Chapter One
His knife was wet with blood as he followed Darius into the shack in the middle of the Mexican jungle. His team mate, who was the medic went straight to the woman who was tied spread-eagle to the wall. Her dress was ripped, and exposed her back. There was a bullwhip lying beside one of the dead men. He also saw another man who had a cell phone gripped in his hand. Clint grabbed it, sure it was set to film the torture of the girl.
Shrill screams broke through the room as the gag was taken out of the young woman’s mouth.
“She needs to stop, but I don’t want to gag her again,” Darius said helplessly, as he motioned to Clint. Darius didn’t speak Spanish, but he knew he did. Clint rushed over.
“She’s screaming for her family. Work with the others to get them cut loose.” Clint turned to his other team mates who were with an older couple and another young woman. He wiped off his knife on his fatigues and slid it carefully between the exposed wood of the wall and her wrists. God, she was a mess. He couldn’t believe how deep the lacerations were from where she had struggled against the rough rope.
“Shhhh. I know you can’t see them, but your family is safe,” he assured her in Spanish.
“Let me see them. Papa! Mama! Beth!” Tears dripped down her face. Clint went to her other wrist and began to carefully cut it loose as well. She struggled to turn around.
“Mama!”
“Miss, you need to calm down so I can get your other hand free.” Clint didn’t think she heard him, she had to be out of her mind with pain. Despite that, her entire focus was on her family.
“Where are they?” She yanked so hard against the rope he didn’t have any other choice but to hold her hand down so he could ensure he didn’t cut her as he sliced through the rope. His fingers were slick with blood by the time he was done.
“Darius, get back here, she needs medical attention, stat!”
“We need to get out of here,” Mason Gault said. Clint acknowledged his leader’s words, but continued to concentrate on the woman’s wounds.
“What’s your name?”
“Let me go to my family?”
“Stay there. Let them help you.” The older man crouched in front of her as Clint gently helped her to the floor of the cabin.
“I’m so sorry daughter this is all my fault. Oh God, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.” The man started weeping.
Lydia, reached out to her father, but hissed in pain.
“Enough!” Clint commanded. “This isn’t helping your daughter. We have to get the hell out of here.”
“Let me hold her. I’ll carry her.” Her father’s voice trembled. Clint looked up and saw he was now surrounded by the small family. Looking at the father, he knew there wasn’t a chance in hell the man would be able to carry his daughter the miles they needed to walk.
“One of my men is going to carry her,” Mason said as he stalked across the room. “We need to leave here immediately. Our intel says the other members of the cartel will be here shortly.”
Clint felt Lydia jerk.
“It’s okay,” he told her in Spanish. “Nobody is going to hurt you again, I promise.”
“Just help my family,” she answered in English. “Please.”
“I’m going to help you. My team will help your family.”
“Ms. Hidalgo, I’m going to give you something for the pain. It’s not going to knock you out, because we need you to remain conscious, but it will make you feel better. I’m also going to give you some antibiotics. As soon as we’re far enough away from here to be safe, I’m going to do some triage on your wounds.”
“Lydia, he’s going to need to give you the shot in your hip. We just need to lift your skirt just a little, okay?” She looked up at him with a pleading look.
“Can’t you give me the shot in my arm?”
“No. Darius is our medic. He’ll do it quickly.” He so wanted to preserve her modesty, but they needed to get the medicine into her system.
She bit her lip so hard he thought she might draw blood. “All right.”
Darius had it done and over with in a moment.
Clint helped her to stand, but he had to take most of her weight. He looked over at his friend Darius, and saw the same look of resignation. They could arrange for some kind of travois, but pulling it through the jungle would slow them all down. What’s more, it would be too painful on her back. Even though the medicine wasn’t meant to put her to sleep, she would likely pass out from the pain. Clint hated the idea, but he was going to have to secure her to him as he carried her.
“If we tie her upper arms and wind the rope around your waist, it should support her if she lets go.” Darius said, reading his mind.