Page 40 of Her Faithful Protector

Camilla tried to lift her head, but she couldn’t. It was all too much.

“Doctor Ross, are you okay?”

It was Travis.

Camilla opened her eyes and saw her bare breasts. They were black and blue. That explained the pain. Then she saw Roxanne’s phone at her feet. Oh shit. What the hell was going to happen when El Jefe saw that? But then she closed her eyes. Who cared? What did it matter? Tears formed behind her eyelids.

“Doctor Ross?”

She didn’t even care that the boy was looking at her half-naked body. Would anything matter ever again?

“Who was that man?”

At that question, she managed to lift her head and look at Travis. She opened her mouth to reply but remembered it was stuffed with a rag so she couldn’t say anything. She tried to think. If Travis had seen somebody, then that meant she hadn’t been hallucinating, there really was someone there. Somebody really had helped her.

Oh my God. People are out there. Good people.

Camilla’s heart started to race. Her breathing picked up. The gag. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t catch her breath. She shook as she struggled to move her immobile arm. Why couldn’t she take out her gag so she could breathe? She needed to fucking breathe!

Camilla closed her wet eyes.

Calm.

Calm.

I can do this.

Calm.

She sniffed to clear her nose, then took in a small breath. Another. Then another.

Okay, people are here. She turned her head. She could see Travis and then beside him was Roxanne, then she was pretty sure it was Jan and Paul, but she couldn’t see any further down the line. She did remember that Lisa was on the end. Even in the darkness, she could see the wooden chair in front of them, the chair where that bastard El Jefe had been sitting. How much more time before he would be sitting there again, deciding their fate?

She pushed at her gag with her tongue, fighting back her revulsion at the foul taste. It started to move. She wiggled her jaw and pushed some more. She made sure to keep breathing as she continued to push out her gag.

This time, her tears were joyful when she spat the gag to the ground. Now what?

Okay, if they were going to be rescued, they needed to help the others help them. If that even made any sense. Camilla closed her eyes, trying to clear her head. She needed to communicate with the students. She needed to make sure they were all calm and collected if rescuers came. This was her job, and she was going to get it done, but how?

Think, Camilla!

She gazed into the darkness, trying to come up with an idea. Finally, something came to her. She’d pass down a message, but not so long that it would get lost in translation like a bad game of “telephone”. Multiple short bursts.

She turned her head. “Doctor Ross says stay as quiet as possible, no matter what. Pass it down,” she said to Travis.

He gave her a long look, then turned to Roxanne. She barely heard what he said to her, but she saw her head turn to Jan. Thank God, it was working! She waited three minutes.

“We’re going to be rescued, and we need to be calm, quiet, and cooperate. Pass it down,” she said to Travis. Please God, let it be true.

Travis gave her a long look of hope. He didn’t ask anything, but his expression was filled with a million questions.

“Pass it down, Travis.”

He nodded and turned his head.

12

Kane and the rest of the team arrived ten minutes early.