The Lord of Opium(130)

“You’re lying. You lured her through, and now she’s dead,” said Esperanza.

“No!” Matt cried. “She dressed herself in a UN peacekeeper’s hazard gear. She almost died from lack of air, but she recovered and has no permanent damage. I’ll bring her. You’ll see.”

He turned to call a paisano, but Esperanza impatiently waved the man away. “This is extremely interesting. A person went through a wormhole and survived. Don’t you see the military importance of such a discovery?”

It wasn’t just a person, Matt thought. It was your daughter. As before, he was amazed at how coolly she received bad news. Her husband and older daughter had died at El Patrón’s funeral, and Esperanza’s only reaction had been, That certainly makes things awkward.

“With the right gear and a supply of oxygen, I could transport a soldier anywhere in the world,” said Esperanza. “I’ll have to find out how long it takes to cross a wormhole.”

“If you’re thinking of sending peacekeepers here, think again. Armies can go both ways,” Matt said, with what he hoped was El Patrón’s menace.

“It won’t be necessary,” said Esperanza, brushing off his threat. “Some very unusual things have been happening. The Scorpion Star, that monstrosity El Patrón planted in the southern sky, fell out of orbit and burned. And the eejits under Glass Eye Dabengwa’s control went rogue and wiped out his army. Reports are that he’s missing.”

“He’s dead,” Matt said. He filled her in on all that had happened. “Those eejits aren’t rogue, they’re awake, and so are the ones in Opium. The Scorpion Star was controlling their brains, and I destroyed it.” He waited to see whether she would congratulate him. She didn’t. “Most of the ex-eejits want to go home, but the countries they came from won’t take them back.”

“I’ll organize a committee to study the situation,” said Esperanza.

“Oh, no you won’t. A committee would string things out for years. I want you to lean on those governments until they back down. Otherwise, I won’t send you any more bunny rabbits and squirrels.” The woman frowned, ready to do battle, but Matt added, “You’ll never believe what we discovered near Tucson. Lions and tigers from a zoo that went wild during the drug wars.”

Esperanza was so startled she forgot to scowl. She clasped her heavily ringed hands until they looked like a ball of silver and turquoise gems. “Lions? They survived in the desert?”

“Tucson isn’t quite a desert anymore,” said Matt. “It’s hot, but lions are used to heat. I also discovered a jungle with monkeys and toucans and crocodiles. And there’s a biosphere with ecosystems from every part of the Earth. Think about it, Esperanza. Opium holds the seeds of recovery for the entire planet. The scientists in the biosphere have also found a way to clean up polluted soil.”

She was stunned. She opened her mouth and no sound came out. As Cienfuegos had suggested, keeping the lions secret had been a good idea.

“I can’t believe it,” she murmured at last.

“Believe it. I’ll send you pictures.”

“We built a park near the ruins of Tijuana for the samples you sent,” she said. Her expression had changed completely. She was no longer harsh and uncompromising. She looked twenty years younger. “It’s a very small place, but we planned to expand it slowly. If there’s a way to recover polluted soil . . . ”

“There is. Do we have a basis for negotiation?” asked Matt.

“Oh, yes. Yes.” Esperanza’s face was radiant with joy. It almost made the commander of the UN forces likable. But when they had finished their conversation and Matt had shut down the portal, he remembered.

Esperanza had entirely forgotten about María.

* * *

Most of the Farm Patrolmen stayed because they had prices on their heads in other lands. Samson and Boris opted to stay as well. Cienfuegos recovered slowly. Once Matt found him weeping, and he turned away quickly to hide it. “I remember too much,” he explained. “But don’t worry, Don Sombra. People like me have an infinite ability to forgive themselves.”

Matt offered to help find his family in Aztlán, but he shook his head. “My daughter was ten when I left her, and now she’d be almost thirty. She’ll have married and forgotten about me. As for my wife, she’ll definitely have remarried. It would be amusing to walk in on her and her new husband, but I’ve lost my taste for blood sports.”

With Matt’s help, Cienfuegos sent samples of the fungi used by the Mushroom Master to his old university. “What I would most like is to grow something here that isn’t narcotics,” the jefe said. “It would be wonderful to produce life instead of taking it.” Matt promised that he could do whatever he liked. “Of course, if you need me to kick butt with the Farm Patrol, I’d be willing to help,” Cienfuegos said, with a flash of his old spirit.