Chapter 10
10
T he howling wind began around dinnertime, forcing the men to eat inside of their tent. Cam had just enough of the drug added discretely to the jug of beer sitting on the makeshift table to make the men slightly ill, which would force them constantly outside the tent seeking the latrine.
Within fifteen minutes, one by one of them felt nauseous and rushed outside. By now the pelting rain was coming down, making the paths muddy and forcing all others to seek shelter. Perfect. This is perfect .
He slipped out of the back side of the tent, the dark night and pouring rain masking his movements. It took him almost thirty minutes of jogging to approach the compound where Miriam was located. He stayed in the shadows of the trees lining the road, finally seeing the tall wall and gate ahead. The rain pounded his broad shoulders and ran rivulets down his face. Wiping his eyes he could see that the regular guards that stood around the outside of the gate had sought shelter. He scanned the left side, trying to discern the best way to scale the wall. A copse of trees was near the compound on that side, so he headed toward them.
Looking left and right, he was now out of sight of the guard shack but was uncertain if there would be others walking the perimeter. He stayed still for a long time but was finally convinced the perimeter check was not occurring, or it was not going to happen in the dismal weather.
He chose the closest tree and climbed it quickly, maneuvering out to the branch that was nearest to the wall. Tying a thin rope to the limb, he attached the lose end to his belt.
Several attempts later he managed to get his large body swinging so that he was able to propel himself from the limb to the top edge of the wall. He grabbed the concrete with all his strength, hauling himself up to the top.
Lying flat, he scanned the area once more, blinking the water from his eyes. Not a soul around. He leaned over and counted the buildings from the gate. The third one was almost right in front of him. Right side on the front, she had said.
Taking the thin rope from his belt he let it drop over the edge of the wall. Not using the rope, he swung his body over and dropped to the ground. Thankfully, the small squishing sound his feet made in the mud appeared to go unheard.
The area was cast in shadows, more dark than not, and it was easy to slip between the two buildings. The rain fell in sheets, driving everyone inside. Reaching the front corner, he peered around the corner and saw a small, empty courtyard in front. Unable to believe that there were no guards, he realized that without aid, the nurses would not be able to escape on their own, therefore the security was lax.
He slipped to the window at the right corner room and could see a sliver of light coming from inside. Pulling a knife from his pocket, he wedged it in the slit between the shutters and lifted it slowly. The blade caught on the small shutter latch and as he raised the bar from its catch, he was able to free the shutters. Barely creating an opening just wide enough for him to peek in, he saw the nun kneeling by the bed of the ill woman. Even from a short distance with rain still running into his eyes, he could see the deathly pallor of the nurse.
Moving slightly to the left he was able to see Miriam in a cot, her back to him. Another cot was empty, its blanket undisturbed. Miriam was rolling over, her eyes open and staring at her two roommates. Swinging her legs over the side, she stood and moved toward Sister Genovia.
Knowing time was of the essence, he whispered, “Miriam.”
Hearing a noise coming from the window, she looked up at the same time as the nun. They both gasped, grabbing on to each other as he leaned his head in slightly so that the dim light from the candle in the room shone on his face.
“Cam!” Miriam whispered, rushing forward. The rain was continuing to pelt down on him, and she grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?”
Using stealth despite his large body, he hauled himself over the windowsill and deftly closed the shutters behind him. Turning quickly, drops of water flung off him and onto the floor.
“It’s now. We’ve got to leave now. The guards are all gone, and no one will look for us for a while.”
She looked behind her at Lorainne lying at death’s door and her gaze flew to Sister Genovia’s, who had walked over to the window as well.
“I…can’t…I…” she stammered.
“Oh, yes you can,” the kindly nun pronounced. “I am old and cannot make the travels, even if I wanted to. My job is to stay and see Lorainne safely to the arms of God.”
Miriam’s tortured expression tore at Cam as he reached for her. “You cannot help Lorainne by staying here. Sharon has made her choice and,” he turned toward Sister Genovia, “I swear I would take you if you were willing.”
She smiled and grasped his arm with surprising strength. “No. My place is here. Miriam’s place is with you.”
He held her gaze for a moment, wondering at the double meaning in her words. Mentally shaking himself, he moved toward Miriam. “Are you ready?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered honestly. “What do I need?”
He scanned the room quickly. “Do you have some type of bag or sack? I have one that I made but we could use another. One that you can sling over your shoulder or wear as a backpack.”
Her eyes immediately widened, and she whirled around, rushing to her cot. Reaching underneath, she pulled out the green drawstring sack, emboldened with the Red Cross, she had been given and allowed to keep.
Sister Genovia nodded in approval and moved to Lorainne’s cot, pulling hers out from underneath as well. Handing it to Cam, she said, “Lorainne will soon be with God. She will have no use for this now.”
Nodding his thanks, he dropped to the floor and placed his items into the sack, thankful that the material was water resistant if not waterproof. Looking up at Miriam, he ordered, “Fill it with any food you have here, your towel, any toiletries you need, and a dry pair of scrubs.”
She obeyed without question, her heart pounding in rhythm to the rain on the roof. We’re finally going. I’m finally doing something. The fear of the scene she had witnessed this morning was fresh on her mind, knowing if they were caught, that would be their demise. Still squatting, she jumped as Cam’s hand assisted her to stand. Facing him, she forced those thoughts from her mind. We’ve got a chance. That’s all that matters.
“Sister?” he said, as the nun turned toward him. “If asked, you fell asleep trying to care for Lorainne and the last you saw was Miriam in bed. She had complained about being sick to her stomach and you knew she had gone to the bathroom several times in the night.”
Smiling, she complied. “I can do that easily enough. ”
“And I’m not telling you anything about our plans. I can’t. You understand?”
“Yes,” she agreed. “If I don’t know, they can’t make me tell them.”
“Exactly.” Turning to Miriam, he said, “This isn’t going to be comfortable, but you need to know that the worse the weather, the longer we have to stay hidden and get out of here.”
“I’m good. I can do this,” she promised, gifting him with a small, nervous smile.
He watched as she ran to Sister Genovia, hugging the older woman tightly.
“My children, go with God,” the nun said. “I will be in prayer for you. I will know when you are safe.”
“How will you know?” Miriam asked, pulling back so that she could look into the Sister’s eyes.
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 up with 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 being able 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 might be 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 her over. Lifting her by the waist, he plopped her down in the wet seat and then rounded the front and climbed in himself.
Glancing into the back seat, he pulled out an old hand towel. “Hold this over your head—it’ll help to keep the rain out of your eyes.”
Nodding she followed his directions as he slowly backed up and then pressed on the accelerator, hurling them down the road. With the towel protecting her eyes she glanced around again, seeing no one. Oh, my God. I think we did it!
Cam spared a glance at the woman sitting next to him trying to hold on as the jeep bounced on the slick, muddy road; he could see her slight smile even in the black of the night. They had a long way to go, but if they could get to the river unnoticed, then…just then…they might have a chance.