if he did.
He opened his eyes again. “All finished.”
“That’s it? No Vulcan mind-meld or anything like that?”
Glimmer laughed. “Maybe some other time.”
The next morning, Sally put on a bikini top and a pair of shorts and mentioned that she was going to go check out a beach and asked Diego if he knew of any good places.
“Sí, señorita,” he’d said, and shortly they wound up on a beautiful stretch of white sand. Diego wore only a pair of shorts and a big smile. He’d returned Sally’s shorts freshly laundered and folded.
They had walked north through the small town to the beach. The sun shone bright and the sky was an amazing shade of blue without a cloud to mar it, which was quite the contrast to the previous day’s hard rains. Sally suffered the walk in silence, which allowed Diego to carry on a happy monologue about the various inhabitants of Porto San José.
“Tell me more about the compound, Diego,” she said when he took a break from his bilingual chatter.
“I said all yesterday,” he said.
Inwardly cringing, she leaned a little closer toward him to tilt her chest more into his view. His eyes glanced downward before he looked back into hers. She’d never, ever before used what her mother called feminine wiles to get anything she wanted. It felt awkward and uncomfortable. “I know, but there’s got to be more. Have you ever been there?”
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