“What have you done, Captain Greene?” Yana asked, resuming her military attitude.
“Nothing, Major sir, to bother your head about.” He laid a finger alongside his nose and winked at her. But for all the amusement in his eyes, his expression told her she’d get no more out of him and to let the matter be.
She nodded. “Something which will no doubt please me in days to come?”
“I devoutly hope so, considering the effort I’ve put into it. Now, since I’ve had my bath, food, sleep, and more food, let’s load up. Nanook wants you south, he gets you south. Ah, and you’re coming along with us, are you, Nanook?” The black and white track-cat had strolled up to the copter and was peering inside it. “He doesn’t much like flying, you know,” Johnny added. “Looking won’t change the flight process, pal.”
Nanook crawled under the second row of passenger seats, tucked his tail tight against his body, and laid his head on his paws. His whole attitude was one of patient resignation to an inevitable fate.
“Well, he’s stowed. Get yourselves aboard.” Johnny gestured for Bunny and Diego to sit over Nanook, while Yana took the other front seat. Then he handed around headphones so they could all communicate during the long journey south
They knew something was wrong the moment Loncie carne to the door.
“Luzon?” Johnny asked simply, and got a stream of Andean invective that was both colorful and inventive, the gist of it being that the son of a scabrous tarantula had stolen La Pobrecita. Pointed inquiry around Sierra Padre by the entire Ondelacy/Chompas clan had brought forth the information that the vomitus spewings of an excrementdevouring long extinct reptile which would eat its own mother without shame or serious second contemplation had taken the only snocle in all of Sierra Padre, Lhasa, or any place this side of Bogota, which was, as Juanito knew, a very long journey, especially at this uncertain time of year.
“When did all this happen?” Johnny asked quickly.
“The day after you left, Juanito. I thought she would be safe playing with my own ninos! I was a fool! A fool!”
Johnny was too angry to say anything more. Mostly he was angry at himself. He should have known Luzon would stop at nothing. At least the man hadn’t hurt Loncie or one of her family in the kidnappingnot that they’d ever be able to prove it was a kidnapping. He nearly, but not quite, regretted the two days he had taken to make his private arrangements. One thing was certain: They’d have to move, and move fast, if they were to get the girl away again. This time he was leaving her nowhere near Luzon.
“Didn’t she scream? Oror anything?” Bunny asked, pushing herself out from behind Johnny’s back.
“She went willingly, from what my children know of it,” Loncie said. “She feared the man, one could see that, but he was the sort she would follow because he is what she is used to, what she has been taught to love. Well, perhaps not love, but someone who acts as she expects people to act. She cannot imagine anything else and so allows him to return her.”
“She didn’t accept it, though, did she?” Bunny demanded, not just of Loncie but of all the adults and Diego. “She ran away, didn’t she? We’ve got to help her!”
Yana put her arm reassuringly around the girl’s shoulders. “That’s what we’re here to do, Rourke. All the lady is saying is that the poor kid had been so brainwashed, she rejected happiness because the concept was so unfamiliar that it was scary.”
“Ah!” And Lonciana nodded vigorous1y. “You have said it. But, come, enter. The evening meal is prepared and you must eat. You will never find this secret place from which she comes in the darkness. Also, you must tell us all that is happening to bring such a planet-defiling dung-sucking leech as this Luzon to our world, and we must sing together.”
“Our timing’s great, kids,” Yana said, trying to inject a little bravado into the currently demoralizing state of affairs. “We may have a song or two to pass along ourselves. Was anyone from this village at Bremport?”