Disclaimer: No copyright infringement meant with story. Characters owned by ZPI, not by me. I only wish to borrow them for a little while.
AN: The reaction for the last chapter was great! Also thanks to all the readers out there who didn't leave a review (But oh, how I wish you would!) and also to Dapet, guest reviewer. As always, I appreciate your review and reading. And to the other guest reviewer, thanks of reading and enjoying this.
Previously:
A yawn suddenly surprised Victoria. "I guess I'm more tired than I thought."
"Well, I suppose you didn't get much sleep last night," Diego said. "Why don't we lie down and see if we can get some rest. Then when we wake up we'll be one day closer to going home."
Victoria agreed and they returned to their respective cots.
A silence fell over the jail cells. Diego attempted to rest, but his mind was too active, bouncing from one topic to another. Worry about Victoria, concern about their situation, wondering what his father was thinking about this entire situation, were all fighting for prevalence in his thinking. He was about to fall asleep when he heard loud noises and cheers. Rising, he went to the small window in his cell. Looking out, he realized what he was looking at was what appeared to be a lynch mob.
Diego's first thought was whether the mob had anything to do with him and Victoria. The second thought was concern that he didn't hear any movement from the Commandante's office outside the jail door.
Diego began to bang on the bars with the water cup, which was left from supper, and to call out for the deputy. Victoria sleepily arose and asked what was happening. Diego didn't want to alarm her but knew it was pointless to lie to her, so he told her there was a crowd gathering outside which made him concerned. His heart lurched at how beautiful she looked, with her hair tousled from sleep, but he pushed such thoughts aside before he'd be distracted.
Finally the deputy opened the door. "What's going on here?" He appeared to Diego to be half-asleep, tousled hair and wrinkled clothes.
"There's a noisy mob gathering outside, across the courtyard. I'm quite concerned about what's happening out there."
The deputy rubbed his eyes. "Why would you be concerned?"
"Well, has anything like that ever happened here before?"
The deputy ingeniously said, "Only when there's going to be a lynching."
"A lynching?" Victoria exclaimed. "Who would they be lynching?"
"I suppose the two of you."
"And why would they be doing that?" Diego asked, biting back his anger but not surprised by the answer.
"Because in the robbery you two killed two men belonging to this here town."
Diego barely swallowed his temper. His tone was low and deep, and if he'd been thinking, he'd be concerned it sounded a lot like Zorro's. "If that were the case, why didn't the Commandante make provisions to have more men on guard then? He should've prepared for that contingency."
The man slowly shrugged. "I don't know. You could ask him, but he's not here."
"Don't you think you should go wake him up? He might not only have a lynching but a mob riot on his hands, which could endanger the entire town."
The man left, taking his time. Diego prayed he was actually going to get the Commandante and not leaving to protect his own skin. He quickly reviewed the area for anything which could possibly be used as a weapon but unfortunately there wasn't. Considering how lax this office appeared to be run, just his luck there wasn't anything of use within his reach to help their escape.
If only he could've knocked out the guard, taken a set of keys and gotten them both out of the jail. However, since Diego wasn't sure the deputy had a set of keys on him, that plan might not have worked. The way this trip was going, Diego thought wryly, it would've been his luck. They stood a better chance if the Commandante arrived in time to protect them from harm.
Victoria's voice broke through his thoughts. "Do you think we're really in danger, Diego?" She was standing next to the bars with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders.
Diego contemplated lying to her but decided again it wouldn't work. "I hope not, Victoria. Hopefully the Commandante can stop anything before it happens."
They were interrupted by the sound of the door being broken down and a dozen men rushing into the back room.
Holding their guns on Victoria and Diego, the man in front of them demanded, "Where's the deputy?"
Diego stood at his full height and again spoke in Zorro's authoritative tone. "He's gone to get the Commandante. You should leave before you are all arrested."
The man looked back at the men behind him. "The bandido thinks we should leave. Men, do you think that's a good idea?"
A loud roar rose from the crowd. The man turned back towards Diego. "That would be a 'no', Senor. We're looking forward to a good lynching for the lives you and the missus took from us." The man left the room and returned with a set of keys. "So glad the Commandante keeps a second set of keys in the desk." He used one of the keys to unlock first Victoria's then Diego's cells.
"But we're innocent! We didn't do anything, much less murder anyone!" Victoria protested as angry hands grabbed her and Diego and brought them outside.
Diego struggled against the three men holding him, but he was unable to get loose long enough to fight the men before his arms were tied behind his back. He and Victoria found themselves dragged towards the middle of the town, where there were several trees together. They watched in silence as a man brought two stools and placed them below a sturdy branch of one of the trees. Two other men threw ropes over the branch.
"What do you think you're doing here?" Diego demanded in his commanding tone as the men tied nooses at one end of each rope.
"Why, lynch us some murderers, what else? We don't need no judge to tell us y'all is guilty," one of the men cried out.
"But, but what about Senor Torres? I would think he'd have something to say about this," Victoria shouted in order to be heard. "He'd certainly object to this."
"He had quite the unpleasant argument with a gun handle," another man answered him. "He's sleeping it off in his motel room."
"Diego! Do something!" Victoria cried out as they were brought towards the hanging nooses.
"I'm trying, Victoria," Diego muttered, attempting to keep his temper in check. He searched his mind for arguments to change the crowd's mind. "Have any of you know the de la Vegas of Los Angeles? Any of you? I am the eldest son of Don Alejandro de la Vega, the owner of the largest ranch in all of California. He'll not be happy if you lynch his only son."
The man in front of the mob, who had directed the crowd in the jail, sniffed at Diego. "As if we can believe you." Turning to the crowd he asked, "Do any of you know this de la Vega this crook speaks of?"
"Have any of you been to Los Angeles? I mean, it's just a half day's journey from here," Diego begged the crowd. "Surely, one of you must have visited there? Been to Victoria's Tavern? Heard of the de la Vegas?"
The men and women gathered around them talked among themselves and shook their heads. The men brought Diego and Victoria over to the stools and commanded they climb upon them. Victoria began to protest, but Diego caught her attention and shook his head slightly. Diego could tell Victoria wanted to continue to protest, but she trusted Diego's judgement.
"Diego!" Victoria whispered desperately as nooses were placed around their necks. "I don't want to die!"
Out of desperation, Diego asked the crowd, "don't you think your Commandante should be here to witness this? You should wake him up!"
"He'd only make us stop, like he did the last time we tried to do this!" the man Diego assumed was the leader said. He and another man stood behind Victoria and Diego, ready to kick the stools out from under them.
However, before they could do that, shots rang out and shouts of "Détente, détente, atención, atención" were heard, along with the pounding of horses' hooves. The crowd turned to look at what was happening, including the leaders, when suddenly two more shots rang out, and the ropes consisting of the prisoners' nooses were sheared and fell upon Victoria's and Diego's shoulders.
Diego was shocked to see Felipe and his father in front of the crowd of horsemen riding towards them, rifles in their hands. Apparently, they'd been the ones who made the accurate shots.
"Sure glad I had you practice your sharpshooting, Felipe," Diego said as the younger man jumped off his horse and began to untie first Victoria's and then Diego's bound hands.
"Speaking of which, why did you teach Felipe how to shoot, and how did you, since you can't hit a target to save your own life?" his father asked him.
Quickly thinking of a diversion, Diego simply replied, "Let's talk about that on the way home, Father." Rubbing his wrists, he looked at Victoria. "Are you alright, Victoria?"
Victoria also massaged her wrists while Diego pushed down anger seeing her reddened wrists. "Yes, luckily your father and Felipe arrived in time." Smiling at the two of them as well as the crowd behind them, she said, "Madre dios you got here in time!"
"I'm just sorry we didn't get here earlier to prevent such a spectacle." Don Alejandro rubbed his chin. "What was going on here in the first place? Why were you being hanged, Diego?"
Before Diego could answer, two men rushed towards them, one with tousled hair and obviously in his night clothes. The deputy was sauntering behind them at some distance. "What in the blazes is happening here?" the Commandante asked. "Alvarez, I warned you about attempting another lynching. Is that what's going on here?" The Commandante was about to continue addressing Alvarez when he noticed the crowd of strangers, apparently led by an older man who carried himself with bearing. "Senors, who might you be?"
"I am Don Alejandro de la Vega, father of the man who these men were about to hang, and godfather to this young woman, Senorita Victoria Escalante. And you are…?"
Bowing, the Commandante introduced himself. "I am Commandante Julio Vasquez." Looking sideways at the man accompanying him, he said, "And this is Juan Torres, a bounty hunter from the Americas. Apparently, these men," he gestured at the other group including Alvarez, "took it upon themselves to settle the question themselves instead of waiting for the traveling magistrate to get here."
Diego watched as his father attempted to control his rising temper, but the redness of his facial expression showed how difficult it was for him. "Commandante, may I ask why my son and goddaughter were in the position to be possibly lynched in the first place?"
Victoria was about to march up to the men, her hands on her hips, when Diego grabbed her arm. "Victoria, allow the Commandante to answer."
Over Victoria's 'humph' the man in question began to answer. "They've been identified by Senor Torres as two individuals wanted for robbery and murder."
"That's ridiculous. Not only are they the most law-abiding individuals I know, they've lived in the city of Los Angeles all their lives. Victoria has hardly ever left Los Angeles, much less live anywhere else. What proof, if any, may I ask, do you have?"
Torres reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the two wanted posters. He handed them to Don Alejandro who hastily unrolled them. Don Alejandro didn't bother to control the guffaw which escaped from him.
"You actually think this is proof? The woman is clearly ten years older or more than Victoria, and the man? Only if Diego weighed thirty more pounds and was twenty years older." He thrust the papers back to Torres and took a step into Vasquez' personal space. "What is the meaning of this? You either need spectacles or are incompetent. Or is there something else more despicable going on here?"
Diego stepped forward between the two men. "Father, please! Control your temper!" In a lower voice, Diego said, "You don't want to end up in jail as well."
"Diego, I can talk for myself," Don Alejandro said, never looking away from Vasquez' gaze. "I apologize for my rudeness. I've been very worried about Victoria, and then we find her and my son about to be killed. And for no reason." Relaxing his threatening posture, Alejandro took a step back and exhaled slowly, "Again, Commandante, may I ask why you took the wanted posters as proof?"
"An agent of the law brought reasonable doubt, I believed, to what Senora…I mean Senorita Escalante and your son said. Because they were strangers, and because Senor Torres was American, I thought it wouldn't hurt to wait for the magistrate to decide if they were the murderers."
Diego watched as his father's calm was lost again. "You thought it wouldn't hurt?" Pointing to Victoria, he said in a louder voice, "Senorita Escalante is an independent businesswoman, whose livelihood is dependent upon her being present to run her tavern. My son has a loving family who was worried about him."
The de la Vegas and the others watched Vasquez struggle for an answer. They waited in silence for Vasquez' answer.
AN: I know, I know, but I had to end the chapter somewhere. I hope you found it entertaining. Make a poor writer happy and let me know what you think.