Warren Murphy - Unite and Conquer

"I am not speaking of the accursed indios. La Ponderosa herself outnumbers us in her sheer enormidad. She crushes tanks under her stone tread. She smites helicopters from the very sky, after first shrugging off their rockets. There was no stopping her."

"I have orders to vanquish her."

"Prepare to be vanquished. Adios. "

The APC's engine roared anew. It lurched forward.

"Where do you go?" Zaragoza demanded.

"Chiapas. Perhaps Yucatan. It may be safe in Yucatan."

"This is desertion, Commander."

"The capital is a shambles, and Oaxaca is ruled by demons and indios. There is nothing to desert unless a miracle also springs out of the wounded earth."

As he watched the armored column with its demoralized crewmen rumble south to the relative safety of guerrilla-held Chiapas, Comandante Zaragoza gave fleeting thought to joining the parade of survivors.

But he was a soldier true and loyal to his nation, and he had visions of making general one day.

"Onward! " he cried. "We drive on Oaxaca. "

The column moved on, trembling because the aftershocks continued at irregular intervals.

It seemed as if the whole world had gone mad with fear and panic. It was no wonder that the old gods walked again.

Chapter 43

In a village whose name Remo couldn't begin to pronounce, they were told in no uncertain terms that Subcomandante Verapaz was marching on the city of Oaxaca.

"What's in Oaxaca?" asked Remo after Assumpta had translated the words for them.

Assumpta answered the question in Spanish. "La Monstruosa."

"What monster?" Chiun asked sharply.

"The monster that has escaped the capital. It is being said the upheaval has opened a pit and unleashed her from the fires below."

"Her?" said Remo.

"Si. The monster is female."

Remo looked at Chiun, and the Master of Sinanju looked back.

"You don't think..." Remo started to say.

"It cannot be."

"What's the monster's name?" Remo asked Assumpta.

Back came the response, which needed no translation. "Coatlicue."

"Why would Verapaz go to fight a monster?" said Remo because he didn't want to follow the conversation to its logical conclusion.

"Because he is believed to be Lord Kukulcan and Lord Kukulcan is the mortal enemy of Coatlicue."

From a cantina, a frightened voice called out.

"He is saying that the monster has conquered Oaxaca itself," Assumpta explained. "The army has fled before her."

More rapid words came.

"But the monster has remained stopped for several hours now. She is not leaving. Chiapas may be safe."

"How does he know this?" asked Chiun.

"He watches it in the television, as does all of Mexico."

Remo said, "Come on, Little Father. Let's check this out."

They entered the cantina.

It was just like the restaurant in the last town they had visited, down to the semicircle of men in white Texas hats huddled around a flickering TV set. Except this set was in color.

On the screen stood the Coatlicue monster, immobile, armored like a steely beetle, as all around Indians danced and feasted.

"What are they eating?" Remo asked, noticing all the blood.

"Men. They are eating men," said Chiun.

"How long has this been going on?" Remo asked no one in particular.

"Since last afternoon," Assumpta told him.

Remo drew Chiun aside and lowered his voice. "This is either the longest monster movie ever made or we've got a serious problem here, Little Father."

Chiun's eyes squeezed down to glittering slits.

"It is Gordons."

"Who?" asked Winston Smith.

"Stay out of this!" snapped Remo.

"Up yours. Who do you think you are, my father?"

Remo opened his mouth to shoot back a retort. A flicker of strangeness crossed his face. He shut it.

"If that's Gordons, how'd he get so big?" Remo wondered.

"I will ask," said Assumpta.

Before Remo could say Don't waste your time, she did and received a short reply from a TV watcher.

"I am told the Coatlicue monster has been eating people since it marched from the capital to Oaxaca. As she ate, she grew."

"Can Gordons do that?" Remo asked.

Chiun regarded the screen, stony of face. "He has. That is plain to see."

"There is a phone around here?" Remo asked.

Someone pointed to an old wooden booth like the one Clark Kent favored very early in his career. It said TELEPHONO in faded black letters.

Remo tried getting a connection to the States and was told the cost would be four thousand dollars.

"Mexican or American?" he asked.

"American. Dollars are American. Mexican dollars are pesos, senor."

"That's highway robbery!" he exploded.

And the operator hung up.

Wearily Remo got a new operator and, when told the price had gone up to five thousand dollars American, read off his Discover card account number without complaint.

Once he had the connection to the States, he dialed Harold Smith by sticking his finger in the 1 hole and spinning the old-fashioned rotary dial over and over, hoping it would work.

It did. Harold Smith's lemony voice came on the line.

"Smith, what are you hearing out of Mexico?"

"It is a catastrophe."

"More than you think. What do you hear about a monster running amok in Oaxaca?"

"Nothing."

"Well, it's all over Mexican TV down here. And it looks like Mr. Gordons."

"What!"

"He's thirty feet tall this time, Smith. You really screwed up, you know that?"

"Gordons was deactivated. You assured me of that."

"Yeah. But we wanted to crush him to powder just to make sure."

"That was not practicable. The Coatlicue idol had been restored to the museum, inert and harmless. It was a Mexican national treasure. And your mission was accomplished."

"You could have let us finish the damn job."

"You said it was finished," Smith said hotly.

"Enough!" cried Chiun, slapping his long-nailed hands together.

Taking the phone from a startled Remo, the Master of Sinanju spoke into the receiver. "O Emperor, let us not revisit past errors. Instruct us. The rebel Verapaz has thus far eluded us, but we persevere. This new problem also calls our name. What is your wish?"

"Destroy them both. I want this mission completed by sundown, if possible."

"It shall be as you wish."

"Do what you have to," Smith said testily.

And Chiun hung up.

"Who were you talking to?" Winston asked when they rejoined them. Assumpta was at the door watching for soldiers.

"Never mind," said Remo.

"It wasn't my Uncle Harold, was it? Did he ask about me?"

"Your name didn't come up, and it was a private conversation."

"Fine. Take a hike. Assumpta and I will handle ourselves from here on. You don't need me. I won't need you."

"We're going to Oaxaca," said Remo.

"And I'm going to hook up with Subcomandante Verapaz."

"I mean all of us."

Winston whipped up his Hellfire supermachine pistol and pointed it in Remo's face. "This baby here says I go my way."

Remo looked at the weapon that seemed to point in every direction except back at its owner. "That thing still voice activated?"

"Get real. I took all that crap out."

"So if I take it away from you, I can shoot you with it if I want to?"

"Nice try. But I can still disable it with a voice command."

"That right?"

"Yeah. That's right. You make a play for it and all I have to say is 'Disengage.'"

"Disengage," the gun said in a mechanical voice, going dead.

"Damn you!" Winston snapped, reaching for a side-mounted button. The barrel lit up, and he trained it on Remo's face.

"Too slow," Winston said.

"Guess so," said Remo.

And while Winston Smith was grinning, Remo coolly said, "Disengage."

"Disengage," the gun repeated obligingly, and then shut down.