Down Among the Dead Men

93

Cristo drew them a map of the portion of the tunnels that lay directly beneath the La Santa Muerte compound. It was crude and done by memory, but Vargas was confident it would help them should they get lost. He didn’t want to wind up like one of the corpses the boy had found down there.

“How far is this from here?” Vargas asked.

“Four, maybe five miles.”

Close enough, Vargas thought, but such a trek might take as much as an hour and a half, so they’d have to leave soon if they wanted to get there before the ceremony began.

While Beth had stayed with the children, Vargas and Ortiz had gone back into town to pick up the Barracuda and a few supplies.

The Dia de los Muertos celebration was in full swing and many of the shops and services had been closed, but they’d managed to find what they needed: several small flashlights, a twelve-pack of mandarin Jarritos in glass bottles, two gallons of gasoline, two backpacks, and a bundle of rags.

“Leave the Tomcat,” Ortiz said, “and the pendejo ’s piece of shit. With all this weight, we’ll want to keep the hardware to a minimum.” He gestured to the gun in Vargas’s waistband. “The Glock is all you’ll need, anyway.”

Vargas nodded, then they climbed into the Barracuda and headed back to the church.

Time to get busy.

They gathered in the cave at 10:00 P.M., the supplies distributed under the light of the moon. Many of the children were asleep now, and despite the churning ocean, there was a calmness here. No fear or trepidation-at least not for Vargas. When he looked into Beth’s eyes, he knew this was the right thing to do.

Five minutes later Cristo said, “We go,” and they all flicked on their flashlights and followed him into the tunnel, leaving the sounds of the ocean behind them. When they reached the junction, Cristo took the second tunnel on the left, which then curved away toward the right and branched off again in several different directions.

Vargas was already confused and decided that Cristo must have some super sense of direction to be able to remember the correct path. The boy traveled effortlessly, without thought, as if he’d done this hundreds of times before. Which, Vargas knew, he had.

Then, about a good hour into their trek, they came to a small cave, where Cristo stopped near a pile of large fallen rocks. Gesturing for help, he began pulling the rocks away, and the others joined in until an opening in the cave wall was revealed.

The opening was large enough for Cristo to easily crawl through, but the others had to remove their backpacks and pass them to the boy before squeezing through themselves.

Once on the other side, they found another pile of rocks and stacked them up to hide the hole.

They were now inside another small cave, and Cristo pointed to a tunnel on the right.

“Through there,” he said. “We go straight for a while, then make two lefts and a right, and we are beneath La Santa Muerte’s compound.”

“And where’s the Great Chamber?” Beth asked.

“You will know as soon as we get there. Just follow the others.”

“How are we supposed to do that?” Ortiz said. “Don’t you think we’ll stick out a little?”

“People from all over the country come here for the Holy Night. Besides, we will be wearing masks, and robes.”

“I didn’t see those on the supply list.”

“They are provided for us. I will show you.”

“No, Cristo,” Beth said. “I can’t let you go any farther. I’d never forgive myself if you were hurt.”

Cristo gestured to the scars on his neck and arm. “What could they do to me that is worse than this?”

He was right, Vargas thought. Any kid who could go through what this one had and come out of it still sane was not someone you needed to be worrying about.

“They could kill you,” Beth said. “I can’t let you do it.”

“And how will you find Jennifer and the baby?”

“I’ll find them.”

“No, they keep them in a special room before the ceremony, where they prepare them for the fire. If I do not show you, it may be too late.”

“Tell me something,” Vargas said. “Why the baby? Why would they sacrifice an innocent child?”

Cristo looked at him as if this was a silly question. “It is tradition,” he said. “He is the firstborn male.”

And with this, Cristo crossed the cave and stepped into the tunnel on the right.

“Cristo, no,” Beth said.

But the boy ignored her, once again signaling for them to follow.