Dennis Wheatley - Unholy Crusade

`Of course I do, my sweet,' he assured her.

`Then do it for my sake, if not for theirs. And I'd planned things so beautifully. About a fortnight is still needed until everything is ready for the great day. My work is finished. There is no more I can do until I bring you, as I've promised I would, to the place of Recognition.'

After several loud sniffs, she sat up and went on, `I've told my family that in a few days' time I have to make another round of school inspections. But I've a tiny villa down at Acapulco, which no one knows anything about. It has a little oratory in it and I bought it so that I could go to live there while I was doing retreats, and wouldn't have my mind disturbed. Although I'll confess that I have used it for other purposes as well. The sun and the sea in that beautiful bay are heavenly, and I had planned that we should spend ten days there. Just the two of us on a sort of honeymoon before, before…'

Again she began to cry. His heart aching, Adam let her go on until her sobbing eased; then he said gently, `Darling, I hate to put it to you so bluntly. But are you telling me that unless I agree to play the part of Quetzalcoatl there will be no honeymoon at Acapulco?'

Drying her eyes, she murmured, `I didn't mean quite that. I love you so much that I'll spend those ten days with you anyway. But they won't be the same as I'd expected them to be. All the time I will be thinking of my failure to persuade you, and how everything may go wrong because of that.'

Miserably Adam heard her out, then he said, `For your sake, sweet, I think I could face up to the primitive barbarity of these ceremonies, but there is another side to it. Whatever you may think, this is not going to be a walk over for your people. The government is not going to throw in its hand without a fight. It will have the support of the wealthy and the new, well to do middle class, who are quite certain to meet force with force, rather than see themselves robbed of their possessions. Your Indians will be armed only with old fashioned rifles, a few revolvers, knives and sabres. The other side will have tanks, machine guns and tear gas. I know you put your faith in holy banners and that sort of thing, but they are not going to prove of any value against fire power. You may be right that, in the end, you will win owing to the fanaticism of the Indians and sheer weight of numbers. But, believe me, if you do launch this crusade, thousands people are going to die in agony before it ends. And I can't bring myself to be a party to starting it.'

With a sigh, she said, `No; I understand. And I suppose you are right. There is bound to be opposition and it may not be easy to overcome. I have always believed that faith can work miracles; but several of our people have told me recently that we must be prepared to sacrifice many lives in order to win through. But must go on; we must. It's too late now to draw back. We must put our trust in God and, with or without your help, somehow destroy the tyrants.'

For a time they lay silent, then she leaned on an elbow and looked straight into his eyes again. `Darling, let's agree that you right, and that there will be terrible fighting. I'm not quite so besotted about my people as to think them saints. They have a savage streak in them that will come out when they see their friends shot down. Many of them will go berserk; give no quarter and behave with terrible brutality.

If you were paramount among them you could prevent that. As the Man God, whatever you decreed would be scrupulously obeyed. Not one of them would dare disobey your divine commends. If you decreed that there must be no burning, no looting, killing of prisoners, you could save many lives and an infinity misery. Had you thought of that?'

Adam had not. She had presented to him an entirely new aspect of the part he could play in the coming struggle; and she was obviously convinced that nothing could now stop it from taking place. Knowing that the authorities were on to it, he doubted that; but she might be right. Greatly as he sympathized with the wretched lot of the Indians, he still felt that it was up him to do what he could to prevent a revolt, and to accept the role of Quetzalcoatl could only stimulate it.

On the other hand, as Quetzalcoatl he would learn the intentions of the conspirators. He would then be in a position to pass such information to Ramon, and so give the Ministry of Security a much better chance to prevent the rebellion by arresting the leaders just before they intended to start it.

Mentally he squirmed at the thought of playing such a role. It would mean betraying in the basest manner the woman who had given him her love. He already realised that, behind her noble profile and high, narrow forehead, there lay the mind of a fanatic, and a confused mind at that. In some strange way she reconciled a fervid belief in the Roman Catholic Faith with a contemptuous disregard for its moral precepts for she had made no secret of it to Adam that from the age of seventeen she had had a succession of lovers. Again, by some inexplicable mental gymnastic, she could see nothing contrary to the principles of Christianity in permitting the Indians to couple in their thoughts their pagan gods with Christian saints, and to perform blood sacrifices in immediate succession to the celebration of the Mass. Perhaps the strangest contrast of all was that for one half of her life she was an elegant, beautifully gowned leader of Mexico's wildly extravagant young socialites who drank and danced till dawn, and for the other half she was a teacher and conscientious Inspector of Schools, working for an agnostic government that she detested. Yet all this made it no less the fact that, should he do as she wished and pass on to Ramon the knowledge of the conspiracy he gained thereby, he would be qualifying for a new nickname 'Judas' Gordon.

They were lying embraced. Suddenly he freed himself from her arms, sat up in bed and said, `Darling, I've got to think. Stay where you are. I won't be long.'

Getting out of bed, he went into the bathroom. He much preferred baths to showers, but realised that now a shower would serve him better. To start with, he turned the water on lukewarm, then he increased the cold flow until it became icy and he was shivering. Turning off the water, he stepped through into the bathroom, dried himself, then sat down on the edge of the bath and once more grappled with his problem.

If he stood aside, it seemed unlikely that the Ministry of Security would secure enough information during the next ten days to prevent an outbreak of violence. If there was an outbreak, it was absolutely certain that many innocent people would die or suffer before it could be suppressed. If he took on the role of Quetzalcoatl, there was a good chance that he could enable the Ministry to prevent a rebellion from starting. If, even so, it did occur, and the Indian masses succeeded in overwhelming the forces of the government, as the Man God his powers would be immense. He could prevent excesses during the conflict and, after it, become the Protector of the defeated. His mind was no longer clouded with doubt. However heavy the burden on his conscience of betraying Chela, his duty lay in endeavouring to save the thousands of innocent people from the blood bath of a revolution.

Returning to the bedroom, he smiled at Chela and said, `You win, darling. I'll do as you wish.'

He little knew what he was letting himself in for.

CHAPTER 11

The Stolen Honeymoon

Now that the die was cast, Adam put the future out of his mind and Chela's happiness was unalloyed. Time drifted by unnoticed as they talked, laughed and delighted in one another. It was not until they felt hungry that they looked at the time and found it to be half past eight. Rather than dress and go out or to the restaurant, they decided to dine there and studied the elaborate room menu together. Chela collected her clothes from the floor and took refuge in the bathroom, while Adam rang for the floor waiter and ordered double portions of everything; which, as he towered over the man by a head and shoulders, did not seem to surprise him.