Dennis Wheatley - Unholy Crusade

From the time they had landed it had struck him as strange

Alberuque should not have surrounded him with more mystery brought him there perhaps in a cloak and hood and kept him in a room apart instead of allowing him to mingle freely with these other men, like an ordinary mortal. He could only suppose it to be because these people were the inner ring of conspirators, so aware that he was only a stooge who, after he had played his part, was to be dispensed with, and Alberuque became their sole master. Nevertheless, the many covert glances at him held a suggestion of awe and, as he moved from the buffet, everyone in his path made way for him deferentially. So did the officer who had been talking to Chela. He gave her the sort of nod he might have given to any Mestizo youth, bowed to Adam and walked away.

`Who do these people take you for?' Adam asked in a low voice.

`The Monsignor's secretary,' she replied.

He gave her a speculative look. `What will happen if I address the company and tell them you are a woman?'

`I… I don't know.' Her eyes widened with apprehension as she spoke. `It's certain there would be trouble. All the people here are educated men, but that does not prevent many of them from being superstitious. A lot of them would think that a woman being present could bring bad luck, so would strongly resent it.'

`I thought as much, and Alberuque would find himself with a packet of trouble on his hands for having brought you here.'

She gave a little gasp. 'No! Adam, please! I beg you not to. That would not prevent the ceremony from taking place. But think of me. The only way he could put himself right would be to sacrifice me to them say that I had only recently joined his staff and had imposed on him that he did not know I was a woman then think what would happen. They would take me for a spy and might kill me.'

Adam saw that he was stymied and gave an angry shrug. `All right. You win again. No doubt you are mighty pleased with yourself about this night's work.'

`No,' she said tearfully, `I'm not. I would have been if only you had carried out the promise you gave me in the first place, and played your part willingly. I hate your being compelled to it; but the future happiness of millions of poor people hangs on their believing that the revolution is divinely inspired. Thank goodness it will soon all be over now. We'll go back to Acapulco again then; or… or if you want me to, I'll marry you and we'll make a home together.'

At that moment Adam felt a light touch on his arm. Turning, he saw that it was Father Lopez, whom he had not seen before that evening. The priest bowed and said

`Be pleased to come with me. The Monsignor wishes to have a word with you.'

Adam looked again at Chela, and sadly shook his head. `I'm afraid things won't pan out like that. You still don't seem to realise that if this revolt once gets going it will lead to terrible times for everyone.' He was about to add, `And I'll be lucky if I'm not dead by morning.' Instead, he said, `We can only wait now and see what happens.' Then he turned away and followed Father Lopez from the room.

Alberuque had installed himself in the restaurant manager's office. An empty plate and a half empty bottle of wine on the desk showed that he had supped there alone; beside them lay his automatic. When Lopez had shown Adam into the room he withdrew, closing the door behind him.

Taking from his pocket the piece of paper on which was typed the speech, Alberuque held it out to Adam and said, `Now, Gordon, there must be no more shilly shallying. Please learn these few sentences off by heart, then repeat them to me.' `I have already refused,' Adam replied quietly. `Very well. If you continue to do so, I must make the consequences’ clear to you. You will be aware that the old gods were always propitiated by human sacrifices. It was a barbarous custom which I do not intend to reintroduce and I can make our more primitive people accept that by telling them that it would lead to intervention by the United States and a resumption of their oppression by a new influx of white foreigners. But tonight demonstration must be made.

Adam paled under his tan as he thought, `I know what is coming now. He means to bribe me into making the speech with the promise of my life; afterwards, though, the treacherous devil will kill me just the same.' Alberuque went smoothly on: `For this purpose a Chac Mool is now being laboriously carried up to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun, and, to be sacrificed upon it, I have had a dummy made. It is a very clever dummy, with a tape recorder inside it that, when started, will scream. It also contains a bladder full of blood and a sheep's heart that I can hold aloft. Of course, only my immediate followers are aware of his; but it is necessary to give the rank and file the sort of spectacle they expect. However, there is nothing to prevent my ignoring the dummy and using a human being instead.'

Passing his tongue over his dry lips, Adam said, `And you propose to use me. That's it, isn't it?'

`Oh no, my dear Gordon, you are quite wrong there,' Alberuque purred. `Had it not occurred to you that, however great a woman’s services had been to our cause, I am not the sort of sentimental fool who would ignore tradition by allowing her to accompany me here, unless I had a special use for her?'

`You fiend!' Adam roared, and raised his big hands to grab the Monsignor by the throat. But he was standing on the far side of the desk and Alberuque was too quick for him. Snatching up his pistol, he snarled:

`No heroics now; unless you want your stomach full of lead. A very painful death, I'm told.'

Breathing heavily, Adam let his muscles relax and his hands fall to his sides as Alberuque went on, `Your guess is right, my friend. Should you continue to refuse to learn your speech, I shall have to make it for you. In that case it is the beautiful body of the Senorita Chela, which I am sure you have frequently enjoyed, that will repose in the lap of Chac Mool when I wield the sacrificial knife.'

CHAPTER 18

In Desperate Straits

ADAM stared into the dead, black, pitiless eyes on the far side of the desk. His knowledge of Alberuque, as the High Priest Itzechuatl in the past, told him that this was not bluff. The tale about the dummy might be true, but Adam doubted that. It was probably no more than a concession to the canons of the present day thought up by the modern Alberuque to gloss over lightly the fact that he was still at heart Itzechuatl, the blood lusting savage who was determined to take again this opportunity to enjoy tearing out the heart of a living human being. Dummy or no dummy, for the past four days Adam had not been able to rid himself of he awful conviction that, somehow or other, at the end of the ceremony, Alberuque would so contrive matters that he, Quetzalcoatl, should supply the heart to be offered to the gods. After a silence that could be felt had lasted for some thirty seconds, Alberuque went on, `Please do not suppose that my companions would seek to prevent me from sacrificing the Senorita Chela on the lap of Chac Mool. As a woman her presence at such a ceremony is a gross sacrilege. High Priests, as you may now, have the power to “smell out”, as it is termed, evil doers and the guilty. I have only suddenly to declare myself to be perturbed, fix upon the Senorita as the cause of my fears that some influence is obstructing the objective of the ceremony, then accuse her of being a spy who has recently entered my service under false pretences. Others will seize her, strip her of her clothes and reveal, her sex. I will not have to say another word. Everyone will be howling for her death, and I shall simply accept their verdict.' This was so exactly what Chela had feared when Adam had threatened to expose her imposture that he could not doubt that was the course matters would take. To allow her to be slaughtered n front of his eyes was unthinkable. Glancing at a small clock on. bureau, he saw that it was now ten past eleven. Hunterscombe and the police might get there by a quarter to twelve. But not Before. All he could do was to pray that God would speed them on their way, and continue to play for time. Taking the piece of paper, he said