Page 44 of Vistaria Has Fallen
“What is it?” Calli asked. “Duardo?”
Minnie laughed, even as she cried. “I’m such an idiot. Watching him hanging there yesterday… I would have died if he’d let go, if you hadn’t beenable to hold on for as long as you did, if Nick hadn’t come along.”
Calli’s eyes welled with tears, in reaction to Minnie’s genuine distress. She rubbed her cousin’s shoulder, trying to find something appropriate to say. “It could just be the stress of the occasion,” she offered.
Minnie gave a gigantic sniff, like a little girl. “Yeah and tell me that the way you want Nicolás Escobedo is justthe stress of the moment.”
Calli stayed silent.
“There you go, then,” Minnie said.
* * * * *
Uncle Josh listened in total to silence to all Calli had to say and even Minnie repressed her natural tendency to slide in shocking side commentary. He remained silent for long moments after she had finished, absorbing it all.
He blew out his breath, making his cheeks pop. “I’m glad you were there,Calli. For Minnie’s sake. Thank you for that. What concerns me more, though, is Escobedo’s airy assurance that Americans are safe. Why would we be safe?”
“There’s no advantage to hurting Americans,” Calli explained. “Or anyone but the Vistarian army, who are the power-holders.”
“And how long will it take the rebels to figure out that the army needs us here to get to silver production going?How long after that will they start taking potshots at us?”
Calli had no answer to that. Nick would have and she wished he was here to supply it.
“Can you give me any reason why I shouldn’t phone Dan Mellon right now and recommend we shut down the mine and ship everyone back home?” Josh asked.
“If you do, then the President will have no chance to sort this out. None. The rebels will have won.”
“We’re miners. We can’t get mixed up in their politics.”
“Dad, you threw your lot in with the government just by coming here,” Minnie said. “You can’t leave them to the wolves now.”
“Maybe, maybe not. I don’t like this at all. Knowing this—in a way I wish you hadn’t told me. It’s a responsibility.”
“It is,” Calli agreed. “What if you spoke to Nicolás Escobedo yourself, Uncle Josh? Would thatreassure you?”
He thought about it and shook his head. “It’s not just me I must consider, or even you two. It’s the whole damned company. It’s everyone out here.”
Minnie sat forward on the sofa. “What if Dan Mellon spoke to Nicolás Escobedo? Or even the President?”
“That,” he declared, “would make a difference.” Then he looked at them both. “Don’t tell me you can pull that off?” He looked sharplyat Calli. “You can?”
“Not without Minnie’s help,” Calli said. “Minnie has to make a phone call.”
Joshua turned his head to look at his daughter. Minnie shrugged. “What can I say? It’s thisFemme Fatalequality I have.”
He shook his head. “I get the impression you’re not joking. I don’t think I want the details. Okay, make the call.”
* * * * *
It took one phone call and a great deal of waiting.Eventually the phone rang. Uncle Josh went off to meet with the President, wearing a worried look. He returned several hours later, thought-filled.
“We’re staying. For now,” he added. “Nicolás Escobedo can be very persuasive.”
“What did he say that convinced you?” Calli asked.
“It’s more what he didn’t say. The President was clear about economic impacts, even the impact on the company shouldwe pull up stakes. They have a sophisticated understanding of our own financial situation. He insisted there was no proof the explosion at Dominio de Leo was rebel action. Rebel action or not, it was aimed at the army. No one else. Dan Mellon didn’t accept any of it. That’s when Nicolás leaned forward and said in a quiet way he would personally guarantee no harm would ever come to any American inVistaria. Not one. Because the moment that happened, his country would be lost and he had no intention of losing it to rebels who would run it into the ground inside a generation. Dan Mellon looked at him and nodded. That ended it.”
Minnie smiled.