“Dios!” she breathed.
But the woman Inez, after blinking her eyes at the unexpected apparition, screeched her rage and darted to a corner, where she picked up a heavy bar of iron. She whirled toward the intruder, the bar raised to strike. But Captain Ramón laughed and held up his hand.
“Do not be afraid of me, hag!” he told the woman. “I wear the uniform of the Governor’s soldiery, it is true, but I am the good friend of Barbados! I am Captain Ramón, of Reina de Los Angeles!”
“Ha!” the woman gasped. She dropped the bar of iron and stood with arms akimbo. “So you are Captain Ramón?”
“Sí!”
“That must be true, else you would not have lived to get to this building,” Inez said. “And why are you here?”
“To see the little lady standing behind you,” Ramón said, smiling. “She has been kept safe, I see.”
“You are to claim her?”
“What else?”
“Ha!” Inez gasped. It flashed through her mind, now, that Barbados really had no personal interest in the señorita, and she believed, also, that she had almost been tricked into aiding an important prisoner to escape. A glance at the señorita’s face confirmed her suspicion, for Lolita was not acting now. Inez realized that she would have to speak quickly to save herself.