39 Not What We Expected

My first instinct was to pulse, to blast them all as hard as I could. But it seemed wrong. He was smiling and had a pleasant look on his face. I glanced over at Zeus. He was looking at me. I could tell he was thinking the same thing.

“You’ve traveled a long way to see us,” Chispa said. “So come see us. Come inside and see what we’ve built here and break bread with us. I’m sure you’re all tired, thirsty, and hungry.”

“Where’s Abigail?” I asked.

His smile didn’t dim. “She’s in the house. And, I should add, very much enjoying her visit. Come see her.”

This completely surprised me. Of course I’d considered that we were walking into a trap, but if that was the case, why hadn’t they just attacked us when we’d been completely unaware of their presence? They could have totally ambushed us.

Everyone was looking at me, waiting for my response.

“All right,” I said. “We’ll come.”

We followed Chispa and his two friends over to a stone-paved path that led to the main building.

“You said Abi’s ‘visit,’ ” Taylor said.

“Yes, her visit,” Chispa replied.

“You’re not holding her?”

“Why would you think that?”

“Usually that’s what you do with someone you kidnap.”

“In most cases you’re right,” he said. “But not this time. She’s not being held captive. It’s true, we brought her here against her will, but right now she’s deciding whether she wants to stay or not. Of course I’m doing all I can to tip the scales in our favor. You can ask her about that when you see her.”

“We’re really going to see her?” I asked.

“Of course. She’s right inside.” He stopped. “Oh, wait. That’s not quite right. I forgot she had a bad migraine and took a couple of sleeping pills and went to bed. She’s completely out. We weren’t sure what day you’d be arriving. She asked me to apologize if you came tonight. You’ll see her tomorrow.”

I wasn’t sure what to think. Our encounter couldn’t have been more different from what I had expected. I reached into my pocket and held the fish amulet.

“It would have been difficult for you to enter the compound from this side,” Chispa said as we approached the buildings. “The wall’s taller here, and there’s all that wire we put up. It’s electrified, of course, not that that would stop you.” Oddly, he said it without a bit of concern or judgment that we’d been planning on attacking them.

“Why so much wire?” Taylor asked.

“You know that American saying, ‘Good fences make good neighbors’? We have some wild neighbors—cartel members and the Shining Path guerillas. The wire is for the guerillas, mostly. As a group they stay away from us, but every now and then we find one trying to make a name for himself.”

“They attack you alone?” Nichelle asked.

“They try. Death by stupidity.”

As we got closer to the building, Tara said, “Something smells good.”

“That would be dinner. We’ve prepared a big feast for you. You must be hungry after all that driving and hiking.” He looked at her. “It’s nice to meet you, Tara.”

“How’d you know I’m Tara? Our friends can’t tell us apart.”

“If you were Taylor, you would have been the one next to Michael.”

“Of course.”

Abigail must have told him a lot about us. He turned back to me. “You didn’t run into any problems along the way, did you? We warned the guerillas that we had some friends passing through and to leave you alone.” He grinned lightly. “Not that you needed me to. You could have easily taken care of them. But I wanted to make sure they stood down. I told them they would recognize you by your green glow. That’s all I really needed to say. They’re terrified of us electrics.”

“How did you know we were coming?” I asked.

“We didn’t know, really. We assumed. Abigail told us that you would be coming for her.”

“Why didn’t she call us and tell us she’s okay?”

“That’s a good question. It’s a little complicated. We’ll talk more about that later.”

I felt as confused as I did vulnerable.

“As far as the cartel,” he continued, “everyone just takes their chances with them. We don’t have the same kind of communication with them that we do with the guerillas. We have more of an understanding. They leave us alone, and we don’t wipe them off the face of the planet.

“I think they appreciate the simplicity and clarity of our relationship. You know what I mean, Michael? It’s always good to know where we stand with someone. That’s especially true for us right now, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It is.”

“I thought you’d feel the same.” He looked the rest of our group over, then said, “This way, people. The dining room is this way.”

We entered the walled compound through a set of thick walnut-wood double doors.

Chispa said, “I’m told you know the people who originally built this building.”

“I have no idea,” I said.

“A company called Elgen. You know them?”

“Yes, I know them.”

“I figured you must, since you battled them. If you really want to get to know someone, fight them. Only then do you know how far they’re willing to go to protect themselves or hurt you.”

The entrance led into a courtyard garden, lush with bright flowers and green, healthy flora indigenous to the region. There was a three-tiered stone water fountain in the middle of the square and terra-cotta pots spilling with flowers hanging from the overhead pergola.

“This is really nice,” Taylor said.

“Thank you,” Chispa said. “I was taught by my mentor that a well-manicured garden is a sign of true sophistication,” he said. “Right this way.”

We followed him into the main house, which was surprisingly cool, considering the temperature outside. The home had large rooms and wide halls, all nicely kept as well, almost like a hotel.

I kept glancing over at Ian to see if we were walking into a trap, but he looked calm and nodded contently each time I looked at him.

“We’ll be dining in tonight,” Chispa said. “It’s a little too warm to enjoy the outdoors. I’ve already eaten, but I’d like to visit with you as you eat. We always eat buffet style, so please, help yourselves. We thought you might enjoy some Chinese food tonight. We prepared fried rice, sweet-and-sour pork, pot stickers, green beans, Mandarin beef, and a few other Asian delicacies.”

“You eat Chinese food down here?” I asked.

“We eat a very global cuisine. Japanese, Middle Eastern, American, Italian, French. We’ve never limited our palate to the local foods. We believe variety is the spice of life and follow that in our eating as well.”

“I can see why Abi likes it here,” Tara said from behind me. “Beautiful setting, good food.” She abruptly stopped. “Is that Kylee and Bryan?”

Chispa said, “Yes, it is. You’re welcome to go talk to them.”

“No, thank you,” Tara said.

“I thought you might not. Thank you for the compliment, though. Now please eat. If you imbibe, we have some good imported wines and a few from Peru as well. If you haven’t tried the Peruvian pisco, I highly recommend it.”

“What’s pisco?” Taylor asked.

“It’s a liquor made from grapes,” Chispa said.

“So, it’s wine.”

“You would think so, but no. It’s closer to whiskey. Or, more accurately, brandy. Whiskey is made from grain and aged in barrels, while pisco is made from grapes and aged in glass, so it’s sweeter. But it’s much stronger than wine,” he said, grinning wryly. “You’ll not want to drink too much.

“We don’t really do soda, but we’ve concocted our own special fruit drinks that are remarkably delicious. I insist that you try them.” He gestured toward the tables. “Please, the plates are right there. Get yourselves something to eat.”

There was a surreal quality to the moment. We had come to fight and instead were being wined and dined by our “enemy.” I was having trouble wrapping my brain around it all.

Taylor and I joined the others at the buffet tables, which weren’t too dissimilar from the ones at the nicer all-you-can-eat buffets at home.

The food looked good. I forked a piece of sweet-and-sour pork and tried it. It was as good as from any Chinese restaurant at home. As I filled my plate with food, Taylor walked over to me holding a glass with a mango-colored liquid.

“Try this. It’s one of the fruit drinks he was talking about.” She handed me the glass, and I took a sip. It had a peculiar bittersweet aftertaste and was quite delicious.

“I like that. What is it?”

“It’s like a mango-passion-fruit drink. I’ve never tasted anything like it.”

“I’ll have one too.”

We brought our plates and drinks over to the table where Chispa was.

“You got one of our passion-fruit-mango juices,” he said.

“It’s really tasty,” Taylor said. “There’s a flavor in there I can’t quite discern….”

“That’s our secret ingredient.”

“Which is?”

He grinned. “It wouldn’t be a secret if I told you.” He adjusted in his seat, as if he were in pain. “Sorry, this side doesn’t do well at night.” He took a deep breath. “Michael, we were talking earlier about the importance of knowing where we stand with someone. What could be more relevant? Here we are, and I’m guessing that you’re wondering if I’m as authentically friendly as I’m acting. Is that right?”

I nodded. “Pretty much.”

“And that leads to the next obvious question: Why would I be kind to you when I know full well that your intent was to attack our colony?”

“That’s also a good question.”

He smiled slightly. “Voltaire said, ‘Don’t judge a man by his answers. Judge him by his questions.’ So here’s my next question: Why would I pretend to be nice? We didn’t have to. We had the drop on you, as they say in the old American Westerns. Had we viewed you as an enemy, you must admit that we had the opportunity to… whatever.”

“I admit that’s true.”

“Then the only reasonable answer is, we don’t view you as our enemy. Which is the truth. We took one of your friends, and under the circumstances, we’d likely behave the exact same way you have. But at the heart of almost all conflict is misunderstanding. I hope to clarify that. We see Abigail as one of us. We see all electrics as one of us. A very special family.

“Look at Bryan and Kylee over there. They don’t look under duress, besides the fact that they constantly bicker like a couple of children.”

“You definitely know them,” I said. “But they’re not part of us.”

“You’re right,” he said. “Which only strengthens my argument. Other than being electric, they’re not like us, either. They were raised with a silver spoon, with the wealth and opulence of the Elgen. Whatever they wanted, it was given to them. I mean, who else gets a Harry Winston diamond bracelet for their tenth birthday?

“You, on the other hand, lived humbly, with a single mother who cared for you the best she could. It’s admirable, and it’s much closer to the life we have all lived. I will never like, or tolerate, Bryan’s and Kylee’s sense of entitlement. Here everyone pulls their own weight, or they go hungry. I think that maybe even Kylee and Bryan will eventually work themselves out of their disgusting mindset.”

He stopped. “I’m sorry. I talk too much. And English isn’t even my first language.”

“You speak like a college professor.”

His smile broadened. “Well, that is a compliment. I don’t know if I believe you, but I’m certainly flattered. At any rate, I can’t take credit for my eloquence. It’s not me. It’s my mentor. He took me from the streets and refined me. Like that old Broadway show My Fair Lady. He civilized me. My mentor was a man of peace and compassion and had a great love of art. He educated us better than any university in this hemisphere.

“He was also a man of philosophy. In fact, in our library we have books from all the great philosophers: Aristotle, Socrates, Kant, Locke, Nietzsche, Descartes, Epicurus, Voltaire, Rousseau, Sartre, Hegel, Camus, Bacon, Kierkegaard, Aquinas, and many more. Even the likes of Marx and Lao-tzu.”

“You have all those books?”

“In our library and in here,” he said, tapping his head. “My mentor insisted that we read them. Though, his personal favorites, the ones who most influenced his personal philosophy, were the Stoics—Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Seneca. He had a thing for Stoicism.”

“Dr. Samuel Cook,” I said.

Chispa looked surprised, which clearly was the first thing I’d been able to surprise him with. “You know of Dr. Sam?”

“A little. He sounds like a great man.”

“Thank you. It means a lot to me that you would say that. He was an American doctor who came here to help the poor. It was in his work helping the poor of the VRAEM that he discovered that our species—and by that I mean we electrics—existed.

“Our powers did not develop as early as yours. It was nearly a year after he opened his clinic that he came across one of us. At first that was just a curiosity. Until he came across another. Then another. Being a man of science, he was naturally curious.

“Since almost all of these children were street children, he took them in. He taught us to work and to think, a powerful combination. And, perhaps most of all, he treated us with love and respect. This is the foundation of who we are today.”

He grinned again. “Now back to our original conversation. If I may speculate, the big irony that you are struggling with at this moment is, if I’m genuinely so kind and civilized, then why did I kidnap one of your friends in the first place?”

“Exactly,” Taylor said. “How could you do that?”

“I understand your feeling upset, Taylor. So let me answer your question with another question. Is there ever a good reason to do a bad thing?”

I thought a moment. “I suppose.”

“Good answer,” he said, nodding approvingly. “A very good answer. In fact, it’s the right answer. And it tells me that you have a superior mind, one that is not mired in the black-and-white mindset of the simpleminded masses. Because those of us who know the world understand that the world is not a black-and-white simulation. Not even close. It is a million shades of gray. So we, the thinkers, must choose our generalities carefully.”

He leaned forward. “Now I have a few more questions for you. And this is not another detour, in case you’re worried. Is it true that you killed Dr. Hatch?”

“Yes.”

“What was that like? I mean, I was told by our aforementioned associates that Hatch was planning to eat you.”

“He was. And that was after he’d tried to feed me to rats.”

Chispa shook his head. “This Dr. Hatch sounds like a monster. And here’s a clear example of what I was talking about. He wanted to kill you, demonstratively so, but you were smarter or luckier, and you killed him first. So, does that make you a murderer?”

“No,” I said. “It makes me a defender.”

He exhaled loudly. “Sorry, I just love these philosophical questions. So, back to the question. How do I justify kidnapping an innocent person? The answer is simple. I couldn’t stand the pain anymore.”

“Pain?”

“I live in chronic pain,” he said. “Have you ever broken a bone?”

I nodded. “I broke my arm when I was seven.”

“What did it feel like?”

I remembered the moment. I had fallen off my bike, and my parents had run me to the hospital. “It was pretty bad.”

“How about you, Taylor? Ever broken a bone?”

“No. I sprained my ankle cheerleading. But my brother broke his leg playing football. The bone came out of his skin. I still remember him screaming. I had never heard him scream before.”

“After all these years both of you can still remember the pain.”

“It’s hard to forget,” I said.

“What if that pain never left you? What if you still felt it just as excruciatingly right now as you did back then?”

“I can’t imagine how bad that would be,” I answered.

“Taylor?”

“No. It would be horrible.”

“You see, I don’t have to imagine what it would be like. It’s my life. I’ve suffered from that pain every moment since that day someone ran me over with their car. It’s ironic, isn’t it? Here we are surrounded by more illicit drugs than anywhere else in the world, and nothing can help me manage such intense, constant pain. At least not effectively. Pain can drive someone mad. I’ve seen it. And I was on the verge of that.

“Then one day there was hope. Just a few weeks after Bryan and Kylee joined us, I was having an especially bad day. I was in such intense pain that I could barely breathe.

“Kylee asked what was wrong. Someone explained to her that I was in constant, severe pain. That’s when she told me that she knew of someone who could take away my pain, an electric like us.

“Right or wrong, I was desperate. Maybe if Abigail had been in a normal family situation, I wouldn’t have considered it, but she, like us, is an orphan. I hoped that if she would just give us a chance, she would love what we’ve built here.

“And she does. She loves it here. And we love that she’s here. She is a blessing not just to me but to all of us. Even the people who come into the clinic. The other day a child came in howling with pain. She had fallen against an oven and burned the skin off her arm. Abigail took away the child’s pain long enough for us to disinfect the area, remove the dead skin, and wrap her up. Without her, that child would have been even more traumatized. Abigail was so happy that she could bring relief to that child.”

“You’re saying that Abi’s happy here?” I asked.

“Implicitly. You can ask her yourself.” He looked at me carefully. “I think you don’t believe me.”

I shook my head. “I know her too well. When you kidnapped her, she would have been terrified.”

“You’re absolutely right. She was upset and combative at first. Of course she was. Like you said, she was terrified. But after a few days, once she understood why she was here and who we are, she started to feel safe. And you know how good she is at making friends. Within a couple of weeks, it was like she had always been here.

“And she loves working in the clinic. She’s much more needed here than she would be in the States, where they have all the anesthetic options available. Look, is there anything keeping her here? It’s not like she’s in a cage.”

“This whole place is a cage,” Taylor said. “It’s a walled-in compound. And she’s miles from civilization.”

“That’s completely true, Taylor. I’m sorry for the question.”

“I have another question,” I said.

“Please…”

“Do you know where Jack and the others are?”

His brow furrowed. “Jack?” he said. “You mean Abigail’s previous boyfriend Jack?”

Previous? “Yes. Where is he?”

“I have no idea. Did he come with you?”

“He came yesterday.”

“No one came here yesterday. If he had, we would have seen him. Like I said, we were expecting you. Which way did he come?”

“The same route we came.”

Chispa looked like he was thinking. “If he had come from the south, he likely would have encountered the cartel forces. They’re active down that way toward Pachi. But if they came from the north, they might have encountered the Shining Path guerillas. The rebels don’t usually come this close to us, but it’s possible.”

“Can you find out?” Taylor asked.

He nodded. “We have some communication with them. I can reach out and see if they have him. Was your friend alone?”

“No. There were three others,” I told him.

“All American?”

“No. Jack and one other are white. The other two are locals.”

“All right. I’ll do what I can. The guerillas fear us. But sometimes they lie.

“Still, we have informants. If we catch them lying, we’ll get your friend back. Like I said, the guerillas fear us.”

“Thank you. We’re worried about them,” Taylor said.

“I’m sure you are. I’ll do what I can.” He looked down. “Now finish eating. Your meal is getting cold. Would you like another one of our specialty drinks?”

Taylor smiled. “Yes, please.”

“Michael?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

He snapped his fingers, and a young Peruvian server immediately appeared. “We’d like one mango-passion-fruit drink and one The Day After cocktail.”

“Yes, sir.” He hurried off.

“The cocktail is called The Day After?”

“It’s the pisco drink I told you about. Simply delicious. You could say that it’s also a bit of a painkiller.”

A minute later the server returned with the drinks. I still had water in front of me.

“What should we toast to?” Chispa asked.

“To Abigail,” I said.

“To Abigail,” he said back. “And other painkillers.”