Page 5 of Hot Soldier's Rescue

“Hola, Enrique!” he shouted. “It’s me.”

“Drago, my friend. What have you brought us?”

He made eye contact with Enrique, the leader of this particular cell of would-be revolutionaries. What they lacked in organization, they made up for in stubborn will. He could mold them. Use them for his own purposes. His gaze hardened. “I found this lady in the jungle. Apparently, she wants to save our souls.”

Stunned silence greeted his announcement as two dozen mercenaries and criminals took in the woman standing before him. A fine trembling passed from his captive to the weapon pressed against the back of her neck. Smart lady. She should be afraid of these men. She was perilously close to death. And there might not be anything he could do to stop her from dying.

He frowned. Not that he should care one way or the other if this lunatic wanted to traipse out here and get herself killed. It was her life. He shrugged and nudged her forward.

“Hello, gentlemen,” she said in a honey-sweet voice that shouldn’t belong to a nun.

“What is this?” Enrique demanded. “A nun?” he swore in a distinctly un-Christian fashion.

“I mean you no harm,” she intoned. “I come in peace.”

Ted snorted behind her. Right. Peace. In the middle of a bunch of paramilitary insurgents armed to the teeth. Or about to be armed to the teeth when he completed his weapons sale to them.

“Drago, introduce us to the good Sister.”

“Tell them your name,” he ordered her roughly.

“I’m Elise.” She corrected hastily, “Sister Mary Elise. And all of you are God’s creatures as much as I am.”

He thought he caught a note of wry…something…in her voice. Odd.

“Come sit with me, Sister,” Enrique invited with patently false courtesy. Ted’s hackles rose. Dammit, this woman’s safety was not his job! He had bigger fish to fry than a crazy nun in the jungle.

When she didn’t budge, he shoved her gently. “Do as he says or he’ll gun you down where you stand,” he muttered.

She threw him an alarmed look of entreaty over her shoulder. Aw, hell. Did her eyes have to be so big and wide and dark—all soft and helpless and innocent like a puppy? Since when were nuns so damned adorable? Irritated, he took her by the elbow and bodily moved her forward lest Enrique lose his notorious temper right here and now.

He pushed her down into a folding chair in front of a scarred wooden table. “Sister Mary Elise. Welcome to the Army of Freedom. Speak your piece and then get out of here. You can start by explaining what the hell you’re doing here.”

“I…um…travel to remote corners of this country in search of people who need my ministrations.”

Enrique growled, “What is a ministration? We don’t need no sermons from no ministers around here.”

“I’m a nurse. I deliver babies—” she broke off, glancing at the all-male party that had drawn around her in a menacing circle and which clearly was not in need of her midwifery services “—and, um, give vaccinations. I treat wounds, set sutures and can perform minor surgery in a pinch.”

Enrique’s shoulders inched down slightly.

“I cook, too.”

That got interested looks from everyone. Ted snorted mentally. He’d tasted this bunch’s swill, and it was nasty even by his rough standards. He didn’t want to know what critters found their way into the gamey and unpleasant stews he’d been forcing down.

“Oh, and I sew. I can mend clothes and do some basic tailoring.”

Now she was talking. A woman like her could be distinctly useful in a primitive camp like this.

“Do you offer any other…services?” Enrique asked suggestively.

Ted leaned forward. “Climb up out of the gutter onto the curb, man. She’s a nun for goodness’ sake. She’s offering to do jobs for your men that they could desperately use. That cut on Olivedo’s leg is as infected as hell, and all the men have various degrees of jungle rot. And I don’t know about you, but I could use a decent meal for a change.”

“If you have corn flour, I can make arepas for everyone,” she offered helpfully, sensing an ally.

Arepas were a local fried flatbread, and the mere thought of the fresh, puffy delicacy made his mouth water. He caught swallows and gulps all around him.

Grinning, Ted announced, “There you have it. Keep your paws off her, and she’ll make you arepas and heal your men. I’d say that’s a fair trade.”

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