Vistaria Has Fallen (The Vistaria Affair/Vistaria Has Fallen #1)(36)

“There’s no advantage to hurting Americans,” Calli explained. “Or anyone but the Vistarian army, who are the power-holders.”

“And how long will it take the rebels to figure out that the army needs us here to get to silver production going? How long after that will they start taking potshots at us?”

Calli had no answer to that. Nick would have and she wished he was here to supply it.

“Can you give me any reason why I shouldn’t phone Dan Mellon right now and recommend we shut down the mine and ship everyone back home?” Josh asked.

“If you do, then the President will have no chance to sort this out. None. The rebels will have won.”

“We’re miners. We can’t get mixed up in their politics.”

“Dad, you threw your lot in with the government just by coming here,” Minnie said. “You can’t leave them to the wolves now.”

“Maybe, maybe not. I don’t like this at all. Knowing this—in a way I wish you hadn’t told me. It’s a responsibility.”

“It is,” Calli agreed. “What if you spoke to Nicolás Escobedo yourself, Uncle Josh? Would that reassure you?”

He thought about it and shook his head. “It’s not just me I must consider, or even you two. It’s the whole damned company. It’s everyone out here.”

Minnie sat forward on the sofa. “What if Dan Mellon spoke to Nicolás Escobedo? Or even the President?”

“That,” he declared, “would make a difference.” Then he looked at them both. “Don’t tell me you can pull that off?” He looked sharply at Calli. “You can?”

“Not without Minnie’s help,” Calli said. “Minnie has to make a phone call.”

Joshua turned his head to look at his daughter. Minnie shrugged. “What can I say? It’s this Femme Fatale quality I have.”

He shook his head. “I get the impression you’re not joking. I don’t think I want the details. Okay, make the call.”

*

It took one phone call and a great deal of waiting. Eventually the phone rang. Uncle Josh went off to meet with the President, wearing a worried look. He returned several hours later, thought-filled.

“We’re staying. For now,” he added. “Nicolás Escobedo can be very persuasive.”

“What did he say that convinced you?” Calli asked.

“It’s more what he didn’t say. The President was clear about economic impacts, even the impact on the company should we pull up stakes. They have a sophisticated understanding of our own financial situation. He insisted there was no proof the explosion at Dominio de Leo was rebel action. Rebel action or not, it was aimed at the army. No one else. Dan Mellon didn’t accept any of it. That’s when Nicolás leaned forward and said in a quiet way he would personally guarantee no harm would ever come to any American in Vistaria. Not one. Because the moment that happened, his country would be lost and he had no intention of losing it to rebels who would run it into the ground inside a generation. Dan Mellon looked at him and nodded. That ended it.”

Minnie smiled.

Her father lifted a finger. “You stay away from the army from now on, Minerva. It’s too dangerous. I can’t lock you up behind palisades because you’re a grown woman. I wish to God I could. I want you to promise me.”

Her smile faded. “I can’t promise that, Dad.”

He stared at her, surprised. “Why not?”

She put her hands together in her lap. “There’s a man. A captain in the army.”

“With you, there’s always a man, Minnie. D’you think just because I’m your father I’m deaf, dumb and blind?”

“This is different.”

“Calli, help me,” he pleaded.

“I can’t,” Calli said. “I believe her. This is different.”

He scrubbed his hand backward and forwards through his hair. “Oh hell’s bells,” he muttered. “Minnie, don’t you understand that hanging around with army personnel is liable to get you into trouble?”

“It already has.”

“I could ship you back to America,” he said. “I’m considering sending your mother home, anyway. The climate here isn’t helping her.”

“I’d just leave home,” Minnie said. Her tone was gentle.

He growled a little under his breath.

Minnie’s passive, truthful answers were driving Josh into an unaccustomed corner. Calli put a hand on her uncle’s forearm. “I’ll watch out for her, Uncle Josh, and we will be careful. We know, better than you, the dangers here.”

“Do you? Are you so sure?” he shot back. “I was in Vietnam when the communists rolled their way through town. Revolutions are the ugliest events in the world. Terrible things can happen. No one is spared.”

Calli tried to keep her gaze steady. “I will watch out for her.”

“You already have, I know,” he said, relenting. Then he straightened and put his hand over her own. “Stay away from Nicolás Escobedo, Calli. I can see there’s a connection there, only he is a far different sort of trouble than an army captain. When revolutions happen, the heads of government tend to end up dead and so do their kith and kin. Stay away from him.”