Page 35 of Her Faithful Protector

For once Camilla was awake when a vehicle stopped. Not alert, but at least she was awake. Out of the back of the truck, the first thing she noticed were children. They were peeking out from small little homes, their eyes wide before they were hustled back inside.

“Out, all of you, out.”

The tailgate was opened, and there stood El Jefe with his arms crossed. He was grinning like he had won the lottery.

“Let’s see the merchandise.”

One of the guards from the truck jumped out while the other one stayed on the truck to shove them out. Camilla was first.

“Ahh, the troublemaker.” El Jefe said when she landed in front of him. “Wait until you see your new accommodations. You’ll be pleased, I’m sure.”

It was dusk. They were in the middle of a village by the looks of things. She saw one building that had a cross on it. The church. It was made of adobe bricks—how in the world had they gotten the clay?

Quit geeking out and look around.

Looking closer, one of the homes looked like it might be some kind of store, but she wasn’t sure. One obvious thing was that now that everybody was in hiding, there was nobody on the street and all of the doors were closed. It was just the truck and the three Jeeps in the middle of the tiny little village square. Just El Jefe’s people, Camilla, and all the rest.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something else.

What was that? Was that an antenna?

“Do you like what you see?” El Jefe asked.

Camilla jerked around to look at him. He was still smiling. It was then she noticed the long rope he was holding. “Give me your hands.”

She heard the kids behind her getting out of the truck while she put out her hands. El Jefe tied the thin nylon rope around her wrists. She kept her wrists side to side so that there would be more give after he was done. Thank God she did considering how tight he tied the knot. Then he wrapped the rope around her waist.

“I think you should be next,” he said. He was pointing to someone behind her. She turned to look, and El Jefe cuffed the back of her head. “Mind your own business.”

It wasn’t much of a hit. In fact, it was minor, all things considered. Who knew that she’d be rating the impact of blows four days ago? Camilla felt the tug of her rope as it was used to connect her with the person behind her.

“Ouch,” she heard Roxanne cry out.

“I’ll just tie it tighter if you don’t stop whining.”

The man got off scaring the hell out of everyone.

Camilla could hear the shuddering breaths that Roxanne was taking behind her.

Good girl, you’re not sobbing.

“Ah, now we have our little hero. Hands behind your back. I don’t need any shit from you.” She assumed he was talking to Travis.

On and on it went, until finally, Camilla heard him talking to Lisa. She cringed when she heard Lisa cry out. If Lisa made a sound, it must have been bad, whatever El Jefe did to her.

How was her arm?

Was it infected?

How about Jan?

Fingers snapped in front of her. She jerked her head upwards and pain shot through her shoulder. “Uppy, uppy, bitch. You need to stay awake, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done.”

Maria grabbed at the rope that was hanging down from Camilla’s tied hands and yanked. As she moved forward, Roxanne knocked into her.

“I’m sorry,” the girl said.

Maria laughed. “This is all part of the fun, seeing you all try to learn to walk together. You’ll all fall on your asses and be dragging one another along. I love this.”