The note just about summed it up.
"Señor Benedict is now my prisoner and will be held for ransom. You will ride to Panhandle, New Mexico, and wire the Americano's rich father in Boston. He is to wire back the sum of fifty thousand dollars care of Señor Montoya. If you fail to do this or if the rich man does not pay, Benedict will be shot. If you do as I say he will be freed unharmed."
Although the note was unsigned, it had come from a psychopathic bandit-turned-revolutionary named Paulo Parada. And from everything Hank Brazos learned about him, Parada's word was worthless. He killed men just for the pleasure of seeing them fall ... which meant that his partner, Duke Benedict, would end up as just another notch on Parada's gun whether the ransom was paid or not ...