Page 14 of Her Faithful Protector

“Her,” Maria said in Spanish.

“Take his hand,” Maria said to Camilla in English. “I’ll hoist you up.” Between the two of them, Camilla made it to the top of the rolled-over bus and sat next to the bus door. The man reached for Maria, but she pushed his hand away and climbed up using the tire as leverage. The sun was coming up but it was dark when Camilla looked down into the bus. Maria shone a flashlight.

“Come on,” Maria said. Camilla watched as she dropped down into the mouth of the bus. “Drop her down to me, Raymundo.”

Raymundo grabbed Camilla around her armpits and lowered her into the dark and Maria grabbed her feet. She helped Camilla the rest of the way down and arranged it so that she was standing on the side of a cargo bin.

“Follow me, but be careful.”

The eerie glow of the flashlight pinged around the tomblike interior. Camilla carefully picked her way along the luggage racks and sides of chairs, trying to avoid the broken windows.

“Shit!”

“I told you to be careful!” Maria shouted as her flashlight swung around and found Camilla hanging onto a luggage rack as she tried to wrest her sneaker from in between two seats. Maria muttered in Spanish about uncoordinated cows as she grabbed Camilla’s hand and started to guide her.

“Follow exactly in my footsteps.”

Camilla did, and soon they got to the back of the bus, she moaned.

There was Haley.

Her body was crumpled at the bottom of the bus, her neck obviously broken.

“You know her?”

She crouched down to touch the young girl’s hair. Two days ago Haley was telling her how excited she was to visit the Mayan ruin. She was one of the few students who was more into studying than partying. Haley’s form swam in front of Camilla. She panicked as she couldn’t make out the girl’s features. It took her a moment to realize she was crying.

Maria gripped her shoulder and shook. “Answer the question. Do you know her?”

Camilla covered her mouth to smother a sob and nodded.

“Who is she?”

“Haley Anderson.”

“Is she worth money?”

Camilla couldn’t compute the question.

“Answer me. How much are her parents worth? Is she worth money?”

She rounded on Maria. “What does it matter? She’s dead!”

Maria callously shoved at Haley’s body, rolling her onto her stomach. “Help me look.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Find her purse or something. Anything with contact information for her parents.”

“She’s dead,” Camilla cried again. “Leave her alone.”

Maria’s hands dug under Haley’s body and came up with a small satchel. “I found it,” she said with glee. She dug into the tiny bag and pulled out a wallet, phone, and notebook. “Let’s get out of here.”

“What are you talking about? We need to bury her and the others,” Camilla protested.

“We don’t have time. We need to move today. Don’t worry, they’ll be taken care of. The cats need to eat.”

The breath whooshed out of Camilla as she looked at Maria.