Lizard Men of Los Angeles | Page 6

could get
down there, there was a hundred tons of rock where Mr. Shufelt had
been."
"Did Bruno go to the police?"
The girl nodded. "He says they didn't believe him. They thought it was
just a trick so they'd let Bruno and Mr. Shufelt start drilling again."

"Do you have any idea what Mr. Shufelt might have meant when he
said, 'They're alive?'"
"Bruno thought he knew. He thought--"
"Yes?"
She looked out the window, then back into Cairo's eyes. "He thought it
was the lizard men."
*
"See," Mildred explained, the words rushing out now in a torrent, "the
tunnels are all supposed to connect together in the shape of this giant
lizard. The head is up by Chinatown and the tail is down by the Central
Library. There's some kind of Indian legend about it. It was supposed to
be built by lizard people five thousand years ago."
"The lizard people are real," Cairo said. "We saw one of them at the
theater this evening, and it was one of them that attacked Rosenberg at
his house. But what was Veronica's part in all of this?"
"She was real interested in those gold tablets. See, Bruno, he was sure
there was another way into the tunnels. He was telling me about it at
the mansion, about how he had all of Mr. Shufelt's maps and everything,
and about how he thought Brother Perdurabo could help him find the
entrance. That's when Veronica made her move. I bet she convinced
Bruno she'd be better at that tantric stuff than me."
"The maps are at Galt's apartment?"
"He used to show them to me. I tell you, I don't understand half the
things he'd say to me, and those maps ain't like any maps I ever saw."
She leaned forward and said to Mrs. Lockhart, "Turn right on Grand
Avenue, and go slow. We're almost there."
Mrs. Lockhart parked the police cruiser on the nearly deserted street
and killed the lights. Downtown Los Angeles was a gray place, nothing

like the outlying cities with their palm trees and ocean views. Cairo
hunched his shoulders slightly as Mildred led them into a Spanish-style
apartment building that had seen more prosperous days. No one
answered the buzzer labeled "B. Galt," so they climbed the stairs to the
third floor, where Cairo opened the door as easily as if it hadn't been
locked.
The apartment consisted of a living room, a bedroom, and a kitchen:
red tile floors, arched doorways, white plaster walls, and ceiling fans.
The Spartan furnishings included no paintings, plants, or knickknacks.
Two glasses sat in the kitchen sink, one of them showing lipstick traces,
and a handbag lay on the rug beside the couch. Mrs. Lockhart made a
quick inspection of its contents. "It's Veronica's," she said.
A drafting table stood against the far wall of the bedroom. Cairo
shuffled through the neat stacks of paper and said, "Come look at this."
A map of downtown Los Angeles was taped to the surface of the table,
onto which three vellum overlays had been added. Several hundred
short lines crisscrossed the top layer. The second layer showed several
longer, more complex lines, one of them winding through El Pueblo de
Los Angeles State Historic Park downtown.
The third overlay contained the outlines of a lizard, resembling the Gila
monster of Arizona. Its head stretched north of Chinatown and its
straight, stubby tail terminated at the Los Angeles Central Library, only
a few blocks from where they stood.
"That's the map," Mildred said. "Crazy, ain't it?"
"The lizard I understand--more or less," Mrs. Lockhart said. "The other
two diagrams baffle me."
Cairo shook his head. "Mildred, did Bruno ever say anything that might
make sense of all this?"
She shook her head. "I don't think he understood it so much himself.
That's why he was going to Brother Perdurabo."

"We'll search all the rooms," Cairo said. "There must be something else
here to--"
At that moment the front door of the apartment flew open with a crash.
A dark figure stood in the hallway, silhouetted by the hall light.
"Bruno?" Mildred said.
The figure groaned and toppled face-first onto the floor.
*
Cairo rolled the man onto his back. He had an athletic build, short
blond hair, and wire-rimmed glasses. One lens had shattered and his
khaki work clothes were bloodied and torn. "Is this Bruno?" Cairo
asked Mildred.
Mildred nodded, wide-eyed. "Is he...?"
"Alive at the moment," Cairo said. "But not at all well."
"Lizard men..." Bruno whispered.
"Easy," Cairo warned. "We have to get you to a hospital."
"No time," Bruno whispered. "I'm...a walking dead man...have to
warn...lizard men...on the move...kill us all...take back their city..." His
eyes suddenly opened wide. "Lizard queen! Must stop...the lizard
queen!"
"Where are they?" Cairo