“And how did you know that?” asked Will, walking to meet him.

Francisco stuck the cigarette behind his ear and shrugged casually, but there was something in his manner that suggested nervousness or fear. Will noticed a welt under his right eye, and he was sweating heavily and breathing hard, though that might have resulted from running all the way to the harbor.

“How stands everything, Francisco?” Will asked, probing circumspectly. “Sta bien?”

“Bien. Except we have not seen my sister all day. My uncle is looking for her right now. Know where she is?”

His heart flipping, Will affected a look of indifference and shook his head.

“Oh, sure, how would you know?” Francisco half turned to glance briefly at one of the large carriages called volantes as it rattled down the quayside street, through the long afternoon shadows cast by the trees and buildings lining the waterfront. “But listen, Tío Enrique, he felt bad that he did not find you a boat for your dollar,” he said. “So he bought you a present with it for your voyage, tu sabe? And he sent me down here and said to make sure I gave it to you before you left.” Francisco pulled a package of Duke’s from his shirt pocket and, with a tight smile, handed it to Will. “They were difficult to find, but Tío found them, I stole one,” the boy confessed, gesturing at his ear. “Lo siento, I could not resist. They are rare.”

“Keep it,” Will said, and then, feeling he could not accept anything from a man like Tío Enrique, stuffed the package back into Francisco’s pocket. “Keep them all. I’ve quit smoking.”

The boy tucked in his chin and glanced down at the cigarettes, befuddled. He removed the package and again pressed it on Will.

“Por favor … Tío, he will be … If I take the gift he meant for you … He’ll be angry with me.”

“Oh, all right,” Will said in English. He pocketed the Duke’s and held out his hand. “Gracias. Hasta luego, Francisco.”

“Hasta luego.… Oh … y tome está también,” the boy said, reaching into his back pocket with his left hand while his right clasped Will’s.

Will heard a distinct, metallic click and felt a sharp pricking in his belly, but did not see Francisco’s hand move because it moved too fast to see, fast as a snake striking, a split-second thrust and withdrawal. “Esto es de mi tío y mi, por singarla, cabrón,” he spat, and then bolted to the quay and vanished behind the stalls of a fish market, all in no more than five seconds.