Honor Bound (Honor Bound 1)

“You have disappointed me, Cletus,” Frade went on carefully. “A good woman is dead on account of you. And you have lied to me. The estancia is large. You and I will only have to see a little of one another.”

“I want very much to go to Señora Pellano’s funeral, Dad,” Clete said. “But I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to stay at the estancia.”

El Coronel Jorge Guillermo Frade met his son’s eyes, then turned on his heel and walked out of the room. After he passed through the door, Enrico locked it.

Enrico turned, met Clete’s eyes for a moment, and then went to the bed, where he unzipped the suitcase and took from it what seemed to be a Browning twelve-bore self-loading shotgun. He assembled it, then loaded it with five Winchester 00-buck cartridges.

“Browning?” Clete heard himself asking. “A Browning, or an Argentine copy?”

Enrico didn’t reply for a moment, then held the shotgun out to Clete.

“A Remington Model Eleven, mi Teniente,” he said.

Clete examined it and handed it back.

“Marianna was very fond of you, mi Teniente,” Enrico said. “She was always talking to me about you, like you were her son.”

Marianna? Oh. He means Señora Pellano. I never knew her first name. And now she’s dead, because of my stupidity.

“I was very fond of her. I am ashamed she is dead.”

Enrico met his eyes again.

“I have asked the Blessed Virgin to let Marianna know that you avenged her death, so that she may find eternal peace in the company of the angels, knowing you are alive and they are dead.”

“Until just now, I didn’t know you and Señora Pellano were close,” Clete said.

“She was my sister,” Enrico said simply. “I will now protect your life, mi Teniente, with my own. But I would also very much like to kill some Germans myself. Do you perhaps have a name? Or names?”

Jesus, he means all of that. If anyone tries to kill me in here, it would have to be over his dead body. And if I gave him the German ambassador’s name, he’d kill him. Or die trying.

Clete shook his head no.

“I’ll work on this,” Enrico said. “Honor demands that I also avenge her death, even if that is against mi Coronel’s wishes. I will help you in any way I can, especially if it means I can kill Germans.”

And he means that too.

“Thank you, Enrico,” Clete said.

I wonder if that means he would let me go, let me escape from my father’s protection.

Having said his piece, Enrico went on to immediate, practical matters.

“Mi Teniente, where is the telephone?”

“They took it out,” Clete said. And then, curiously: “Who did you want to call?”

“I thought we would have coffee, and perhaps the newspaper, mi Teniente. We will be here a long time.”

“I could use something to eat.”

“Bueno, I will take care of everything,” Enrico said. He walked to Clete and held out the shotgun. “Mi Teniente is familiar with this shotgun?”

“Yes. I’ve got a Browning. They’re about identical.”

“It is loaded, and the safety is off, mi Teniente,” Enrico said, and handed the Remington to Clete.

He walked to the door, pounded on it, and left the room.