A few days later, there had been no word on any kind of assassination attempt against the governor, so the others all figured that La Liga planned to strike when everyone least expected it.
Alejandro had gone down to Padre Felipe's church to discuss with him the upcoming problem that Zorro was going to have to face.
"When could the assassination take place?" Alejandro wondered as he stood in the back room.
"The governor is giving a speech in town in a few days, you should probably be ready for when that happens." Felipe suggested.
"The speech. That's right! I had forgotten all about that." Alejandro said. "That'd be the perfect time to make a move."
"Are you sure you know what you're up against, Alejandro?"
"I don't need to be sure. All I need to do is keep the governor from getting killed."
Alejandro walked over to a table where there sat a couple of glasses, and some wine. He poured the glasses with the red elixir and handed one to Felipe. They tapped their glasses together in a toast, before drinking.
"What about that bank they said they were building?" Felipe asked. "Could that have anything to do with the governor?"
"I hope not." Alejandro said. "Maybe it's part of a whole other plan, entirely."
"Perhaps you should go back to their hacienda. Listen in again on one of their meetings. You might get more information on what they're plotting."
"Do you know how close I came last time to getting caught? There's no way I'm going back there."
"Take someone with you. Joaquin is old enough by now, right?"
Alejandro was tired of having to explain this to people.
"Joaquin is not ready for this yet, Felipe." Alejandro insisted. "He is still too young."
He grabbed his coat to leave.
"Joaquin isn't going to be 'too young' forever, Alejandro." Felipe said.
Alejandro turned to face his friend. "Ring the bell, in case anything happens. Until then, I'll be awaiting the governor's speech."
"Good luck." Felipe added before Alejandro left the church.
A few days later, when it came the day for Governor J. Neely Johnson's speech, nearly the entire population of San Francisco county had turned out to the town square to listen . It had been a rough time in the past couple of years in California. Citizens had grown tired with the way the police handled, or rather didn't handle law enforcement. Some were inspired by Zorro to take up crime fighting as a way to minimize criminal activity. However, rather than simply roughing up the outlaws and sending them to jail like Zorro, several vigilantes hanged criminals as a way to scare them off.
J. Neely Johnson, the governor of California, and had been since a year before, stood there, dressed in his best, ready to give his speech on extinguishing vigilantism, as well as lowering the crime rate, while the de la Vega's and the Chavez family blended in with the crowd of people, watching to see if anyone acted suspicious.
"Good morning, my fellow Americans." Johnson addressed the crowd. "I wish I could stand here today before you, on better terms. But, unfortunately, we have a crisis on our hands."
The crowd continued listening, while Alejandro and the others looked around at everyone.
"In the last few years, at least 8 people have been unlawfully hanged by the San Francisco Vigilantes" the governor continued. "I am here to announce my regret that I had been unable to prevent such gruesome executions. In the United States of America, our criminal justice system believes first and foremost, that the punishment needs to fit the crime, but at the same time, we ask that citizens do not take the law into their own hands."
Some of the crowed murmured things under their breath, such as "hypocrite", and "Zorro". Governor Johnson had never had a problem with Zorro. Quite the contrary, actually. He, along with several Californians saw Zorro as an ally.
After trying to inconspicuously walk through the crowd of people to detect any suspicious behavior, Alejandro walked back over to his family, and the Chavez's.
"It's been over 10 minutes. Maybe they won't try anything. Did you notice anyone acting strange?" Alejandro asked them.
"No." Joaquin said.
"We need to keep our eyes open. They're here somewhere." Miguel suggested.
"Yeah, they could be hiding." Ana added.
Alejandro nodded his head, he began turning his head in every direction, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Joaquin also joined in looking around. Miguel, Elena, Ana and Santiago watched the governor, pretending to be listening to his speech.
"And that is exactly why, I intend to dismantle the need for vigilantism, while also keeping the crime rate at an all time low." Johnson said.
The crowd applauded, but not everyone cheered. To them, it sounded like he wanted to get rid of vigilantes, but he wasn't saying exactly what he planned to do to make it happen.
Neither Alejandro, nor Joaquin could see anything suspicious going on. Maybe La Liga wasn't planning to attack here, and they were just being paranoid. But, if they wanted to make a point, assassinating the governor during a speech to defeat crime, now would be the perfect time.
Alejandro and Joaquin whispered to each other in the crowd.
"Anything?"
"Nothing."
Little did they know, that directly across the from where the speech being given, William, who was dressed up in a Zorro costume that perfectly mimicked Alejandro's, hid at the top of a small building, with a sharps rifle in his hand.
"And, although Zorro has been a friend and servant to us here, it has still not been enough, ladies and gentlemen." Governor Johnson said. "Real action has to be taken. We must not continue to rely solely on a so-called folk hero to clean up our streets."
Joaquin then decided that maybe whoever they were looking for wasn't in the crowd, and turned his back to the podium, looking towards the buildings behind him. He didn't notice anything at first, but after a second, something caught his eye shot. He could faintly see someone wearing a black sombrero, and holding a rifle, aiming straight at the governor.
Joaquin gasped to himself. What was he gonna do? What was he gonna do? Tell the others? That wouldn't really do anything. The guy could pull the trigger at any second. Thinking quickly, he remembered something. He reached into his back pocket, and pulled out his slingshot, and a rock. Without alarming anyone, and going seemingly unnoticed to the mysterious gunman on the roof, Joaquin took special aim.
He only had one shot at this, so he had to make it count. He pulled the sling back as tight as he could, and only prayed that he would make it. He closed his eyes, and released, sending the rock into the air.
Simultaneously with William attempting to pull the trigger, he was hit in the face with the rock. He was caught off guard, as he fired the gun.
The entire crowd heard it, and screamed. Alejandro as well as the others turned around, and noticed Joaquin with his slingshot.
The crowd panicked even more when they saw the governor lying on the ground. His body guards tended to him, and noticed that he was still conscious. William had missed his shot. Though, not completely, as Governor Johnson had a mild injury to his left arm.
The fake Zorro on top of the building looked on at the crowd, and began laughing loudly, which caused the crowd to look at him again.
He took out a match and lit it, before dropping it to the sand. On the ground, the match's flame spread, until it formed a huge, burning Z. Apparently, William had set this up hours ago.
The crowd stood in awe, as "Zorro" turned and ran, jumping from building to building, until he was out of sight.
Alejandro, and Elena couldn't believe it. How could they not have seen this coming? This was just perfect. Now, Zorro would get blamed for this.
Joaquin, Santiago, and Ana looked at each other. Miguel just watched on with the rest of the crowd. It looked like everyone had reached the end of their rope here.
Two days later, a headline came in the paper:
"CITIZENS CALL FOR THE ARREST OF THE VIGILANTE KNOWN AS ZORRO FOLLOWING THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF GOVERNOR J. NEELY JOHNSON."