The Sands of Time Page 0,2

of the bulls, and they turned and charged toward it, down the Calle de Estrella, the street that led to the carcel - Pamplona's prison.

The carcel is a forbidding-looking two-story stone building with heavily barred windows. There are turrets at each of its four corners, and the red-and-yellow Spanish flag flies over its door. A stone gate leads to a small courtyard. The second floor of the building consists of a row of cells that holds prisoners condemned to die.

Inside the prison, a heavyset guard in the uniform of the Policia Armada was leading a priest garbed in plain black robes along the second-floor corridor. The policeman carried a submachine gun.

Noting the questioning look in the priest's eye at the sight of the weapon, the guard said, "One can't be too careful here, Father. We have the scum of the earth on this floor."

The guard directed the priest to walk through a metal detector very much like those used at airports.

"I'm sorry, Father, but the rules - "

"Of course, my son."

As the priest passed through the security portal, a shrieking siren cut through the corridor. The guard instinctively tightened his grip on his weapon.

The priest turned and smiled back at the guard.

"My mistake," he said as he removed a heavy metal cross that hung from his neck on a silver chain and handed it to the guard. This time as he passed through, the machine was silent. The guard handed the cross back to the priest and the two continued their journey deeper into the bowels of the prison.

The stench in the corridor near the cells was overpowering.

The guard was in a philosophical mood. "You know, you're wasting your time here, Father. These animals have no souls to save."

"Still, we must try, my son."

The guard shook his head. "I tell you, the gates of hell are waiting to welcome both of them."

The priest looked at the guard in surprise. "Both of them? I was told there were three who needed confession."

The guard shrugged. "We saved you some time. Zamora died in the infirmary this morning. Heart attack."

The men had reached the two farthest cells.

"Here we are, Father."

The guard unlocked a door and stepped cautiously back as the priest entered the cell. The guard then locked the door and stood in the corridor, alert for any sign of trouble.

The priest went to the figure lying on the dirty prison cot. "Your name, my son?"

"Ricardo Mellado."

The priest stared down at him. It was difficult to tell what the man looked like. His face was swollen and raw. His eyes were almost shut. Through thick lips the prisoner said, "I'm glad you were able to come, Father."

The priest replied, "Your salvation is the Church's duty, my son."

"They are going to hang me this morning?"

The priest patted his shoulder gently. "You have been sentenced to die by the garrote."

Ricardo Mellado stared up at him. "No!"

"I'm sorry. The orders were given by the prime minister himself."

The priest then placed his hand on the prisoner's head and intoned: "Dime tus pecados..."

Ricardo Mellado said, "I have sinned greatly in thought, word, and deed, and I repent all my sins with all my heart."

"Ruego a nuestro Padre celestial para la salvacion de tu alma. En el nombre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espiritu Santo..."

The guard listening outside the cell thought to himself: What a stupid waste of time. God will spit in that one's eye.

The priest was finished. "Adios, my son. May God receive your soul in peace."

The priest moved over to the cell door and the guard unlocked it, then stepped back, keeping his gun aimed at the prisoner. When the door was locked again, the guard moved to the adjoining cell and opened the door.

"He's all yours, Father."

The priest stepped into the second cell. The man inside had also been badly beaten. The priest looked at him a long moment. "What is your name, my son?"

"Felix Carpio." He was a husky, bearded man with a fresh, livid scar on his cheek that the beard failed to conceal. "I'm not afraid to die, Father."

"That is well, my son. In the end none of us is spared."

As the priest listened to Carpio's confession, waves of distant sound, at first muffled, then growing louder, began to reverberate through the building. It was the thunder of pounding hooves and the screams of the running mob. The guard listened, startled. The sounds were rapidly moving closer.

"You'd better hurry, Father. Something peculiar is happening outside."

"I'm finished."

The guard quickly unlocked the cell