Steve stretched out his legs, hooked one foot lazily over his other ankle and leaned his head back against the wall.

“I think I’m getting the picture here. It wasn’t the senator who planned this. It was you.”

“Of course it was me. After you killed Luna, I had to think of some way to keep the senator interested in mining for silver. He thinks only of railroads, of laying tracks into Mexico to take out copper and silver instead of where the true profit lies. Mules are more efficient, prisoners productive in getting the silver out without Díaz knowing how much is produced. Not even the senator knows just how much ore the Galena has yielded. I am a very wealthy man, Morgan. I will not allow the stupidity of one greedy gringo to ruin it all for me.”

“So you used the senator just like you used Rafael Luna and his desire for vengeance.”

“It was much easier. I had no way of funding the mine. Once I had Brandon interested in financing the production, it was easy enough to manage. Luna was quite clever, but he allowed his lust for a woman to cloud his judgment. If you had not rid me of him, I would have had to do it myself.”

“And now? You have us all here.”

“Yes.” Delgado rose from the chair, tilting back his head to toss down the last of the wine. “You are dangerous to me. You know too much, and you have an annoying habit of destroying my plans.”

“Let the children go. Killing them won’t solve anything.”

“It is unfortunate that they must die, but children die every day. By the time your bodies are discovered out here, you will be old bones. Ramirez!” An armed guard nodded when Delgado said, “Take them out and kill them, then cover the bodies with rock.”

Ginny’s breath caught painfully. Desperate, she hugged Laura and Franco to her, her eyes seeking Steve’s in the hope that he could avert disaster. But he was being dragged to his feet with Paco, both of them shoved toward the door covered with a ragged blanket.

Tante Celine moaned softly as the guards motioned for them to rise, and Ginny remembered the knife she still kept strapped to her thigh.

As the children began to cry, she hushed them, her hands trembling as she stroked their small heads. “It will be all right, little ones,” she comforted them in French. “Listen to me and do whatever I tell you.”

Senator Brandon was hauled from the cot, staggering as he was guided toward the door. The blanket lifted briefly when Steve and Paco emerged, allowing in a shaft of fading light. Then, suddenly, Steve was lunging forward, his arms somehow free of restraint, a gun filling his hand as he tuned, aimed and fired.