Page 9 of Healing Love

Alberto eyed Cam carefully and said, “The work is hard. Farm work. Long days and hot sun. No privacy and even though they’re desperate, there’ll be armed guards, so don’t fuck up. The only good thing is that some of the guards have been injured as well.”

“I got this,” Cam answered. Growing irritated with Alberto’s daunting outlook, he wanted to hurry the process along.

“I understand you’ve been undercover before. I get that. What I need you to get is that this world—it’s a fuck-of-a-lot different than the gangs in the U.S.”

“Understood.”

Cam held Alberto’s stare for a long minute before the older man nodded and said, “Yeah, I figured you did.”

“Tell us about the nurses. What do you know?” Marc asked.

“Right now, they’re kept in a heavily guarded dormitory inside the main compound.” Seeing Cam and Marc’s surprise, he nodded. “Yeah, it’s true. These animals might not value women, but they do value nurses. They desperately need the nurses and do not want them mistreated. So, they’re inside the compound. We still know of the three but cannot get a good read on how many others there might be. At least our contact did tell us that the older Catholic nun, Miriam, and another nurse named Sharon are there. We don’t know exactly where but our latest intel is that they’re in a small building that keeps them together and they’re well taken care of.”

“For how long?” Cam asked.

Shaking his head, Alberto answered, “There’s no way to know. Right now, their skills are needed. If they don’t cause a problem, do what they’re told, and take care of the medical needs of the injured cartel, then they’ll stay there. But…you do realize that if they’re not rescued, they’ll never be allowed to leave?”

The air grew heavy in the room with the weight of what needed to be accomplished. Cam felt the other man’s doubt in his success. “So, I need to work in the fields, find a way to get to the area where the nurses are and then find a way to escape in the middle of the jungle and fields with armed guards dogging our every step.”

Alberto once more stared at the large man sitting in front of him. Nodding slowly, he said, “Exactly. That’s exactly what you’ll have to do.”

At that, Cam, and Marc stood, and Cam walked to grab the duffel bag. Holding Alberto’s gaze, he said, “Then that’s what I’ll do.”

“It’s a suicide mission, you know,” Alberto said, standing also.

Drawing himself up to his impressive height, Cam replied, “Never had a mission I couldn’t complete. Successfully.”

For the first time since the men had gathered, Alberto cracked a smile. “Dios mío. I think you just might succeed.”

The day started like the past six days had for the nurses. Someone knocked on the door and then entered, their eyes quickly doing a check to make sure all were present. Another nurse, Lorainne, had been added to the group two days ago and she was not adjusting at all. Crying all the time, she was pale, and Miriam feared that she was making herself sick. Sharon was at the point of wanting to scream every time they were transported from place to place, but so far Sister Genovia had been able to calm her.

After they were awakened, they were allowed time to shower and change clothes. The captors had given them nursing scrubs and they appeared to be clean each day. The four were led by armed guards out to the small courtyard where a table was set up with fresh fruit, muffins, and coffee.

Eating, Miriam was struck once more by how surreal the scene was. Closing her eyes she could almost imagine that she was at a resort, eating on the balcony. But then she would open her eyes, see the acute gaze of their armed guards with their guns at the ready and reality slammed back into her.

After eating, the women were led back into the small dorm room where they were allowed to finish getting ready for the day. It was evident that the room had been searched while they ate.

“What the hell are they looking for?” Sharon growled. “We’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and are watched constantly. Where do they think we’re going to get the weapons to blast our way out of here?”

“Quiet!” Sister Genovia shushed. “Never let them hear you talk about weapons.”

Grimacing, Sharon grew quiet and in a few minutes the guards came back to the door. Escorting the women over to two jeeps, they were taken to the building that had been set up as a makeshift hospital.

Entering the tent, Miriam kept her eyes down as they passed the guards, just as Sister Genovia warned. The words of the nun rang in her head.Do not underestimate these men. They will respect you for the service you provide, but they demand respect. Keep your eyes down to show them your subservience.Of course, Sharon had protested loudly when this advice was given, but the gentle nun reminded her of their precarious situation.

Once inside, she glanced around quickly, seeing more people than the day before. The instructions had been to patch the field workers up as quickly as possible so they could get back to work. The initial cases had been similar to what they saw in Los Mochis, but now the families of the workers were starting to come in, having dealt with their injuries for almost two weeks before being allowed to seek treatment.

There were some children, pregnant women, mothers, and elderly. And of course, many suffered from dysentery. The lack of clean water had spread the disease throughout the area.

Sucking in a huge breath, Miriam waded over to the doctor in charge to see what needed to be completed first. Dr. Ernesto Villogas smiled at the pretty nurse that had joined the group. His eyes quickly skimmed the nurse’s body, giving her theimpression that he was seeing beneath her scrubs. He immediately became professional in his directions, making her feel guilty.He’s just as much a victim as we are,she surmised.I wonder if they brought him here at gunpoint also?

Miriam, determined to be professional in return, smiled back at the doctor. “Where do you need us today?”

He instructed her and the other nurses on their duties. Miriam nodded and headed to the next tent and began working with the children who had been brought in. She could not help but smile at their faces, so innocent of the world around them.

Checking the splints of several with broken bones, removing the crudely sewn stitches in cuts, checking the fevers of others, the morning passed quickly.

Seeing the doctor coming in to check on the patients, she smiled. “Thank you for assigning me to the children today, Dr. Villogas,” she said.

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