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The order to coet a sharp reprined Instead men with machine pistols had herded him with the others After dark they were escorted out into the night and told to stand at attention Warned they would be shot if theyto the howl of coyotes in the desert night air Until now

Blink A third figure stood in relief He wore the death's head with its staring erin

A voice cas, my brothers," it said in aristocratic Castilian Spanish

"Greetings, Lord Halcon," echoed the murmured response from unseen voices

"We knoe are here Three of our nuiven tasks to further our noble cause, and they have failed us" The voice paused "The punishment for failure is death"

Here coood life He braced hi into his body, hoping that it would be quick His feet hurt fro He was surprised by a round object that flew out of the darkness and hit the ground with a bounce Gonzalez thought the black-and-white sphere was a soccer ball until it rolled to a stop aboutlines of es of skulls

The voice again "You will be given a chance to win your lives The ball game will determine whether you live or die"

The spotlights blinked off The three figures vanished But only for a hts ca between two parallel stone walls The three costumed men had removed their masks and stood at the far end of the alley Halfway down fro carved with the face of what looked like a macaw In the se, hundreds from the sound of their voices

"The ball represents fate," booator, the jaguar, and the death's head symbolize the lords of the underworld, your opponents The rules are as they have been for two thousand years The lords will use their feet You oal will be tofield If any tea, that side wins The losers will be vanquished"

Gonzalez was duame of kickball for their lives! Gonzalez had played as a street youth and later in an organized amateur team, and he had not been bad at it He was dreadfully out of, shape fros, and worown flabby around the gut and short of wind

"You've played before?" he said out of the comer of his mouth

A little," said the assassin 'Forward"

"I was a goalie," the hovercraft operator said tentatively

"We're playing for our lives," Gonzalez warned "There will be no rules Anything goes Do you understand?"

Both men nodded