"Don Alejandro," Maria, the housekeeper, called a while later, "there's a message for you from Señorita Escalante."
"A message from Victoria?"
"Si, Señor," she confirmed, handing him a small envelope. "A man just delivered it."
He took it and opened it. "Did he say anything when he gave you this?" the elderly don asked after reading the first couple of lines.
"No, Senor. Only that I should deliver it to you as soon as possible."
"Gracias, Maria," he uttered, dismissing the servant, and returning to reading the note.
It was short but rather inexplicable from his point of view. Victoria was asking him to meet her at the old Mission as soon as possible, mentioning that it was of extreme importance for him to do so. And, while the request seemed strange to say the least, it was in the young woman's handwriting, so he decided to do what he was being asked.
Leaving the note on a table, he, thus, informed Maria that he was leaving for a few hours, then mounted his favorite mare and left, heading east.
ZZZ
During the following two hours after the bandits captured them, Gilberto and Victoria had been forced to ride towards the Mission of Saint Gabriel which, after the last padre had proved a bandit, seeing how no other monk dared make the journey to Los Angeles to take over the running of the Mission, had remained abandoned.
After checking all the rooms to make sure no neophytes were still there, the two bandits accompanying Victoria and Gilberto helped their prisoners down from their horses. Next, they forced them into one of the small rooms there, taking off their gags, and allowing them to have some water before leaving them alone.
"Señorita? Are you hurt?" Gilberto asked Victoria. He felt miserable and looked just how he felt, but he was also inwardly rejoicing about how well his plan was going thus far.
"Why did you do that? Why did you have to come to my rescue? You should have headed for town to inform De Soto!" Victoria answered.
"I was afraid those men might hurt you… I just wanted to help," he said.
"And now what good you can do? We are both their prisoners!"
"I know… Perhaps I can untie my knots…" he said, starting to work on the task.
"I will try, as well…" Victoria told him.
About an hour later, as they heard the third bandit arriving at the Mission, the newcomer and his cohorts entered the room in which they were being kept.
"We were thinking, Señorita," one of the men uttered, "that, while we took you in the hopes to get a reward on you, perhaps you could also offer us some entertainment in the meantime…" Saying that, the man grabbed Victoria, forcing her up, and dragging her outside.
"No! No! Let me go," she shouted, doing her best to resist being dragged out and free herself from the man's grip.
"If you touch a hair on her head, I will slit your throats, you bastards!" Gilberto threatened, quite convincingly.
The men stopped in their way for a few moments. "I very much doubt you can do that with your hands tied behind your back señor!" the man holding Victoria said just before closing the door behind him.
Gilberto smiled at that, and freed his hands before untying his feet. After doing that, he neared the door, through which he could see outside, and just remained there, watching.
As for Victoria, she was pushed to the ground, then the men took turns threatening her, telling her about what they would do to her, and describing all the agony they were to cause her. They didn't make a move, though, until hoof beats started being heard near the place.
Right then, one of the bandits mounted Victoria, who was lying helpless on the ground, groping her as he did and causing the young woman to scream for help.
"Victoria!" Don Alejandro shouted and hurried to dismount, and charged the man hurting the young woman, pushing him off of her.
A short fight ensued, the elderly caballero punching the thug twice before the other bandits decided to intervene, one of them hitting him in the head and leaving him unconscious.
"No! Don Alejandro!" Victoria shouted as she reach for the caballero to check on him.
"Don't worry, wench! He's not dead," the bandit leader said, grabbing Victoria and pulling her to him. "That would not be in our best interest, would it?" he asked before kicking the unconscious don in the stomach, the pain causing him to return to his senses. "Welcome back among us, Don Alejandro!" he said, giving the old man a few moments to remember where he was.
The elderly caballero looked up to see him holding a knife to Victoria's throat.
"We have a deal to offer you." the bandit told him then. "As we have come to know, you recently entered in possession of a small fortune; one that is currently kept in the Bank of Los Angeles. We are willing to offer you your freedom and that of this young señorita here in exchange for the 87,000 pesos in your account. All you have to do is bring the money to us by four in the afternoon.
"Unless you return in time with the requested amount, or if you return accompanied or followed, be it by lancers or anyone else, you will never see this lovely Señorita again! Not alive, at least… Her dead body will surely surface in a ravine somewhere… sometime during the next week or so."
"If you dare touch one hair on her head…"
"We'll do far worse than that, I assure you!" the bandit leader said.
"And I assure you that, should any harm come to Victoria, I will let no stone unturned until I find and bring you all to justice!" the don promised.
"That won't give her life back, though, will it? Think very well about your decision, Señor! Now leave! And remember not to be late!"
Saying that, he forced the young woman back into the room they had previously kept her in as the elderly don mounted his horse and started for Los Angeles.
ZZZ
Diego had spent that morning as Zorro, hoping he might be able to track down the escaped bandits. It was already noon when, finding the remains of an abandoned camp, he realized the men had headed south, and directed Tornado that way. The tracks, however, he lost in the hills, so, a little after midday he decided to give up and return to the hacienda.
"Did my father ask about me at lunchtime?" he asked Felipe as he was changing clothes in the cave.
The boy signed that the don had not been home for lunch.
"He must have gone to the pueblo to have lunch, then…" Diego concluded.
Again, Felipe, shook his head, and signed that he had not, then added that Victoria had not been in the tavern at lunchtime, either.
"That's unusual, is it not? Did you happen to hear where she went?"
"Pilar said that she had left to visit Señor Bruno and his family," Felipe signed. "But she seemed worried that she had not yet returned."
"I see…" Diego said worriedly. "In that case, I think we should head for the pueblo to find out if she returned in the meantime, or if there's any news of her. In the meantime, try to find out if anyone here knows anything about my father's whereabouts."
Felipe nodded and, realizing the caballero was about to leave without his normal disguise, stopped him and offered him his fake beard.
"Right… The count should go to the pueblo…" Diego said with an embarrassed smile.
ZZZ
"Your Excellency," Don Emilio called as the young man walked through the door, signing for him to join him and his companions at their table, "I hear you might be in need of a new ranch manager."
"Oh? Why would you think that Don Emilio?" the young nobleman asked with some confusion as he sat down.
"Well… Rumor has it that Don Alejandro just cleared his bank account and left the pueblo. If I were you, I'd check his own bank account is all he cleared…"
"And when was that?" the young man wanted to know.
"A couple of hours ago, I believe… Don't tell me he didn't even say goodbye…"
"No…" he couldn't avoid looking quite dumbfounded. "Is Señorita Escalante here?" he then asked Pilar, hoping the young woman might give him more information had she returned.
"No. She left this morning for Señor Bruno's house. She normally returns in an hour or two, but she hasn't yet, Your Excellency." The woman replied.
Nodding pensively, the Count took his goodbyes from the dons and left in a hurry, ordering his driver to head at full speed toward the house inhabited by the poor farmer and his family, only to find out Victoria had not arrived there that day.
Thanking the man for the information by leaving him a small pouch filled with money, the count instructed his driver to return him to the hacienda. Once there, he jumped down before the carriage fully stopped, and hurried inside the house. "Fariz," he called as soon as he entered, and his ward appeared in but a few moments. "have you found out anything about… my father?" he asked, pausing for a few seconds before the last two words to make sure he wasn't being heard.
The boy nodded before starting to sign his reply.
"He received a message this morning from Victoria, and left without telling where he was going, only that he'd be away for a few hours…" the Count interpreted.
Fariz confirmed he had gotten it right.
"What about the note? Did he take it with him?"
Fariz shrugged his shoulders.
"Where is Maria?" the Count asked but didn't wait for an answer. "Maria," he called, heading for the kitchen.
"Patron…" the woman greeted her, baffled to see him there.
"Where is my… Don Alejandro… Where is he?"
"I don't know, Patron. As I told Fariz, he left earlier…"
"How about the note? Did he take it with him?"
"No… It's on the small table in the library..."
The count didn't thank the woman for the information, just hurried to find and read the note, then made sure nobody was watching and, Fariz on his heels, hurried towards the cave.
ZZZ
Don Alejandro arrived at the mission just some ten minutes before four pm, having had to take a wagon to transport the money the bandits had requested.
"So… You do care about the woman…" one of the men concluded disparagingly.
"I did as you asked. Now let Victoria go!" he ordered.
"We'll have to check first…" the leader told him and headed for the wagon, opening the coins-filled sacks one by one.
"It's all there. You are welcome to count it. Just let Victoria go now!"
"I'm afraid we can't do that." The man said, pointing a gun at the don.
"You bastards! I did as you wanted."
"True. And we will keep our part of the bargain, but, since we don't want anyone to give the alarm, I fear we'll have to tie you up and leave you here. By the time you find a way to free yourselves, we'll be out of reach and quite wealthy…" Saying that, the man ordered his companions to tie up Don Alejandro and take him to the room they had been using as jail cell.
"Victoria, are you alright?" he asked as he saw the young woman.
"Si, Don Alejandro," she confirmed.
It was only then that Don Alejandro noticed the other prisoner. "Risendo?" he asked, baffled. "What are you doing here?"
"He tried to help me, but got himself caught instead," Victoria explained.
"We heard what they demanded," Gilberto said.
The young woman sighed. "Don Alejandro… You can't give all your money to those bandits!"
"I already did, Victoria. Money is just money. You are worth far more to me than my fortune."
Gilberto watched him in disbelief but inwardly glad his plan had worked to perfection thus far. "You gave them all your money to save the Señorita?"
"I never valued money, Señor. It's nothing but a means to an end. Family is far more precious to me and, as I once told you, Victoria is the closest thing to family that I have left."
"Perhaps you shouldn't have been so careless with your family then…"
"Careless?"
"I know you recently lost your son. But I also know years had passed since last you heard of him. How come you never tried to find out why?"
"Of course, I did! I hired detectives in Spain to look for him and wrote to everyone I still know in the Old World. None found any trace of Diego… But I never gave up… Had I only known… Had I known I would never see him again, I wouldn't have allowed him to leave for university. But it was his dream to see Spain and to finish his studies. He said it was so that he might come back and improve life for the people here…"
"All he ever wanted was to help others," Victoria confirmed his words. "It's what I loved most about him…"
"And probably the reason why you are still pining for him… Do you perhaps believe he was just as faithful to you while in Spain?" Gilberto demanded to know.
"Of course! I know he was! Diego was never the kind of man to go back on his promises or to betray those he loved. And I know he always loved me…" the young woman uttered.
"He did love you, my dear. He almost canceled his departure several times because he found it too hard to leave you."
Gilberto had been doing his best to asses if the people before him were telling the truth and finding himself somewhat confused at realizing they were. "And you never had other sons than him?" he asked.
"No," the don replied, to the young man's surprise, also quite sincerely. "Diego was my only child. My Felicidad was never able to conceive again after my son was born."
"And you never thought of remarrying?"
"Once… to a widow, I was in correspondence with a few years back. When I found out Diego had gone missing, though, I stopped all correspondence with her, and put all my energy and resources into trying to find him."
"And you have no niece or nephew?"
"I do. A nephew from my second cousin. He's a few years younger than Diego would have been, had he lived…"
"No… I mean, you did have a brother once, did you not?"
"I did. Alfonso. My twin brother. He was born a few minutes before me. We had big plans, he and I… yet he died too quickly…" Don Alejandro replied, sadness clear in his voice. "But what is the meaning of these questions, Señor? What is it you want to know about me, and why?" he went on asking.
"You mentioned not having any family left except for Señorita Escalante. I was just curious..." Gilberto said, trying to downplay his interest.
"How about you, then? Do you have anybody else but your mother - who we are still to properly meet?"
"A father. One who abandoned me when I was born because of a birth defect... I also had a twin brother, but he is dead now." Risendo replied, wondering if his words were going to clue in Don Alejandro as to his true identity.
"I am sorry to hear it." The don replied, clearly clueless. "That can't have been easy – being rejected by a parent and losing your only brother. God knows how much it pained me to lose mine… How curious you also had a twin…"
"Yes… And no, it was not easy. In fact, I can say it made me the man I am now."
"Well, forgive me for saying so, Señor," Don Alejandro replied, "but if your father abandoned you, he never deserved having a son in the first place."
Gilberto remained silent at that. The don's reaction was by no means the one he had expected, and that baffled him beyond words. Still, he was hardly a rational man at that point, consumed by hatred as he was. In truth, harboring even the slightest suspicion that what he knew to be truth were, in fact, lies, meant that all he had done was never justified. Diego's imprisonment and, for all he knew, consequent death in Chateau d'If were not justified. His father's grief and all he had lost were not justified. That he could not accept. It was, in truth, a self-defense mechanism that prevented him from even contemplating that possibility for, in his mind, he was the just one, and righteousness was on his side.