AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Isabella held her head up high. “I will face Desperado and I will tame him.” She had no choice. She had no options.
“I heard the men talking, they say Desperado is not like the other bulls you’ve faced.”
Isabella felt her courage falter. She couldn’t let Renata see how she felt. “I will persuade him to submit.” She took Renata’s hands. “Either way, Esteban will be appeased and all of you will be released.” She hoped. She prayed. Isabella didn’t think she would be allowed to survive, no matter the outcome of the bullfight.
Her fate, at this point, wasn’t of consequence. As long as Renata and her friends were allowed to escape, she could handle it. “Take care of Lola for me. And Bonita, I give you Bonita.”
“Hush, we’ll both walk away from this.” Holding Isabella’s hand, she asked the one question Isabella had dreaded. “What of Benedict? Surely, he’ll…”
“No. He doesn’t know about any of this. We…are no more.” An epiphany dawned in Isabella. As if calming angel’s wings settled over her heart, she saw the end from the beginning. A smile came to her lips. “This is for the best. I’m glad he doesn’t know. I’m glad we parted before…” A peace that passed understanding enveloped Isabella. If Bull knew nothing of her fate, he would be safe.
…A little over eight hundred miles away, a Lear jet winged its way from Kerrville to Aguascalientes. Bull sat at the window and watched the clouds go by, his mind on Isabella. All around him sat his friends – Canyon, Josh, Joseph, and his new friend, Mateo. Noah was at the controls, he’d become the designated pilot after the family had decided to acquire a plane. For the other rescue missions, they’d borrowed their friend, Kyle Chancellor’s, jet - that he just happened to be the Governor of the Lone Star state was a bonus. After having seen how many emergencies could arise in such a big family, the McCoys relented and spent a little of the money they had squirreled back. Bull had heard Jacob laugh and say Aron still had the first dime he’d ever made and was holding onto it so tight, his fingerprint was plainly visible in the silver.
“Hey, Bull, everything’s going to be okay. We’ll get there in time and snatch Isabella away before she ever gets within spitting distance of Desperado.”
“Thanks, Josh. I appreciate you all for coming with me.”
“It is our privilege to do this for La Diosa,” Mateo said with near reverence. He’d been doubly impressed to learn of Isabella’s secret identity. “She is very brave. If it were just the bull she faced, I know she would prevail. The evil men, this is who she must not battle alone.”
Bull had no intention of her facing either of them alone. He could still remember Dax telling him that Esteban was known to torture his animals to make them mean. Hurricane had been bad enough, but Desperado…he was a different monster altogether. He shuddered at the thought of his beauty facing the beast.
Before he knew it, Noah was landing the Lear. When they were ready to debark, Mateo hailed a man waiting outside with a long gooseneck trailer and a double-cab truck. Tony Salazar turned the keys over to Mateo with the news that a tool box on the back was filled with pistols, rifles, and ammunition. All the weapons were equipped with silencers. Once Noah had the plane secured and Salazar left the scene with someone who’d followed him to the site, the six men from Texas headed to Terra Dura. “We should have plenty of time, the plane hauling Desperado didn’t arrive until late last night,” Bull said, checking his phone to see if Dax had sent any more details he’d ferreted from Armando.
“What did Kane find out on Esteban?” Joseph asked as they pulled away from the airport.
“I didn’t get to talk to him very long, but I passed on the info Armando had fed us. Basically, he verified what details he could, but the best thing to come out of all of this is the rescue of Doff’s widow and Armando’s sister. They were found locked in an upstairs bedroom, both being held prisoner. If Esteban tries to return to the US, he’ll be picked up at the border.”
“How about Armando? What will happen to him?” Canyon asked, knowing more about the situation than the rest.
Bull shrugged. “I guess I have a new employee. I owe him one, don’t you think?”
Isabella was dragged from her basement prison before dawn, while Renata had been returned to wait with the other hostages. Apparently. Esteban saw fit to allow her to prepare herself. She was permitted to bathe and dress in whatever clothes she deemed appropriate. Isabella felt like a vestal virgin being prepared for sacrifice to a demon god. Only…she wasn’t a virgin and Desperado was no god. He was an angry bull, taught only to attack and attack and attack. His inbred anger had served him well in the rodeo ring, giving the cowboys the epitome of a challenge. None had lasted the full eight seconds, but the real test was not the ride itself, but the task of escaping the deadly horns and hooves of the bull once they were of his back. Desperado was dead set on killing whatever got in his way.
Since this was no ordinary fight, Isabella did not choose to wear the costume of a matador. She laid aside the garments of La Diosa and chose to wear a plain white dress with a scoop neck, no sleeves and a full skirt. She would wear no hat and carry no sword. The cape she chose was her father’s, the full red sail of Romero Miguel. In her hair, she wore a white silk rose, one belonging to her mother. She wished she had something of Benedict’s to carry with her, some talisman to cling to when facing her greatest battle. Since she had no such charm, she carried in her heart the love she felt for him, the love that still lived even though it was unrequited.
“Are you ready, Isabella?”
Her uncle’s voice broke through her reverie. “Is it time?”
“Yes.”
“I daresay you won’t be wishing me luck.” She knew she was worth more dead to him than she ever had been worth alive.
“I think the odds are stacked against you to such an extent that my sentiment will have little bearing.”
Isabella nodded and followed him from her room. As she walked through the hacienda, it occurred to her that this did not feel like home any longer. Perhaps it was the presence of those who wished her ill, a taint that permeated the very walls. Benedict’s small cabin was where she longed to be, the joy she had known there far surpassed any serenity she’d felt here since the death of her parents. More so than surviving, Isabella wished her father and mother’s killer could be brought to justice. As she walked, the notion that none of them would be allowed to escape rose in her breast.
The peace she’d taken comfort from fled and a new phoenix of courage rose from the flames.
She could do this.
Somehow, someway she would survive.
And when she did, she’d see Rodrigo Esteban pay for his crimes.
