Read Online DC03 - Though Mountains Fall by Dale Cramer - Free Book Online Page A

My job is to kill bandits. I think you should go hide someplace and let me do my job.”
    One of the soldiers peeked around the corner the whole time, keeping watch on the front of the church. Now he turned to Captain Soto and said, “Capitán, they are waving a white flag.”
    Soto turned his back on Caleb, straightened his tunic and stepped out from the corner to see for himself. He looked back at Domingo and snapped his fingers.
    “ You —come here.”
    Domingo and Caleb both stepped out to where they could see the church. A handkerchief fluttered in the crack of the door, and a head protruded. There was a skullcap on the back of his head.
    “Who is this man?” Soto asked.
    “Father Noceda,” Domingo answered. “The parish priest, and a good man. He must have been trapped in the church when the bandits took it.”
    Soto cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, “What do you want, priest?”
    The door opened a little wider and Father Noceda stepped out, dressed in the full cassock he’d worn for the wedding.
    “These men have requested sanctuary,” he shouted back, “and I must grant it to them. You must not attack this building. It is God’s house.”
    Captain Soto shot a sarcastic glance at his clutch of officers and they broke into quiet laughter, shaking their heads.
    He shouted back, “You are mistaken, priest. Things have changed. Perhaps you have not heard that we have a new presidente. His name is Plutarco Calles, and he does not cower before your God. I am afraid even you will not find sanctuary behind your stone walls. I am hereby decommissioning your church and appropriating the building in the name of the federal government.”
    Soto glanced aside at his men, chuckling. “It will make a good barracks, don’t you think? Easily defended, plenty of room, and there is even a rectory in the back for me and my lieutenants.” He turned his attention back to Father Noceda. “I will give you one minute to make up your mind whose side you are on, priest. After that, we will treat you the same as the murdering thieves who are hiding behind your skirts.”
    The priest surveyed the line of rifles pointed at him from both sides. Without another word he turned slowly and went back inside, but a few seconds later the door opened wide and he was hurled out. Noceda bounced across the portico, cassock flying, and tumbled down the front steps all the way to the bottom.
    He picked himself up very slowly, retrieving his skullcap from the bottom step and dusting it off. The door creaked nearly shut before a shot came from the church door, kicking up a little cloud of dust by the priest’s feet. He jumped back and scurried away as quickly as he could to the nearest building.
    The shot was enough to drive Soto back behind the wall of the store, along with Domingo and Caleb.
    Captain Soto glanced at Domingo. “Who is their leader?”
    “El Pantera.”
    “El Pantera! I have heard of this man. He led a company under Pancho Villa during the Revolution. He is a fierce warrior.”
    Soto stuck his head around the corner and shouted, “El Pantera! Or should I call you Captain Aguilar? It seems the panther has lost his teeth. You are surrounded. There is no escape. Will you surrender?”
    A hard voice growled from the crack in the door. “Come and take me.”
    “Captain Aguilar, I think maybe you have not given enough thought to your predicament. You have chosen a fine place to make your last stand, but now you are trapped between the guns of the hacienda and seventy-five federales. You cannot escape, and it would be foolish to waste the lives of my men attacking such a fortress, so it seems we are at an impasse. I am sure we could devise a way to burn the building down around you, but it’s such a pretty building and I really hate to destroy my new barracks.”
    He chuckled at himself for a few seconds, and his men laughed with him.
    “I think I will wait,” he shouted. “I am a very patient man, Aguilar.