“What are you talking about?”
“We’re going to light a fire,” he said. “The biggest fire Ons has ever seen, something they can’t help but see from the mainland.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Very simple.” He stopped and grinned at her. “We’re going to set fire to this damn village.”
43
The Fire
“Burn the village? Our village? Have you lost your mind?”
“Far from it,” Roberto said, setting off once more. “The moment people on the mainland see the smoke plume, all kinds of alarms will be activated. We’re in a national park here—there are protocols for such cases. When they try to contact the island and get no response, they’ll have no choice but to send someone over.”
“The estuary’s still bad. After a storm, the swell is incredibly strong for days ...”
“Sure.” Roberto glanced down toward the dock. “But the wind’s almost completely died. There’s nothing to stop them from sending a helicopter.”
“The heliport next to the lighthouse!” She opened her eyes wide. “Of course!”
“Now,” he said, smiling wryly, “if you happened to be an arsonist, where do you think you’d choose to start a fire?”
Antía thought for a moment. She scanned the buildings, and her eyes came to rest on one in particular.
“There.” She pointed to one adjacent to the dock. “The Docampo restaurant. It’s got propane bottles for the kitchen and its own generator connected to a fuel tank. It’s also full of wooden chairs and tables ...”
“Okay, a Docampo property! And there I was thinking the war between the two clans might be over ...”
“Once a Freire, always a Freire ...” Antía shrugged. “And it would make one hell of a blaze.”
Roberto leaned against a wall and watched as Antía and Diego went down and climbed into the restaurant through a broken window. He heard them rooting around and furniture being moved, and after a short while saw them clambering back out at top speed. At their backs, an orange glow indicated that the fire was gathering strength. A smell of burning reached their nostrils at the same instant as the first wisps of gray smoke began appearing through the gaps in the restaurant’s front.
“We’d better get out of here,” said Antía, an excited gleam in her eye. “When the fire reaches the gas bottles, it’ll blow sky high.”
“Boom!” added Diego, skipping around in excitement.
For him, it had all become a thrilling adventure again. Roberto envied the boy’s ability to simply put traumatic moments out of his mind. With Diego, nothing existed but the present moment.
“Well, there’s your smoke signal.” Antía gestured to the restaurant. “Now what?”
“We go get the money, of course,” said Roberto matter-of-factly.
“What do you want that damn money for?” She frowned. “It’s been nothing but trouble.”
“I need it for the next part of my plan.” At that moment, a pair of windows on the top floor of the restaurant burst, sending a shower of glass flying. “And I think I know who has it. Let’s get going.”
They had gone a few hundred yards when there was a colossal explosion. They turned around in time to see an immense fireball going up from what had been Luis Docampo’s business. A shower of debris, shattered tiles, and bricks flew in all directions, falling mostly into the sea and fortunately well short of their position.
“Whoa!” Antía said. “They must have heard that across the estuary!”
“I hope so. But we’ve also given the whole island a pretty clear sign that the clock is ticking.” Roberto looked at his watch and frowned. “This is busted. Do you have the time?”
“Almost half past nine,” she said.
“Okay. I reckon the cavalry will be here in an hour or two. Come on.”
“Want to tell me where we’re going?”
