"I would say our plan worked better than we had expected," Diego said at returning to the cave.
Emmanuel slightly shook his head. "Considering you used the red flare, I guess it didn't exactly go according to your initial plan..."
"No… But it was just a minor setback. One we prepared for. The smoke bombs provided me the advantage I needed to take down the entire garrison. Oh, you should have seen De Soto's face! After the lesson Zorro just gave him, with some luck, he'll take a break from his normal misdeeds while trying to come up with a proper trap."
"I don't see what's good about that," his friend pointed out.
"What's good about it is that it gives me a respite – just enough time for the count to visit the governor in Monterey before arriving in Los Angeles. We did buy a house there, after all, and it would be a shame not to use it…" Diego replied with a wicked smile as he glanced a calendar. "Provided all goes right, I will be back before Ignacio comes up with another idea to harm the people..."
"And what if he gets an idea while you are away? Monterey is a few days away by ship, which means it will take you more than a week to go there and return. What if Zorro is needed during that time?"
The tall caballero glanced intently at his friend. "You used to be a rather decent swordsman once…" he remarked.
"That's an understatement and you know it!" Emmanuel replied, feigning being offended, then frowned at realizing what Diego meant. "But you don't expect me to do what you do… I don't have your skills! And… And I haven't used a whip in my entire life! Unlike you, I wasn't raised on a ranch!"
"No… But you do have years of experience in attacking soldiers and dodging bullets…"
"I am also a rather good shot…"
"Then, if the need arises, use those skills! Just try not to injure or kill anyone… And that includes you!"
Emmanuel frowned again, looked a bit doubtful then agreed, shrugging his shoulders. "Alright. If Zorro is needed, I will put on the mask and do my best to do it justice…" he promised, and his friend smiled his gratitude.
"Any news from Gabriel?" Diego inquired after that matter was settled.
"Not yet."
"He should have send word by now… Wait one more day and, if still there's no news, send Antonio and Natori south, after him. I'll be leaving at dawn."
"And the abbot?"
"I'll leave instructions for the household to tell whoever asks that he's headed north to visit some of the missions," Diego informed his friend.
ZZZ
As decided, the following day, leaving Emmanuel in Los Angeles, the tall caballero took Felipe with him. Boarding the ship anchored south of the pueblo, he made his way north.
The count's ship dropped anchor in the Monterey harbor at dawn, on the fourth day after its departure from Los Angeles.
Diego send one of his men to buy four vigorous, white horses, and most of the other ones to take some of the most expensive furniture, silks, and china he had brought from Europe to his new townhouse.
Around 5 p.m., he had his carriage unloaded from the ship, and the white horses tied to it before disembarking.
ZZZ
From his balcony, intrigued by the new arrival, the governor was just admiring the carriage pulled by the white Andalusians, when his secretary came to bring him a beautifully designed, black-and-blue envelope, from which he took out an invitation. "The Count of Dragonera invites me to dinner," he uttered at reading it. "Who in the world is this count and what is he doing here?"
"I don't know, Señor. All I was able to find out is that his ship entered the port this morning and he has a small army of African slaves at his disposal."
"Really?" the man asked, as he, once again glanced out the window to see a tall man descending the carriage and entering a nearby house followed by ten servants. "Interesting…" he muttered before instructing his man to convey his decision to accept the invitation.
Since dinner was to start at 8 p.m, at 7:55 the governor was already at the count's door, unwilling to be late.
"Yes?" a servant replied.
"I am Governor Juan Alcaraz. Your master invited me…"
The man nodded and let him inside. "Please come in! I will inform His Excellency of your arrival." The servant said politely, leaving the man in the grand hallway to admire the sculptures, paintings and the other various decorations and furniture there.
Five minutes later, at 8 p.m. sharp, the doors to the dining room were opened, and the governor turned to see a tall, good-looking man dressed in the style of the Orient, glancing back at him.
"Your Excellency," the count said, "I am the Sebastian de Murrieta, Count of Dragonera. Welcome!"
"Thank you, Señor. Your Excellency," the man stuttered a little. "Thank you for the invitation. I must say… your arrival was most unusual."
The count just smiled and a bell rang at that precise moment. "I believe dinner is served," the young man said, indicating for the governor to enter the room.
"I came here often while this house belonged to the Alonsos," the official said, "but, now, I hardly recognize the place. You made quite a few changes here in such a short time…" the official remarked. "Is that Venetian?" he asked, admiring the candelabra.
"Indeed it is."
"And the furniture…"
"Sculpted teak wood from India. I understand it took 100 workers over 50 years to make this set."
"Good Lord! It must have cost you a fortune."
"Less than I would have been willing to pay for it."
The governor shook his head a little, quite impressed, as he sat down on the indicated chair, facing the count, both seated at a round, black, sculpted table.
"May I ask if you have come to live here, in Monterey, Señor?" the official asked as a black-haired boy he easily identified to be North-African poured what looked like wine for his master, then, unobserved, switched bottles as he rounded the table, before pouring some wine in the governor's glass.
"No. I have a rather large estate near Los Angeles, and I plan on settling there. But I do have some business here, as well. It's why I had my lawyer buy this house for me. I always thought it better to have my own houses wherever I stay, rather than having to sleep at the local inns."
The governor had tasted his wine as he listened to him, inwardly declaring himself more than a little impressed, when ten servants entered carrying all sorts of exotic foods. "Indeed, the inns here are hardly worthy of hosting your horses…" he muttered, unable to think of anything better to say as he was staring at the plates of food in front of him. The boy who had earlier poured his wine started transferring some of it to his plate. "And are you planning on keeping it after heading for Los Angeles?" he asked while watching his plate fill up.
"Yes. In fact, I also instructed my men to buy properties in San Diego, Santa Barbara, and San Francisco, for when businesses might take me there. As I said, it's far better than staying at inns."
"But… that will cost you a lot of money." The governor said while he had already started eating.
"Well spent if it ensures that I and my men are comfortable. Don't you believe so?" the count said as he observed him.
"Indeed… Indeed, Señor… I did see you have come with quite a few slaves."
"Servants," the count corrected. "I might have bought them as slaves – an entire shipment meant for the colonies – but I never did believe in a man's right to own another. So I freed them as soon as the papers were signed."
"A whole shipment? But that must be hundreds of people…"
"A little over 200, indeed."
"A fortune!"
"Hardly… It only cost me some 20,000 reales if memory serves…"
"That is a fortune!"
"If you believe so… I guess I tend to forget my perspective of what constitutes a large sum of money might be rather different from that of others. What you might perceive as a fortune, I see as mere change." The governor gulped at him and did not reply, so the young man decided the time had come to change the subject of the conversation. "I understand you have been in your position here some six months," the count uttered. "May I ask how you are finding the territory?"
"Alta California? Well, it's hardly civilized, Señor. Certainly not what you must be used to, coming from Spain; and we are still in the process of exploring parts of it. However, the climate is rather pleasant, to be fair, and the land has been spared the horrors of the wars Europe has seen since the French Revolution. Los Angeles," the governor continued, "is a small pueblo, founded a decade or so after Monterey. I doubt you may find anyone there to call a peer, but some of the haciendados are well-educated and rather wealthy – as per our standards... On the other hand, my reports from the alcalde indicate that some may have obtained their riches quite illegally."
"Oh? Like who?"
"There is a haciendado he mentioned to me a while back, Don Alejandro de la Vega. Apparently, he had no property deed for the lands his family claimed as theirs. A complicated affair. It all came to light when Alcalde De Soto decided to verify the land grants. Can you imagine nobody else had ever done it?"
"Really?"
"Not one in over three decades… De Soto is, I must say, one of my best officials. Named to the position by the king himself. Do you know the king, Señor?"
"Indeed. King Ferdinand, at least. The Bonaparte, I admit to have never met, seeing how I was away from Spain for several years during his rule." The count answered honestly. "However, since you did mention the king, there is a subject I was meaning to discuss with you," the count said as, using a bell, he signaled for a servant, who came in bringing a rolled- up document. The count indicated for him to hand it to the governor, and the man took it to have a look at it. "You see," the young man explained as the official was reading, "I took the precaution of asking the king for several such documents, just in case I might need them in my travels, given the distance to Madrid, and he obliged."
"But this… This gives you power even over me…" the governor uttered in awe.
"Indeed. Thus imagine my shock at finding out that one of the officials in this territory has simply ripped one of them to pieces."
"What? That can't be true…"
"But it is. You see, a while back, while traveling here, I was informed that your alcalde in San Diego unlawfully locked up a young boy in Devil's Fortress, without even giving him the chance to defend himself in a proper trial."
"But… I never heard of something like that. A boy in such a place?"
"Indeed. A boy of 12 was taken there after a couple kidnapped and used him to rob a bank. The man with him shot the clerk and made his way out with the woman, and the boy tried to help the injured man, yet was accused of being the other two's accomplice, and found himself sentenced to life in prison."
"I… I will certainly look into that, Your Excellency! I can assure you…"
"That is not, however, the main issue. True, the boy should have never ended up there, and the commander of the presidio should explain his mistake and be held accountable for it. However, my issue, as I said, is another. You see, given that the king has signed those papers also because he trusted me to undo some of the wrongs committed during his absence from the throne, in the most remote corners of the empire, as soon as I learned about this case, I handed one such document to a servant of mine, sending him to the commander of the Devil's Fortress to demand the release of the boy. However, the commander of the fortress took the paper and ripped it to pieces right in front of him, after which he went on to order the boy to be tied to a post the following morning, to receive 10 lashes. I, for one, don't take kindly to such behavior, and am rather certain documents signed by the king should not be ripped to pieces and ignored by his officials."
By the young man's tone, it wasn't hard for the governor to understand that the count expected measures to be taken against the commander of the Devil's Fortress, without delay, which, he realized, was in his power to demand. "I see…" he uttered. "I appreciate you informing me of this, Your Excellency! I will certainly do all in my power to rectify the situation to the best of my abilities… However, you must also understand that the commander is still in mourning for his daughter… He's lost her a little over a year ago to some bandits, and he hasn't been the same since…"
"And is that reason to disobey the king's orders and harm a child?"
"No… No, of course, not. I was just…"
"Do understand this, Your Excellency! I have already written to inform His Majesty about the… incident. I am also due to inform him about how things stand in California, and of the measures you are taking to make sure the territory is not swept by rebellion as the southern territories are. Allowing for injustices to continue is one way to head in the wrong direction. I suggest you take whatever measure you believe necessary under the circumstances before His Majesty's reply arrives."
"I… I will see to it…" the man stuttered, "I will see to it that Commander De la Fuentes suffers the consequences of his actions…"
"And the commander of the Presidio in San Diego?"
"I will certainly investigate the case and hold him accountable. And I will also have the boy released if you assure me he was innocent," the governor said, trying to appease the count. Something in his interlocutor's tone was disturbingly menacing and the governor was, by that point, rather intimidated by the power his money and connections gave the young man.
"I am, indeed, convinced he was. However, since he did escape during the prison break, I fear all you can do for him is cancel the order for his arrest and grant him a full pardon."
"Wh… What prison break, Your Excellency?"
"The one at Devil's Fortress. I understand it happened just hours after my man left the place, a little over a month ago. Most, if not all, convicts escaped on that occasion."
"There was a prison break? But the Devil's Fortress is impenetrable…"
"Apparently, not as impenetrable as previously believed. And, given the fact that original land grants are also kept there, this might explain how Don Alejandro's went missing, forcing him to end up selling his hacienda. On the other hand, since I was assured it is the best property in Los Angeles, and my man was only able to acquire it due to the repercussions of said incident, perhaps I should not be very angry about it…"
"I… I… I never received any report of a prison break…"
"Really? But I learned about it weeks ago! Surely the governor of the Californias must have received the report by now… Well, unless the commander of the Fortress is too embarrassed about what happened, and decided to cover it up for as long as he believed it possible…"
By the time he finished, the governor was red with anger. "If that is the case, Señor, I assure you he will answer to me," he uttered.
"I'm sure he will… But, changing the subject, I was also told that an Emissary Risendo, came to Los Angeles to collect a war tax a while back. I was wondering what you might tell me about him."
"About Emissary Risendo? Well… I've met him in Madrid, not long before I left for California. He is very well-regarded at Court from what I know. He's also a close friend of the Viscount of Castillo de Almansa, who, in turn, is a friend of the king's. I believe it was the Viscount who introduced Señor Risendo at court."
"And the reason for his presence in Los Angeles?"
"The special war tax, of course, as you just mentioned."
"That might have been his initial reason. But what I am interested in knowing is why has he returned after barely making it with the money collected to Mexico City? And why has he decided to become a haciendado in Los Angeles?
"I… you are the first to tell me he's decided to return. That is rather unusual…"
"More unusual is the fact that he only collected taxes from Los Angeles…"
"No… You must be mistaken. As per my information, he had been tasked with collecting 10,000 from the entire territory."
"Really? Yet my lawyer informed me that Don Alejandro de la Vega used the money received in exchange for his estate to pay 31,000 to the man – a sum the Emissary had requested as overdue rent on the don's – now – former property, and the missing sum till 20,000 pesos he had claimed from the Los Angelinos."
"I… You seem better informed than I am, Your Excellency," the governor admitted, rather embarrassed.
"I do believe it best to first learn all I can about the people I interact with," he said.
"Oh… Everyone?"
"Of course."
The official gulped for a moment as he stared across the table at his interlocutor, wondering, yet not daring to ask what the man knew about him.
"And… May I ask what your business is in Monterey, Your Excellency?"
"I make it my purpose to deposit part of my money in some of the banks in the area in which I live. That way, I never have to travel with any. Besides, I also want to explore the territory here and meet the most influential haciendados in the area. Contacts are just as important as information, don't you think so?"
"Ah… Si, of course, Your Excellency. And, after that, you'll be heading for Los Angeles?"
"Indeed."
The governor found it safer to direct the rest of the conversation towards travels and cuisine, spending an entire hour describing to the young man, in full detail, all he had had to eat in various locations on his way from Spain. When he finally left, Diego breathed relieved as he was joined by Felipe.
"That kind of man is the kind who cares about nothing and no one but himself and his own skin." He told the boy. "All he wants is enough money to retire and stuff his belly all day."
The boy signed, disappointed.
Diego shook his head pensively. "No… He's not a very good man," he said. "However, after tonight's discussion, I believe he is the kind of man who could be very useful to the count…" the caballero replied pensively.
A couple of days later, after making the acquaintance of several of the other influential dons of the capital – including his own uncle and aunt, who, not having seen him in over a decade, had no chance to recognize him – Diego, together with Felipe, again boarded the ship that had brought them there, leaving a few of the servants behind to care for the house, and headed for Los Angeles.
