Her Adoring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 3) (21 page)

The train made four stops since they’d been on it.  On their next stop, maybe they’d have an opportunity to get the hell off.  In the dim light, Beth examined the makeshift toilet.  There was no way they could fit with the wood in place.  She took one of the blankets and cleaned the opening.  She put her head through to see how wide the hole was in the floor of the container. 

“Joanne, it’s wide enough for us to fit through if we can pull up the wood.”  The other two girls came over to see what the commotion was about. 

“Look what Beth found.  We could climb out the hole,” Joanne exclaimed.

“While the train is moving?”

“No, dummy, when the train is stopped,” Joanne snapped.

“I can’t fit through there,” Irene said.

“Of course you can’t,” Joanne said derisively.  “Beth is going to make it bigger.”

“Girls, we have to work together.” Beth kept her voice calm and positive.

“How do we make the hole bigger?” Missy asked.

“See these pieces of wood?”

“I can’t see anything, it’s too dark,” Irene complained.

“You can see to piss, can’t you?” Joanne jumped down her throat.

“Come closer, Irene.  Put your hand here, do you feel how the wood is bolted to the floor?”

“How are we going to get the wood out of the way so we can get through the hole if it’s bolted to the floor?” Missy asked.  It was a good question, one Beth hadn’t figured out yet.  The bolts were on so tight it would take a wrench to get them off.  But the wood wasn’t very thick.

“We’re going to have to break the wood, and then pull it away from the hole.”  She was met by silence.  She didn’t blame them. 

“Who has the strongest shoes?”

“What?”

“Let me see your shoes.  We’re going to have to kick the wood.  I want to see who has the best shoes to kick the wood.”  Unfortunately, Beth was wearing ballet flats, so it wasn’t going to help much.  She’d be pulling the broken pieces of wood away from the hole. 

“Me.”  Joanne held up her foot, and everybody looked at her combat boot.

“We have a winner!” Beth grinned, and all the girls laughed.  Thank God, because she needed them to be in the right frame of mind.  This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Beth, I should kick near the edges, right?”

“Yep.  But we’re going to be on either side of you, and you’re going to hold onto our shoulders.”  It took a lot longer than Beth hoped to start getting the boards to loosen.  Joanne was breathing hard, and her kicks were getting much weaker before the first crack sounded.

“You can stop now.”

“No, I want to kick it out.”

“That was never the plan, Joanne.  We just needed you to loosen the wood so I can pull.  You’ve done your part, now let me.”  Joanne sat against the wall with Missy and Irene.  Beth started to pry the wood.  After twenty minutes her muscles were aching.

Three different times her hands slipped and she got splinters, and the last time wood sliced into her palm making her gasp in pain.

“Are you all right?” Missy called out.

“I’m fine.”

“Do you need help?”

“I’ve almost got it.”  And she did, but now she had to figure out how to stop the bleeding.  Beth took one of the blankets and tore it, and then wrapped it around her hand.  When she saw how it protected her hand, she did it for the other one as well.  She should have thought to do this much earlier.

A hand touched her shoulder and she jerked.

“I’m not tired anymore.  Can I help?”

“Sure, Joanne.  Wrap your hands in the blankets, and then let’s finish pulling up the wood.”

Together they finished the job.  They looked through the hole and watched the train tracks as they sped by.  Now they just had to wait for the next stop.  Beth hoped it would be someplace they could get help. 

––––––––

“M
ason, I’ll know for sure tonight, but I’m pretty sure it’s all going down here.  I definitely know they’re bringing American girls.”

“That jives with what Melvin said about the runaways.  We didn’t think they would be going out on the Gulf side.”

“Apparently they’re a hit in the Middle Eastern market.”

“That’s sick.”  It was Drake.  Jack realized he was on speaker.

“So you’re going to call us back tonight?” Mason asked.

“Yep.  Aiden and I are going out for a fancy dinner.”

“Okay, call us back.”  The line went dead.

Jack looked around the hotel room.  He was still waiting for Aiden.  Dinner was in an hour.  Helen told him to dress up.  It was all surreal. Leonard must have expected the dress-up part of the events, because he’d provided dress clothes along with all the weapons.  It was another layer of creepy, if you asked him.

Jack heard the key card, and was up with a gun before the door could open.  Aiden entered with his hands up.

“Hey partner, nice of you to finally show up,” Jack said as he lowered his gun.

“I’m not sure I want to be your partner.  I hear they end up dead.”

“Only the stupid ones.”

Aiden headed towards his bedroom and Jack followed him.  He pulled off his shirt.  Jack saw the blood on it.

“Yours?” he asked.

“No.” He scowled.  “I was involved in an interrogation.  This one was just a beating.  Fucker deserved it.  He was a child molester.  I would have gladly helped, but I was only in the spray zone.”

“Nice first day on the job.”

“Again, I didn’t kill anybody, so I’d say mine was a step up.”

Jack thought about when he pulled the trigger, and he didn’t feel any regret.  What did that make him?

“I called Mason, and put him on alert he’d probably be moving this way.”

“You got intel on the slave trade?  On Beth?”

“Definitely on human trafficking, including Americans.  We’ll hear more tonight.”

“I need a shower.”

“So do I.  I’ll see you in the living room in twenty.”

Jack hit the shower.  He didn’t know what made him feel more unclean—the killing or Helen.  As he dressed, he realized he needed to warn Aiden about his admirer.  For just a moment he considered not telling him, after everything that had gone on wasn’t he entitled to a little entertainment?

He went into the room connecting the two bedrooms and Aiden was waiting for him.  He’d found the beer and offered him one.

“Well since you gave me a beer I suppose I better tell you about Helen.”

“Who’s Helen?”

“Your soon-to-be fiancé.”

“Ah fuck, now what?”

“There’s this psycho bitch.  I swear she’d eat her own young.  When I told her I was engaged she set her sights on you.”

“Thanks,” Aiden said sarcastically.  “I take it she’s going to be at dinner tonight?”

“She’s going to be the hostess.”

“Uncle didn’t mention her.”

“Your uncle has the good sense to cut and run.”  There was a knock on the door and both men drew their guns.  Jack opened the door and let in Ruiz.

“Is all this necessary?” Ruiz asked, indicating the guns.

“We like to be careful, you never know if it’s a friend or an enemy who might be coming to visit,” Aiden said.

“And we still don’t.” Jack put away his gun. 

“No you don’t.  Can you offer me a drink?” Ruiz asked.

“Tequila?” Jack headed towards the bar.

“
Reposado
.” Ruiz pointed to the bottle he wanted.  Jack poured him a glass.

“None for you?”

“I’ll drink tonight.  Tell me what to expect,” Jack demanded.

“Well, JJ,” Ruiz said after his first sip.  “There will be many men who are not going to be happy you took it upon yourself to kill Duarte.”

“Fuck ‘em.”

“Hey JJ, you might want to mellow the hell out,” Aiden yelled from the couch where he was dinking with his cuff links.

“Ruiz, doesn’t Aiden look nice?” Jack asked.  “What do you think Helen will say when she sees him?”

Aiden glared at him.

“Enough of this bullshit.  We need to go.”

****

T
he train finally started to slow down.

“Remember what I told you.  I’m going to go first.  The stops last for
at least
five minutes.  If someone has to get caught and get in trouble, let it be me.”

“I want out of here, I want to go first,” Irene whined.

“Shhhh, she’s doing us a favor by going first.” Joanne waved her hand at the girl.

The train stopped.  There were blankets lining the hole so they wouldn’t get chewed up with splinters.  Beth leaned down as far as she could with Joanne holding her feet.

“I don’t see anyone.”  She motioned for Joanne to help her up.

“Okay, I’m going to go.”  It was just getting dark outside—perfect for their purposes.  It was light enough for them to see, but soon they’d be camouflaged by darkness.  She dropped lightly to the ground, and tried to make as little noise as possible.  She ducked as she got out from under the train, but still managed to hit her head against a low hanging piece of metal.  It snagged her hair, and she struggled to untangle it so she could get free.

She pressed against the side of the train and looked around.  There was another one beside her.  Perfect!  Nobody would see the four of them.  But what was on the side of the other train?  This time she crawled under the next train.

There was a small dilapidated terra cotta stucco depot.  Empty.  Why had they stopped if nobody was around?  She didn’t want to have the girls leave the train car until she had the answer, but she also didn’t want the train to start moving either.  She rushed back to get them.  Joanne’s head was sticking out when she returned.

“Is it safe?  Can we go?”

“Have the others get the remaining bottles of water.  Hand them to me, and then we’re all going.  Tell them to be quiet.”

They handed her eleven bottles of water.

“Give me a blanket so I can carry them.  Wait, give me all the blankets,” Beth instructed.

She helped steady each girl as they came out.  Soon they were all standing in front of her.  She made makeshift backpacks with the blankets and the water, and tied them to each girl. 

“We’re going to crawl under the trains so you don’t hit your heads like I did.”  She gave a rueful laugh, and the girls grinned.  She was trying to make it seem like an adventure, and Missy seemed less scared.

“Okay, let’s go.  So far I haven’t seen anyone.  Follow me closely, and don’t talk.”

As soon as they were under the second train their train began to move.  Beth said a prayer of thanks they’d made it in time.  It also told her they had to move fast.  She needed to think fast.  How was she going to play this? 

As soon as they were standing next to the second train and looking at the deserted depot, she decided to brazen it out.

“Follow me.  I’ll do the talking since I’m a native.”

“And you can speak Spanish,” Joanne said out of the corner of her mouth.  Beth bit back a laugh.  The girl had a point.

They walked the three steps to the door, and Beth looked at the train schedule and map posted.  It said they were nine stops away from Veracruz.  They were halfway between Mexico City and Veracruz.  God, she needed help.

Beth grinned.  She just helped herself, and these girls.  Now she had to keep doing it. Opening the door, she saw an old woman with a toddler sitting on a concrete bench.  To the left the ticket window had bars and a closed signed.  Beth signaled for the three girls to go sit at the back of the room so they wouldn’t draw attention.

“Pardon,
Senora
, but when are they going to be selling tickets?”

“They should still be open,” came her resigned reply.  The little boy looked at Beth, his brown eyes big with delight.  “They set their own hours.  I will wait and hope.”  She looked over her shoulder at the girls.

“Are you in trouble?”

Beth didn’t respond.

“This is a bad place to be if you’re in trouble.  It is why I’m buying a ticket for my daughter and grandson to go my brother in Quintana Roo.”

“You are a good mother.”  The little boy lifted his arms to Beth and said, “up.”  She laughed.

“Yes, little man, I’ll pick you up.”  Beth hefted him into her arms, and winced.  Her hand was really beginning to hurt.  He patted her face.

“Boo boo.”

“Yes, I banged my face.”

“I think you’re in trouble.  I think those white girls are in trouble too.  You shouldn’t be here when the man who sells the tickets gets here.  We’ll leave.”

“
Senora
, I don’t want you to get into any trouble,” Beth protested.

“The day I turn my back on other women in need is the day they can put me in the ground.”  She turned to Joanne and the other girls.  “Tell them to come with us.”  The old woman picked up her huge purse, and Beth continued to hold the cute little boy.

“Joanne, Missy, and Irene, let’s go.”

––––––––

“C
all them, I’ve got to go take another shower.”  Aiden threw his suit coat across the room.  Even from here, Jack could smell Helen’s perfume.

Jack pulled out his phone.

“You’re on speaker.”

“The shipment from Tijuana will arrive tomorrow.  There is product coming in from overseas in the port.  They talked about it like they would be culling cattle tomorrow night.”

He was met by dead silence.

“Did I lose you?”

“No,” Mason said quietly.  “We’re just absorbing it, Jack.  We’ll be there.  Do you have any idea how many people are in their operation?  Or how many people will need to be rescued besides Beth?” 

“I met the dream team we’d be up against.”

“Jack, give them the truth.”  He turned and looked at Aiden, who was standing there with a towel wrapped around his hips.  He put his phone on speaker.

“Mason, this is Aiden.  Jack’s right, some of these guys are absolute idiots, but they are stone cold killers.  They’ll butcher each other to get to you.  Also, they won’t care if the women live or die.  These are the original gang members Berto gathered together, the original
Hacha Sangrientas
.”

“How many are there?” Clint asked.

“Probably about fifteen tomorrow night.  Plus there are going to be five of Berto’s mercs, two of which are us.” Aiden grinned.