A/N - I've split this chapter into 2 parts just because I like to tease you :)

Chapter 12

Victoria sat on the small cot and wondered how long it had been since she had been kidnapped; it seemed like hours, possibly three or even longer and she knew that Diego would be terribly worried just as she was worried about Felipe and Ignacio and prayed that they weren't too badly injured but at least de Toledo had left her alone since he had put her in here. An idea formed in her mind; if she could just get him to open the door, perhaps she could hit him and then...what? She shook her head, she didn't know where she was, she could be in the middle of nowhere for all she knew but she had to take the chance.

She stood up and banged on the door. "Hey, I'm thirsty." she yelled out as she banged again. "Hey, are you there? You can't keep me here without food or water." she added as she kept banging on the door.

After five minutes of banging and shouting, no-one came and she began to worry even more. What if he had left her here on her own without any food or water? What if no-one could hear her? What if Diego couldn't find her, would she die here? She shuddered at the thought and again she looked around the room with growing panic; she didn't want to die here and once again she searched the room for a way to open the door. This time she pulled the dirty mattress off the cot and saw old metal wires stretching across the frame; perhaps if she could get one of the wires off, she might be able to unlock the door. But how? She couldn't just kick it; her shoes weren't sturdy enough but then she noticed the metal bucket in the corner.

"That will do." she muttered to herself as she picked up the bucket and gazed thoughtfully at the bed. "Where's the weakest point? The middle?" She grabbed the bucket in a tight grip and knelt down and began using it like a hammer against the inside of the frame where the middle wires were attached. At first, the harsh grating sound of metal hitting metal was very loud to her ears and each time she struck it, she waited to see if anyone would come to discover what the noise was but there was only silence, so she kept going.

It didn't take long for the rusty nails to give way and finally Victoria held a length of wire in her hand to use both as a weapon if she needed it and perhaps a way to unlock the door. She knelt in front of the door and placed the end of the wire in the keyhole and turned and twisted it in every way it could go but with no success. "Just how did Diego do this?" she muttered in frustration as she remembered the times that Diego, as Zorro, had opened any number of locks with such ease that he made it look easy.

Suddenly she heard footsteps coming towards her and she quickly scrambled to her feet. "Dios." she muttered as she hurriedly replaced the mattress back on the bed and sat down, hiding the piece of wire under her.

"Stand back from the door Señora." de Toledo called out as he unlocked the door and opened it to find her sitting on the cot. "Here." he said as he held out a plate with some bread and cheese on it and a large tankard of what she assumed was water.

Victoria felt her heart pound hard in her chest as stood up and took the offered items from him; should she attempt to escape or not? "Why are you doing this?" she asked as she placed the food on the cot and tankard on the floor, careful not to spill the water and at the same time she reached for the hidden wire.

"Its not personal Señora but your husband is in the way of what is mine." He replied as he stepped back.

"What makes you think that the King will give the title to you now, after what you have done?" She said; it was now or never but as she moved towards him, he must have seen her intentions and he cruelly backhanded her, sending her crashing to the floor.

He then pulled out a pistol from his waistband and aimed it at her face. "It doesn't matter to me if you live or die Señora, you've already served your purpose. Your choice." he said coldly and without remorse.

Her eyes misted up as she fought back tears of pain as she placed her hand against the side of her face where he hit her; she had no doubts that he would kill her and so she remained still on the floor, hoping that he would do nothing more to her.

"Good choice." He said as stepped out of the room with the gun still pointed at her before he closed the door and locked it.

Tears of pain slid down her face as she removed her hand and saw blood on her fingers; his large ring had cut her cheek. She trembling in shock at how close she had come to dying and she cursed her own stupidity; how she could think that she could overcome a grown man with just a piece of wire? Was she just going to stab him with it? She knew it wouldn't have stopped him unless she stabbed him in his heart but she shuddered at the thought of doing that; she had never killed anyone before and she didn't want to start now.

Over the next three hours Diego and Ignacio visited each of the four properties that was on the list that Armas had given to them and after thoroughly searching one place after another, they became increasingly desperate as they found no sign of Victoria; in fact three of the four places held families that leased the building from an independent agent, while the fourth was vacant and had no sign of habitation.

Ignacio stood beside his friend outside the fourth and final address. "I'm sorry Diego, I really thought that we would find her in one of these buildings." he said quietly.

Diego let out a ragged breath as he ran his fingers through his hair. "It's not your fault Ignacio." he replied, trying hard not to let his fears overwhelm him. "Where is she?" he muttered as he gazed around the area and as he did so, he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise; it was his sixth sense again, something that he had learnt to trust over the years and he wasn't going to ignore it. He frowned as he swept his gaze slowly around him once more and then focused on a small two storey building that seemed to be abandoned by its broken windows and general lack of maintenance, on the other side of the road.

Ignacio noticed his friend's gaze and saw his hand tightened on his sword hilt. "What is it?" he asked.

"She's there." he muttered as he walked off in the direction of the building.

Ignacio sighed and hurried after him, cursing silently at the pain in his arm. "Diego wait! What makes you think she is in this building?"

"I just know."

Ignacio grabbed his arm. "Listen, even if you're right, you can't just go in there. You don't know what traps he has laid for you."

Diego turned to face him. "Don't forget who you are dealing with, Ignacio. I managed to get out of all of the traps that you laid for me." he replied coolly.

Ignacio saw the arrogant side of Diego that had always annoyed him but he let it pass without comment. "That maybe so but you don't know the layout of this building, it's not like you can just drop down from the roof and surprise him." He paused as he held his injured arm. "Believe it or not I can understand what you are feeling, if it was the woman that I loved being held prisoner, I too would do anything to save her." He paused to allow his words to sink in before he spoke again. "Let's look around the building, see what we can find, there could be doors or windows that are blocked and you need to know that first. You know that I am right." he added solemnly.

Diego slowly let out his breath; he knew that Ignacio was right, he just couldn't barge in without knowing where the exits were. It wasn't the first time he had seen the real change in his one time enemy, gone was that arrogant, self interested man and was replaced by a more cautious one. "Alright, lets look around but I won't leave until I've search the entire building." he replied.

"I expect nothing less Diego."

The two men spend the next five minutes looking around the outside of the abandoned building and after finding fresh horse tracks and a man's bootprints in the dirt, they knew that they had the right place and they decided that it would be best to separate; if de Toledo did kill or wound one of them, then at least the other stood a chance of finding Victoria and getting her to safety. Diego climbed up to the first floor and entered through an open window while Ignacio entered through a side door on the ground floor.

de Toledo had just returned to the building when he heard a noise from outside. He carefully looked out a window just in time to see de la Vega and another man disappear around the side. "Well, well. He's found this place much faster than I had expected." he muttered, surprised by the speed of the discovery; he had been expecting it to take several days, not less than half a day. He had underestimated de la Vega and but he won't do it again, he promised himself.

Victoria had carefully cleaned the stinging scratch on her face as best that she could with a piece of her petticoat that she had dampened with water and now as she sat on the edge of the cot, she looked at the plate with the bread and cheese with distaste. She didn't want to eat, she wasn't hungry but she also knew that this might be the only food he would give her and she needed to keep her strength up, so she tore off a piece of bread and cheese and slowly ate it.

Suddenly she froze as she heard a faint noise and wondered if it de Toledo was coming back but after several moments, she didn't hear anything else.

"Where are you Diego?" she muttered to herself as she took another bite of the bread as she gazed intently at the door; perhaps she should try to unlock it again, at least it would give her something to do, she mused to herself.

The object of her thoughts was two floors above her, cautiously but thoroughly searching each of the dusty and dirty rooms on the first floor. "Victoria, where are you?" he muttered softly as he held his favourite sword in an easy grip.

As he quietly descended the flight of stairs to the ground floor, he heard movement below him and tightened his grip on his sword but when he saw Ignacio walking cautiously below him, he let out his breath. "Ignacio." he said softly as he continued down the stairs.

Ignacio jumped slightly at Diego's voice above him; it brought back too many memories of being caught unaware by Zorro and he gritted his teeth as Diego stopped beside him. "Will you stop doing that." he hissed with annoyance.

Diego saw the strange expression on Ignacio's face and despite the seriousness of the situation, he grinned; he knew what it meant, he too had a moment of what the French called déjà vu of coming upon the other man in a Zorro like manner. "Nothing?" he whispered.

Ignacio shook his head. "I haven't checked the front section yet and there's stairs going down to a basement..." Before he could continue, Diego felt a presence nearby and pushed Ignacio out of the way, just a pistol fired and the bullet whizzed passed them and then they heard a muffled curse.

"You'll have to try harder than that de Toledo if you want to get me." Diego called out from behind the staircase.

Ignacio was beside him, cradling his injured arm, knowing that if Diego hadn't pulled him away, he would have been dead.

de Toledo chuckled. "I wasn't aiming for you de la Vega. I'm saving you for last."

Diego frowned as he craned his neck over the staircase to see where the other man was but couldn't see anything. "Why don't we discuss this calmly." he called out before he turned to Ignacio. "Go and find Victoria and get her to safety." he ordered. "This is my fight."

Ignacio nodded and moved quietly back towards where he saw a narrow flight of stairs leading down to what he assumed was the basement.

"What's there to discuss de la Vega. You have what I want and I intend to get it." de Toledo replied; his voice echoing around the empty building, making it hard to discover where he was. He stayed where he was for he wanted de la Vega to come to him.

Diego thought about his options, if he could just keep him talking long enough for Ignacio to get Victoria out but at the same time he had to find where de Toledo was. His eyes had long ago adjusted to the dim light of the abandoned house and as his gaze swept around, he saw the bullet hole on the opposite wall. As he studied it, he used what he knew about mathematics and various angles and came to the conclusion that de Toledo was on the same floor as himself but somewhere off to the right of him; if he had fired it from a higher position, the bullet hole would be angled downwards whereas this particular bullet hole was about shoulder height and straight.

"We don't always get what we want de Toledo." he called out as he thought about going back up the stairs but decided against it for he didn't know where he was in relation to the rest of the building. Then he saw an open door across the hallway and as he craned his neck to get a better look inside, he saw that there was another door on the far side the room, which he assumed led to somewhere else. Perhaps it would lead him closer to de Toledo, he mused to himself.

"That's not quite true, if you want something bad enough, you will make it happen." de Toledo replied. "Everyone has their price, you just have to find what it is. Your price is your wife, a rather lovely woman if I may say so."

Diego frowned but refused to be baited as he slipped into the room and crossed quickly to the second door and carefully opened it. He flinched when the hinges made a terrible screeching sound but the noise couldn't be helped and he only opened it wide enough for him to slip through and he was pleased to discover that it was another empty room, which had it's own exit on the far side; it must have been two adjoining bedrooms at one stage, he mused to himself as he moved over to that door and quietly opened it to hear de Toledo baiting him again but this time he knew where the voice was coming from.

"What! No response from you about your pretty wife, de la Vega. Any other man would demand satisfaction." de Toledo gloated. "Perhaps you're not the man to satisfy her, perhaps she needs a real man..." he stopped his taunting when he felt a sword point on the back on his neck.

"I demand satisfaction." Diego said coldly as he held his sword on the man who had kidnapped his wife, shot his son, wounded Ignacio and murdered a guardsman and not to mention hiring an assassin to kill them.