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“Your car is ready too,” said Pepe. “No charge. I’m sorry for what we did to you. Maybe when you’re back in the big world, you’ll tell people we weren’t so bad.”
The door opened, and the crowd parted to let a small group of townspeople enter the clinic. Sam and Remi recognized many of them. Señor Alvarez, the restaurateur, seemed to have been chosen as a spokesman. “Señor and Señora Fargo,” he said. “What just happened was exactly what you said would happen. Those men came from the Estancia Guerrero. Instead of asking to look at the old stronghold peacefully, they made us watch them murder the mayor. They’re going to take our town and the stronghold and even our homes and families. We won’t ever be able to complain, because they’ll keep us deep in the Estancia. If we try to get help, they can kill all of us, and there will be nobody left to say what happened. We were wondering—I know it’s more than anyone has a right to ask—if you would stay and help us fight.”
Remi said, “After what just happened? Of course we’ll stay.”
“I have to warn you that we’re not soldiers,” said Sam. “But we’ll do everything we can to help.”
Dr. Huerta said, “You fought the men who were guarding the marijuana fields and won—just the two of you.”
“They attacked us, we defended ourselves for a while, and then we got away. That’s not winning.”
“You killed a dozen of them and you’re just fine,” Huerta said. “I call that a victory—a big one.”
Sam said, “I don’t think we’d have much chance against these people in a fight. They’re heavily armed with modern weapons, they’re trained and organized, and they’ve clearly fought before. Our best chance is to keep trying to get the authorities to protect the town.”
“I agree,” said Dr. Huerta. “I hope we can, and we will keep trying. But we should also be ready to fight.”
“Yes,” said Señor Alvarez. “We’re all willing to fight, but all we have is five days before they come back. We need to start preparing.”
“I’ll get started by making a few phone calls,” said Sam. He put an arm around Remi’s waist, and they stepped toward the door.
“But you’re going to stay?” said Dr. Huerta.
Remi said, “You bet we are. When he’s all gruff like that, it means he’s digging in.”
“Thanks,” Sam said.
“Just don’t get in any more trouble for now.”
“No, we’ve got enough to last us.”
Sam hung up and called the number of the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala City. He identified himself and asked for Amy Costa.
In a surprisingly short time, he heard Amy’s voice. “Sam!” she said. “Good to hear from you. Is everything all right?”
“I’m afraid not,” Sam said. “We’re in the town of Santa Maria de los Montañas, maybe twenty miles west of the Estancia Guerrero.” He told her about the truckload of armed men arriving, the demands, and the murder.
“Oh, Sam,” she said. “I can hardly believe this. You said they gave the town a deadline. What is it?”
“They said they’d be back in five days to get the signed agreements and presumably to move the townspeople to barracks on the Estancia. But it doesn’t seem to matter much to these guys how the town gets vacated. They drilled the mayor in front of two hundred witnesses.”
“Five days,” Amy Costa said. “It’s the worst possible timing. Commander Rueda is the only one we can count on to react the way we want and he’s suspended for the next thirty days.”
“I’m sure that isn’t a coincidence.”
“Sarah Allersby makes her own coincidences,” said Amy.
“Can you get us any help?”
“I’ll try. But the high-ranking officers all know what happened when Rueda agreed to go after Sarah Allersby. It will take time to get somebody else to stick his neck out.”
Sam said, “Do you know of any way we can get some weapons to defend the town?”
Amy said, “Weapons? I’m sorry, but involvement in unauthorized firearms transactions would get the embassy expelled from the country. And it would require going all the way up the chain of command to get permission at the highest levels. Some of my superiors don’t see Sarah Allersby as our business. They think the locals should take care of her.”
“Let’s just hope the townspeople are still alive when that happens.”
THE ESTANCIA GUERRERO