Harlan says that Condor would have had Erwin's father killed, if cancer hadn't done the job first: “Oh yes! And maybe he would have commanded you to do it!”
“Nonsense! I am not his slave!” (Erwin tries to rise; Marchesi pushes him into the chair.)
“Stay down!”
(From upstairs, Guerrero's son Diego cries in his sleep.) “Father! Father! Help me!”
(Erwin hears it.) “Who's crying like that? The little boy?”
“Diego also had nightmares last night, probably because of you. What were you going to do to him, you bastard? What screwed up your kidnapping attempt?”
“Nothing. I changed my mind. I didn't feel like picking on a child. That's all.”
“Hmm…”
(Marchesi prepares to punch Erwin again.) “This worm is making fun of us.”
“Marchesi, enough. Let's take a break.” (Guitar music wafts downstairs.)
(Erwin) “Who's playing?”
(Harlan) “The boy's father, Ernesto Guerrero. He's playing guitar to calm his son. A cigarette, Erwin?”
(Marchesi) “If we can't beat if out of him, good manners won't work either.”
(Harlan) “We're taking a break, right?”
(Upstairs, Guerrero sings Juan Lopez's song "Onion Lullabye.") “The onion is frost, closed and poor. Frost of my days and my nights. In the cradle of hunger my child was…”
(Marchesi) “Hey! I don't believe it. This lousy bastard is crying. Are you cracking up, Rogers? Are you crying with fear?”
(Erwin) “And anger. I'm crying with anger, damn you!”
(Flashback to Erwin’s childhood, and the same song is playing on an LP in Alan Roger's home.) “Laugh, child, I'll bring you the moon…”
(Young Erwin) “This song makes me want to cry, Dad. Have I heard it before?”
(Alan Rogers) “It's a really old record. I don't know why I put it on. It was recorded by a man I knew… a friend of mine.”
“I thought a woman sang it… a blonde woman…”
“Your mamma, my little Erwin. That woman was your mamma.”
(A vision of adult Erwin confronting a literal condor in the desert. The bird assumes human form.) “Condor! Why didn't you show me my mother too? You have the power. And I've never known my mother! Why don't you answer me, Master? Maybe because I failed? But I'm giving my blood… for you!” (Condor fades away. The hill behind him has a petroglyph of a giant humanoid figure.)
(Child Erwin shows his father a photo of this same figure.) “What a strange drawing on this picture. Is it a monster?”
“It's a giant carved into a hill by men who lived many, many years ago.”
“Will you take me with you one day, papa? I want to see it too.”
(Adult Erwin is alone in a dark dreamland.) “Where are you? Where is everyone? I'm tired. I can't stand being alone anymore!”
(Erwin's vision slowly fades back in, as his interrogators discuss what he was raving about.) “A giant on a hill… no doubt about it! It's the Atacama Giant!” (An ancient artwork deep in Chile's Atacama Desert. It may have had astronomical use, like Stonehenge.)
“But it doesn't mean that the Condor Mining Company has anything to do with the Master we're looking for.”
“Kurjak is right! It's too obvious!”
(Harlan) “Masters of Darkness think differently from us, Baldwyn. However, I think your reasoning holds true, that we should visit the Condor Saltpeter Office in Desert Town near the Giant.”
(Tesla) “Hey! Our friend Erwin is waking up.”
“You're wasting your time. I will never talk! I don't know where the Condor is…”
(Harlan) “I believe you, Erwin. I believe you. But you suspect something, and your unconscious mind has made certain associations. Has anyone ever told you that when you're very tired, you talk in your sleep?”
On pages 26-28, an amphibious strike team attacks the beach house. But when they enter, it's empty.
