Flame of Diablo (26 page)

Colombian Romeo. I suppose this—

Rodriguez may insist we go on with the

ransom demand.'

'But we can't,' she protested. 'I told you

Grandfather has been very ill. To get

such a demand would be the death of

him.'

'And I suppose to have the pair of us

simply vanish off the face of the earth

will do him all the good in the world,' he

snapped. Then a look of contrition came

over his face. 'Oh, love, I'm sorry. I don't

know what I'm saying half the time. This

past two weeks, all I've had to do is lie

here on this damned bed and be

frightened out of my wits. I'm not

thinking straight any more.'

'I know,' she said gently. 'Mark, was it

the Flame of Diablo you came to find ?'

He flushed. 'Yes, if you must know.

There are so many stories about it, I

thought it couldn't possibly be all myth.'

His voice hushed. 'Can you imagine,

Rachel, a fortune contained in one green

stone you could carry in the palm of your

hand?'

'Yes, I can quite imagine. Oh, God, I

wish Miguel Arviles had kept his mouth

shut! Mark, can't you see—if it ever

existed at all, it will have been found

years ago. It's probably part of—a

hundred engagement rings by now.

Besides, isn't it also part of the story that

the Flame of Diablo has a curse on it?'

'Oh, that,' he shrugged. 'That's just

superstition.'

'Is it?' she asked drily. 'Are things going

so wonderfully well in your life just at

the moment?'

'Don't be daft,' he muttered defensively.

'I didn't catch a glimpse of any emeralds,

large Or small.'

'No, but you went looking, and perhaps

for the old gods, that's enough,' she said

quietly.

He looked beyond her to the door. 'I see

they've got their fire started,' he

commented, clearly glad to change the

subject.

Rachel swung round and looked at the

flickering light which illumined the

grating. The door swung open and

Rodriguez looked in.

It is time,
chiquita
,' he observed almost

jovially. He stood back and two of his

men came in. One of them unlocked the

padlock and removed the chain from

Mark's leg, and the other pulled him to

his feet. He could hardly stand and he

cried out in pain as they tried to march

him to the door.

Rachel swung round to Rodriguez, a

protest quivering on her lips. But she did

not utter it. As their eyes met, she

seemed to see him properly for the first

time—a soulless predator who was

quite indifferent to the suffering of

others, and she had no wish to amuse

him by embarking on useless pleas for

mercy. Her head high, she followed

Mark out into the courtyard.

The bonfire they had lit illumined every

corner. Even the big gate had been

dragged off what remained of its hinges

and piled on top. As she looked round,

Rachel realised that Rodriguez' gang

only consisted of half a dozen men, but

they were all armed. Carlos was there,

skulking in a corner, and she guessed he

was not officially part of the gang.

Perhaps an informer that they used from

time to time, she thought with contempt,

remembering

the

eager

voice

volunteering the fatal news.

Rodriguez took up his stance in the

middle of the courtyard.

'Vitas!'

he

bellowed.

'Vitas

de

Mendoza!' His voice seemed to echo and

re-echo in the stillness of the night. 'We

have your pretty one,
amigo.
If you wish

to see her once again as she was the last

time you held her in your arms, then

come down to us now.'

Only the silence answered him, a long

and terrible blank. Rachel's hands

twisted together until the knuckles

whitened. A soundless prayer repeated

over and over again in her mind. Don't

let him come. Please don't let him come.

'Vitas!' Rodriguez shouted again, and she

could see in the firelight the muscle

jumping in his face which meant he was

angry. 'This is your last chance, and the

last chance of your
enamorador.
I count

to ten, and then I give her to my men to

play with.'

'Don't shout, Rodriguez.' He was

suddenly standing just outside the circle

of firelight, his hat tipped over his face.

'I may be half blind, thanks to your good

offices, but I am by no means deaf.'

Rachel whispered imploringly, 'Vitas—

no!' But perhaps she only uttered the

words in her heart, because he did not

even give her a glance as he stepped

forward.

'So we meet again,
amigo
.' Rodriguez'

chest rose and fell as he studied the tall

lean figure standing composedly before

him.

'A meeting I have long desired,' Vitas

said courteously.

Rodriguez began to shake with laughter.

'But not quite in these circumstances, eh?

You had other ideas. Other notions.' He

spat contemptuously. 'You are not the

first, and you will not be the last.'

Vitas spoke softly. 'So—you have me.

And that is what you wanted. But the

woman—and the man—you don't want

them, Rodriguez. You don't need them.'

Rodriguez' smile widened. 'No,
amigo
?

Perhaps it is true. Perhaps I will let them

go—but only to the highest bidder, you

understand.' He sniggered. 'Carlos

Arnaldez has a fancy for the girl. Can

you offer a higher price?'

Vitas said evenly, 'Perhaps. What do you

want?'

Rodriguez pretended to consider. His

glee was horrible, Rachel thought with a

weird detachment.

'What can I ask from the young lord of

the Llanos?' he pondered. 'His private

plane to fly me wherever I wish to go?

One of his vast herds of cattle? Ten

million
pesos?

Vitas stood waiting, his hands resting

lightly on his narrow hips.

'But no,' Rodriguez slapped his thigh as

if a thought had suddenly come to him.

'I'll ask for something I asked another

member of your family for a long time

ago. Perhaps you will be more

amenable.' His eyes were suddenly

fierce. 'Give me the map,' he said. 'The

map which shows where the Flame of

Diablo can be found.'

Beside her, Rachel heard Mark gasp

loudly in excitement. Her face burned as

Vitas turned slowly to look at them. His

gaze was cynical and contemptuous as it

travelled over her, then, as it reached the

fair-haired boy at her side, she saw him

stiffen slightly. He had just assimilated

the twin facts that Mark was not only

younger than she was, but also a blood

relation, she thought guiltily.

Vitas turned back to Rodriguez. 'There is

no map,' he said, flatly. 'The secret of the

Diablo mine has been passed down from

father to son for generations in my family

without a line being drawn or a word

being written. That has been its

safeguard.'

'Safeguard!' Rodriguez sneered. 'What

safeguard was there from your grasping

ancestors?'

Vitas said laconically, 'No one from my

family has ever benefited from the

Diablo mine. We recognised early in our

history that the mine was a sacred place

to the old gods. Only my great-

grandfather did not want to believe that

and he gave the money for the foundation

of this mission'—his lips twisted—'to

Christianise the valley, and drive the old

gods out.' He shrugged. 'You see for

yourself what success he met with.'

'Stories to frighten children,' Rodriguez

muttered. 'But I am not frightened, and

tomorrow you will show me where the

Diablo mine is to be found. That is the

price I ask in order to let the
Inglesa
go.'

'Both the girl—and her brother.' Only

Rachel caught the slight stress which

Vitas placed on the last word.

Rodriguez waved his hands impatiently.

'Both—both. But

' his fleshy lips

stretched in a fixed smile, 'you
amigo,
I

shall not let go. I should have killed you

years ago, but instead I decided to be

merciful. It is always a mistake, and you

have caused me many problems.' His

voice thickened. 'But after tomorrow,

you will be no problem at all.'

Vitas' whole attention seemed to be

concentrated on lighting one of his

cigars. 'As you say,' he observed non-

committally

when

the

task

was

completed to his satisfaction.

'Take him away.' Rodriguez gestured,

and two of his men stepped forward. 'Put

him in the room at the end. And no peed

to tie him up,' he added, grinning. 'If he

runs away in the night, he knows well

what will happen to his woman in the

morning.'

Rachel watched them take him. He did

not even spare Mark or herself a glance

as he went by. She swallowed. She had

tricked him and disastrously disobeyed

him in the space of twenty-four hours,

and yet to save her, he was giving up a

cherished family secret, and ultimately,

unless a miracle occurred, his own life.

'And tuck our two little pigeons up for

the night,' Rodriguez directed. 'Put the

girl in the cell next to her brother. They

can knock on the wall to each other,' he

added with a chuckle.

She walked past the man who tried to

take her arm and approached Rodriguez.

She said, 'I want to ask you a favour.'

'Ask on,
chiquita.''
His tone was bland,

but there was suspicion in the hard dark

eyes.

'You said that being merciful was a

mistake,' she said steadily. 'Well, I want

you to make one more mistake. Please

don't shut me up in a cell on my own. Let

me spend this last night with Senor de

Mendoza.'

For a moment he stared at her

incredulously, and then he began to

laugh. 1 like you,
Inglesa,'
he choked. 'A

night for the lord of the Llanos to

remember, eh, before all memories

cease for him. Go to him,
chica,
and tell

him he has Rodriguez to thank for this.'

The leer of the guard followed her into

the room. The door swung to behind her,

and she heard the thud as the heavy bar

which secured it dropped into place.

Then there was silence.

CHAPTER NINE

The room was not completely dark. A

small lamp, consisting of a dish of some

kind of grease with a cotton wick

floating in it, stood on a chair near the

narrow bed.

Vitas was stretched full-length on the

bed, his hands linked at the back of his

neck. Rachel stood and looked at him,

remembering with a pang how short a

time it was since she had entered that

hotel room in Asuncion and found him

lying on her bed waiting for her. Then,

she had been able to fight the physical

attraction she felt for him with fear and

mistrust, and since that time she had

forged herself other weapons to use

against him. But tonight she was

defenceless.

Slowly he turned his head arid looked at

her.

'What do you want?' he asked flatly.

She moistened her lips with the tip of

her tongue. She hadn't expected him to

leap up and seize her in his arms after

all that had happened, but she had

expected more encouragement than that.

'I've come to—be with you. Rodriguez

said I must tell you that you have him to

thank.'

'Rodriguez can go to the hell that is

surely waiting for him,' he said savagely.

'And you may go with him. And take

your pity with you.'

'I'm not here out of pity,' she protested.

'Your

gratitude,

then.

You

are

transparent, Raquel, do you know that?

You imagine I am about to gallantly

make the supreme sacrifice for you so