Queen of Swords

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next week...

Montoya throws another power party, this time a fiesta for the most powerful Dons and their children. Tessa dances with Ramone Aguilera, a childhood beau. Ramon's father is in a heated arguement over a sheep deal with Don Fuentes at a nearby roasting fire. From the looks of the carcass on the spit, they're having dog. Dr. Helm joins them.

Emerging from the rooftop shadows, a sinister figure. The crossbow discharges... ...and Don Aguilera goes down.

They carry the wounded Don to the church, since the office is too far away. Evidently it has been repaired since the explosion. In an upper room we see--what's this?--a Methos clone. Well, no, but close enough to be damned distracting. This is the assassin. He has an accent very like a certain doctor of our acquaintance, and it doesn't seem as if he's here to off one of the Dons.

The bolt indicates a professional assassin. Tessa begins to worry about Ramone's safety, thinking Don Aguilera's family is the target. Don Fuentes has a walk and talk with Montoya in the Colonel's beautiful rose garden. "My point is, that it was all just so vulgar. My town, my fiesta....my assassin." If I were to kill Aguilera it would be a knife across his throat while he slept, not in a public square.
"That's what I like to hear: discretion." Montoya replies.

"When a garden goes out of control, there's only one way to stop it."
Another rose bites the dust. Dr. Helm watches over the dying Don, wearing his third stethoscope in two episodes and all of them twentieth century. Sitting down, thoroughly exhausted, Helm is not aware of the malignant visitor at his window.

Latham gets Helm in his sites... ...but the Queen to the rescue. There is a prolonged scuffle, cut short by the guards. Latham runs vowing to "finish this later," and Tessa fades into the shadows. She has wrestled a curious piece of paper from Latham, a map on one side and a drawing of a man on the other.

Just then, Helm steps out to see about the gunshots and noise.
Tessa recognizes his face as the one on her scrap of paper. A little later that evening, the Don finally dies from his wounds and Dr. Helm drags himself back to his office. ...where he is startled to find the Queen of Swords waiting. He tells her he does not need her sympathy, when she remarks solicitously about his lost patient.

She says she needs his help and hands him the scrap of paper, asking if he knows the man drawn there. Of course, he denies knowing anything about it. She presses him to look again, and on the other side, the map of the battle stations and field encampments sends the doctor straight back to the war. The same field artillery which Marta summoned that first night in town.

Tessa guesses rightly that the assassin is after the doctor, but he is in no mood to be helpful. She pleads that Ramone will think Fuentes killed the Don and try to seek revenge. Helm is unmoved. If the assassin lives, then it is safer for him to believe as he does. She replies she is not the only one who "wears a mask." After he tells her this is his business and to "stay the hell out of it," Tessa leaves.
How romantic. Their first fight.

Vengeance...page one

*click on pic for 800 X 600 image*		*next week...*
*click on pic for 800 X 600 image*
Montoya throws another power party, this time a fiesta for the most powerful Dons and their children. Tessa dances with Ramone Aguilera, a childhood beau. Ramon's father is in a heated arguement over a sheep deal with Don Fuentes at a nearby roasting fire. From the looks of the carcass on the spit, they're having dog. Dr. Helm joins them.

*Emerging from the rooftop shadows, a sinister figure.*	*The crossbow discharges...*	*...and Don Aguilera goes down.*

*They carry the wounded Don to the church, since the office is too far away. Evidently it has been repaired since the explosion.*	*In an upper room we see--what's this?--a Methos clone. Well, no, but close enough to be damned distracting.*	*This is the assassin. He has an accent very like a certain doctor of our acquaintance, and it doesn't seem as if he's here to off one of the Dons.*

*The bolt indicates a professional assassin. Tessa begins to worry about Ramone's safety, thinking Don Aguilera's family is the target.*	*Don Fuentes has a walk and talk with Montoya in the Colonel's beautiful rose garden. "My point is, that it was all just so vulgar. My town, my fiesta....my assassin."*	*If I were to kill Aguilera it would be a knife across his throat while he slept, not in a public square.* *"That's what I like to hear: discretion." Montoya replies.*

*"When a garden goes out of control, there's only one way to stop it."* *Another rose bites the dust.*	*Dr. Helm watches over the dying Don, wearing his third stethoscope in two episodes and all of them twentieth century.*	*Sitting down, thoroughly exhausted, Helm is not aware of the malignant visitor at his window.*

*Latham gets Helm in his sites...*	*...but the Queen to the rescue. There is a prolonged scuffle, cut short by the guards. Latham runs vowing to "finish this later," and Tessa fades into the shadows.*	*She has wrestled a curious piece of paper from Latham, a map on one side and a drawing of a man on the other.*

*Just then, Helm steps out to see about the gunshots and noise.* *Tessa recognizes his face as the one on her scrap of paper.*	*A little later that evening, the Don finally dies from his wounds and Dr. Helm drags himself back to his office.*	*...where he is startled to find the Queen of Swords waiting. He tells her he does not need her sympathy, when she remarks solicitously about his lost patient.*

*She says she needs his help and hands him the scrap of paper, asking if he knows the man drawn there. Of course, he denies knowing anything about it.*	*She presses him to look again, and on the other side, the map of the battle stations and field encampments sends the doctor straight back to the war.*	*The same field artillery which Marta summoned that first night in town.*

Tessa guesses rightly that the assassin is after the doctor, but he is in no mood to be helpful. She pleads that Ramone will think Fuentes killed the Don and try to seek revenge. Helm is unmoved. If the assassin lives, then it is safer for him to believe as he does.	*She replies she is not the only one who "wears a mask."*	*After he tells her this is his business and to "stay the hell out of it," Tessa leaves.* *How romantic. Their first fight.*
	*Vengeance...page one*