Page 21 of Healing Love

“Hated leaving without letting you know where I was,” he admitted. “You okay?”

She gave a nearly imperceptible nod as she continued to put antiseptic on his abrasions.

His gaze took in the infirmary and then came back to her face. “Don’t see the other two nurses.”

“Sharon was taken to the main house, supposedly totake care of one of the leader’s children. I…I think she is trying to get out that way.”

“She’s a fool,” he mumbled.

Nodding, she agreed. “Lorainne is very ill. I’m scared for her.”

“Just take care of yourself, Miriam. I’m working on a plan, but we need to move carefully.” He watched her as she finished with his leg and arm and then pulled off his t-shirt so that she could bandage his back. Hearing the intake of breath, he glanced over before realizing that she was admiring his physique. He had had a lot of women appreciate his body, but that little gasp from her lips shot straight to his dick.Down boy. This is not the time or the place…or the girl.Forcing his thoughts to a halt, he leaned forward so that she could reach the injuries easier.

“Tell me where you sleep,” he whispered.

“My room is in the compound and takes about five minutes to drive there,” she whispered back. “Down the main road. There is a tall wall around and we go through the gate.”

“Gotta have more, sweetheart.”

The endearment warmed her insides but shocked her.Perhaps I’ve lived in fear so long that any man with a kind word would make me feel this way.But even as she thought it, she knew her feelings were not stirred by just any man…it was this man.

Licking her lips, she continued, “Once inside the gate, go to the left and we are in the third building, next to the wall. Only has one floor and my room is on the right corner. I share it with Sister Genovia, Sharon, andLorainne.”

Looking up sharply at him, she asked, “Can you get us all out?”

“No idea, but I’ll do my best. Say nothing to anyone.”

Nodding her head in agreement, she continued to clean his injuries. As she finished, she bent over his body, seemingly to gather the materials from the bed, and whispered, “Thank you for coming. I know you put your life at risk.”

He glanced over and saw her battling tears. “Don’t cry, baby girl. I’ll figure something out.” With that, he stood, and with a polite nod, made his way out of the tent and back to his work site.

He had seen the way the doctor stared at Miriam. While it appeared that the man’s itch was being scratched by the willing nurse from California, it probably would not be long before he either became bored or realized that she wanted everything she could get…or both. And the beautiful Nurse Miriam would be worth the conquest. Knowing they had a limited amount of time; he worked out an escape route and needed to go over it with Marc the next time they talked.

The following day, with one of the workers out with his injuries, Cam was able to finagle a chance to drive the truck loaded with building rubble and take the vehicle to a dump. He jumped at the opportunity to build upon his escape route.

The trip took him down a dirt road until he was on a paved highway. Several miles away, he turned onto another dirt road and followed it until he came to ariver. He could see the pile of rocks and building materials that had been unceremoniously dumped nearby. As he operated the truck bed to unload its contents, his sharp gaze moved quickly in the area. Knowing the river was there, he noted the direction it was flowing. Away from where he had come from and would eventually lead to the ocean.

Calling Marc once more, he said, “Get me the specs on the river that runs nearby. About five miles from the compound. If it works, we can get here and make it down the river toward the ocean.”

“Got it. Sending the info to Luke now and will get back as soon as I can.”

Disconnecting the phone, he moved the gears so that the truck bed slammed back into place and drove back to his workplace. He noticed the foreman glance at his watch as he backed into the loading space again.He’s watching me,Cam thought.Gotta keep giving him reasons to trust me.For the next two days, Cam helped load the dump truck and then drove numerous trips to the river dumping site.

He made contact with Marc the next day, gaining the intel needed on the river.

“You’re talking about the Fuerte River,” Marc reported. “You’re about twenty-seven miles from Los Mochis. That river’ll take you to the Gulf of California. I’ve got no way of knowing what tributary you’re on, but you follow it, it’ll get you there.”

“Any chance of a pick up before we get to the Gulf?”

“Maybe. It’s surrounded by mango plantations andbelieve it or not, there are river tour groups, although those ceased after the earthquake.”

“Okay. I need to get her out as soon as I can. I managed to steal a small canoe from a local and stowed it where I go to dump rocks near the river. I’ll make contact once we are on our way.”

“This may help…or hinder, I don’t know. But a large storm is heading your way. Supposed to be about two days of torrential rain. It looks like you don’t have a lot of time before bad weather hits.”

Cam pondered this new piece of information. “That’ll be perfect. Lots of the buildings are weakened from the quake and heavy rain will keep everyone working to shore them up.”

“It’ll make traveling more difficult,” Marc warned. “Especially with someone unused to traveling like that.”

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