Merc went through the coca area, heading toward the old mine. The boundary between the coca op and the mine was heavily guarded, and not by locals but by white men. Another thing that caught Merc’s interest was the strong energetic dome over the guts of the mine, making it difficult for him to get close. He walked around the whole thing, sending info back to Liege for processing. He got a good look at each of the guards so that the team could add them to their growing body of evidence concerning the Omnis. Did these men work for the Omni World Order itself, or were they employed by a subsection of it…one run by the Legion’s enemy, Brett Flynn?
Merc tried to penetrate the minds of the guards. As regular humans, they should have been open to his reading, but he could retrieve nothing about the mine itself. That topic had somehow been blocked. Between that and the energetic shield over the mine, Merc had part of his answer: this was, in fact, an Omni operation.
It was nearing dusk when Merc returned to the tent he’d identified as the one Pablo slept in. The boys in Pablo’s sleeping group were at the mess hall. Merc sat against a tree trunk as he waited for the boy to return. He’d gone without food for close to a day now, which wasn’t much of an issue as his body was optimized for endurance. He had managed to snag several bottles of water—it was safer to drink bottled water here. He didn’t want to consume the river water. Not because he was concerned with bio-infectants—those his body could easily neutralize—but because the water was contaminated with chemicals from the coca processing and the mine itself. Neither would take him down completely, but they could slow him down while his body purged the toxins.
Pablo came around to the back of the tent after dinner. He handed Merc a plate of beans and rice. Merc ate the entire serving, then set the plate aside and focused on the boy.
“Do you ever go to the mine?” Merc asked. He got to his feet.
“Never. They shoot people poking around there. Or worse, they push them outside the camp at night for la Tunda to get.”
“How often do you hear la Tunda? Nightly?”
“No. Once or twice a week. Or when it’s summoned.”
“I’m heading back tonight.”
Pablo’s eyes widened. “You can’t. It’s too dangerous to be out at night.”
He didn’t want to downplay the boy’s fear. Merc was capable of fighting the ghouls off, but Pablo wasn’t. “When did you last hear it?”
“Last night.”
“Do they come on consecutive nights?”
“Not usually.”
“See? I’ll be fine.” Merc stood.
Pablo got up and started to unbuckle his machete sheath. “If you must go tonight, take this with you. I will get it when I go to my grandmother’s next.”
Merc stopped him. “No. I have what I need. You keep that.”
“When are you going?”
“Now.” Merc set his hand on Pablo’s shoulder. “I’m glad I saw you again.”
Pablo nodded. “Don’t go tonight.”
Merc ignored that. “I’ll find you when you’re in the village next.”
Merc made his way out of the compound, careful not to set off any of Pablo’s alarm canisters. He didn’t look back at the kid, but he felt the deepening sense of gloom the boy suffered. He wished Pablo had job opportunities other than working for the Omnis. When they discovered how smart he was, how loyal and hardworking, they’d swallow him whole.
Merc had jogged away from the camp for about a half-hour when he felt Pablo’s internal turmoil deepen. He quit running and listened to the sounds around him, fighting with himself about returning to see what had Pablo so distraught.
Damn it all, he couldn’t leave the old woman’s grandson so torn up.
Before he could change directions, he heard something running through the underbrush toward him. It was a good size, but not big enough for a ghoul. He stepped off the narrow path and camouflaged himself.
Pablo burst out of the woods. He’d been running hard and was laboring for breath. Merc allowed himself to be seen again as he reached out to grab the boy. At first, Pablo punched and kicked, then realized he wasn’t being attacked and went still. When he recognized Merc, he grabbed his shirt.
“Help! You’ve got to help us!”
“I will. What’s happening?”
“Daniela and her father, they’re out there with la Tunda! It came tonight after all. Come. Fast.”
Merc slipped into Pablo’s mind to understand more of what was happening. Daniela was one of the sex workers in the compound. Pablo was friends with her—they’d both come from Valle de Lágrimas. She was only a couple of years older. Her father had tried everything he’d known to get her back—she’d been taken against her will. Pablo had often relayed notes between them.
“Hurry, señor.”
They weren’t alone. Merc felt the ghoul’s presence before he saw it. The beast seemed to rise out of the shadows behind Pablo. The boy knew it was there. He froze, his mouth opened on a soundless gasp. Merc cast a protection over the kid and slowly pushed Pablo behind him, forcing him to a crouch.
“Cover your ears and keep your eyes shut. Don’t move from this spot.” Merc compelled the boy’s compliance as he eased his short-barreled shotgun from its holster. “You don’t need to see this. I’ll come for you when it’s safe.”
Merc ran into the woods, drawing the ghoul away from the boy. Where there was one ghoul, there were many. Rarely did the Legion encounter solo monsters. His enhanced vision let him easily navigate the dense underbrush. He jumped over fallen branches and vines, his dexterity giving him an advantage the ghoul chasing him didn’t have.
When he got to the main cluster of the monsters, he saw he was too late. Three of them were feeding off the body of the father and one was devouring the daughter. Merc thought about shooting them with his shotgun, but didn’t want to alert the rest of the compound to where he was lest the Omnis unleash more ghouls and a massacre ensued.
Instead, he drew his knives and turned to face the monster that had been chasing him. The thing charged him, clawed hands pawing the air, fangs in its long, doglike snout snapping and gnashing. Merc ducked to the left, rolled, then leapt onto the monster’s back, slicing its carotid artery. Blood pumped from the ghoul, but it was so hopped up on adrenaline that it continued its attack. Merc knew the minutes it would take for the thing to bleed out would be his last if he let up. The ghoul caught him and flipped him onto his back, then crawled over him. Merc slashed its femoral arteries, doubling its pace of blood loss, then rolled out from under it just before it collapsed.
The commotion caught the attention of the other ghouls. They looked up from their savage meal, blood and entrails dripping from their jaws. Merc compelled them to see each other as if each were him. The ghoul by the girl charged the other three, causing a fight that was fast and deadly. It was over in mere minutes.
With a wave of his hand, Merc drew the blood and debris from his fight away from his body, dispersing it into the air. He went over to check the bodies of father and daughter. The only blessing was that they were out of harm’s way now, beyond the reach of further Omni atrocities.
Merc pulled his awareness close to himself. The night had gone ungodly quiet. Even the frogs and insects held their relentless droning noise. He expanded his energy, sending it out to the bush around them, testing for the energies of more ghouls.