The big guy was a beast, crashing in and tearing up the guys like a wild animal, but the smaller guy was truly unnerving. “You and the rest of the gang… you’re the local bad boys, I get that. You must have heard the stories about kids going missing, right?”

“I…”

The big man stepped over to Jesus, who had managed to make it back onto his hands and knees. The punch that the big man dropped onto the back of his head sounded like a pistol shot. Jesus dropped face down, unmoving.

“You were saying,” said the smaller man.

Carlos closed his eyes and, after crossing himself, leaned forward, his voice a whisper. “Sí, I have heard the stories. People go missing. Not very often. They say the Devil takes them.”

“Well we both know that’s a pile of shite, so what else have you heard?”

“It’s not just kids who are taken.”

“No?”

Carlos shook his head. “No. Sometimes older men and women, too. But mainly we hear about the younger ones.”

“Go on.”

“Someone sets out for school or to go to work but they never get there. It’s the same with the touristas, they head out onto the old paths and don’t come back.”

“Who do you think takes them? And don’t give me any bullshit about el Diablo.”

Carlos held his hands up in supplication. “I don’t know. I know that more than one has gone missing near the Mayan site that was found recently.”

“That’s the one north of Chacchoben?”

Carlos was about to correct his pronunciation but thought better of it. “Sí. There is a bar not unlike this one on the roadside near the ruins. The people there may know more; we don’t go there much. We don’t like each other.”

“Show me where it is on my phone.”

Carlos pointed to the map display. “I think it is around there.”

“Okay. Is this anything to do with cartels?”

Carlos rubbed his face with both hands. Talking about these things could only bring about more bad luck. The Devil, the bad places and now the cartels. All three sent shivers down Carlos’s spine. “No, I don’t think so. That is not how they work. If you are unlucky enough to be caught by the cartels you would probably end up hanging upside down from a road sign full of holes, or your head would be left out for everyone else to see. No, I do not think that this is cartel business.”

The smaller gringo sat back in his seat. “One more thing.”

“Sí?”

“Your man there.” He pointed to the unconscious Rodrigo. “When he wakes up, tell him next time someone asks a polite question, he should bloody well answer it!”

15

Her first attempt to stand up resulted in her landing in an ungainly tangle of limbs.