Healing Love: Saints Protection & Investigation (7 page)

The men immediately jumped to their feet, “Of course, of course,” Juaquim said. Snapping his fingers, a petite women rushed in and he gave the order for his honored guests to be shown the bathroom.

Sister Genovia stood and with a nod to their
hosts
she began to follow the other women out of the room. Stopping at Sharon’s chair, she said, “Don’t you wish to join us?”

Smiling at the men, Sharon shook her head. “No, I’ll be just fine here, thank you,” she purred.

The other three women followed the servant into a huge marble bathroom appointed with gold colored fixtures. Lorainne immediately turned on the faucet and wet one of the plush towels, using the soft cloth to wipe her face. The servant left them and Miriam turned to the nun and quietly said, “What the hell is—”

“Shhh,” Sister Genovia said. Holding on to Lorainne, she said loudly, “Hear, hear now, my dear. You just feel a little over heated and overtired.”

Lowering her voice to barely a whisper, she said, “Keep your voice down. This room is probably wired.”

Miriam nodded and walked to the sink, beginning to wash her hands as well. Staring into the mirror she also found herself wondering if it was a two-way mirror. Sucking in a shaky breath, she moved to assist with Lorainne. Standing with her back to the mirror, she mouthed to Sister Genovia, “
What is going on?”

“
I don’t know,”
the nun mouthed back.
“For some reason they wanted to prove something to us tonight. Power, money…I don’t know, but play their game for now.”

“What about Sharon?” Lorainne mouthed back.

“I’m afraid she now sees this as a way out. What she doesn’t understand is that they will use her and then kill her if needed.”

Miriam and Lorainne jerked their gazes to the composed Sister, knowing that she seemed to understand the situation better than they did.

“No more talking for now,” the nun instructed.

The three women finished using the toilet and then left the room, following the servant who had been waiting outside for them. Taken to the living room, Miriam could not believe the wealth displayed. Her anger at the conditions of the workers compared to the unscrupulous gains of the cartel’s leaders had her shaking.

The men, now settled on one of the large sofas in the room, with Sharon close by, stood as the three nurses walked back in. Before they could speak, Sister Genovia walked straight over to Juaquim and, giving him a conciliatory bow, said, “Dear sir, I must request that you allow us to get Lorainne and Miriam back to their room. Both feel overtired and we must take care of the nurses so that they can take care of us. Don’t you agree?”

Not willing to argue with a nun, he immediately snapped his fingers once more and said, “Of course, my dear Sister.”

Sharon was about to protest, but Sister Genovia answered for her. “Thank you so much and thank your wives for their hospitality.”

Miriam spared a glance at Ernesto who was looking less than pleased at the turn of events. She managed a wobbly smile at him, hoping he would be placated enough. Within a few minutes, they four women were loaded into one SUV and taken back through the dark night to their housing near the medical compound. When they were finally back into their rooms and the guards had left them for the last time, they looked at each other.

“You must never forget that you are prisoners here,” Sister Genovia whispered, pointedly looking at Sharon.

“I know!” Sharon whispered with emotion. “You think they’re ever gonna let us go? I’ve been looking for a way out since I got here, and this may be my golden ticket.”

Lorainne and Miriam looked at each other, neither understanding what Sharon was talking about, but Sister Genovia obviously did.

“You think by getting in bed with someone like those men will get you out of here?” she asked. “My child, don’t be a fool.”

“I’m not a fool,” Sharon answered back. “Getting close to one of those men means better treatment for one thing and then it would be easy to slip out sometime when no one is looking.” She smiled as she lay back in her bed. “Did you see the solid gold untensils?”

At that, Miriam startled.
Solid gold? Is that what the bathroom fixtures were also? I thought they were just a gaudy gold color!

“Do not be blinded by the wealth of their gains,” Sister Genovia answered back. “That plan will lead to your destruction as much as theirs.”

“Ugh,” Sharon bit out, rolling back over to face the others. “I want out of this hell-hole. And if kissing up to one of those men will get me out of here, it’s worth it. If I play my cards right, I could easily slip away on some shopping trip. Anything to get out of here!” Her gaze drifted over to Miriam, still sitting on her bed. “You could do the same thing too, Miriam. You’re pretty enough.”

Miriam, stunned at the entire evening’s events, shook her head while her gaze sought out Sister Genovia’s.

Before she could answer, the nun ended the conversation. “That’s enough, ladies. We’re all tired and have another long day ahead.” With that, the nun turned out the small flashlight and the room was immediately plunged into darkness.

Miriam lay awake for a long time, the bizarre events of the evening playing through her mind.
What was their game? Why had they been brought to the dinner?
The more she tried to reason it out, the more confused she became. But one thing was sure—Sharon was on a dangerous path, one Miriam felt sure was exactly what the men had wanted them to go on.

Oh, Jobe. Are you close, brother? Have you sent someone for me? I think it needs to be soon…I don’t know how much more time I’ll have.

C
am anxiously awaited
the cartel’s agent that was due to arrive that day. It had only been two days since the men talked about the hospitals, but he knew that time was running out. By now most of the injuries had been addressed from what Marc had told him in their secure texting communications, but dysentery and cholera were the new culprits. While that would possibly keep Miriam safe due to still being needed, she would be more vulnerable to the diseases herself.

Marc supplied him with more intel and Cam was itching to be able to put it to use. Undercover work in the gang back home had fit him—go slow, get the information he needed no matter how long it took and then take action. This was different. This time there was a real person on the other end of the mission. One who had to be scared. Tired. Maybe even sick or injured herself. And if he was honest with himself…one who was beautiful. He had not kept the picture Jobe had given him. It was too risky to have it on him in case he was searched. But he committed her image to memory. Every night when he closed his eyes, he could see her—dark hair…dark, smiling eyes…perfect cupid’s bow mouth.

Rubbing his hand over his face, he forced his attention back to the job at hand. The backbreaking digging and laying pipe. Suddenly the rumble of a truck as it was coming up the mountain resounded through the trees. He watched warily as two men alighted from the vehicle and the other workers stopped what they were doing to move toward them. He followed suit, carefully evaluating the newcomers. Medium build, both with weapons slung over their shoulders casually as though they had been born with a gun in their hands.
Probably had.
He noticed their eyes roaming over the group and he was careful to not stare, hiding his antagonizing glare.

The men stopped near the hut and Cam watched as they began talking about the crop and the irrigation system. One of them walked over with the head worker and began inspecting the work. Cam heard his name called and he knew that the worker was praising what he had accomplished. With his size, he had been able to dig and lay quicker than the others. Keeping a neutral expression on his face, he acknowledged the nod he received from the agent.

The men, taking a break, moved toward the hut to offer food and drink to the agents—not that they had any to spare but as a show of respect.
Perfect. Fuckin’ perfect.
Cam deftly added the pills he carried in his pocket to two of the crude cups they were using and handed them to the agents, before handing out water to the others. The hot sun beating down through the limbs of the pine trees above made everyone drink thirstily.

Taking a hefty drink himself, he knew the drugs would have a fast reaction. And he was right. Within ten minutes, the driver began heaving, quickly followed by the agent. The workers jumped up, at first concerned and then fearful.

“What is it?” one of them said, trying to assist the first man.

Cam, pretending to be just as confused, said, “Maybe they’re not used to our water.”

“Will we be blamed?” another frightened worker asked, backing away from the heaving men.

Wanting to place more fear on the situation, Cam adopted a concerned expression as he turned toward the head worker and asked, “Do you think it could be cholera?”

With a gasp, the other workers stepped back. “I got a family,” one said. “Not touching ’em.”

Cam pretended to work the problem as the workers all backed away, fear in their faces and in their voices. Turning toward them, he said, “We gotta do somethin’. We leave them, someone’ll come looking for them and blame us.”

“But what? What can we do?” the head worker asked.

“I’ll take ’em. In their truck, I’ll take ’em to the medical camp.”

The others looked dubiously at him and then nervously at each other.

Cam continued, “We leave ’em here and they die, someone’ll come searching and then it’ll look like maybe we killed them. Or we get sick too.”

The heaving of the two men at his feet punctuated his words.

“Help me load them into the truck, I get them to help and then we’re good. No one’s pissed at us and then I can get back.”

The workers all began to nod. None of them wanted to take the risk, but if the big, newcomer was willing…they were fine with the plan.

Loading the two men into the back of the truck, Cam hopped up into the driver’s seat. Looking at the lead worker, he sent him a questioning look.

“Go down the mountain,” he was told. “When you get to the fork, go left. If you keep following that and take a left at any fork, then you’ll come to the nearest compound I know. It’ll be about twenty miles away. I’ve…I’ve never been but that’s what I’ve heard. There should be a doctor there.”

Nodding, Cam started the engine and headed the truck down the mountain.
Finally I’m making progress!

With the two men still heaving in the bed of the truck, Cam pulled out his secure cell and placed a call to Marc. Giving him an update, he hung up knowing Marc would call him back as soon as he had more intel from Luke.

With the window down, the breeze blew Cam’s hair, now longer and he looked at his filthy hands from having worked in the dirt.
Hell, I’ll scare her to death if I find her,
he thought, but realized that his appearance worked perfectly to disguise himself.
Come on Marc. Call back. Time to get the girl!

*

Luke, pulling his
shift in the Saints main room in the compound, got a call from Marc.
Its about time,
he thought. While patience was definitely a virtue for him, with Cam out in the field alone, the other Saints had been chomping at the bit. Swallowing the last of his now luke-warm coffee he said, “What have you got?” While listening to what Marc was reporting, he quickly alerted Jack. He began working the intel, after fixing another pot of coffee, ignoring the Keurig on the workroom counter. Known for making strong coffee, the others joked that no Keurig was good enough for him. Within ten minutes Jack joined him.

“What’ve we got?” Jack asked sharply.

“Cam’s finally found a way to get closer to Miriam. He used the pills to induce vomiting of two agents and now is on his way with them toward one of the cartel’s medical tents. Since we placed him near the last known location of Miriam, that should take him straight to her.”

Nodding, Jack ordered, “Get back with Marc and make sure he has Cam’s coordinates at all times. Cam’ll be planning the mission as he goes and it may be a short notice that Marc will get.”

Luke quickly entered the information into his system and called Marc back. Giving him the closest landing field, he had Marc on stand-by. Then he gave him the latest information he could access about the area.

Within minutes, Marc called Cam back. “They still sick?”

“Yeah. Still retching in the back of the truck. They can’t hear me.”

“Good. Luke says that there’s no new info that says that the nurses have been moved. Your coordinates look like you are heading straight for the medical facility that she should be at. Go slow, man. You do not want her to give you away.”

Snorting, Cam replied, “Hell, the way I look, the only thing I’m gonna do is scare the shit outta her.”

“You may not see her at first. You got a plan for sticking around if necessary?”

“If I gotta, I’ll take half of a pill myself, just to become sick enough to get to stay, but I’m hoping it won’t come to that. Don’t want to be ill if my opportunity comes to get her outta there.”