A guard stood at attention as he held the office door open. Montoya entered, followed by Grisham. A figure in a red regimental jacket stood in the open balcony door with his hands behind his back. He turned as the door opened.

Montoya saw a distinguished and impressive officer. Montoya held his hand out. "Welcome to Santa Elena Major Dodd. I am pleased that you were finally able to make it. How unfortunate that you were unable to join us for breakfast."

In a heavy English accent, the Major replied in Spanish, "Thank you, Colonel Montoya. I am pleased to be here and appreciate your meeting my special requests. I apologize for turning down your offer for breakfast. I had it sent to my room at the hotel. If you don't mind, Colonel, may I ask you to please close those doors?"

Montoya turned to Grisham and signaled. Once Grisham closed the doors, the major began to pace the office. "I am looking forward to solving the problem that you wanted to retain me for."

Montoya was interrupted by a knock at the door. He turned to the door. "What is it?"

An orderly looked inside the partly-open door. "Sir, I have the Major's trunk as he requested."

Dodd walked to the door. "I hope you don't mind, Colonel, but I have taken the liberty of having my 'tools of the trade', so to speak, brought here for your examination. I should like to get down to business as soon as possible."

Montoya smiled. "Of course. Guard, bring the Major's trunk inside."

The guard opened the door and two other soldiers entered, carrying a long wooden box. Montoya pointed to the table against the wall. "Set it down over there and leave us."

Major Dodd walked alongside the box. "Be careful with that if you please." The two soldiers carefully set the box on the table and left the office. Major Dodd removed a key from his pants pocket and unlocked the box. "Would you care to have a look, Colonel?"

Montoya and Grisham stood on either side of the Major as Dodd removed the Baker rifle from its cradle and laid it on the table. Dodd opened a smaller box next to the rifle cradle and removed a scope and tall front sight inside. "This, gentlemen, is my telescopic marksman modification conversion of the standard issue1806 Baker rifle." He stopped when he heard Grisham stifle a snicker. He leaned the butt of the rifle on the table and gave Grisham a disgusted look.

Montoya shot Grisham a quelling glare. "Please excuse my Captain. I am afraid he's a born skeptic when it comes to inventions."

"That’s quite all right, Colonel. I am very used to it by now. Captain, would you be so kind as to reopen the balcony doors for me?"

Grisham opened the doors to the balcony. He returned and stood next to Montoya. Major Dodd raised the rifle to his shoulder, pointing it out the doorway over the balcony. He made a few adjustments and then stood almost completely motionless as he looked through the scope for a few seconds before cocking back the hammer.

The muscles in Dodd’s hand flexed as he began to squeeze the trigger. Grisham grabbed by Montoya by the shoulder and pulled him back as the rifle fired. Realizing that he had been too close to the gun, Montoya grabbed for his ears as the sound of the rifle report echoed off the walls and filled the room with smoke from the black powder. Montoya turned to Dodd. "You idiot! Have you gone insane? What in hell made you do that?"

Major Dodd raised his arm and pointed out the doorway. "See that building down the street with the name 'Hotel' painted on the front of it? Please examine the letter."

Coughing, Montoya waved his hands in front of him to clear the smoke as he crossed the room and stepped out onto the balcony. Two guards burst into the office as he shouted, "Grisham, bring me the telescope."

Grisham pointed to Dodd. "If he moves an inch, shoot him." Grisham retrieved the telescope and took it to Montoya. Montoya took the instrument, extended the tube and held it up to his eye. He handed it to Grisham. Grisham took the scope and looked. "There’s a bullet hole right in the middle of the letter 'O'."

Montoya walked back into the office and nodded to the guards. "Leave us, but let the door remain open until the smoke all clears out." He turned to the Major. "Very impressive, Major. That had to be at least three hundred yards away and you made the shot freestance."

Major Dodd smiled. "I make it out to be closer to three hundred and twenty five yards. Are you still a skeptic, Captain?"

Grisham shook his head. "I'm impressed."

Montoya walked over to the balcony and looked out. "Why in the world didn’t you step out onto the balcony to take your shot?"

"You shall have your answer in a few moments."

Montoya looked at Grisham who just shrugged his shoulders. A soldier rushed into the office. "Coronel, you might want to look outside."

Montoya and Grisham heard a commotion from the square and went onto the balcony. Montoya saw a number of people shouting and pointing up into the air. Then, a large shadow passed over the square and fountain. Montoya leaned over the wrought-iron railing and looked up. Montoya looked back at Dodd. "What in Hell is that thing?"

Grisham shrugged. "It's a big bird."

"A brilliant observation, Capitan!" Montoya walked over to Dodd. "It looks like a giant condor."

They watched as the bird circled and flew back over the square at about four hundred feet high. It glided through the air without flapping its wing. Grisham shook his head. "It has to have at least a thirty-foot wingspan."

As it circled for a third time, several soldiers took shots at it from the plaza square with their muskets. With a flap of its great wings, it climbed and headed into the sun to disappear completely from view.

Montoya turned. As he walked back inside, he saw that Major Dodd was pressed against the wall. "You are in some way connected to that creature." Montoya said.

"'That creature', as you call it, is a Thunderbird. And yes, I suppose you can say that I am connected to it, Colonel. The sound of the Baker always brings the big beggar around. Now you understand why I can travel only at night. Thankfully, for whatever reason, it won't attack in the dark."

"Attack? Would you care to elaborate in more detail as to just what in Hell is going on here? Grisham, help the Major to a chair "

Taking him by the arm Grisham helped Dodd over to the chair in front of the desk, "I thought the Thunderbird was just a legend."

"I believe that makes two things you don't have to be skeptical about any more." Dodd said.

Montoya sat down behind his desk. "I am all ears, Major. Would you care to explain?"

The Major rubbed his hands together. "Where to begin? After the British army rejected my idea, my son and I demonstrated my invention to every military power in Europe. Sadly, we had the same results and by then we had nearly exhausted all of our funds. The Americans were our last resort, and for a while, they showed some interest." Dodd sighed. "I am afraid all of the militaries of the world, including the Americans, think alike. If no one else has fielded it, why should we?"

"You mentioned your son. Did he return to England without you?"

Dodd looked away for a second and then back at Montoya, "No, I wish to God he had. Out of desperation, we joined up with, of all things, a circus sideshow and traveled with them doing trick-shooting exhibitions. From shooting a French general out of his saddle to shooting wooden Indians. It was very humiliating, but better than starving. After giving a demonstration somewhere on the frontier, we were approached by a wealthy rancher. He offered us a very large sum of money to remove a group of Indians that inhabited a section of land that he wanted to acquire. He told us that all we would have to do was kill the shaman and the rest of the tribe would leave on their own. Although we both felt that something was not right at all with this by the way the rancher and his men were acting, we agreed."

"I understood from our communications that you were already intending to come here. Why did you accept this offer?"

"The timing was perfect, Colonel. The circus had traveled as far West as it was going. We were planning to part company with them there anyway. They did not pay very much and the amount of money the rancher had offered us was very substantial. With it, we could afford to purchase fresh horses and better supplies for the long trip here to Nueva España."

Montoya stopped him by raising his hand. "Please, Major. You are starting to ramble. What happened?"

Dodd paused to gather his thoughts. "We found the savage exactly where the rancher said he would be, even at the exact time he said he would be there. Everything went smoothly--at first, that is. It was an easy shot; I dispatched him right in the middle of some kind of ceremony. In a few minutes, the Thunderbird appeared and it has been tracking me everywhere I have traveled to since, for the last three months."

"What about your son?"

A tear ran down the Major's face. "The Thunderbird swooped down and carried him away. That was the last time I ever saw my son."

Montoya sat back in his chair. "I am very sorry for your loss. This is all quite amazing, and from what I have seen today, obviously all true. How unfortunate you came all this way for nothing."

The Major started to stand. "I assure you, Colonel, I did not come here for nothing. I came here to do the job that you requested. I will earn the bounty money you have placed on this bandit queen of yours."

"I have only two problems with that, Major. The first is that you have already showed that you can't move about freely in the daylight and that the sound of your weapon attracts this creature. How, in all good common sense, could you possibly apply your trade? The second reason is that the Queen maybe already dead as we speak. I had arranged for her to walk into an ambush last evening. I know that she was wounded from the blood left at the scene."

Dodd smiled. "I have already heard a few things about your Queen of Swords. I believe this will make the fourth time that you have thought her to be dead, only to have her return." He stood up and walked over to his trunk. He reached inside to retrieve something. Grisham placed his hand on the pistol in his belt. Dodd turned around and showed another, much larger scope.

"I have modified my optical system a bit. What I demonstrated for you was the day version. This is a German telescope with a thirty-five millimeter lens. It was designed to view objects in low light. I have modified it to fit my rifle. I have also painted my front sight with luminous paint. My night version won't work in complete darkness, nor is it as accurate as the day version. But on a bright moonlight night it will get the job done."

Montoya stroked his goatee. "Please come and sit back down, Major. We may yet salvage this plan."

Dodd returned the scope to the trunk and walked back to his seat. "Understand Colonel Montoya, I have spent my last shilling to get here. I need this bounty money if I am ever to escape the Thunderbird. "

Montoya waited. "How do you plan to accomplish this?"

"I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way to escape it once and for all, and that is a long ocean voyage. When I finish here, I plan on sailing to the Orient. Whatever the Thunderbird may or not be, it is still made of flesh and blood. Even if it tried to follow, I doubt that even it could remain aloft for two months."

Montoya nodded. "A very logical plan, but back to the present." He turned to Grisham, "Captain, please get that large scroll of paper on the top shelf on my bookcase." Grisham got the scroll and put it on the table. Montoya stood up and unrolled the paper scroll, placing a dagger on one end and a paperweight on the other side. The Major stood up and learned over the desk to have a better look at the strange chart before him. On one side was a list of dates running the entire length top to bottom of the chart. On the other side of the map was an equally long row of numbers. Montoya had written the numbers to correspond to the dates of reports written by different officers in the garrison.The long lines that crossed the map went from the list of dates over to the list of numbers. Many of the lines intersected and crossed over each other at different locations on the map. Montoya pointed to the map. "I have burned the midnight oil on many evenings to produce what you see before you. It is a frequency of occurrence chart."

Dodd nodded. "I understand that Napoleon used such charts to plan future campaigns from the observations made of the movements and actions of his enemies in past campaigns."

Montoya noticed Grisham’s confusion. "Correct, except that my enemy is not an army but rather the Queen of Swords." He pointed to the list of numbers. "These are all of the reports written about her since her first appearance. Here are the times and dates of her sightings in proper order and in relation with the reports. "Notice how the lines cross each other."

Grisham rubbed his forehead. Dodd looked the map over. "A very interesting theory Colonel but...."

Montoya held up his hand. "More than a theory. I proved the charts accuracy last evening."

Grisham pointed to some places on the map. "These are the last three places where ambushes have been set up." Montoya nodded and pointed to three intersecting lines on the chart.

The Major sat down, "Where will she be on the night of the full moon?"

Continue to Part Four