Within the Dead Space Page 11

  He couldn’t believe it. He was free. As he ran away from the Dublin Towers Hotel he looked back and saw that they had a gigantic spotlight on the building where he was moments before.

  Several more fire engines and police cars zipped by him as he rushed away. He searched his pockets and was relieved to find he had money and his passport. He continued down the street until he found the subway station. He had no idea where to go but boarded the first train that arrived. He remembered the movie he had seen a few days earlier and thought to himself that maybe he could go on a walkabout just like that Australian guy. He settled into a seat, pulled his shirt sleeves down as far as he could to cover his injured wrists and fell asleep.

  Chapter 37

  At the main terminal Chaco got off. He saw a sign for a train leaving in two hours for New York. He counted his money and he had enough. Chaco had heard of New York City many times and this was his chance. He bought his ticket and had ten dollars left. The train ride took about four hours.

  Now what do I do?

  Chaco wandered out onto the streets of New York City and became immediately engrossed with the gigantic skyscrapers. The endless blaring of taxi cab horns and people everywhere excited him. He walked several blocks on one street and then followed another street, keeping this up until the wee hours of the morning. Exhaustion finally overtook him and he found a quiet doorway to curl up in and fell asleep.

  ***

  In Boston the police and fire department searched for Chaco in the immediate vicinity near the Dublin Towers. At first they thought he had fallen but after a thorough search they couldn’t find any trace of him. They expanded their search outward for several blocks. Chaco had disappeared.

  Dr. Ortiz was livid. He couldn’t believe that Chaco had eluded the fire department and the police. His lucky ‘gold’ charm had disappeared. The police came to his room to talk with him and be sure that he didn’t have Chaco. Ortiz gave them the same song and dance as before and almost had a couple tears to show for his intense worry over what might have happened to Chaco.

  ***

  Back in Lima Peru, Chaco had become a folk hero. Anyone claiming to have any Inca heritage was standing tall because of all the publicity Chaco was getting. He was on TV in the morning as part of a kidnapping and by evening he had escaped by climbing down the side of a sixty story building, only to escape again into thin air. When they announced on TV that he had disappeared from Boston the people of Lima went nuts. He had become a national hero to the young people of Peru.

  ***

  In America treasure hunters searched for the gold cache near San Diego, others watched Chaco’s exploits on TV. They had become thrilled with him as well. They wanted to know more.

  ***

  Chaco spent several weeks scrounging for a piece of food here and piece of food there. Sometimes he was confronted by bums on the darkened streets looking for a few coins or to steal his sparse belongings. New York City was not quite what he had in mind when he came there. One day he was hanging around the backdoor of a Salvadorian restaurant hoping to get some scraps of food, when an older lady who worked there came out to throw away some garbage and saw him.

  “I’ve seen you around here quite a lot. You’re too young to be a bum. Why don’t you clean up and get a job?” the lady asked.

  “I’ve never had a job before.”

  “It’s about time you get one. Are you using drugs?”

  A blank looked appeared on Chaco’s face. He saw many of the bums taking pills but never thought much about it. “No, I don’t use drugs. Should I be?”

  “No you shouldn’t! You’re like a babe in the woods, aren’t you? Do you have any money?”

  “No.”

  She reached in her pocket and gave him a dollar. “I don’t have much to give. Now go down the street three blocks,” she pointed the way to go, “and you’ll see a place called the Salvation Army. Can you read?”

  “Yes.”

  “You can get a shirt and jeans there for a dollar. Then come back here and I’ll let you use our bathroom to clean up. I’m giving you a job at the restaurant. You do exactly as I say and you can make some money…..and you can get two meals to eat every day. You can call me Maria.”

  Chaco was ecstatic. He had a job and was going to make some money. He hurried down the street to the Salvation Army and quickly found some better clothes. He ran back to the restaurant and found Maria who showed him what to do and then spent the rest of the day working.

  ***

  The news during the last couple of weeks from San Diego was startling. One of the salvage ships had found the Santa Cortina exactly where Chaco said it would be. They had found several small items on the ship but no gold or silver. The Spanish had confirmed the disappearance of the Santa Cortina off the coast of Acapulco in the 1500’s. They still wouldn’t confirm what the cargo was. Behind the scenes the Spanish Embassy in Washington contacted the American Embassy and was laying the groundwork for retrieving the contents of the ship as their rightful claim.

  There had been thousands of people combing the coastline near San Diego, with no luck in finding anything of value from the ship. Most of these people quit after two weeks. However, one of the persistent treasure hunters that had remained found a gold goblet. It was confirmed that the piece was five hundred years old.

  Overnight thousands turned into tens of thousands. Mass havoc was everywhere. The police were unable to retain order and the property owners were hiring private security firms with armed guards posted on their property to keep everybody away. Curiosity was turning to absolute greed in record time.

  The Spanish came forward almost immediately and confirmed that the ship was carrying a significant amount of gold and silver and they wanted it returned intact to Spain. They owned it and it was their rightful claim to have it back.

  One of the local papers ran an editorial that partly read: Spain is demanding that their property be returned to them. The Spanish however made no comment concerning their thievery, rape and pillage of the entire Inca civilization.

  ***

  Chaco worked at the restaurant most evenings until closing. He usually left with Maria and several of the other employees. They would split up at the subway station. Chaco had nowhere to go and would just keep walking after the others had boarded their trains.

  For another week he worked at the restaurant. It wasn’t very exciting work but he was fed and he earned a little money. One evening as they were going home Maria asked him if he wanted to come home with her. She would make room in her small apartment. There were already five living at home but she would make room for him.

  Chaco didn’t have to think for even a second and said ‘yes’.

  They departed the train a few minutes later in one of the poorer parts of the city. It was an exceptionally dangerous area and Maria herded Chaco close to her the moment they got off the train. There were very few rules in this part of town but usually no one bothered an older woman.

  The apartment building was rundown and in need of major repairs but the water and electricity still worked. They climbed the stairs to the fourth floor. Several scruffy looking individuals were in the hall but paid no mind to them. The sounds of horns, the dim light in the hallway, the yells and screams from the various rooms, some ominous, others normal and carefree, a lifetime could be lived in a few minutes.

  Maria knocked on the door of apartment 433. Talking and scurrying about was heard beyond the door.

  “Who’s there?” a husky gruff voice asked.

  “It’s your mom, now open up.”

  The door swung open revealing a cramped room with a partial kitchen on one side and a large dining table. There were two sofas that filled the rest of the room with a large TV against one wall. The room was in need of painting. There were various holes in the walls revealing wiring and pipes. The sound of water dripping into a pan could be heard from the small bathroom on the right.

  Maria was excited the moment she had heard the voic
e in the room. Her son, Franco, was home at last. He had been in Afghanistan for sixteen months and she had been worried every second since he had left.

  When her other son, Eduardo, came up missing in action in Afghanistan, it had almost killed her. He hadn’t returned from a mission near the Kyber Pass. He was an army ranger and loved the military. It was his second tour. The first had been in Iraq.

  She grabbed Franco in her arms with tears pouring from her eyes. Not a word was spoken. Words weren’t necessary. Her two sons had volunteered for the military three years earlier. It was their way to climb the economic ladder. Many from their neighborhood had died and a few had escaped to a better life. The military was a gamble, but a gamble worth taking.

  “Who is this?” asked Franco.

  “He’s come to live with us. He has no home.” The way she said it allowed for no questioning of her authority. Their mother was a saint to them.

  The room was crowded and space was made for Chaco on the couch. The two small children took an immediate liking to him and followed him around every time he got up. Maria and her two daughters were all working in restaurants. The two children were Maria’s oldest daughter’s kids. Franco was still in the military and was home on leave. Chaco and six other people were sharing a four hundred square foot apartment. All of the adults were working and shared in the expenses. Chaco’s addition meant another source of income.

  Chaco didn’t sleep well the first couple of nights. Both nights he heard gun shots on the street below and violent screams coming from within the building. It didn’t take him long to adapt and in a few days was sleeping just fine.

  Franco took him under his wing and treated him as a younger brother. Worry for Eduardo permeated every moment of their lives. Having Franco living there at least temporarily gave the family a sense of safety. Chaco couldn’t imagine how they got by when Maria’s sons weren’t around.

  Chapter 38

  The next month was the best of Chaco’s life. He had a family and times were good. He hung out with Franco and they became great friends. The only downside had been the fear they all experienced about Eduardo’s safety and the coming departure of Franco. He was being deployed back to Afghanistan in a month.

  Maria couldn’t believe it. Both of her sons had already been there and one son might be dead. What more could they ask of her?

  The family was happy as long as Franco was home. The violence on the street and even in the apartment building wasn’t affecting their lives. There was enough money and they all worked together.

  A week before Franco had to report back to his unit he left for two days of training on the coast. It was when he was gone that Chaco and Maria while coming home late from work had a problem. They got off the subway and were walking the last two blocks to the apartment when out of nowhere three men stepped out from a dark alley.

  “Hey, you got a cigarette?” the brutish man snarled at them.

  Chaco was instantly alert, looking about for any type of weapon.

  Maria stuck her chin out and snarled right back at the man. “Leave us alone. We don’t have any cigarettes.”

  “You got any money?” he growled as if he was spitting the words at them. The men began to encircle them.

  “Get out of our way,” Maria came back sharply. The thugs had always before backed down by now and let her be. She and Chaco turned away from the men and retreated back the way they had come.

  In an instant their escape route was closed by the thugs and just as quickly they pulled their weapons. Two had knives and the third had a two foot crow bar.

  Chaco and Maria backed away until they reached the building wall. Chaco knew that she had almost a hundred dollars because they had been paid today. The money had to go for the rent.

  “Take her purse,” ordered the tall one.

  Maria put her purse behind her back as the man with the crow bar approached.

  “I’m going to crack your scull open old lady, so give me your purse.” He raised his arm with the crow bar in his hand.

  Chaco couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He blurted out, “You guys are pigs. The best you can do is abuse an old lady.”

  The two thugs with knives started laughing at their friend. “You need some help? Are the old lady and the kid too much for you?”

  The man with the crow bar took a quick step toward Chaco and swung at his head. Chaco was waiting. He stepped sideways avoiding the blow and then with all his strength punch-kicked the man’s knee, shattering it.

  Aughhhh, the man screamed as he tumbled to the ground. Chaco wrenched the crow bar from his hands, swirled around to confront the other two who still hadn’t grasped what was going on.

  Their grins were gone as they faced down their foe. “We’re going to carve you into pieces,” screamed one of the men. They had forgotten about Maria. They only wanted to kill Chaco.

  Chaco moved even further from the building wall drawing the men toward him and away from Maria. Their knives glistened in the moonlight as they circled like a pair of crazed hyenas preparing for the kill. Their foe was only about five feet tall which instilled even more confidence in them. They didn’t realize he was five feet tall, weighing a hundred twenty pounds and pure muscle. They haphazardly lunged at Chaco, getting closer with their knives each time.

  Chaco waited for the perfect moment and then with miraculous speed stepped toward the biggest man. The knife lunged toward his stomach. He swung the crow bar with undeniable accuracy breaking the man’s knife hand. The knife went flailing across the alley. Chaco acrobatically twisted around toward the second man and prepared for his thrust. The broken nosed man was startled and hadn’t moved. Chaco didn’t wait and went right at him swinging the crowbar in a crisscross pattern like a windmill and cut the man down. Two blows, one on the knife hand and a second across his left elbow disabled him. He went down to one knee in excruciating pain.

  The big man had retrieved his knife and started to approach Chaco again with the knife in his left hand. He stopped cold in his shoes, lowered the knife and acknowledged that the fight was over.

  Chaco swiftly moved across to Maria and escorted her away. She couldn’t believe what she had seen. “Oh my god, you’re a life saver Chaco. Are you okay?” She hugged him as if he was one of her own kids.

  Chapter 39

  Franco was shocked to learn that they had been accosted by three thugs on the way home two nights earlier. After Maria finished telling him what had happened and how Chaco had disarmed all three men, Franco confided in his mother what he had been thinking.

  “I think I know who Chaco is. Remember watching on TV a month ago the kid from Peru that was kidnapped and then disappeared from the building wall never to be seen again?”

  “You mean that could be our Chaco?”

  “Yes, I think so. My training this last couple of days dealt with climbing. One of the sergeants brought a close-up tape of this kid in Boston hanging on that building wall using only his fingertips to hold on with. There were several close-ups of his face and I would swear it is Chaco. You wouldn’t believe what he was doing on that wall. There probably isn’t another person in the world that could have done what that kid did.”

  “Here comes Chaco now.”

  “Just ask him if he is the same Chaco. He’ll tell you.”

  “Hey Franco, glad you’re home,” said Chaco as he reached out and gave him a guy handshake he had learned from him.

  “Hey Chaco, sit down. I need to ask you something.”

  “Sure.”

  “Are you the same Chaco we saw on TV a month ago?”

  Chaco gave him a blank look.

  “You know who I mean…..the one who climbed all over that building in Boston and then disappeared in the middle of the night.”

  Chaco was quiet for a minute and then said, “I hope it won’t change anything between us. I love my life with all of you. Yes, it is me.”

  “How did you learn to climb like that?” asked Franco.

  “I d
idn’t learn. I flew off a cliff on a single wing glider and crashed an hour later into a cliff. It was climb or die and luckily I learned to climb very quickly.”

  “How could you hold onto that wall in Boston? It just doesn’t seem possible.”

  “Well you start like this.” On the table were a couple of walnuts still in their shells. He picked one of them up and with the tips of his fingers crushed it to pieces.

  “Wow,” said Franco who immediately picked up the other walnut and tried to crush it. He tried as hard as he could but couldn’t even crack it. He tossed it to Chaco and said, “Let’s see you break this one.”

  Chaco caught the walnut and effortlessly crushed it.

  “I can’t believe it. I’m six three and weigh two hundred and thirty pounds without an ounce of fat and as strong as an ox, and I can’t even crack it.”

  “It’s all in the genes, my friend. My ancestors lived in the mountains at extreme elevations and we adapted to many things. Inca have gigantic lungs and we developed enormous strength in our arms and legs from running and climbing.”

  “So you say you’re an Inca? What the hell is an Inca?”

  “Don’t you know the history of South America? I’ll sum it up for you in one sentence. The Inca created an advanced civilization in the high mountains of South America and along came the disease infested, blood thirsty, greedy bastards from Spain and killed most of us. I am probably the last pure blooded Inca remaining.”

  “I like the way you explain history. It’s to the point and short winded. You’re my kind of guy,” and he gave him another one of those guy handshakes only this time he noticed the strength coming from Chaco’s hands.