married me now? Speaking of the inexplicable.”
“No,” she said, “I’m not. But could you be like in charge of all that stuff? So I don’t have to ever, ever think about it?”
He laughed. “Like taking out the garbage.”
“In a manner of speaking.”
Sirens ensued then, succeeded by paramedics. They whisked Moie off, attended by Lola. After that, the rest of the party, save Cooksey, who had elected to sit with Jenny, drifted back to the patio, where they all had a round of stiff drinks.
“Well, Paz,” said Zwick, “you really know how to throw a party.”
Paz looked around the group. “No one noticed anything strange?” he asked. “Everyone just saw me shoot a harmless Indian?”
“What else were we supposed to see?” asked Beth Morgensen.
Paz ignored her. He was looking at Scotty, who had the appearance of a man recently kicked in the groin. He wouldn’t meet Paz’s gaze. Another one who saw the impossible and wanted to forget it as soon as he could. The other adults had all been scientifically trained to observe only objectively verifiable phenomena.
“Come with me, I want to check on something.” He took a four-cell flashlight from the glove compartment of the Volvo and strode rapidly to the path where the being had emerged from the dark. The path was made of coarse oolitic sand, and it did not take long to find a huge paw mark and then another.
“What do you say to that, Doctors?” he asked.
“Oh, for God’s sake!” said Zwick. “Tell me you didn’t set this all up and shoot that guy with an arrow just to make some stupid point about mystical jaguars!”
Paz looked around the circle of faces, dim in the side glow of the flashlight, and found no support.
“Okay, fine,” he said. “I’ll take you guys home.”
When she opened her eyes, there was Cooksey, and she was glad. She was on her pallet in her old alcove in Cooksey’s quarters, dressed in one of his worn khaki shirts. Cooksey was wearing a dark tracksuit. His face was smeared with black smudges.
“I seized,” she observed.
“You did indeed. How do you feel?”
“Okay. A little sore. Something happened before I went out.”
“Yes. Jaguar showed up in his glory and pride. He was going to take that little girl, and you very heroically threw yourself in his way. The sacrifice was not made. God alone knows what it all means. Then Mr. Paz shot it with an arrow, and it turned back into our Moie.”
“Is he dead?”
“It appears not. Our party coincidentally included two doctors, or perhaps coincidence is no longer the operative word. In any case, he survived. Do you recall any of that?”
“Sort of. It’s kind of like when you remember a dream. And it wasn’t really Jimmy. I saw…kind of tangled up in him something else, something bigger, a glowing thing, I don’t know what it was. But it was good. And…but Moie is good, too, isn’t he? And Jaguar. He killed those bad guys, and he was only trying to protect his country.” She sighed. “I don’t understand any of this, Cooksey.”
“No, and I’m not sure whether the kinds of good and bad we see in the cinema are useful concepts here. We are in deep waters, my girl, and we poor scientists are out of our depth. And I’m afraid it’s not over. Issues less cosmic but just as deadly remain for us to resolve.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that I expect a visit shortly from the gang that kidnapped you and killed Kevin.”
“They’re coming here? Because of me?”
“No, because of Geli. They need her to put pressure on her grandfather, because he’s crucial to some criminal scheme of theirs.”
“But how do they know she’s here? She told me she didn’t tell anyone where she was, not even her mom.”
“Actually, they know because I called her grandfather’s house and informed the servant who answered the phone. Of course, all the servants have been suborned or threatened, and so I expect the gang leader knew within minutes. They’ve been waiting for us to be alone.”
“Jesus, Cooksey! Why the hell did you do that?”
“Because I want to kill them, my dear. All of them. That’s why you see me in my commando togs and face. I’m afraid I’m rather more like Moie than I revealed. These people are the same people involved in the forest cutting that killed my wife.”
“I thought that was a snake.”
“Yes, well, I’m sorry to have had to dissimulate there, but a certain security was necessary, and I didn’t want to burden you with the truth. In fact, the timber companies hire thugs to clear the people from the forest before they cut, and in our case it was the Hurtado organization that was responsible. Portia had hired a village to catch specimens for her, and while she was there the place was raided by these people, or those hired by them. Everyone was killed. So, only figuratively was she killed by a snake. I’ve been working toward this evening for a number of years. I hope you’ll forgive me.”
“Cooksey, this is crazy, just you and Scotty against all those guys…”
“Scotty will not be involved. He’s been told to look after Geli. They’re in his cottage with the doors and windows locked and barred, with instructions to call the police if it goes wrong. And he has his shotgun. Meanwhile, we have to keep you safe during the coming fracas. I can shove my big cabinet in front of the entrance to this alcove. It’s not obvious that there’s another room within my office, and I doubt that anyone will come searching for you in any case. It’s Geli they want. As for your door outside-we’ll just have to rely on the lock. It’s going to be dark, of course-I intend to pull the fuses from the mains. This will favor the defender, you see.”
He rose then and left the little room, returning a moment later brandishing a large black revolver. “My trusty sidearm,” he said, showing his long teeth. “Are you comfortable? Is there anything I can get you?”
“No, I’m fine.”
He sat on the edge of the pallet. “Then I’m off. In case of the worst, there’s a packet with your name on it in the right-hand drawer of my desk. It has some letters of introduction should you wish to pursue a career in wasp entomology. You should work on your reading, of course, but there are a number of people I know who would be happy to have you in their labs. I’ve made some financial arrangements as well, so you won’t be absolutely destitute, I hope you don’t mind…”
“Cooksey…”
“No, no weepies, dear, we haven’t the time for it. And may I say what a pleasure it’s been knowing you these last months, quite the nicest thing that happened to me in a very bleak time. Oh, and you can have myWind in the Willows. ”
Before she could say a word to him he was out of the room and pushing the high cabinet into place. She lay back on her pillow, cried briefly, and then exhaustion carried her back into sleep.
El Silencio had prepared for the night’s work as best he could, given the short notice. He had located a contact of Hurtado’s, a small-time dealer who operated out of a derelict trailer park in the south county, and he had taken his men there to run through the operation. The problem was that although he knew the approximate layout of the property, he had no idea where the woman might be when they arrived. He had decided, therefore, to send teams of two to each of the two small cottages, while he and Ochoa waited at the main house. If the woman was in one of the cottages, they’d bring her out; if she was in the house, then the whole group would surround and assault it from several directions. They rehearsed these evolutions in the trailer park until El Silencio was satisfied that his people would not actually trip all over themselves during the real thing. He was not really confident, but he had little choice. Besides, he didn’t think that a woman and a couple of civilians would give them much trouble.
They arrived at two in the morning, pulling right into the driveway of the property. The gate was not locked, and the place was completely dark and quiet, the only sound being the wind in the foliage and splashing water. El Silencio recalled that there was some kind of pool. The night was clear, with a crescent moon, and with these and the sky glow from the city, there was enough light to walk without stumbling out here, although it would be quite
