Page 2 of Her Faithful Protector

Roxanne tried to pull away from Camilla’s grip. When she couldn’t she glared at Camilla. “Let go of me,” she hissed.

Travis groaned from the floor.

Thank God.

Another man came onto the bus and pulled the bus driver out of his seat.

“I won’t tell anybody, anything. I swear.” The bus driver whimpered in Spanish.

“Get rid of him,” the man with the gun said.

The second man dragged the bus driver out of the vehicle while he continued to beg and plead for his life. Camilla watched outside her window as the man shoved the bus driver to his knees. He looked terrified. Camilla thought she might throw up when a man in a green t-shirt casually lifted a pistol to the back of the nice old man’s head and pulled the trigger. She slammed her eyes shut, but it wasn’t in time to stop seeing the spray of blood and gore.

Our Father, Who art in heaven, please bless that kind man…

She swallowed and swallowed again. Continuing to say prayers in her head for the man who had just been joking with them an hour ago.

“They killed him,” the young man behind her murmured.

“He’s dead,” another girl in front of her sobbed softly.

Both of these students now realized the level of danger they were all in.

When she was finally able to open her eyes again, she glanced over at Roxanne who was still looking at the first gunman. She was giving him a typical look of brash defiance. Hadn’t she heard the gunshot?

Camilla glanced around the rest of the bus. There were fifteen undergrads and graduate students on the bus, she was the only one working on her doctoral degree. That made her and the tour guide the old ladies on the bus because they were both at least twenty-four. So fifteen prisoners in all.

They’d been touring together for a day and a half. Camilla knew half of these people because she went to school with them at William and Mary College in Virginia. The rest she had just met. She knew that some of the students came from monied backgrounds, but how had these mercenaries known? Who exactly were they?

Roxanne pulled her phone out of the cross-body purse that she had been toying with for most of the bus ride.

“Put it back,” Camilla said under her breath.

Roxanne glared at her, and twisted it around in a vain attempt to get a signal.

Camilla looked up to see if the gunman noticed, but he’d been distracted by two more men boarding the bus. She didn’t know how it was possible, but they looked even scarier than the first man. She knew it was hopeless, but she looked over at Lisa for some sign of reassurance. Stunned, Camilla was met with an encouraging half-smile. It was as if Lisa were trying to tell her it was all going to be all right. For just a moment Camilla clung to that smile, even returning it with a nod. Maybe she had found someone she could rely on in this disaster.

The first man grabbed a hunk of Lisa’s long dark hair and jerked her head back, baring her throat. He yelled in her face, spittle flying. “What are you smiling about? There’s nothing to smile about,” he roared in Spanish.

“I always smile when I’m scared, I can’t help it. I’m sorry, please don’t hit me again,” Lisa begged.

“I won’t hit you, beautiful, I promise.” his voice turned seductive. Camilla shivered, and Lisa’s eyes widened even further, her fear palpable. He pulled out a knife instead and casually sliced down her bare arm, from her bicep to her elbow.

“Anybody else want to smile?” The man yelled in English to the passengers. “Do you want to laugh?” He shoved Lisa to one of the other men who grabbed her around her bleeding arm. She let out a high shriek of pain.

“I’m the boss of you. Call me Boss. Do any of you speak Spanish?” Three people raised their hands, but Camilla didn’t.

“Those of you who speak Spanish can call me El Jefe.” He laughed as he strode down the aisle. When he came to Camilla’s row, he looked at Roxanne and smiled. Roxanne gave him a tentative smile in return. He punched her, knocking her into Camilla.

“I told you not to smile,” he yelled.

He turned and looked around the bus. “Does anyone else feel like smiling?”

Up front, two tears tracked down Lisa’s face and blood from the knife wound trickled to the floor. She was no longer held by one of the mercenaries, so she was holding her arm, her hand doing nothing to staunch the flow of blood.

Roxanne was wailing in Camilla’s arms like the world was coming to an end. Camilla thanked God that the punch had hit the back of her head; it could have been so much worse. She kept Roxanne cradled in her arms as she took another glance up to the front. Was Lisa bleeding even more profusely?

“Listen up, I need all of your purses, wallets, and phones. Your parents are going to pay money for all of you.”