PART 12: BEGINNING OF THE ENDGAME/
THE VILLAIN REVEALED
When the commandante entered his cuartel office, he found a handsome older gentleman sitting in his chair with his feet atop Guiterrez’s desk. His unexpected visitor had lit a cigar from Havana. The cerulean blue smoke rose in short, rapid puffs from the man’s thin lips. Draped in a red French silk cape, he appeared to be just another elegantly attired caballero newly arrived from Spain or Mexico. Guiterrez thought that the gentleman made a rather dashing figure as he sat there. Having a major weakness for fine Cuban cigars, the Capitan stood there in the doorway, deeply inhaling the cigar’s intoxicating aroma.
As the two men stared at each other, the Commandante appraised the impeccably dressed caballero. Guiterrez decided the stranger was not a threat to him as he formally tipped his sombrero to the Capitan. The Commandante acknowledged the salute and impatiently waited for the gentleman to vacate his seat. More minutes passed, and still the stranger sat in the Capitan’s chair, taking long, slow drags on his huge cigar and completely ignoring the Commandante’s presence. ‘Whom does he think he is? After all, this is my office! Time to remind him of that fact.’
“Señor, I order you to remove yourself and your boots from my desk at once!”
The gaudily attired man continued to ignore him.
Guiterrez drew his sabre from his scabbard and his olive complexion darkened with anger. He stepped forward and held his blade point less than six inches from the caballero‘s chin. “Señor, I AM the Commandante of La Reina de Los Angeles, and I deserve a certain measure of respect!”
The Capitan clapped his hands twice and the wooden door of his office burst open. A pair of his large and menacing mercenaries rushed inside and stood before the seated gentleman. They looked toward the Commandante for his order.
Guiterrez smirked. “Teach this ‘caballero’ some manners, por favor! Throw him out now!”
The gentleman’s deep blue eyes hardened immediately. He raised his hands as if to return the seat to the Capitan. “Very well, Commandante of the Presidio of La Reina de Los Angles! I shall accord you all the respect to which you are absolutely entitled!”
The anonymous señor nodded to the mercenaries. “Disarm the Commandante at once!”
Capitan Guiterrez’s face fell as “his” hired men drew pistolas on him!
“Permit me to introduce myself. I am Señor D’oro. You only have about 30 seconds to live, Commandante! Drop your sabre!”
The Commandante of La Reina de Los Angeles quickly surrendered and the closest of the thugs took Guiterrez’s weapon.
“Don’t look so surprised, Capitan! Surely you did not think that you were in charge of my mining venture? Ah, señores, but he did believe that! Lo siento mucho!” Señor D’oro said when he was finally able to control his laughter.
“Sit down, now!”
Guiterrez hesitated briefly. As he sat reluctantly, the Capitan shot Señor D‘oro a venomous look.
The taller of Señor D’oro’s henchmen chuckled as he shoved the Capitan down into a chair. “Commandante, we only work and always have worked for Señor D’oro! Allow me to introduce myself...I am Roberto Lasamas, chief bodyguard to my padrone here for the past ten years!”
“My, my, Commandante, if looks could kill, then I suspect that I would have been dead ten minutes ago!” Señor D‘oro continued to wear a cold grimace that the Capitan thought was reptilian in the extreme.
”Well, Commandante Guiterrez, what say you? Will you cooperate? The sooner you decide to behave yourself, the faster we can apply our energies to the tasks at hand. You have exactly one minute to do so.” Guiterrez's ‘business partner’ said icily.
“Very well, Señor D'oro. I am nothing but your humble and willing servant!” Guiterrez bowed to his padrone. ‘I will do things your way, Señor, but not for much longer!’ He mused grimly.
“Excellente! You, Capitan Guiterrez, are a fast learner! Señor D’oro exclaimed. “Pay the good Commandante his hard earned money, Lasamas, if you please! If I were you,” Señor D’oro told his business partner, “I would trust me and do not count the coins. I have had men executed for doing much less than that. And, mi Capitan, you will pay close attention to and obey to the letter my carefully crafted plans for this evening! If you choose to do otherwise, well, I shall let my bodyguards use you for target practice!”
Then he grinned at the Capitan. It was a horrible sight, since the smile was devoid of warmth and full of malice. The Commandante thought that if Satan did exist, then he had finally met him in the form of Señor D'oro.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Zorro did not want to release La Doña Negra from his embrace. Not since his romance with Anna Maria Verdugo two years ago did he feel such happiness! ‘Is it possible that love can strike a mortal man more than once in his lifetime?’ He wondered. ‘If so, then I am the luckiest man in all of Alta California!’
The Fox removed her mask and kissed her yet again. “Carmen Alcazar Sanchez Roberto y Rodriguez de la Vega,” he murmured into her right ear while nibbling it at the same time. “Has a noble ring to it, does it not, my betrothed?“
He looked down at her and discovered “La Doña Negra’s” eyes were still closed. Zorro gently shook her. “Wake up, my sleeping princess! It is time for us to go to work against ‘El Raton!”
The magic spell was broken, albeit temporarily. The Dark Lady smiled lovingly up at him. “Now, El Zorro, where were we?” she asked.
His voice turned serious. “La Doña Negra, we must go over our defense plans now. There will be time for us later, cara. Now, remember you and your small group of vaqueros will hide in the woods behind the stable gates. Have all of the roofs been soaked with water?”
“Sí, El Zorro,” Doña Negra replied. “One of my men, Juan Ramones, is wetting down the roofs of all the hacienda‘s buildings a second time as we speak.”
“Excellente! Don Alfredo will arrive shortly with a half-dozen or so of his vaqueros.“ Catching her worried look, Zorro shook his head. “I know that is such a small number of men but it is the time of year that all of the ranchos prepare the hides for sale.”
La Doña Negra smiled wanly. “We shall have to make do with what we have.” As he continued to discuss his strategy, she fingered a rosary that she had hidden in one of her cape’s pockets.
Zorro finished loading three pairs of pistolas and refilled two powder containers. He packed two pair on a saddle sling and wore his remaining guns on a shoulder harness. “Doña Negra,” he said as he continued filling his saddlebags, “please promise me you will heed my advice in this matter, my beloved! Guiterrez’s men are as dangerous as he is!”
La Doña Negra sighed. “Sí, El Zorro!”
“Off with you, ‘Dark Lady!’ You must hurry. Remember, be careful and do not deviate from my plan. I, together with the de la Vega men and your vaqueros will stop the Commandante’s forces from stealing the cattle.”
“El Zorro?”
“Sí, Dark Lady?”
“Return to me. I need you so much! Do you swear upon the Blessed Virgin?” Her voice was filled with worry.
El Zorro mounted his horse and patted Tornado’s neck. “We promise, La Doña Negra. Hasta la vista, mi corazon!”
She tearfully watched as Zorro rode off northwest towards the de la Vega cattle pens with all of their fates in his more than capable hands. She mounted Night Shadow. ‘Come back to me, my love!’ La Doña Negra mentally willed to him before he and Tornado rode out of sight. She dug her heels into Night Shadow’s flanks and he responded as if he were lighter than air and twice as fast as Tornado. The Dark Lady stopped just at the edge of the woods behind the de la Vega’s stable gate and quickly went over Zorro’s plans to prevent Guiterrez’s thugs from destroying the hacienda with her men.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Don Alejandro eagerly grasped the long expected report from his special courier from Santa Barbara. ‘I should have investigated this matter weeks ago.‘ He thought regretfully. ‘This information should reveal who is responsible for the past six-month’s madness in our pueblo!‘ As he hurriedly read it, his face changed from thoughtful repose to intense anger and profound shock.
“MADRE DI DIOS! I knew that Capitan Guiterrez was merely the tool of brute strength in this little misadventure! Never in heaven’s name did I suspect this one to be the power behind the commandante’s machinations! So, he is Señor D’oro!”
Señor D’oro was none other than his beloved late wife’s cousin, Don Alario Estevez!
Alejandro looked carefully around him to make certain that there were no servants present and then entered the secret passage through the library. He must inform Diego and Doña Carmen about what type of twisted, insane man they were facing. He found Bernardo just standing behind the bookcase --alone.
“They have already left? Ayi ayi! I am too late to warn them about the evil person behind Los Angeles’ troubles!”
Bernardo mimed that La Doña Negra and her men were now surrounding the hacienda. ‘What is that paper, Don Alejandro?’
“Very disturbing news, Bernardo, I am afraid.” Don Alejandro showed Bernardo his agent’s report from Santa Barbara. Bernardo’ eyes widened and he became very agitated.
“Bad man!” Bernardo signed as he worriedly shook his head. Then he made a stabbing motion towards Alejandro.
“Sí, and he would not hesitate to murder me!”
Bernardo could not calm down. Now that he knew who posed the threat to his beloved family, he kept signing, “great enemy,” and “afraid for you, Diego and Doña Carmen!”
Alejandro pulled Bernardo through the passageway and into his bedroom. “Now everything will be fine, Bernardo! Yes, I know Don Alario as no other human being could ever know him. His hatred for me is boundless. Diego and Doña Carmen certainly have a most difficult job in trying to stop him. Rest assured, Bernardo, when I see him again, I shall kill him! By the Virgin, I swear that he will not succeed in eliminating me! That pero di diablo!”
Don Alejandro told Bernardo to put the report inside his right boot. “Guard that document well, Bernardo! In the event that our beloved hacienda is burned down or something happens to either Diego or myself, this document will be evidence to prosecute Don Alario. His son’s servant immediately did so. “Bueno. Furthermore, in the event that we--”
Don Alejandro halted when he saw how badly Bernardo was shaking. “Ah, you are still worried about Doña Carmen and Diego, eh? Me too, my mute friend. Come, we have things to do before meeting Señor D’oro!”
Bernardo wondered why this relative - the man was certainly everything but that-- had reentered his masters’ lives now after disappearing over 25 years ago? He tried to convey these thoughts to Don Alejandro, but Diego’s father seemed very distracted.
They returned to the library where Don Alejandro nervously paced back and forth. After a short time, he sighed and said aloud “All of this ... tragedy ...this nonsense about revenge over my failure to loan him 2,000 pesos back when Diego was born!”
Curious, Bernardo motioned to Don Alejandro that he wanted to know why Don Alario despised his masters so much.
“Back in Madrid I tried to tell my cousin by marriage that I would gladly give him the money he wanted provided the funds were not used to cover gambling debts. I soon learned from one his compadres that Don Alario owed him over 4,000 pesos.” Don Alejandro told Bernardo. “And Don Alario said that he required the money to continue operating his import business! Ha! I wish to Heaven I knew why some men become addicted to alcohol or gambling. I knew that Don Alario enjoyed gambling, but I never dreamed that he had permitted it to consume his life! Dios!“
Diego’s father sighed. “I shall not allow that cabron to defeat me as long as I have breath in my body! Then Alejandro turned to one of the library’s three safes to get his newly customized pair of Italian pistolas. He loaded them and placed them in his gun shoulder sling. ‘Come and get me, cousin -- if you dare!‘ he thought dourly.
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Señor D’oro glanced at his perfectly manicured hands and brushed away some imaginary crumbs from his silver inlaid jacket. Alario Estevez had moved his base camp to the waterfront wharf located on Don Juniper Miguel Y Arturo’s estate southeast of Los Angeles. As he sat on his rosewood chair, Guiterrez thought he resembled the Roman emperors of old. Señor D’oro was ready to dispatch his men to the de la Vega cattle pens. Now he gave orders for a pair of his most trusted men to follow those vaqueros to make certain that his instructions were executed to the letter.
“Remember, Lasamas, I want Don Alejandro taken alive. The means you employ to capture him are irrelevant. Make no mistake, señores, your heads will become quite friendly with a hangman’s noose if you disappoint me! Now wait outside for the Capitan!“
“Well, Commandante, you have not said anything since our arrival here on the beach. Come, come! You must have some queries regarding your mission tonight! Speak up!“
“Sí, Señor D’oro, I have one question. “Why do we not just take our gold and leave California now! This business with the de la Vegas is ludicrous in the extreme!” Guiterrez said nastily. Alario said nothing but raised his left hand slightly. The guard next to the Commandante struck Guiterrez in the stomach with his rifle. The Capitan went down hard to one knee, muttering curses under his breath. ‘Dios! I am glad that I did not tell him about Lancer Martinez and Pancho Gomez being missing from their posts!'
“Capitan, capitan! You displease me. However, since we are so near the fulfillment of our little business partnership, I shall be lenient with you --this last time. The punishment for this crime is forfeiture of some of your gold.” Señor D’oro reached out to the piles of moneybags on his desks and withdrew two bags. He dropped them atop a huge stack of similar bags that, he informed Guiterrez, represented his own profits from the gold mines.
Señor D’oro rose and walked up and down the length of his large tent. “You know the great men throughout history have created their own opportunities and then act upon their dreams! They permitted no one or nothing to stop them. You and I, Commandante, are exactly like those men. I see in you a kindred spirit, unchained by conventional morals and laws. Am I correct in my assumption? Are we not different and special men in that regard?”
Guiterrez, still on his knees, nodded his agreement. 'You will get no argument from me on that last point, senor.' He thought sullenly.
“Very well, Capitan. Here are your instructions. Proceed to the de la Vega hacienda with a party of twenty and burn it to the ground. Leave nothing behind! Just remember to present me with my rightful gift. I want Señor Alejandro alive and kicking! Clear, Commandante?’
Capitan Guiterrez smiled. “Of course, Señor D’oro. Everything will be done as you wish. And what if I happen upon La Doña Negra in the commission of my duty?”
His business partner chuckled excitedly. “Mi Capitan, I give her to you to do with as you please. I trust that you ah, will be ‘creative’ when you entertain the lady in question?”
Guiterrez grasped his bullwhip, which Lasamas had returned to him. “I think, Señor D’oro, that I have the most exquisite amusement in mind!”
Don Alario Estevez roared with fiendish laughter. “When I finish with Don Alejandro, I may join you in your pleasurable pursuit!”
Chapter Thirteen
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