Healing Love: Saints Protection & Investigation (5 page)

The family meeting lasted for a few hours, finally settling down when I got on the computer and showed them the Los Mochis area on the internet. “It’s got beaches and farmland right outside. There is an airport that we will be flying into and the Red Cross keeps us all together.”

Jobe leaned over my shoulder and with a few taps on the keyboard, he pulled up gruesome photographs of drug murders. “Yes, and it also has a high crime rate and drug cartels.”

“Jobe, I’m not going for a drug cartel. I won’t be out in the jungle of Mexico! I’ll be on the outskirts of town, working in a hospital.”

Once again, the family all began to shout, each trying to overcome the madness. Finally, dad stood and brought the room to order once again.

Turning to me, his youngest daughter, he said, “Miriam,” gaining my attention. “You are twenty-seven years old and no longer a child—”

“She’s my child,” mom interrupted, receiving a glare from him.

“Be that as it may, you are old enough to make your own decisions. While my heart is heavy that you would go to an area that is dangerous, I cannot forbid you to go.”

Standing, I walked over to dad wrapping my arms around his rotund middle, hugging him closely. “Thank you pop, but it would mean so much if I had your blessing.”

He returned my hug and said, “You only needs God’s blessing, my daughter. From me, you will take my love with you.”

At that memory, Miriam was unable to hold back the tears and she pressed her face into the pillow hoping that Sharon and Sister Genovia would not hear her sobs.

M
arc flew Cam
into the Los Mochis airport, but bypassed the customs office. Pulling into a small, private hangar they were met by Alberto Ortega, their DEA contact. Alighting from the small Cessna, Cam carefully eyed the man sent to assist. As much as he had been prepping about the drug cartels, he found himself doubting everyone. The cartels had even managed to infiltrate Interpol, much less the country and local governments.

Alberto was middle-aged and not overly athletic. He was shorter than Cam and Marc by almost six inches and his tan suit jacket was slightly wrinkled as though it was the only one he owned.

“I can see you evaluating me as we meet,” Alberto stated.

“Occupational habit,” Cam replied as Marc walked up to the pair.

Alberto nodded. “Understood. For me, occupational hazard.”

The three men headed into a room inside the hot, metal hangar and sat in rickety wooden chairs at an old, scarred table. Without wasting any time, Alberto pulled out of his pocket a sheaf of papers and handed them to Cam.

“Here’s your ID, papers to keep on you, and there’s clothes in that bag,” he said as he nodded over to a duffel bag in the corner. “Here is also a cell phone for you. Most of the workers have them so there will be no surprise. The phone’s been preloaded with some phone calls and texts so that it looks legit to anyone who takes and searches it. What they won’t know is that it can be switched to a secure phone that can reach out to me or to your partner here to contact us as to where to pick you up when you are ready to get out.”

Cam looked at him, lifting his eyebrow. Alberto had switched to Spanish and watched him closely. Answering him back in the same dialect of Spanish, he noted with pride when Alberto appeared surprised.

“I see you’re not only a native speaker, but you pick up dialects easily.”

Cam did not reply, but just nodded in response.

“What have you got for him?” Marc asked, cutting to the chase.

“We’ve got some inside men working with the cartel, mostly in the fields. We’re getting you with them. You’ll be introduced as a distant cousin and right now our intel is the cartel won’t ask too many questions. So many of their workers have been injured or become sick from the polluted water that they are desperate for workers.”

Alberto eyed Cam carefully and said, “The work is hard. Farm work. Long days and hot sun. No privacy and even though they’re desperate, there’ll be armed guards, so don’t fuck up. The only good thing is that some of the guards have been injured as well.”

“I got this,” Cam answered. Growing irritated with Alberto’s daunting outlook, he wanted to hurry the process along.

“I understand you’ve been undercover before. I get that. What I need you to get is that this world—it’s a fuck-of-a-lot different than the gangs in the U.S.”

“Understood.”

Cam held Alberto’s stare for a long minute before the older man nodded and said, “Yeah, I figured you did.”

“Tell us about the nurses. What do you know?” Marc asked.

“Right now they’re kept in a heavily guarded dormitory inside the main compound.” Seeing Cam and Marc’s surprise, he nodded. “Yeah, it’s true. These animals might not value women but they do value nurses. They desperately need the nurses and do not want them mistreated. So they’re inside the compound. We still know of the three, but cannot get a good read on how many others there might be. At least our contact did tell us that the older Catholic nun, Miriam, and another nurse named Sharon are there. We don’t know exactly where but our latest intel is that they’re in a small building that keeps them together and they’re well taken care of.”

“For how long?” Cam asked.

Shaking his head, Alberto answered, “There’s no way to know. Right now, their skills are needed. If they don’t cause a problem, do what they’re told, and take care of the medical needs of the injured cartel, then they’ll stay there. But…you do realize that if they’re not rescued, they’ll never be allowed to leave?”

The air grew heavy in the room with the weight of what needed to be accomplished. Cam felt the other man’s doubt in his success. “So I need to work in the fields, find a way to get to the area where the nurses are and then find a way to escape in the middle of the jungle and fields with armed guards dogging our every step.”

Alberto once more stared at the large man sitting in front of him. Nodding slowly, he said, “Exactly. That’s exactly what you’ll have to do.”

At that, Cam and Marc stood and Cam walked to grab the duffel bag. Holding Alberto’s gaze, he said, “Then that’s what I’ll do.”

“It’s a suicide mission, you know,” Alberto said, standing also.

Drawing himself up to his impressive height, Cam replied, “Never had a mission I couldn’t complete. Successfully.”

For the first time since the men had gathered, Alberto cracked a smile. “Dios mío. I think you just might succeed.”

*

The day started
like the past six days had for the nurses. Someone knocked on the door and then entered, their eyes quickly doing a check to make sure all were present. Another nurse, Lorainne, had been added to the group two days ago and she was not adjusting at all. Crying all of the time, she was pale and Miriam feared that she was making herself sick. Sharon was at the point of wanting to scream every time they were transported from place to place, but so far Sister Genovia had been able to calm her.

After they were awakened, they were allowed time to shower and change clothes. The captors had given them nursing scrubs and they appeared to be clean each day. The four were led by armed guards out to the small courtyard where a table was set up with fresh fruit, muffins, and coffee.

Eating, Miriam was struck once more how surreal the scene was. Closing her eyes she could almost imagine that she was at a resort, eating on the balcony. But then she would open her eyes, see the acute gaze of their armed guards with their guns at the ready and reality slammed back into her.

After eating, the women were led back into the small dorm room where they were allowed to finish getting ready for the day. It was evident that the room had been searched while they ate.

“What the fuck are they looking for?” Sharon growled. “We’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and are watched constantly. Where do they think we’re going to get the weapons to blast our way out of here?”

“Quiet!” Sister Genovia shushed. “Never let them hear you talk about weapons.”

Grimacing, Sharon grew quiet and in a few minutes the guards came back to the door. Escorting the women over to two jeeps, they were taken to the building that had been set up as a makeshift hospital.

Entering the tent, Miriam kept her eyes down as they passed the guards, just as Sister Genovia warned. The words of the nun rang in her head.
Do not underestimate these men. They will respect you for the service you provide, but they demand respect. Keep your eyes down to show them your subservience.
Of course, Sharon had protested loudly when this advice was given, but the gentle nun reminded her of their precarious situation.

Once inside, she glanced around quickly, seeing more people than the day before. The instructions had been to patch the field workers up as quickly as possible so they could get back to work. The initial cases had been similar to what they saw in Los Mochis, but now the families of the workers were starting to come in, having dealt with their injuries for almost two weeks before being allowed to seek treatment.

There were some children, pregnant women, mothers, and elderly. And of course, many suffered from dysentery. The lack of clean water had spread the disease throughout the area.

Sucking in a huge breath, Miriam waded over to the doctor in charge to see what needed to be completed first. Dr. Ernesto Villogas smiled at the pretty nurse that had joined the group. His eyes quickly skimmed the nurse’s body, giving her the impression that he was seeing beneath her scrubs. He immediately became professional in his directions, making her feel guilty.
He’s just as much a victim as we are,
she surmised.
I wonder if they brought him here at gunpoint also?

Miriam, determined to be professional in return, smiled back at the doctor. “Where do you need us today?”

He instructed her and the other nurses on their duties. Miriam nodded and headed to the next tent and began working with the children who had been brought in. She could not help but smile at their faces, so innocent of the world around them.

Checking the splints of several with broken bones, removing the crudely sewn stitches in cuts, checking the fevers of others, the morning passed quickly.

Seeing the doctor coming in to check on the patients, she smiled. “Thank you for assigning me to the children today, Dr. Villogas,” she said.

“Please call me Ernesto,” he replied smoothly.

Nodding slightly, she agreed. At her compliance, he smiled, his white teeth gleaming against his tan skin.

“I noticed that you were tired yesterday, so I thought a day with the children would do you good.”

She nodded again before turning back to the next patient. She felt his presence close to her so she glanced over her shoulder, seeing him now standing directly behind her.

“I realize you were brought here against your will, but I can help you, my dear,” he whispered. “Perhaps, we can have our lunch together and I will let you know just how much I can be of service. How we can be of service to each other.”

He watched her shiver and chuckled. “I see you’re interested. We’ll talk later.”

She heard him walk away as she tried to focus on rolling the bandages on the cart in front of her.
If he had been brought here against his will, he certainly was making himself right at home
! Closing her eyes for a moment, she breathed deeply to still her pounding heart. Thinking of her brother, she pulled his words to her mind. When their sister, Hannah, had been attacked years before and almost raped, Jobe told all of his sisters that they should always use whatever resources they could find to get out of a situation.
Doesn’t matter if you lie or scream or fight like hell, just use anything you can. Play it smart and do whatever you need to do to get out.

Of course, he was referring to being attacked, but Miriam knew this situation was the same.
I’ve got to keep my head, play their game, and work the system while looking for a way out.
Licking her lips, she knew she was in over her head. Armed guards stood around, although they looked bored. The area was filled with farmland and woods, hardly a place to hide.
Thank God I’ve got dark hair,
she thought.
I could blend if I needed.
Sighing loudly, she also knew that not being able to speak Spanish would make her stand out.
Jobe, I’m gonna need a miracle to get out of this.

Just then, she heard Sharon’s loud voice berating one of the guards. “I have to get through, you moron.”

Miriam glanced into the other room, seeing the guards now alert, watching Sharon with undisguised anger…and lust. Before she could intervene, one of the other nurses hustled over and quieted Sharon, moving her past the guards toward the tent with medical supplies.

Disaster prevented once more, she wondered if talking to Sharon again would make any difference. She had tried to convince her that the way to stay alive was to play it safe, keep their eyes open for possible escape plans, but Sharon had shut her down quickly. “No way am I going to play their game,” Sharon had voiced, not seeing the rational of staying alive until they could be rescued.