Dillinger - Jack Higgins [39]
'If there's anyone still alive back there they're going to die anyway,' Dillinger said. 'At least we'd be giving them a sporting chance.'
He crawled back along the tunnel past the line of Indians and emerged into bright sunlight. The whole village seemed to be there, women and children included, some squatting on the earth, others standing as they waited patiently.
Dillinger thought, whoever thinks robbing a bank is dangerous ought to try this some time.
An Indian handed him a bucket of water and he raised it to his lips, drinking deeply before pouring the rest over his head and shoulders. Then he noticed Rivera.
'How bad?' Rivera asked.
'We've gone as far as we can with pick and shovel. There's a five-ton slab blocking our way.'
'Have you tried splitting it?'
'It would take hours by hand,' Dillinger said. 'Dynamite is the only answer.'
'It could also bring the whole place down.'
'Maybe, but there are at least twenty men in there according to Rojas. If we don't get them out within three or four hours they'll be dead.'
'You don't even know that they are alive now.'
'For Christ's sake, we've got to try,' Fallon said.
'He's right,' Dillinger said. 'They deserve some sort of chance.'
Rivera said, 'I am not going to destroy the source of gold to save a few Indians. You can try to reach them with pick and shovel. On no account will you use dynamite.'
'We'll see about that,' Dillinger said.
As Dillinger turned to go, he heard Fallon's 'Watch out!' Rivera had levelled the revolver in his hand at the back of Dillinger's skull.
'One false move and you're dead,' Rivera said. Then called out, 'Are you there, Rojas?'
'Yes, patron.' Rojas had three Mestizos beside him now, all armed.
'Excellent. Now this is what I want. You, Fallon, get back into the mine and keep the men digging around the big slab. No dynamite!'
'Yes, senor,' Fallon said like a beaten man.
'As for you,' Rivera said to Dillinger, 'your friend Rojas will sit alongside you as you drive your pretty white car back to Hermosa where you will be turned over to the authorities, who will advise their American counterparts that they have captured the man in the white convertible. Understood? You are finished here.'
Dillinger looked around at what 'here' represented. A crowd of rescue workers and their women. Rose, watching him from less than fifty feet away helplessly. Next to her, in black, Father Tomas. And far behind them, standing on an outcrop of rock, Ortiz and two of his warriors.
Dillinger knew instinctively how men like Rivera control a community by their harshness in public. He would not hesitate to shoot 'as an example to others'. The easiest one to shoot and get away with was the big-shot gringo who was an escapee from the law in his own country.
To Dillinger's surprise, it was Father Tomas who came forward.
Immediately Rivera waved his revolver in his direction. 'Do not come closer, Father.'
Father Tomas did not miss a step until he was close enough to Rivera to touch him. He touched the left arm, the one without the gun, and said, 'Please, Senor Rivera, this man from America is right. We must try quickly to save the lives of those souls who are entombed in the mine. If the only way to work quickly is dynamite, let it be dynamite. If God wills, the men will be rescued alive.'
'And if God doesn't will, the mine will collapse and not another ounce of gold ore will be gotten out of there. Let go of my arm, Father. Tend to God's business, not mine.'
'Please, let the men be rescued,' Father Tomas said, 'and put that thing away.' He reached for Rivera's gun arm, and in that same instant, Rivera turned to face him and point blank shot Father Tomas in the forehead. The force of the bullet sent Father Tomas back into the dirt, as people gasped and cried out.
'Rivera,' Dillinger said, 'you are a son of a bitch and a coward.'
Rojas was about to strike Dillinger when a voice, louder than the crash of thunder, was heard. It was Ortiz, standing on the rock with his two warriors. 'Rivera,' he boomed, 'as God is my witness, you are