Page 48 of Her Faithful Protector

I hate that bitch.

There was loud scuffling and more pleading.

“Stop!” a woman’s voice screeched.

“What the fuck?” Maria yelled in Spanish. Something large slammed to the stone floor.

Camilla shuddered in pain as she twisted her entire body so she could see behind her. She tried to comprehend what she was seeing. It looked like Maria was on the ground with Roxanne beside her. But Wendy and Phyllis were on top of Maria. Phyllis was sitting on Maria’s chest and had one hand smashed on top of Maria’s face; her other hand looked like she was trying to rip off her ear.

“You’re sick!” Phyllis yelled into Maria’s face.

Wendy was sitting on Maria’s knees, but even that didn’t stop the bitch from twisting and turning, trying to buck the two students off her.

“Stay still,” Phyllis shrilled. Maria’s arm shot up and hit Phyllis in the jaw, knocking her sideways.

A shot went off. Camilla jerked and saw El Jefe coming toward the melee with Lisa still clasped in one arm, his gun pointed up at the ceiling.

“I’ll kill you bitches if you don’t get off Maria,” he hollered.

Lisa started struggling. El Jefe went down onto one knee.

Why had that happened?

That’s when Camilla saw that Travis had rolled his body toward the group and he was kicking out as best he could toward the big man.

Phyllis and Wendy were no longer on Maria. She was staring down at them, a knife in her fist. Roxanne was to the side, curled up in a ball next to the pew, trying to make herself look small.

“Raoul, get over here!” El Jefe roared as he staggered to his feet. How in the hell he managed to still hold onto Lisa, Camilla would never be able to understand. When Raoul arrived, El Jefe motioned to the three women on the ground. “Pick one of these bitches up, we’re getting out of here.”

“This one’s mine,” Maria said as she kicked Phyllis in the gut. She pulled her up by her arm and held her knife against her throat.

“I choose this one,” Raoul said as he grabbed Roxanne up from the floor. Roxanne had no fight left in her; her body was limp and Raoul ended up lifting her into his arms. He walked past Maria toward El Jefe and the door. Travis’ feet shot out and connected with the side of his knees. Raoul went down like a sack of potatoes right into El Jefe. Now both men and the two women were on the ground, with Maria looking at them and laughing.

“Bitch, quit laughing!” El Jefe’s face was turning purple. He pushed against Lisa’s chest to get to a sitting position.

Camilla heard something that sounded like an explosion, from the back of the church. Were they all going to die now? She looked at Raoul; he must have hit his head hard against the side of one of the wooden pews and he was passed out, thank the good Lord. Unfortunately, Roxanne was underneath him and Camilla couldn’t tell what shape she was in.

“Raoul is a goner, we need to get out of here,” Maria said as she tried to push Phyllis over Raoul’s body without having her trip. “Move, bitch,” she said as she shoved Phyllis forward toward El Jefe who was just getting to his feet.

The only good thing that Camilla could think was that at least they were only going to take two of them as human shields, not three of them. El Jefe was staggering to his feet.

“Where’s my gun?” he asked.

Those were his last words before he was shot in the throat. Shocked eyes turned toward Lisa who was in a half-seated position, holding the gun in two hands, her eyes filled with rage. She started to change direction. Camilla knew that she was getting ready to point toward Maria, but that no good bitch kicked out hard and Lisa toppled over from the blow to the side of her head.

Maria took one frantic look around the church, then stopped and stared at Lisa, her gaze murderous. She bent over Raoul and searched the pockets on his cargo pants. She wheezed frantically, then turned his unconscious body over, shoving her hands through the pockets of his vest. She grinned when she pulled some kind of device from his pockets, then she ran to the front doors of the church. She pushed up the bar that was keeping it locked. She took one last long look at the inhabitants, then slid out the door.

The bitch had taken the detonator, Camilla was sure of it. They needed to get the hell out of there. She saw the knife on Raoul’s belt; they needed it to get the ties off the boys, but there was no way she could be the one to do that. Looking around she saw that Lisa had gone into shock again, so not her. Phyllis was still on the floor with her hand on her mouth.

“Wendy!” Camilla yelled at the girl. “Grab that guy’s knife and start cutting the boys loose. Start with Travis.”

The girl didn’t move.

A dark shadow appeared over her. Camilla let out a shriek.

“Ma’am, it’s me. Asher Thorne, with the US Navy. We’re getting you out of here.”

“There’s a bomb. We need to get out of here fast. The boys are all zip-tied.”