Page 3 of Her Faithful Protector

He went to the front of the bus and leaned out, “Maria,” he shouted. “Get in here. I need you to start taking their information.”

Of course, the boss had a secretary.

Camilla winced at her internal joke. Lisa might smile when she was scared, Camilla made jokes. She’d better stop it.

How about the one where my parents don’t have a pot to piss in and I’m going to die? Is that funny?

Roxanne turned her head to look up at her. “He can’t take my phone, I need it.” Roxanne’s whisper was frantic. She handed it to Camilla.

Camilla realized her own phone would be easily found in her purse on the floor, but having Roxanne’s phone could be a real advantage later on. She turned it off, bent over Roxanne like she was giving aid, then shoved the phone down deep into her bra; for once her large bra cups coming in handy for something.

“Maria,” the man shouted again.

Camilla looked out the window for Maria. She was a tall, striking woman who walked with an air of authority. When Camilla saw her casually step over the corpse of the bus driver as if he were nothing more than a log, she knew that Maria was just as hard and evil as the rest of the men. The woman boarded the bus.

“You called?” she smiled at the boss.

“I need everyone on the bus tagged. Let’s see how much people are willing to pay for the cattle.”

She glanced dismissively at Lisa. “You cut her, so she’s not important, right?”

“Tour guide. She might be able to help keep them calm. If not, you know what happens to her.”

Lisa stood up straighter, a determined look on her face. El Jefe ignored her and continued to talk to Maria.

“Make them identify which packs are theirs and go through them.” Once again he sauntered down the middle aisle and chose another two students to harass. They were a couple from Camilla’s school. They were part of the reason she was here, Roxanne’s and four other parents had pitched in to pay for her ‘adventure’ if she’d try to pound some knowledge into their babies while they were having fun in Mexico.

The boss banged open the luggage compartment over Paul and Jan’s heads and grabbed a duffel bag and a backpack as they fell out.

“These yours?”

When the young man refused to answer, the girl gave a tentative nod. “Maria, start with them. I want to know everything.”

Maria eased around the boss and grabbed the luggage from him. She threw the duffel at the man’s head. He barely caught it before it hit him. She did the same thing to the girl with her backpack. She grunted when it hit the side of her face. Jan was doing the right thing, not bringing attention to herself.

“Come with me,” Maria’s voice was monotone. Paul helped Jan to stand up. He picked up her backpack.

“She can carry it,” Maria told the young man.

“Let me.” Jan took the backpack out of Paul’s hands and followed Maria with Paul behind her. Camilla watched as Jan fell backward into Paul when she saw the dead bus driver.

“Quit your whining and follow me.”

Once again Maria stepped over the dead body, but Paul led Jan around the corpse and they continued to follow Maria until she went to where a tarp was laid out on the ground.

Camilla couldn’t hear what was being said, but the two students started to empty out the contents of their luggage onto the tarp.

“What do you find so interesting? Eh?”

Camilla looked up and saw the boss glaring down at her.

“What is so interesting?” he demanded to know.

Roxanne dug in deeper into Camilla’s lap, trying to make herself as small a target as possible.

“I wanted to see what your friend was doing with Jan and Paul,” Camilla answered in English.

“You better concentrate on what’s happening here on the bus.” He turned to Roxanne. “And you. Why are you hiding?” He yanked Roxanne’s ponytail so that Roxanne was forced to sit up. Then he twisted it in his fist so that she was facing him.