Chapter 15

Alcalde De Soto was positively swaggering. He wore his very best dress uniform with the most elegant cravat that had ever graced the small pueblo. Today was the day we would have his victory! Only a few more census forms to compare, and Lord Hodge would give him his verdict. He would know the identity of Zorro!

"Service!" He yelled even though the serving girl was only a few feet away. He wanted all eyes on him, drinking in his successful glow. He was the master of all he surveyed. This town would grovel now!

"Si, Señor?"

"Bring me your very biggest, juiciest steak! And a bottle of champagne! I mean to start celebrating now!" De Soto made a sweeping gesture with his arm, knowing he now had the full attention of everybody in the tavern.

"Champagne, Alcalde?" Victoria walked up behind him as the girl scurried to comply with his orders.

"Ah, yes, Señorita! But then, you know the reason why I am celebrating! You would have to. Zorro wouldn't be able to hide his fear from you, now, would he?" He smoothed the ends of his mustache as he sneered at her.

"Fear! Of you? Oh, Alcalde, even you know better than that. Zorro fears no man!" She set the jug down so hard on the table, the water sloshed over the rim and onto the man's sleeve. She smiled as she watched him jump up and brush the liquid off, bellowing all the while.

"Whatever you may hope to still believe, know this, you foolish woman, Zorro is mine! He cannot escape being found out this day!"

"Hmmf!" She flounced away from him in a huff. But inside, she worried. Diego had not been in today. She could use a little reassurance about now. The Alcalde seemed so sure of himself.

The murmurings and speculation continued around the room as the Alcalde ate his meal. He barely touched the champagne, preferring to keep his wits about him for the most important moment of his life. He had ordered it for effect. Maybe he'd have it later, when he had Zorro, unmasked, safely locked in his jail.

He was downing the last morsel of his steak when Lord Hodge was escorted by three lancers into the tavern.

Victoria looked up and was alarmed at the distressed look on the Englishman's face. Diego had said he would not be helping the Alcalde. She wished Diego were here.

"Well, Lord Hodge! Your report? You have him for me?" De Soto wiped at the corner of his mouth with a napkin as he rose and looked expectantly at the man.

"No, Sir, I don't. The notes do not match any of the samples you gave me." He said it with surety, but there was an element of fear in his voice and face. He too, had expected Zorro to be present for this. The Alcalde was clearly out of his mind concerning the capture of the outlaw and he was not above retribution against someone who failed to help him.

"What do you mean?" Steel blue eyes bored into his face. De Soto was livid!

"I mean, Sir, that I cannot match up samples to those that just do not match! The man was not among the caballeros that signed the census papers." He held his head high, hoping his manner carried an authority he was not feeling at the moment.

"That is impossible! He is one of them! He has to be!" With each word, De Soto's voice grew louder and more strident. "You led me to believe you could find him! I'll have your head for this!" He shook his fist in Hodge's face. "Lancers! Arrest this man!" The three-man escort sprang into action, each grabbing for a hold on the tall thin man. "If I cannot hang Zorro, then you will hang in his place!"

The lancers dragged the English nobleman across the plaza as the people watched. Victoria's cries were lost in the noise of the military presence spread before her. She gasped as she looked around her. The Alcalde had assembled the entire quartel in dress uniform and they were scattered throughout the plaza. Key positions were covered. All were armed. Muskets were primed and ready. De Soto had fully expected to just pluck the masquerading Zorro from the many caballeros present about the pueblo and haul him off to his jail. But now, the one being dragged to his cell was Lord Hodge.

She caught up to De Soto's impressive form as he strode determinedly behind his lancers. "Alcalde! You can't do this! You can't—"

"Do not presume to tell me what I can or can't do! he snarled. "Your precious Zorro can save him! But is he here?" He turned to the crowd and addressed them. "Good people of Los Angeles! You see how your hero deserts his helpers! When he's cornered, he hides like the vermin of a fox he is. He retreats to his lair to lick his wounds!" De Soto's face twisted into a maniacal mask of hatred. "Let it be known! This man dies today in his place! Only Zorro can save him by turning himself in to pay for his crimes against you all!"

Victoria raced for the stables. She had to find Diego. The two-mile ride to the hacienda seemed to take an eternity though she urged the horse at its fastest stride. When she came up on the hacienda, she could see Don Alejandro about to mount Dulcinea just outside the gate.

"Victoria! What brings you—" And then he noticed the distressed look on her face. "Victoria! What's wrong?" He helped her dismount and steadied her with an arm about her shoulders.

"Where's Diego?" Desperation tinged her voice. "He's got to—"

"He's not here. He and Felipe didn't come home last night. Their beds were not slept in."

"But he's got to be! He has to—" She faltered as confusion clasped a cold hand on her heart.

"I was coming to see if they'd chosen to stay in town last night. Victoria!" He held her up as she almost swooned in his arms. "Victoria!"

"I—I'm all right. Wait! I think I know where to start looking." She broke from his grasp and headed toward the door of the hacienda.

"Victoria. But I told you, he's not there!" Don Alejandro shouted as he followed her through the door. He saw her turn into the arch way to the sala and stopped short as he watched her begin beating on the underside of the mantle piece. "Victoria? What on earth are you—"

"It's here someplace! Help me find it!" She sounded hysterical to him, but he found himself crossing to the fireplace to see what she could mean.

"What's here? Help you find what? What are you looking for?" He watched her fingers prod and probe the marble. "What—"

Then he heard a faint swooshing sound and he looked down to see the panel sliding back inside the back of the fireplace. He knew at once what was behind it.

"Well, I'll be—" But Victoria was already through the opening. He ducked his head down and followed.

They ran down the steps and both stopped at the sight before them. Diego and Felipe lay sprawled on the rough stone floor of the hidden cave. The fumes hit them almost immediately and Alejandro acted quickly. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the girl. "Try not to breathe! There's something in the air!" He held his breath as he and Victoria began dragging Diego's limp body up the short stone steps. It was no easy task, even between the two of them, getting such a big man up the steps and through the low passageway.

After what seemed like an age, they had him through the opening and lying safely on the carpet in the sala, and both were bending over, drawing in labored breaths of fresh, sweet air.

"I'll go back…for Felipe…in a minute. Got to …get my …breath," Alejandro gasped between breaths.

He started to close the sliding panel but then, thinking about Felipe inside, he decided against it. Instead, he stumbled over to the window and opened it, letting in the fresh outside air.

Victoria was running her hands over Diego. She could feel his heart beating, a strong and steady beat, and she saw his chest rising and falling in slow respiration. "He's just asleep…passed out." The relief flowed through her whole body. "Madre de Dios! He's just asleep!"

Alejandro leaned over him and saw she was right. "One of his experiments…I suspect!" He looked at Victoria as he realized that his son must have divulged his secret to her. How else could she have known about that room. A room in his own house that he hadn't even known was there! A small pang of hurt stabbed at his heart. Why couldn't his son have trusted him as much as he must trust this young girl…and Felipe. "Felipe! I have to get Felipe—"

"Felipe!" Diego roused at the name and his eyes fluttered open. He struggled to sit up, shaking his head to clear it. "No…I will… go…for… him."

"But you're not well, Diego, you can't!" Victoria admonished.

"It is just the gas…" he said thickly. "It doesn't last …long, but with the cave …all closed up like that… and my …clothes…they were splashed with it. I must go—"

"Wait a few minutes, Son. If the gas isn't dangerous, Felipe can remain in the cave until your head clears a little. You're sure it isn't dangerous?" Alejandro pressed him.

"No, Father… it was for use… on the soldiers. I would …never hurt them. You have to know …that. Oh—" he shut his eyes and groaned. Somewhere in the back of his foggy mind, there was a tug that something was not right here. Something was terribly wrong. He looked up into the beautiful eyes of the woman he loved and it hit him all at once. The cave! He had shown Victoria the cave and now his father knew about it as well! The shocking thought of that drove the oppressive heaviness from his lungs in a rush.

"Father?" he said almost fearfully.

"Yes, Diego, I am here."

"I…I…" But he could not complete the thought, much less the sentence. This would have to wait. There were things he needed to do. Felipe. Someone else was in trouble too…but he couldn't think of just who that …

"Diego?" His father stood there with a glass of water thrust at him. "Here, drink this. It might help."

Diego sipped the water slowly as the room once more came into focus around him. This was too reminiscent of the haziness of being drunk for his taste. "At least the gas worked", he thought wryly.

He struggled to sit up, with both his father and Victoria hovering over him.

"Thank you. Thank you both. I don't—" he said as he tried to stand on shaky legs with their help.
"I mean I think I can do this now." He breathed in a strong breath and shook his head. "I have to go now."

"Diego, are you sure you should—" Alejandro began, but Diego was already heading toward the fireplace. Inhaling deeply of the good air of the room, he opened the panel once more.

Soon, he was carrying a sleeping Felipe in through the opening and laying him gingerly on the sofa.

"He should wake soon, when his lungs clear out the chemical. We shouldn't worry if he is affected by it longer though. He received a bigger dose of the gas because of his smaller size and his age." Diego lifted Felipe's eyelids in turn to check his pupils. Satisfied, he rose to his feet.

His own head was throbbing with the lingering effects of this experimental gas, but his head was clearing enough to realize that his father was standing there looking at him with newfound knowledge. There would have to be some long explanations before long. But for now, there was more to do. And the sooner he got out of this room and away from those inquiring eyes of his father, the better.

"I'm going around to the cave entrance. I need to get that opened so it will air out the cave. And I have to get Tornado out of there."

"Diego!" The purpose of her coming leapt back into her mind. "The Alcalde's going to hang Lord Hodge! That's why…he said he—"

But Diego was way ahead of her. This was the price that his failure to get into the quartel last night would cost. Hodge was covering for him.

"They have already erected the gallows. I came as quickly as I could." Victoria

"Then I should be going." Diego turned to go, all at once grateful for the excuse of the need for his hasty departure and guilty about the need of it.

He ran out of the gates of the hacienda and followed the wall to its end, where he dropped down from the rocky ridge into the small canyon that lay behind the house. After some minutes of scrambling down the rocks, he stood before the hidden cave entrance. Then he picked out a suitably sized rock and used it to trigger the mechanism to open the door to the cave. Leaving it in place, so it would hold it open for now and the air inside could clear, he entered the cave.

Tornado was lying in his stall where he'd been overcome by the fumes. His huge brown eyes were open and with the inrush of air into the cave, he was waking up quickly. With some coaxing and some cool water splashed on his nose, the horse rose from the floor in one massive, awkward move. Diego led him out of the opening and watched him carefully as he shook his head from side to side, neighing softly and snorting.

"You're all right, boy. Just a little sleepy, huh ? There, now…you're fine now." He spoke softly to the stallion and watched as his eyes seemed to grow brighter and his ears twitched forward in alertness.

"Stay here, Tornado. I will be back and then there will be work to do." He grinned at the horse and it seemed that the horse understood every word. Tornado pawed at the earth in front of him as if to agree. Apparently, he was eager to get at "their work".

After retrieving his costume and weapons from the cave, Diego finished the change into Zorro and then leapt up onto Tornado's back, his boots never touching the stirrups. He would have liked to go back to the house and check on Felipe, but there was simply no time.