Miguel sat rocking in his favorite chair—in fact, his only chair—in the darkness in front of his one-room abode in the Valdes warehouse. The room was provided as part of his payment as night watchman for the Valdes Freight Company.
He was thinking of the two American señoritas the Valdes brothers had stolen from their homes and carried away. They were very pretty, too pretty for their own good. The señoritas had been forced into the stagecoach by Carlos and Leo, and the doors lashed shut with lengths of rope to prevent them from jumping from the vehicle and escaping. The stagecoach had sped off into the night with Emanuel driving the two teams of horses and Leo and the pistolero Rafael riding horseback ahead to watch for bandits. Miguel knew the señoritas would never be seen north of the Rio Grande again. Valdes and his sons took whatever they wanted even the women of the tough Americans.
Miguel didn't like the men from north of the river. He had fought with the Mexican Army against the American invaders at the battle for Mexico City in 1847. The Americans had beaten them, with Miguel being wounded in the leg in the fighting. That defeat was a terrible memory even after all the years that had passed. Yet he was sorry to have been part of keeping the señoritas captives.
Miguel felt the presence of something or some person near in the darkness behind him. Before he could turn, a man whispered in Spanish, "Don't move or make a noise and I’ll not kill you."
A hand caught Miguel by the shoulder and another clamped him around the neck. He felt the great strength in the hands and his old heart began to pound wildly. He tried to speak, but couldn't find his voice. He did not think this was a thief who had come to rob the warehouse. This was about the American señoritas, and the man who held him would be very angry and that made him dangerous. Miguel should have expected someone would come and should have locked himself in his room.
"I'll not make a sound," Miguel said, his voice hoarse because of the pressure on his neck.
"Then you're safe," said the unseen man. The man's hands slid down Miguel's sides, found his pistol, and took it from the holster. "Do you have another gun?"
"Yes, a rifle, but it's in the room." The hands caught Miguel by the neck and shoulder again. "I have questions for you."
"Ask me anything," Miguel said. He was frightened about the hand holding him by the neck. The grip was so tight that he could feel the bones of his spine grinding against each other.
"Has any member of the Valdes family been here recently?" Ben asked.
"Yes."
"When?"
"Early today."
"Who?"
"Carlos and Leo."
"Not Ramos?"
"No."
"Any men with them?"
"No. I didn't see any."
"Did they mention anyone? Any Americans? A man named Tattersall?"
Ben decided obtaining information by asking questions was taking too long. "Tell me everything you know and that they said."
"Carlos told Leo to take the American señoritas south. That he was going to stay here and join with this Tattersall to kill a man named Hawkins. Then they both left."
The hand on Miguel's neck clenched down and he gasped at the pain. He was certain that he was going to die. And all because of the Valdes brothers' desire for American women.
After a few seconds, the hand eased its grip and Miguel could breathe again.
"Old man, I think you just lied to me." Ben was surprised at the mentioning of taking the women south. He recalled what Silas had told him about the man he had seen with the woman near the Rio Grande at Canutillo. He had been wearing a large sombrero. What this old man had just said agreed with that. Either Leo or Carlos had been the man with the woman.
"I didn't lie! I didn't!" Miguel exclaimed. "Leo put the señoritas into the stagecoach and left with Rafael. Then Carlos left."
"Two señoritas?"
"Yes, two."
Ben eased his grip on the man's neck. "When did they bring them here?"
"The smaller one last night. It was dark and I had to light a lantern to show them through the warehouse."
"The second one. When?"
"Early today."
"The names of the señoritas, old man? What were their names?"
"I can't remember," Miguel said, wanting the hand to let go of his neck.
"Think fast for I have no time to waste."
Miguel's brain was racing to remember what Leo had called the small señorita. The name came to him. "Leo called her Maude. Yes, Maude was the name of the smaller seriorita, the first one they brought."
"What did she look like? Describe her."
"She was small like I said, and had golden hair, like the sun."
Ben had no doubt that the old man was telling the truth about Maude, for how else could he know her name and the color of her hair? Also, the time was right, enough time for someone to ride from Canutillo to Ciudad Juarez with her.
"Now give me the name of the second one. Be quick about it."
"I don't know it. I never did hear it spoken."
"You lie."
"No, no. The second señorita was brought just before they left. I saw her. But Carlos ordered me to help Emanuel harness the horses and I wasn't close enough to hear what they said."
"All right. What did she look like?"
"Taller than the first one and just as pretty."
"What else do you remember about her?"
"She had strange eyes."
"How strange? Describe them."
"They were green eyes, large green eyes."
Carlos and Leo had kidnapped the two women and carried them south, just as their mother had been kidnapped years before. She had remained with her captor to raise her two sons. Now those sons were imitating their father, and had assumed these women, just as their mother, would remain with them. Ben had come to fight the Valdes family for trying to kill him, only to discover they had kidnapped two young women, one of them Maude.
His anger rose white hot. About the Valdes family wanting retribution for the horses, Ben could understand. But when it came to stealing Maude, that was a fatal error on their part, and Ben would take terrible vengeance.
"That's all I know about the señoritas," Miguel said.
"When did Leo leave?"
"Yesterday morning."
Hours ago, Ben realized. Leo would drive hard and with frequent changes of horses for the stagecoach, could be deep in Mexico by now.
"What are you going to do if I turn you loose?"
"Whatever you tell me to do."
"You will forget that I was ever here."
"That is what I would choose to do. If the Valdes sons found out that I had told what they had done to the señoritas, they would kill me."
"If they didn't, then I would."
The hands released their hold on Miguel. He did not hear the man leave. Yet he knew he was once again alone. He rubbed his sore neck and drew in a deep breath. He shivered at the sweetness of the air.