Tabio's jaw sagged open. He fell forward against his knees. The doctors took him by the shoulders and moved him into a prone position. His eyes, still open, stared at everything and nothing, glass now.
"Cariño mío!" his wife sobbed, but at an unspoken order from one of the doctors Simon led his mother to a chair in the corner and kept her still. Lavandero, Gonzales and Hall left the chamber for the library.
"What happened to Anibal?" Lavandero asked Gonzales.
The doctor shook his head. "It is the end," he said. "Don Anibal will never speak again."
"You lie!"
"No, Esteban." He turned to Hall. "His last words were to you, compañero."
"Christ Almighty!"
"For God's sake, tell me what happened to Anibal!"
"He fell into a coma. I think it is a stroke." Gonzales sat heavily in one of the leather chairs, began to fumble in his pocket for another adrenalin vial. His fingers began to become frantic in their impotence. "I—I ..."
Hall caught his head as he started to collapse. He reached into the doctor's pocket, found the adrenalin and used it.