Page 10 of Her Faithful Protector

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“Where are we?” Roxanne asked for the fourth time. Camilla looked out the window into the dark jungle. All she could see was black, with occasional shots of green when the lights from one of the Jeeps that was following them shone on the foliage.

How often was she going to ask the same damn question?

Camilla ignored the girl’s question this time.

“Camilla, answer me. Where do you think we are?” She sounded like she was talking to a servant.

“Roxanne, you need to stop talking. And for the last time, we’re in the Mexican jungle,” she said in the lowest whisper she could.

“When are they going to let us go?”

Camilla had already tried not answering her questions, but that just caused Roxanne to ask more questions, faster and louder. The girl could not stop talking. El Jefe was going to single her out again, for sure.

Camilla turned in her seat and gripped Roxanne’s thigh, hard. “Do. Not. Speak.”

Suddenly, Roxanne’s eyes filled with tears.

Camilla loosened her grip and leaned into the girl so she was talking directly into her ear. “These men are savages. We don’t know what they’re capable of. Roxanne, you’re young and pretty, I don’t want them noticing you. You need to keep quiet.”

Understanding dawned at long last in Roxanne’s eyes. She whispered back. “I talk when I’m scared. I always have.”

Camilla gave her best student-teacher encouraging smile. “Now’s a good time to learn a new habit. I know you can, Roxanne. I believe in you.”

“You do?” Her blue eyes sparked with hope.

“I do,” Camilla said fervently.

Please God, let her learn.

They’d been on the road for over eight hours. The one bathroom break they’d had, had been awful. Peeing behind a tree in the jungle wasn’t her idea of fun, but having to do it when leering males were mere feet away was almost the worst experience of her life. When she and Lisa had finished, they’d done what they could to shield some of the other young women from prying eyes. Their captors had laughed at their attempts.

Camilla knew deep in her heart this was going to get worse before it was going to get better, so her job was to help keep her ‘kids’ safe. Roxanne was one of the weakest links. She’d been taking headcount around the bus to determine who else was likely to be singled out. There was Travis Driver—he’d already had one run-in with El Jefe, and Camilla knew that he was going to be looking for a chance to prove himself against their captors. If he fought again, he’d probably be killed. There had to be a way for her to convince him to stand down.

Then there was Phyllis Agar—she was a hard one to pin down. Like Roxanne, she came from a background of extreme wealth, but she never flaunted it. Somehow she was a girl who was always on the outside looking in, and she seemed to be ostracized by everyone, which meant that no one would be willing to help her if it came down to it.

Camilla was also worried about Lisa Garcia. She was from Tempe, Arizona, and they had developed a friendship on the first day. She’d already heard the leader talk about the fact that she wasn’t worth any money to them, so she was disposable. Camilla had to make it seem like Lisa was an integral part of this groups’ cooperation. Perhaps she could—

Her head slammed forward, only to be jerked back by the strap of her seatbelt. Her head smashed into the seat rest behind her like it been shot out of a gun. Her mouth opened to scream in pain, but no sound came out. She jerked forward again like a ragdoll. Back and forth she went until her head hung down and she wondered if her neck was broken.

Her ears were ringing; she couldn’t hear anything but the sound of the loud clang.

Wait. That wasn’t ringing. That was crying and screams.

When she finally heaved a sigh of relief because her body was still, she felt her body begin to fall sideways toward Roxanne. She could barely turn her head, it hurt so much, but she managed it. Roxanne’s eyes were closed.

Camilla looked past the unconscious girl and saw luggage falling onto Liz and Brian who were in the seat across from her. The window that Liz was sitting next to was broken, and a tree branch was sticking through it. The branch was covered in blood. Liz’s blood!

The bus is on its side!

She could barely move her head from the pain but she prayed as hard as she could that she would see El Jefe sprawled dead across the aisle since he hadn’t been buckled in. Inch by slow inch, she turned her neck so that she could see near the front of the bus, but there was no sign of El Jefe. Finally, she spotted Lisa. She was hanging out of the seat behind the driver’s seat. Apparently, she only had a lap seat belt. Dammit!

“Roxanne, can you hear me?” she prodded the girl beside her.

She didn’t respond.

Camilla lifted her hand and touched her fingers to Roxanne’s neck. A swoosh of air left her lungs as she sighed in relief. Roxanne’s pulse was fine. She heard others in the bus beginning to talk to one another, asking their status. She looked over and saw Brian trying to get Liz to respond. He wasn’t having any success.