Mercury Rises by Robert Kroese Page B

losing consciousness was the guards converging on the girl.

THIRTEEN
     
    "The good news," said Maya, "is that these aren't raiders."
    "And the bad news?" asked Christine.
    "They're Tawani tribesmen," Maya replied. "They aren't known for being particularly friendly to outsiders."
    Maya greeted the men deferentially, speaking a few stilted words in the Tawani language and gesturing toward the flat tire and to Christine, who tried to appear harmless.
    There was a brief, halting exchange between Maya and the men.
    "They want us to go with them," Maya said to Christine.
    "Go with them? Where?"
    "To their camp. They think we've come to get someone they call Matu-ku-oto ."
    "Matu-ku-oto? Who is that?"
    "Dunno," said Maya. "A visitor to their camp. A white man, apparently. They seem rather anxious to get rid of him."
    "A white man named Matu-ku-oto?" asked Christine.
    "I don't think that's his actual name," replied Maya. "They have a hard time pronouncing European names. Matu-ku-oto is just what they call him. A nickname, basically. I think our best bet is just to go with it."
    "What does it mean?"
    "Matu-ku-oto? Well, my Tawani isn't very good, but I believe it means 'silver-haired stranger.'"
    Christine's heart skipped a beat. Could it be true? Had Mercury been hiding out among a primitive tribe in remote Africa? It certainly was a good hiding spot; this area had apparently been overlooked by Heaven for some time now. And the Tawani tribesmen's eagerness to get rid of Matu-ku-oto weighed in favor of the notion as well. Mercury was a bit much to take in doses of a more than a few minutes at a time. It was absurdly unlikely that Christine would have happened upon his hiding place, but she had learned to take such occurrences in stride. Evidently the Universe wanted her to find Mercury once again.
    She and Maya were escorted by the men down a narrow trail through the brush. While they traveled, Maya told her what she knew about the Tawani.
    The Tawani were a seminomadic people who lived for roughly half of the year in each of two locations, one of which was within twenty miles of Maji. The tribe would graze its cattle on a nearby plateau until the grass became sparse and then return to the bushlands some twenty miles farther north across a series of rocky hills. The Tawani were only going to be in the area for a few more days, and were hoping to ditch Matu-ku-oto as soon as possible.
    After a good half hour, they reached the Tawani camp. Several Tawani women, as dark as rubbed walnut and naked to their waists, worked outside over large earthen pots. The returning men were intercepted by three other men, whom Christine would have guessed to be tribal leaders, except that they didn't look any older than the other men. They all looked to be in their mid twenties.
    One of them mentioned the word matu-ku-oto , at which point several of the others sighed and looked wearily at each other, the way Christine's parents used to look at each other when asked about her cousin Olivia who kept trying to convert the family to Seventh Day Adventism and sell them Amway products. The men gestured toward a hut near the center of the village. Maya smiled and thanked them, and she and Christine walked to the hut.
    As they approached, a figure emerged from the hut, leaning forward to fit through the hut's small doorway. For a moment, all they could see was the top of a man's head, covered with thick, silvery-gray curls. Christine's breath caught in her throat. She had never expected to see Mercury again.
    Once outside, the man stood up straight, to his full height of maybe five feet, eight inches. Below the silver curls was a round, olive-colored face with a hooked nose and two small brown eyes. He wore a Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, and sandals.
    "Hi!" shouted the man in a small, high-pitched voice. "I'm Horace Finch. To what do I owe the pleasure?"
    Christine felt like she was going to be sick again. "Horace...Finch? The owner of the Beacon