Healing Love: Saints Protection & Investigation (13 page)

“I’m good. I can do this,” she promised, gifting him with a small, nervous smile.

He watched as she ran to Sister Genovia, hugging the older woman tightly.

“My children, go with God,” the nun said. “I will be in prayer for you. I will know when you are safe.”

“How will you know?” Miriam asked, pulling back so that she could look into the Sister’s eyes.

Patting her cheek, Sister Genovia said, “God will let me know.” Turning to Cam, she implored, “Now hurry and take care of this one. I give her to your trust and protection.”

He returned the woman’s embrace as well, and whispered, “Always.”

And with that, he led Miriam out of the room, down the dark and silent hall to the back door leading to the latrines.

Keeping silent, but wondering why they needed to go this way, she followed him around to the side where the compound wall was. Now that they were out of the overhang, the rain soaked her to the skin almost instantly. Hoisting her sack on her back, she tried to keep up as her feet slipped in the mud. It hurt to look up with the rain pelting on her face, so she kept her eyes down but then slammed into Cam’s back as he stopped quickly.

Mumbling, “Sorry,” she glanced up to see that there was a slim rope coming down from the wall.
I’ll never be able to climb that! Only two minutes into the rescue and I can’t get out.

“I’m climbing up and then you’ll tie the rope around your waist and I’ll help hoist you up,” he said, glad that she seemed relieved for his assistance.

Nodding her agreement, she watched in fascination as he grasped the slick rope in his hands and walk-climbed up the wet wall. Her breath caught in her throat a couple of times when he slipped, but he managed to right himself and continue upwards. She mentally fist pumped when he slung his leg over the wall and balanced on the top, lying flat on his stomach. He gave her a nod and she grabbed the rope, tying it around her waist. Her fingers were so wet that the simple act was taking longer than she wanted.
Please let it hold,
she silently prayed.

Grabbing the rope with her hands, she felt it pull on her waist and she assisted as much as she could by trying to emulate the walk-climb she had seen Cam do. Several times her feet slipped on the wet wall and the rope belt caught her from tumbling to the ground, but it bit into her flesh painfully.

She used to jog for exercise but realized now that she had little upper body strength.
Damn,
she cursed inwardly as her feet slipped once more. The black, starless night with the pouring rain kept her from being able to see anything other than the wall directly in front of her.

“You’re almost there, babe,” she heard and spared a glance upward. She could not hold back the smile as she saw his face just a few feet away from her. Two more walk-climbing steps and she felt his hand grasp her arms, pulling her up more.

Finally she was on the top of the wall, lying on her back with his face directly over hers.

“You did it, girl,” he enthused, knowing that she had only made it through step one of about a thousand steps that needed to occur, but he was proud of her nonetheless. He quickly leaned over her body further and undid the knotted rope at her waist. Grasping her forearms, he lowered her over the back edge of the wall and when she was as low as he could reach, he dropped her. She only had a few feet to fall and did so deftly.

Snagging the rope, he swung himself into the tree, landing on the branch he had started from. Untying the rope, he quickly coiled it and put in his sack, not wanting to leave any evidence and knowing the odds were that they would need it some other time. Climbing down the tree, he landed at her feet and grabbed her hand.

Checking his solar powered cell phone, he could see the time was only a little before midnight.
Good.
He crept into the copse of trees lining the road again and headed back toward the area where the trucks were parked. The previous trip had taken him almost thirty minutes of jogging in the rain to get to her and he knew they would not be able to go back that fast.

He pulled the baseball cap off his head and tried to put it on hers.

Jerking back, she said, “No. You need it.”

He frowned and shook his head. “I’m not wearing it when you’ve got nothing on your head.”

“Cam, you need to be able to see where we’re going. I’ll just follow you. Please, this makes more sense.”

He hated to admit that she was right and it went against his core to keep the hat when a woman he was protecting did not have one, but they could not waste time arguing. Slapping it back on his head, he vowed to find something for her to wear as soon as he could.

Miriam was determined to keep up with him. Once in the trees, he let go of her hand and she followed behind. She found that she could follow the rhythm of his feet and if she concentrated on them and stayed in his path, she did not have too much trouble.

He slowed down after a bit and turned, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her in close. Leaning down to speak directly into her ear, he said, “You’re doing great. We’re going to go around the infirmary area and over to my workplace. There’s a truck that I can hot-wire. We shouldn’t be noticed in this storm.”

She looked up and nodded, afraid to speak too loudly. Pulling on his arms, she leaned up on her tiptoes and he bent back over. “There’s a medical jeep on the far side of the infirmary. It came in today and I think it was still there when I left.”

Cam quickly processed this new information.
A jeep parked on the back of the infirmary will be easier to get to and less noticeable than the big dump truck.
This just might be a lucky break early in the game.
He felt a tug on his arms again and looked down.

“It’s open top though, so I don’t know if that will matter to you.”

He stifled a grin, then whispered into her ear, “Don’t know if you’ve noticed, sweetheart, but I don’t think we can get any wetter.”

Just then, in the middle of a torrential storm, in the middle of a drug cartel compound, not close to safety or being rescued, Miriam smiled up at Cam, his words causing her to stifle a giggle. And her smile shot him straight through the heart. They held each other’s gazes for just a few seconds and then he nodded.

“Well, let’s go hot-wire a convertible.” Grabbing her hand, he changed direction and moved toward the dark infirmary tent skirting the outside until they reached the back. And just like she remembered, the jeep was there, with no one in sight.

Cam had Miriam stand back, pushing her under a slight overhang so that she would have a break from the rain hitting her. She wiped her face with her hand, slinging the water from her eyes as she watched him.

Pulling out his knife to use as a screwdriver he bent over the steering column. As he dealt with the wires, Miriam turned her head back and forth terrified that someone would come. Just then, a blinding flash of lightening broke through the sky illuminating the world for a second, followed by the crash of thunder.

Before she knew what was happening, the jeep roared to life and Cam straightened up and gave her a smile. She grabbed his proffered hand and he pulled her over. Lifting her by the waist, he plopped her down in the wet seat and then rounded the front and climbed in himself.

Glancing into the back seat, he pulled out an old hand towel. “Hold this over your head—it’ll help to keep the rain out of your eyes.”

Nodding she followed his directions as he slowly backed up and then pressed on the accelerator, hurling them down the road. With the towel protecting her eyes she glanced around again, seeing no one.
Oh, my God. I think we did it!

Cam spared a glance at the woman sitting next to him trying to hold on as the jeep bounced on the slick, muddy road; he could see her slight smile even in the black of the night. They had a long way to go, but if they could get to the river unnoticed, then…just then…they might have a chance.

T
he jeep traveled
quicker than the large dump truck, but with the storm and the dark of night, Cam knew they were not making very good time.
Still…no one’s around.
A glance to the right and he saw Miriam holding the towel over her head with one hand and grasping the dashboard to steady herself with the other. While the towel was as soaked as the rest of her, the slight covering deflected the rain from hitting her face. He could tell nothing else about her until a flash of lightening illuminated their surroundings for a second and he saw her grip on the dashboard was tight.

“We’ve got about five more miles!” he called out, needing to be heard over the storm.

“Where are we going?” she asked, turning toward him for the first time since the jeep had lurched into action.

“I found a place near a river where I would come and dump rubble. I’ve got a contact that said the name is the Fuerte River. Or at least a tributary of it.”

“What’ll we do when we get there? Is that where someone will meet us?”

Even over the storm, he heard the hopefulness in her voice. Sucking in a deep sigh, he said, “No. ’Fraid not. We’ve got to get down the river until we can come to a place where he can land.”

“Land what?” she called out.

“He has a plane, but he’s got to find a landing strip close enough. He’s checking out some of the plantations along the river and as soon as the storm’s over, I’ll contact him to see where he’ll meet us.”

“How will you know where we are?”

“Got a chip in me. A tracer. The boys back home will be able to give him my exact location.”

At that Miriam became quiet.
A chip? Who has a chip in them?
She wanted to ask more questions but the rain was coming down harder and she did not want to scream over the downpour.

The last mile took forever since Cam had left the main road, following the rutted path toward the river. The lights of the jeep bounced with the ruts in the road but gave off just enough illumination that he saw the rubble he had dumped yesterday. Driving around to the back of the enormous pile, he pulled the jeep into the woods close by.

Miriam watched as he drove straight into the woods, tree branches reaching out to claw at her. Suddenly, his large hand pushed her down in the seat and the limbs moved over her head. Finally he came to a stop and she leaned up cautiously.

“Why are we here?”

He twisted his body toward hers, grinning at the beautiful face peeking up at him from under the sopping towel. “You got a lot of questions,” he stated.

Embarassed, she said, “I’m sorry—”

“Hey, don’t ever be sorry. Just know I’ve got a plan even if it doesn’t always make sense.” Leaning down to catch her eyes, he said, “Here’s the deal. I’ll always answer your questions if I can, but you gotta do something for me.”

“What is it?”

“If I tell you to do something, you gotta do it immediately. No questions. Our lives may depend on you obeying, okay?”

She nodded, completely aware that they were far from danger. “I promise.”

“That’s my girl,” he said. “Now, I pulled into the woods to help hide the jeep. It’ll be at least a day or so before anyone comes to look for us, depending on how long the storm lasts. They’ll know I drove around and will know this area so this junk pile is a place someone will be coming to. By then the tire tracks should be washed away and they’ll have to go looking in here to find the jeep. And, hopefully by then…we’ll be long gone.”

He was turning to get out of his side of the jeep when he felt a soft grasp on his arm. Turning back to look at her, he leaned in to see her face more clearly.

“Thank you,” she said, her eyes pleading for him to understand. “I know you didn’t have to do this.”

He grabbed the back of her head in his large hand and pulled her toward him, kissing her forehead. “My pleasure, babe. Now let’s get a move on.”

Literally sliding out of the sopping Jeep seat, Miriam made her way around to the front where she met Cam. Snagging her hand, he led her deeper into the woods, but closer to the river. Her eyes were unable to penetrate the black night, but with the shelter of the trees, the rain was less intense. Keeping her focus on the man in front of her, she tried to keep up without slipping on the forest floor.

He stopped, bent over and she had to halt quickly to keep from running into him. Peeking around to see what he was doing, she could make out a canoe. He grabbed one end and began dragging it toward the sound of the rushing water.

“I nabbed this several days ago from an abandoned shack nearby when I was on one of my solo dump trips. Stored it here, figurin’ we’d need it sometime.”

The thought of freedom roared in her mind, but soon disappeared as they made the way to the water’s edge. The rain-swollen river was rushing and, even though she could only see several feet out, she knew the current had to be dangerous.

“Cam?” she said, looking up at him, her eyes wide.

“Know what you’re gonna say and don’t worry. I got this. I just need you to get in, sit where I tell you and I’ll get us down the river.”

“I…I…”

“Sweetheart?” He captured her attention, pulling it away from the river. “What choice do we have?”

He watched in fascination as her lips pursed, she straightened a little taller and held his gaze before giving him a nod. “I can do this,” she pronounced.

Not able to hide his smile, he nodded back. She reminded him of her sister-in-law, Jobe’s wife, Mackenna. He met Mackenna when he helped rescue her and thought then how rare it was to find a woman that strong. Now he had once more.
Iron-willed maiden, that’s for fuckin’ sure.

Maneuvering the canoe at the edge of the water, he helped her settle. The current was fast, but he knew that could play to their advantage in covering more miles away from the cartel that would be looking for them. The cartel’s reach covered the entirety of western Mexico, but with the storm battering the area he was hopeful it would be at least a day, or more, before they were missed.

Pushing off, he quickly sat inside the craft and grabbed one of the paddles. Using it expertly, he kept them near enough to the shore that he could control her safety if they capsized and not so close as to be snagged by the overhanging tree branches.