Guillotine Squad

Chapter One The battle of Torreon was one of the most difficult and hardest fought that the Division del Norte had faced. After the city was taken, General Francisco Villa decided to set up camp in a neighboring plain amidst a cluster of willows whose shade sheltered the fighters from the pitiless sun. Every day, countless merchants would make their way there to hawk their wares to the revolutionaries. Vendors bustled among the troops, making it seem more like a Sunday market than a military outpost. The general, as was his custom, tended to his affairs far from the din, accompanied only by his most trusted men, under the protection of the more terrifyingdorados,his elite soldiers. Villa was going over some military matters with Colonel Santiago Rojas when Sergeant Teodomiro Ortiz arrived to inform him that a merchant, an elegant, dandyish man, insisted upon seeing him. The general was fed up with dealing with salesmen; he had already spoken to three that very morning: one, a bicycle salesman, claimed that a regiment mounted on bicycles was more efficient than a cavalry; the second was offering Spanish armor; and the third carried sombreros with gold and silver trimmings. Annoyed, Villa had kicked them out, though not without warning them first that he would fill their guts with lead if they didn't leave immediately. Villa looked at Ortiz. "Tell him I'm not seeing anyone," he said. "I told him a hundred times, sir, but he insists on seeing you. He says he's got something very important to show you, something you'll be interested in." Villa remained pensive for a few moments and, with his eyes, ordered Ortiz to call the merchant over. The sergeant went to get him and returned a few minutes later. He was accompanied by a short, bald, well-dressed, and heavily perfumed man. He greeted Villa with propriety. "Good afternoon, General Villa. Good afternoon, Colonel Rojas. I am attorney-at-law Feliciano Velasco y Borbolla de la Fuente at your service." He stretched out his hand toward Villa. Villa just looked at him. The little man did not know what to do. He slowly lowered his hand, wiped the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket, gulped some saliva, and smiled. "General Villa," he said parsimoniously, "I have come to show you a formidable invention that will be of great use to the Revolution. With this invention, General, sir, you can be sure that you will instill terror in the enemy troops. Whoever dares face the Division del Norte will think twice before he does." "They already think twice," Sergeant Ortiz answered forcefully. The attorney remained silent and only managed to smile stupidly. He breathed in and went on with his speech. "You are absolutely right, but this invention will assist in bringing prisoners to justice while reducing expenditure on ammunition, which, as you well know, is scarce, and it isn't worth spending money on other matters that aren't the matters of the war itself.... With this apparatus I have, it is no longer necessary to execute the enemy by firing squad -- " "Yes, that's why we hang them," Sergeant Ortiz again interrupted. "Yes, I know," said the short man, "but what do you do when you can't find a tall enough tree?" "Well, we burn them alive or cut them up with machetes...that's the least of our problems," answered Colonel Rojas. "But look, Colonel, sir," Velasco went on, "with this invention that I've brought to show you, you can execute prisoners with no hassle at all. Why don't you come see it, and if you like, we can try it out?" The man led them to a covered wagon where his assistants awaited: one, a tall, ragged man with a large nose and sunken, though animated, eyes; and the other, a strapping young man of average height, with bulky cheeks and a big head. Mr. Velasco requested that his guests wait for a few minutes and theArriaga, Guillermo is the author of 'Guillotine Squad ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780743296816 and ISBN 0743296818.