Page 33 of Seduced by a SEAL

Chapter 12

Camila fell to the side of the van she was riding in as it lurched to the left, banging her head against the wall. Pain smarted through her temple, wrapping around her entire head, and she was certain a bruise would be forming soon. She struggled against the ropes binding her wrists and ankles, trying to sit back up. Desperate to see what was happening around her despite the darkness.

The man left to guard her in the back of the van had been leering at her for the entire ride, his face lit only by the glow of his cell phone and cigarette. Suddenly he was moving toward her. Over her.

She screamed as he grabbed her arms, but he roughly pulled her back into a sitting position, shoving her against the wall, and then crouched down back where he’d been.

He glanced down at his cell phone as it began to vibrate, then frowned as he saw the message on the screen. Screaming in Spanish, he slammed it down, seeming unconcerned if he smashed it altogether. The van skidded to an abrupt stop, tires screeching, and then the back doors were suddenly pulled open.

She cringed against the bright lights of the flashlights aimed at her, for a brief moment hoping she’d been rescued. Two of the men dressed in black climbed in and grabbed her, hauling her outside of the van to the side of the highway.

She swayed between them, her bound legs leaving her unable to do much of anything.

“Let’s leave her here,” one of the men snapped. “We can come back later if need be. This is getting out of hand. The entire scenario revolved around him coming!”

“Damn it all to hell,” a second man said, kicking the ground. He threw his cigarette down, smashing it beneath his foot. In an instant he was coming toward Camila. He pulled a large knife from a pocket of his pants, tossing the sheath onto the ground. She screamed as he moved toward her, but he suddenly ducked down, gripping one of her calves as he cut the rope binding her ankles. He stood back up, towering above her. Before she could ask any questions, his fingers wrapped around her bicep, and he began painfully dragging her through a field.

She stumbled in the darkness, her ankles raw and sore from where the rope had bound her. It still cut into her wrists, but she didn’t dare ask for him to free her arms, too.

Rows and rows of caco grew all around them, and she looked around in confusion as they trampled through the plants. He moved in a strange zig-zag pattern, and she went with him, bewildered.

They were dumping her in a field? What happened to the auction? Was he taking her out here alone to rape or kill her?

The plants brushed and scratched against her bare legs, and she stumbled over a pile of dirt, still wearing her heeled sandals. If she ever escaped from any of this, she was burning her entire outfit—both her dress and shoes. She didn’t want any reminder of what she’d been through.

To her astonishment, the sound of helicopters filled the air in the distance, and she could see an eerie orange glow in the night sky.

“What’s going on? Is something on fire over there?”

“It seems that another cartel took out your father tonight. The SUV he was riding in exploded on impact.”

“What?” she gasped. “You’re lying.”

“Not lying. It’s a pity, really, since we were planning to collect millions from him. Now that he’s gone, we have to reschedule your auction. And I can’t risk us being stopped and having you taken from us for free. I’m leaving you out here until things settle down.”

“In the middle of a field?” she asked, suddenly feeling exhausted. The brief rush of adrenaline when she’d been pulled from the van was fading, any hopes of a rescue disappearing.

“I promised my men that Miguel would pay up. Come and give us a hefty ransom for his only daughter. The allure of you would have men bidding higher at the auction than we ever imagined. Of course, I was anticipating your father being forced to bid for your freedom as well,” he said with a dark chuckle. “I’ll be back to gather you shortly.”

He turned and began to walk away, leaving her standing there alone in the darkness. Was this some kind of sick joke? Was he going to come back a few minutes later and kill her? As soon as he was out of sight she was going to run. To never look back.

He stopped when he’d gotten only a few feet away. She could see his silhouette in the darkness but sensed he was looking back at her. “This entire field is rigged with IEDS—improvised explosive devices. It’s to keep the government from ruining our fields. And to keep men like your father from burning them to the ground. One wrong step, and you’ll blow your leg right off. It’ll be harder to run when you’re injured. Don’t move until I come back for you.”

Camila shivered as he walked away, her stomach dropping. This had to be some sort of nightmare. He kidnapped her just to leave her in a damn field that he claimed was rigged with explosives?

The door to the van slammed shut, startling her, and then with a roar of the engine it was speeding off into the darkness.

Smoke billowed in the sky in the distance, cast in that sickly orange glow from the flames. Was it really her father who’d been killed? Or were they just saying that to frighten her?

The cool night air nipped at her bare flesh, and suddenly the gravity of the past few days washed over her. She was exhausted. Hungry. Thirsty. Freezing.

Should she run away?

Try to get help?

There was no telling if what her captor had said was in fact true or if he was simply trying to frighten her by claiming the entire field was rigged with explosives. He’d somehow moved through it, although in that odd zig-zag pattern.

She sank to the ground, yawning despite herself. She needed to run. Hide. Take whatever chances with his claims about the IEDs. Nothing would be worse than being auctioned off to a group of men. Than being sold and treated as some man’s property for the rest of her life.

Her legs felt weak as she tried to stand, her bound arms doing little to help her, and then she fell back to the hard ground and surrendered to the darkness.

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