Evil Star (13 page)

Matt started forward but Pedro reached out and grabbed hold of him.

"Yeah. All right." Matt took out the ten-pound note and offered it to the other boy. "Here you are.
Gracias."

"No!" Pedro was looking scared. He pointed at the two cars and Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star uttered the single word that was almost the same in so many different languages.
"Policia!"

"It's okay, Pedro. I want to see them. It's not a problem."

But Pedro was worried. He shook his head and seemed unwilling to let Matt go.

Matt broke free. "I'll see you around," he said, knowing that he never actually would.

He walked up the drive and into the hotel. The door-man glanced briefly in his direction and then decided to let him in. He was a child and he was scruffy — but he was a European and that was all that mattered. Somewhere inside him, Matt knew that Pedro wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the place.

The front doors opened into a large reception area with leather sofas, antique tables, oversize potted plants, and mirrors. Matt had hardly ever been inside a luxury hotel before — and never on his own. He felt uncomfort-able walking into this enormous space. The Hotel Europa was a place for rich tourists and business travelers, and he was neither. There were two smartly dressed women stand-ing behind the slab of marble that served as a reception desk. They watched him with faces of frozen politeness as he walked over to them.

"I need your help," he said.

“Yes?" The younger of the two receptionists sounded surprised, as if helping wasn't part of her job description.

"My name is . . ." Matt hesitated. What name should he give? He decided not to bother. "I was meant to meet some-one here."

"Who are you meeting, please?

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

"His name is Mr. Fabian."

The receptionist tapped at the keyboard of a computer hidden just below the level of the desk. Her nails clacked against the keys. A moment later, she looked up. "I'm sorry. There is nobody of that name staying at the hotel."

"He may not be staying here." Matt tried to keep the impatience out of his voice. "I arrived at the airport yester-day. I was on the way here to meet him. But I got delayed."

"Where are you from?"

"From England." Matt took out his passport and laid it on the desk.

He hoped the cover, with its gold lettering, would impress the girl more than he could.

The girl opened it and looked at the name underneath the photograph. "Paul Carter?" She glanced at him strangely, as if she had been expecting him. The other girl picked up a telephone and dialed a number. "Where is your brother?" she asked.

"My brother?" Matt realized that they were talking about Richard.

So he was right. They were expected. "I don't know. Where is Mr.

Fabian?"

"Mr. Fabian is not here."

Next to her, the second girl had been connected. She spoke briefly in Spanish, then put the telephone down.

A side door opened.

Four men came out, walking purposefully toward him. There was something menacing about the way they moved. They could have been coming out of a bar, half drunk, looking for a fight. If there hadn't been police cars parked outside, Matt would have assumed Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star they were soldiers. They were wearing gray trousers tucked into their boots, dark green jackets that zipped up the front, and caps.

Their leader was a huge, potbellied man with a heavy moustache and leathery, pockmarked skin. His hair was dark. Was there a single man in Peru who didn't have dark hair? He had the body of a wrestler. His hands were enormous. Everything about him seemed brutal and oversize. Matt had to remind himself that he was the one who needed the police, that he hadn't himself committed any crime.

Or so he thought.

“You are Paul Carter?" the policeman asked. Even from the four words, Matt could tell that he spoke good English. He had a heavy Peruvian accent, but there was a certain rhythm to the way he spoke.

And despite his looks, his voice was soft and intelligent.

“Yes."

"My name is Captain Rodriguez. I have been waiting for you. Where is your friend .. ." He smiled unpleasantly. ".. . Robert Carter?"

"He's not here."

"Where is he?"

Matt was becoming increasingly nervous. The policeman had referred to Richard as his friend, not as his brother — which was what he was supposed to be. And he had spoken the names as if he already knew they were false. Pedro had warned him not to go into the hotel, and Matt was begin-ning to wish he'd listened. Certainly, he hadn't been expecting this degree of hostility. The senior policeman
was standing right in front of him. The other three had moved to surround him. They weren't treating him as if he needed help. It was more as if he were a suspect, a wanted criminal.

"Did Mr. Fabian call you?" Matt asked.

Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

"Fabian? Who is Fabian?"

"Listen ... I was attacked last night. I need help."

“Your name is Paul Carter?"

“Yes." Even as Matt spoke the word, it died on his lips. The policeman knew who he was. He had only asked the question to test him. Slowly, he reached for the passport and turned it round, handling it as if it were something dirty. Then he picked it up and opened it. For a long moment, he squinted at the photograph at the back.

"Where did you get this?" he asked.

"It's my passport." Matt felt a nameless terror opening up beneath him.

"This passport is a forgery."

"No.. ."

"Tell me your true name."

"I just told you. It's Paul Carter. Didn't you hear what I said? I was attacked last night. There were men with guns. You have to ring Mr.

Fabian. . . ."

The girls at the reception desk were watching all this, their eyes filled with fear. One of the policemen rapped something at them and they hurried away, disappearing down a corridor. Another policeman went over to the main door and stood there, making sure nobody was looking in. It was still only six o'clock in the morning.

There was nobody to witness what happened next.

The senior policeman — the one who called himself Captain Rodriguez — punched him. Matt barely had time to see the huge fist Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star swing in an arc toward him before it had made contact with his stomach, throwing him off his feet. If he'd eaten anything in the past twelve hours, he would have been sick. As it was, he felt the breath explode out of him as he crashed backward onto the floor. Darkness shim-mered in front of his eyes as he hovered at the edge of consciousness and he had to fight with all his strength sim-ply to breathe again. He felt the cold marble against his cheek. He needed it. It helped fight the dark away.

"You are lying to me," Rodriguez said, and Matt knew that he was in more trouble than he could begin to imag-ine. The policeman knew everything. He had been waiting for Matt at the hotel. Perhaps he had been there all night. “You think, perhaps, that I am an idiot?

You think that the police officers of Peru are not worthy of your respect?"

"No ..." Matt tried to speak, but he still hadn't caught his breath and he was in too much pain. He couldn't believe what had just happened. There was the taste of nausea in his mouth. He forced himself to go on. "I want. . ." he began. He was a British citizen. It didn't matter what he'd done. They couldn't treat him like this.

Captain Rodriguez swung a foot almost lazily; Matt yelled out as it came into contact with his ribs. A second wave of pain exploded through his body. For a few seconds, the hotel went red and he wondered if they were going to kill him, here and now, in this upmarket hotel.

"What do you want?" Rodriguez taunted him, imitating his voice.

“You want to confess? I think that would be a good idea, my friend.

I think you should tell me who you really are and why you have come here. I think you should tell me now!"

He lashed out again. Matt saw the boot coming and was able to ride Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star with it, rolling over and over across the marble floor. The other policemen laughed.

Rodriguez walked over to him, one slow step at a time.

“You should not have come here, my friend," he crowed.

"I. . . haven't. . . done .. . anything ... wrong."

“You have no papers. You have no nationality. You have entered this country illegally." Rodriguez reached down and grabbed Matt's hair. He tugged it so hard that Matt cried out. He could feel the tears being squeezed out of his eyes. "Maybe you are a terrorist. Yes. You are young, it is true. But there are others who are younger. Are you pre-pared to tell me the truth?"

Matt nodded. What else could he do? He would tell this man everything.

"Where is Richard Cole?" Rodriguez asked.

So the charade was over. The policeman knew who they were. He had known them from the start.

"Where is he?" Rodriguez pulled even harder.

"I don't know!" Matt screamed. He was sure the hair was going to be torn out of his skull. There was blood trick-ling from his nose and down the corner of his mouth. "He said he'd meet me here! I don't know where he went." It was a lie — but it didn't matter. He just had to say anything to stop the pain.

He heard the sound of a bell, and the elevator doors opened. A businessman had appeared, on his way to an early meeting. He stepped out of the elevator and saw the four policemen, the boy lying on the floor between them. Nobody said anything. The businessman blinked and dis-appeared back into the elevator. Matt Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star could imagine that he wouldn't even draw breath until he was back in his room.

But at least Captain Rodriguez had let go of his hair. Matt lay where he was, sprawled out on the floor like one of those drawings the police make after there's been a mur-der. He wondered if some of his ribs had been broken. His entire body was in pain.

Rodriguez dropped down next to him and cupped a hand under his cheek. For a moment he could have been a father, consoling an injured son, but every word he spoke dripped with venom and hate.

"You are a very foolish child," he muttered. “You have come, uninvited, to my country and nobody can help you. Because, you see, you are 'Paul Carter.' You do not exist. Nobody knows that you are here and nobody will know when you disappear. For that is what will happen to you, my friend. We have places here that nobody knows. Prisons far away where you can go in and never come out. It would be easy to kill you. I could kill you now and go to have my breakfast and not think twice. But that is not what is going to happen to you, Matthew Freeman. You are going to be buried alive in a concrete cell far beneath the ground and you are going to be left to rot and nobody is going to hear from you again."

He raised Matt's head a little farther so that his lips were almost touching his ear. And then the final words came, a whisper of sheer hatred.

"Diego Salamanda sends you his regards."

He let Matt's head fall, and Matt felt another spasm of pain as his skull came into contact with the marble floor.

Rodriguez must have given a signal. The other three policemen Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star closed in on Matt and scooped him up. Between them, they dragged him out of the hotel. Matt didn't even try to resist. He could feel his feet, toes downward, sliding along behind him. His vision was blurred. He could just make out the reception desk with Rodriguez standing in front of it, but both of them were out of focus. He was bun-dled out through the door. There was no sign of the doorman.

Like the businessman, he must have gotten out of sight as quickly as he could. Matt remembered the two cars parked out front. They had been waiting for him! And he had just walked in and given himself up.

They dragged him across to the first car, and one of the policemen fumbled in his pockets for his keys. That left just two of them supporting Matt. Did he have the strength left to fight back? No.

They were holding him too tightly. What about his powers? Briefly, Matt remembered the chandelier exploding at Forrest Hill. It felt as if it had happened a cen-tury ago. He wondered if he could do something similar now. Turn on the power and make the police car blow up. Send these two men spiraling away like puppets in the wind. But it wasn't as easy as that. There was no switch he could throw. Whatever power he had, it still wasn't under control.

But then the policeman holding him on the side near-est to the car cried out and suddenly let go. Looking up, Matt saw blood pouring down his face. Had he done that to him? Matt was so shocked that for a moment he thought he had. But then he saw a fist-size stone come flying through the air and the second policeman staggered back, his hand clutching his face. Matt was free. He fell back against the car and looked away from the hotel, down toward the main street. And there was the answer.

Pedro was there. He was holding a slingshot made out of a strip of Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star some sort of black material — rubber or leather. He had used it twice with deadly accuracy, bringing both the policemen down. But that still left one more, the policeman with the car keys. Matt shouted a warning as the policeman reached down to his holster and pulled out a gun.

But before it had come halfway up, Pedro swung the slingshot a third time. Another rock flashed through the air and slammed into the policeman, catching him just above the eye. The policeman swore and dropped the gun.

"Matt!" Pedro called out his name.

Matt looked back at the hotel. Captain Rodriguez had appeared, alerted by the cries of his men. His own gun was in his hand.

Quickly, he took in what had happened. His men were hurt. The English boy was free, leaning against the car that should have been taking him away. And there was another boy, with a slingshot.

Rodriguez took aim at this second boy.

Matt dived forward and snatched up the fallen gun. He rolled over on his stomach and fired six shots in the direc-tion of the hotel. He wasn't sure if any of them hit Captain Rodriguez, but he saw the senior policeman dive for cover behind a parked car. The glass doors of the hotel shattered. At the same time, an alarm went off inside the hotel. Matt dropped the gun and got unsteadily to his feet.