Page 26 of Healing Love

Patting her cheek, Sister Genovia said, “God will let me know.” Turning to Cam, she implored, “Now hurry and take care of this one. I give her to your trust and protection.”

He returned the woman’s embrace as well, and whispered, “Always.”

And with that, he led Miriam out of the room, down the dark and silent hall to the back door leading to the latrines.

Keeping silent, but wondering why they needed to go this way, she followed him around to the side where the compound wall was. Now that they were out of the overhang, the rain soaked her to the skin almost instantly. Hoisting her sack on her back, she tried to keep up as her feet slipped in the mud. It hurt to look upwith the rain pelting on her face, so she kept her eyes down but then slammed into Cam’s back as he stopped quickly.

Mumbling, “Sorry,” she glanced up to see that there was a slim rope coming down from the wall.I’ll never be able to climb that! Only two minutes into the rescue and I can’t get out.

“I’m climbing up and then you’ll tie the rope around your waist, and I’ll help hoist you up,” he said, glad that she seemed relieved for his assistance.

Nodding her agreement, she watched in fascination as he grasped the slick rope in his hands and walk-climbed up the wet wall. Her breath caught in her throat a couple of times when he slipped, but he managed to right himself and continue upwards. She mentally fist pumped when he slung his leg over the wall and balanced on the top, lying flat on his stomach. He gave her a nod and she grabbed the rope, tying it around her waist. Her fingers were so wet that the simple act was taking longer than she wanted.Please let it hold,she silently prayed.

Grabbing the rope with her hands, she felt it pull on her waist and she assisted as much as she could by trying to emulate the walk-climb she had seen Cam do. Several times her feet slipped on the wet wall and the rope belt caught her from tumbling to the ground, but it bit into her flesh painfully.

She used to jog for exercise but realized now that she had little upper body strength.Damn,she cursed inwardly as her feet slipped once more. The black, starless night with the pouring rain kept her from beingable to see anything other than the wall directly in front of her.

“You’re almost there, babe,” she heard and spared a glance upward. She could not hold back the smile as she saw his face just a few feet away from her. Two more walk-climbing steps and she felt his hand grasp her arms, pulling her up more.

Finally, she was on the top of the wall, lying on her back with his face directly over hers.

“You did it, girl,” he enthused, knowing that she had only made it through step one of about a thousand steps that needed to occur, but he was proud of her, nonetheless. He quickly leaned over her body further and undid the knotted rope at her waist. Grasping her forearms, he lowered her over the back edge of the wall and when she was as low as he could reach, he dropped her. She only had a few feet to fall and did so deftly.

Snagging the rope, he swung himself into the tree, landing on the branch he had started from. Untying the rope, he quickly coiled it and put it in his sack, not wanting to leave any evidence and knowing the odds were that they would need it some other time. Climbing down the tree, he landed at her feet and grabbed her hand.

Checking his solar powered cell phone, he could see the time was only a little before midnight.Good.He crept into the copse of trees lining the road again and headed back toward the area where the trucks were parked. The previous trip had taken him almost thirty minutes of jogging in the rain to get to her and he knew they would not be able to go back that fast.

He pulled the baseball cap off his head and tried to put it on hers.

Jerking back, she said, “No. You need it.”

He frowned and shook his head. “I’m not wearing it when you’ve got nothing on your head.”

“Cam, you need to be able to see where we’re going. I’ll just follow you. Please, this makes more sense.”

He hated to admit that she was right, and it went against his core to keep the hat when a woman he was protecting did not have one, but they could not waste time arguing. Slapping it back on his head, he vowed to find something for her to wear as soon as he could.

Miriam was determined to keep up with him. Once in the trees, he let go of her hand and she followed behind. She found that she could follow the rhythm of his feet and if she concentrated on them and stayed in his path, she did not have too much trouble.

He slowed down after a bit and turned, grabbing her shoulders, and pulling her in close. Leaning down to speak directly into her ear, he said, “You’re doing great. We’re going to go around the infirmary area and over to my workplace. There’s a truck that I can hot-wire. We shouldn’t be noticed in this storm.”

She looked up and nodded, afraid to speak too loudly. Pulling on his arms, she leaned up on her tiptoes and he bent back over. “There’s a medical jeep on the far side of the infirmary. It came in today and I think it was still there when I left.”

Cam quickly processed this new information.A jeep parked on the back of the infirmary will be easier to get to and less noticeable than the big dump truck.This just mightbe a lucky break early in the game.He felt a tug on his arms again and looked down.

“It’s open top though, so I don’t know if that will matter to you.”

He stifled a grin, then whispered into her ear, “Don’t know if you’ve noticed, sweetheart, but I don’t think we can get any wetter.”

Just then, in the middle of a torrential storm, in the middle of a drug cartel compound, not close to safety or being rescued, Miriam smiled up at Cam, his words causing her to stifle a giggle. And her smile shot him straight through the heart. They held each other’s gazes for just a few seconds and then he nodded.

“Well, let’s go hot-wire a convertible.” Grabbing her hand, he changed direction and moved toward the dark infirmary tent skirting the outside until they reached the back. And just like she remembered, the jeep was there, with no one in sight.

Cam had Miriam stand back, pushing her under a slight overhang so that she would have a break from the rain hitting her. She wiped her face with her hand, slinging the water from her eyes as she watched him.

Pulling out his knife to use as a screwdriver, he bent over the steering column. As he dealt with the wires, Miriam turned her head back and forth terrified that someone would come. Just then, a blinding flash of lightning broke through the sky illuminating the world for a second, followed by the crash of thunder.

Before she knew what was happening, the jeep roared to life and Cam straightened up and gave her a smile. She grabbed his proffered hand, and he pulled herover. Lifting her by the waist, he plopped her down in the wet seat and then rounded the front and climbed in himself.

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