Chapter Twelve
by MaryAnn Beverly
Diego stepped from behind the rock, the gun he held pointed directly at
Mondego. The man froze with the knife still clutched in his hand. "If you
harm him, Señor, you will be dead before he reaches the ground."
"The pup has more of a bite than I expected," Mondego said smoothly, but his
fierce, blue eyes flashed with hate. He lowered the knife but not did
release his hold on Bernardo.
Diego heard another rustle in the brush behind him. "Call your men into the
open, Señor, or the bullet leaves the gun."
"You can't shoot us all," Mondego pointed out.
"No, but I can shoot you," Diego said calmly and raised the gun higher.
Mondego studied his opponent. The young de la Vega was full of surprises.
Mondego knew that Diego was not bluffing. "Carlos! Nando!" he called out. "Ven
ga allí. Come here."
Diego sidestepped a little so that the men could pass without coming too
near. The gun pointed at Mondego never wavered. The men shuffled past and
over to their leader.
"Do you have a proposal to end this standoff?" Mondego asked with a crooked
grin. He rolled the knife's hilt between his fingers and thumb.
"We could wait until we see who is coming up the road," Diego gestured in the
direction of the sound which was rapidly growing closer. "Whether it is the
soldiers or the Señores de Silva and Basilio, I suspect you have more to fear
than I."
"I suppose we could do that," Mondego nodded, but he eyed Diego closely. "But
I have a feeling you have something else in mind?"
Diego saw the knife twitch in Mondego's hand. "I do," Diego said quickly.
"Hide yourself and your men behind the rocks. I will deal with those who are
coming."
"Your mozo stays with me. One false word, and he is dead."
"You need not threaten me with the obvious, Señor. Quickly now; the riders
approach." Diego's face and manner remained calm, but his mind was racing.
His plan was barely formulated, and he had no time to carefully think it
through. Still, Bernardo's life depended on his ability to think on his feet.
He was determined that his friend would not die that day. He slipped the gun
back into his banda and pulled his jacket to cover it. He faced in the
direction of the soldiers who were just coming into sight.
"Don Diego!" Sergeant Garcia exclaimed as he rode up followed by two lancers.
"Are you all right? What happened?"
"Someone blocked the roadway, Sergeant," Diego made a great fuss brushing off
his dusty clothes. "Can you imagine? I was not prepared to jump, and I was
thrown from my horse!" He glared at the sergeant indignantly. "Why would
someone do such a thing?" he demanded.
"I...I don't know, Don Diego," the sergeant stammered as if he had been
accused of building the barricade himself.
"Why don't you, Sergeant?" Diego barked. "Are you the commandante of this
pueblo or not? How is it that ordinary people can be so endangered by banditos
or hooligans building barricades across public streets, and you don't know
anything about it? Where were you?"
"Why, in town with you," Garcia was growing increasingly flustered. "We will
remove the barricade right away," Garcia said and gestured for his men to get
down from their horses. This was not what Diego wanted! Not with Mondego and
his men hiding so near by.
"And kick up even more dust?" Diego brushed at his pants with great energy.
He stopped and glared at Sergeant Garcia. "Besides, this is of less concern
than the banditos who built it. Since they weren't here to rob and kill me,
the must have robbed someone else already. Why aren't you looking for them?
What if they are building a barricade on another curve of El Camino Real? Are
you going to allow the entire king's highway to become one barricade after
another, a haven for thieves and killers? Well, are you?" Diego demanded
indignantly.
"Of course not, Don Diego," Sergeant Garcia was horrified at the very idea.
"We shall look for them at once!"
"Don Diego?" Corporal Reyes spoke up. "Do you want us to find your horse
first?"
"No, no, no," Diego snapped impatiently. "Bernardo will get him. What
Bernardo can't do is catch the banditos, now can he?"
"Please, Don Diego, you are getting all excited," Sergeant Garcia protested.
"We will find the banditos. Come on, men." He was eager to get away from
Diego whom he feared was becoming hysterical.
"You'd better, Sergeant!" Diego called after them. "When I see you next, I
want to hear that they are safely locked in your cuartel cell."
Diego watched the soldiers ride away. Part of him wanted to call them back to
tell them that he needed their help. To ask them to save Bernardo's life. He
heard someone moving behind him and knew that Mondego was there.
"You missed your calling, Señor de la Vega. You should have been on the
stage." Mondego, his knife at Bernardo's throat, came around so that Diego
could see him. "If the rest of your plan is as interesting as that
performance, I can hardly wait to hear it."
"Take the knife from Bernardo's throat, and I will tell you." Diego watched
as Mondego lowered the knife slightly. He did not loosen his grip on
Bernardo.
"I heard what you said," Diego spoke. "I heard you say that you wanted my
father to bring both Zorro and a treasure to you in exchange for my life."
"That's right. I was going to write the ransom note in this one's blood,"
Mondego raised the knife again. In the daylight his blue eyes glittered as
hard as any diamond. "I still might. I have you both. What is to stop me
from killing you both right here and right now."
"Because my father does not have the means to deliver Zorro or the treasure
to you. But I do," Diego spoke hurriedly. "I will bring Zorro to you. You
can make him lead you to the treasure."
"Why would you do this?" Mondego's cold eyes narrowed.
"Besides the obvious?" Diego looked at Bernardo. "I found some of the jewels
I suppose are from this treasure you are so eager to receive. Promise me a
cut, and I will bring Zorro to you."
"Why do you care about this treasure? You are wealthy. You are a de la Vega."
"My father is wealthy," Diego corrected Mondego. "I will inherit one day, but
that day is far off. Meanwhile, my father wants me to work the rancho. I
detest it. With money from the jewels, I can take Bernardo and go back to
Spain. I can live as I choose until my father's death."
"Why don't you just kill him and be done with it?" Mondego studied Diego
shrewdly.
"Because I am a de la Vega," Diego said proudly. "Do the Mondegos kill their
own as if they were a pack of wild dogs?"
"Sometimes," Mondego smiled unpleasantly. "If they get in the way." Mondego
stared at Diego in an effort to intimidate him, but Diego returned him stare
for stare. Mondego tried to take the measure of the man. This was not the
weakling he had been lead to believe. "How do I know that you will bring
Zorro to me?"
"Because you will have custody of my mozo until I do. He is valuable to me
for many reasons. I would prefer to keep him alive. The outlaw Zorro, on the
other hand, means nothing to me. Do we have a deal?"
"Yes," Mondego said slowly, "but with certain conditions."
"What conditions?"
"You have three hours to bring this Zorro to me, or the servant dies. You
tell anyone what's going on, the servant dies. If anything makes me
suspicious or nervous about what you are doing, the servant dies. You are the
only reason he still breathes. Do not fail in this plan if you want to keep
him breathing."
"I have one condition of my own," Diego said. "No harm befalls this man
while I am gone. No hair on his head is touched. No cuts are made on his
skin. No rope burns scar his wrists."
"Or what?" Mondego taunted.
"Or else you will wish with your own last breath that you had never come to
California."
"Three hours, de la Vega." Mondego looked at the sun. "It's getting late.
You'd better be on your way."
Diego made eye contact with Bernardo. He hoped that his own attitude was
reassuring to his friend. He hated to leave Bernardo in the hands of these
men, but he had no choice. If Zorro was to ride, Diego had to be free.
Bernardo nodded with calm assurance. His trust in his master was absolute.
And even if Diego was double-crossed, Bernardo knew he would gladly die
having secured Diego's freedom.
"Here. In three hours," Diego said with finality before turning to run to the
closest horse he could find.
********************end of Part Twelve**********************
