Chapter 6: Snakes and Artifacts

There was no question in Cody's mind about 'fast and hard or slow and sane' in this instance. Based on what Cody had heard before the soldiers had been interrupted, this Captain didn't deserve the slow and sane route. That didn't mean Cody wouldn't use his extra sense to ensure the Captain was telling him the truth. The story the captain told was surprising as well as frightening, and he only tried to lie one time. When he lied, Cody immediately informed Maria of the lie and asked her to cut him someplace, but only skin deep. Maria made a skin deep cut across his lower abdomen.

"I should have cut lower," Maria acknowledged to the terrified Captain in a conversational voice, "but I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to stop at just cutting the skin," She shrugged and said, "For the next lie, I will cut lower and test my will power."

"Don't worry about it," Cody said in the same conversational tone. "The fire is hot enough and a knife is heating. If he lies again, you can use a hot knife so he doesn't bleed out.

The Captain didn't lie again and was very anxious to tell everything he knew, suspected, or believed about his organization. He was also anxious to give them names of highly placed cohorts. A funny thing happened as his story unfolded. That is, it would have been funny if the story wasn't so terrifying. He seemed to lose his fear and almost seemed to be boasting about his organization. He had been a member of the Sons of the Snake, as Cody had been calling them, since he was a teenager and knew a lot about the Order's history.

The Army of Viracocha was an offshoot of a larger organization, primarily situated in the Middle East. The Captain had heard their mother group called many things but the People of the Viper was the most common. The Captain simply called the organization as a whole, 'Viper.'

The group's primary purpose was to eliminate all sinful technology from men's lives. Viper's primary method of achieving their goal included insuring continuing world chaos. This simple action prevented technological research, limited the spread of technology, and in many cases, actually reduced the availability of technology to many of the world's population. The most surprising of the Captains revelations was the organizations broad reach and depth.

Viper had enjoyed varying degrees of success throughout its history, at least the history known by the Captain. The high points in Viper's history over the last two-thousand years was during the dark ages and the Catholic church's Inquisition. The low point in their history was from the late nineteenth century, and continued through the middle of the twentieth century. Technological innovation and discovery exploded over a hundred year period stretching from 1875 to 1975. Viper had caused two World Wars to be started to slow technological progress, but they had only spurred technological advancement. Technology exploded across the whole spectrum of the human race. Nearly every field of endeavor saw major advancements and impacted the lives of humans worldwide. Viper had regrouped during the last half of the twentieth century and focused on small, regional wars. During the last quarter of the twentieth century, the pendulum started to swing towards favoring Viper's efforts. Continual small wars in all parts of the world prevented the large budgets allocated for research as seen during the World Wars and, they created the discontent the organization needed to keep mankind in turmoil. The Catholic Church's hold on the minds of men had lessened, so Viper had turned to another religion that still had a firm grasp on its believers' minds. Radical factions of Islam became Viper's tool of choice to instill terror in mankind and drive technological advancements back, behind the curtains of obscurity.

Note 8 - from 'A View of History' - Religions had more impact in Viper's war against technological advancement than governments. Governments could control mankind's lives. Religions controlled their minds. Just a few priests, or in the case of Islam, a few mullahs, influenced and guided hundreds of thousands of believers. Religions in turn, could ultimately control governments. Both cases were demonstrated by the Catholic church from the 12th to the 14th century, and Islam in the last half of the 20th century, lasting until the Crazy Time. Neither case supported the core precepts of peace of either religion.

Regional wars across the world were not the only front on which Viper attacked, according to the good Captain. Members of Viper were in almost every government and military at some level. Every religion had members embedded within their ranks, and many civic organizations used Viper as a recruiting source. Environmental groups demanding that mankind stop using machines and 'live with nature' was a major push by Viper. They were supported by battalions of lawyers that twisted the laws of free men and used them to shackle the men and women they were meant to protect. Most of the members of governments, armies, and organizations were not members of Viper. Usually they were simply easily influenced people that willingly joined the cause without knowing the underlying goals or even the existence of Viper. Most of the leaders of the different organizations weren't members of Viper either. Usually, a member of Viper was placed in a position as a trusted advisor or a gate keeper that controlled who had access to key individuals or what information was passed in a timely manner.

Viper members that were part of official militaries in South American countries, often worked with the rebels, and the rebel groups were often completely controlled by Viper. There was a rumor within his organization, which the Captain believed, that Viper members had started the Civil War that had split the United States. The Captain didn't know if the purpose of starting the Civil War was because of the country's prolific technological research or because an American Professor had returned to Washington DC with a clue to a greater mystery. A greater mystery, which the Captain didn't know, that was so important that very high ranking members of Viper were involved. Those member's involvement were part of the reason the Captain was aware of the depth of penetration of Viper in international organizations and religions.

"Captain, what information did you want from Mrs. Holst?" Cody asked after the Captain began repeating himself.

"Her father and husband found something in the ruins," the Captain replied. "Her husband said it was a stone tablet. Her father hid it. Her father called her and told her about the tablet, and where he hid it. I ... um..." the Captain's words stumbled to a halt, realizing again how much danger he was in.

Maria gently rested the knife blade against his groin and quietly asked, "Where is my father's body?"

Cody believed her quiet tone terrified the Captain more than any threat, no matter how dire, would have.

"Sa ... Sa ... Sanchez killed him with your husband," the Captain blurted, his voice stumbling in terror. "His body is buried in the stones. Your husband's body should have been buried in the stones, too, but somehow it was thrown clear."

She applied a little more pressure to the knife and a thin line of blood trickled into the man's pubic hair as she softly asked, "And where can I find this Mendoza now?"

"I killed him," the Captain screamed in terror. "He failed. He killed your father too quickly. He didn't get the information we needed and we still didn't know where the tablet was hidden. Death is the punishment for failure, so I killed him."

Cody frowned and lightly touched Maria's arm. She looked at him questioningly and he shook his head one time, meeting her eyes before looking back at the Captain.

"If this tablet is so important, and you knew that he had called her, why are you just now trying to get the information from her?" Cody asked the Captain. "It's been five years. There had to have been other opportunities to kidnap her. Why now?"

The Captain turned his head away and Cody coldly reminded him, "I can tell when you lie to me. You don't want to lie to me."

"We knew that he had called her, but we weren't positive that he told her about the tablet," the Captain said, his tone of voice pleading for Cody to believe him. "There was already too much publicity about a famous archeologist missing. If his daughter went missing too, well, it would have been much worse. We didn't do anything until she came to Cusco and started poking around the ruins. That's when I was told the risk of exposure outweighs the risk of her finding the tablet."

"Who else knows that you have taken her for questioning?" Cody asked intently.

"No one. I didn't even tell my command," the Captain assured Cody. "We had to keep it quiet so I just used these men."

"Who told you the risk of taking her now was worth it?" Cody pressed.

"I don't know," the Captain said in a pleading whisper. "I received a telephone call from an international number. I was given the right codes to ensure authenticity. Then I was told to take her, quietly, and get the information. That's all I know! Please believe me!" he pleaded before breaking down completely and began sobbing.

Cody stood slowly and looked down at the Captain before glancing at the other three soldiers.

"Briana, Brian, flip him back over," Cody ordered briskly, his voice going winter cold again. "Make sure his hands stay behind his head and his face stays in the dirt. Carl, Amy, watch all of them. If any of them tries anything, don't hesitate to kill them."

Cody motioned to Shawn to follow him with a jerk of his head. Then he touched Maria's arm and, with his eyes, silently asked her to step away from the prisoners. The three of them walked until they were well out of hearing but could still see the little group.

"First," Cody said, looking back and forth between Shawn and Maria, "Is there anything else that I should have asked the Captain?"

Maria shook her head but Shawn said, "Professor, you asked Amy earlier if she thought that only the good guys got the good tools. It would be nice to have a definitive answer to that question."

Maria looked curiously back and forth between Cody and Shawn before asking, "What are you talking about? What do you mean by only good guys getting good tools?"

Cody grimaced but said, "Can I explain that later? It would require more time to explain than we have right now."

"Okay," Maria said slowly, with a frown.

Cody nodded his thanks to Maria and said to Shawn, "Good idea. I'll try to find out if he knows of any special abilities in Viper before we do whatever we're going to do with them. Which brings up the next question. What are we going to do with them? I don't feel comfortable just, outright killing them."

"I know what you mean," Shawn said with a grimace. "Balancing intel and safety is always a problem."

"Americans!" Maria said with a disgusted shake of her head. "You're so damn squeamish. I'll do it! I'll kill them!"

Cody shook his head with a grim smile and said, "I don't think you understand, Maria. I would kill them in a heartbeat if I thought our safety depended on it. That isn't the point. Death is final and we won't be able to get more information from them. Alive and secure, they're a source of future information. Occasional glimpses of them in public can keep the enemy guessing about them, too. The problem is keeping them secure."

"I think we need to bring Mr. Martinez into this," Shawn said thoughtfully.

"Why?" Cody asked, surprised.

"Well, first of all, we're tangling with a Peruvian Army Officer," Shawn said. "He needs to know that. I don't want to put him or his family in danger without his full knowledge. Also, if he knows what is going on, he might be willing to help us find a way to keep them secure."

"We would be taking a chance," Cody said doubtfully.

"I'm not so sure, Professor," Shawn said with a frown. "I've been eating meals with him to improve my Spanish. I don't believe we would be taking as much of a chance as you think. It's just a gut feeling I get, but I think he would be on our side."

Cody grinned and said, "You should always listen to your gut feelings. That's your sixth sense trying to talk to you." Then he sighed and nodded while saying, "Okay. Go get him and bring the vehicles up. Fill him in and see if he has any ideas."

"Will do," Shawn said before hurrying away.

Maria cleared her throat before asking, "Cody, why are you here?"

Cody tore his gaze away from watching Shawn walk towards the vehicles to look at Maria. He hesitated answering her, then sighed and shrugged.

"Let's wait until Shawn gets back," Cody advised as he turned towards his other interns and the prisoners. "It's a long story and I don't want to tell it twice. Mr. Martinez deserves to hear it, too. If he helps us with the prisoners, he needs to know why he's doing it and what the stakes are."

Cody asked a few more questions of the Captain about special abilities in the ranks of Viper. The Captain seemed secretive with his answer, though Cody was sure that he didn't lie.

"You are suggesting that we would harbor someone with forbidden skills," the Captain said, sounding offended.

It is hard to sound offended while lying face down on the ground, naked.

"What would we be if we were not true to ourselves?" the Captain asked.

"Which isn't answering the question," Cody said slowly, puzzling about what would not be a lie, but still not telling the truth. "Which means, the answer could be yes. Tell me about them. Now!"

Maria slid the back of the knife blade between the Captain's legs so he could feel the cold steel against his sack. The Captain gasped, and began talking again.