"Awful. They beat you up."
"The soldiers beat me up."
"They did not!" The women frowned. Some turned their backs on him. "You're bad, Barney. Bad for thinking the soldiers hurt you."
"They whipped me with the big snake. They hurt my hands," Barney said helplessly.
"That was the CIA. Not the soldiers."
Barney's eyes widened in confusion. He was sure it was the soldiers. "Maybe they were different soldiers," he offered.
"That's right," the blonde said, brightening. All the women kissed him. "Good Barney," they said.
"Yeah. Other soldiers. CIA soldiers. Bad."
"De Culo, the greatest man on earth, made them stop. Now soldiers are nice to you."
"De Culo good, CIA bad," Barney said.
"The CIA is still near," the woman whispered.
"Here? Here?"
"Yes."
"Where?" He looked anxiously around the room.
"We don't know. Tell us, Barney. Tell us where they are, so they don't come again to hurt you."
"I-I don't know. What's the answer, lady?"
"Come on. You know."
"Huh-unh." Barney shook his head vehemently.
"Maybe he's the only one," the woman said quietly to her associates. "Okay," she said louder. "Here's another word."
146
"I'm tired of this game."
"Just one more. Installation."
Barney yawned. "Installation is what daddy puts around the house to keep out the snow," he said. "Hey, when's it going to snow?"
The women ignored him, chattering among themselves.
"That's all, Barney. You've been a good boy."
"How about some ficky-fick?" , "Later, sweetheart. We have to look for CIA men, so they don't come to harm our Barney."
"CIA bad," Barney confirmed. "Ficky-fick good."
"Drink some water," the blonde said, and led the women outside.
"He doesn't know anything," the blonde later told Estomago. "You might as well kill him and get it over with."
"El Presidente wants us to go through with this."
"It's pointless."
"But it is a direct order, Gloria."
Gloria Sweeney shrugged. "Have it your way."
"My way keeps you out of working at the installation, remember," Estomago said with a threatening swagger.
"Yeah. Thanks a heap, big shot. I suppose working at that whorehouse was your idea of a great career opportunity."
"Better than being shot, like the other women. Or perhaps you would prefer their fate."
A nervous tingle shot through Gloria's spine. "Not at all, Robar, honey. You know I was just joshing. I'm grateful for everything you've dene for me." She caressed his thigh. "And I just love being sweet to you."
147
"That's enough," Estomago said, clearing his throat. "We'll save it for later."
"Anytime you say, jumbo." She left him to bathe in a stream and wash the stink of fear off her.
That night, a soldier wearing a big painted sign reading CIA hanging around his neck entered the hut to remove Barney's fingernails.
The next night, another soldier, similarly identified, came to beat him within an inch of his life.
The food stopped coming. The women stopped coming. The smiles ceased. Only the water remained. And the smoldering fire.
Bound again by abrasive rope around his wrists, Barney cried and asked for his mother.
"We hate your mother," a soldier said, and slapped him hard across the face. "This is what the CIA thinks of you and your mother. Your mother fucks gorillas."
"CIA bad, bad," Barney wailed.
"You didn't tell the good soldiers that we were here," the soldier said, "so we came to hurt you."
Barney looked from face to face around the hut. They were all in there with him, all the soldiers and women. They shook their heads sadly as the bad CIA man walked deliberately to the fire and removed the glowing poker.
"The CIA is going to hurt you now unless you tell us where the other CIA men are."