Page 43 of Fighting for Julia
“Do you know what’s in store for you, little girl?” He spat on the ground. Lust shone in those dark eyes now, alongsidehis innate cruelty. “You’re gonna take us all at once, and we’re gonna rip you to pieces from the inside out.”
“I’m a virgin. You can roll dice to see who gets my virginity. But I guarantee you this. My face will be the last one each of you sees.”
The men threw their heads back and roared with laughter. One of them who held Axalia captive squeezed her arm in a vain attempt to elicit a squeal of pain from her. She stood resolute, immune to it.
“You’re too sweet of a piece of tail to be a virgin,” he declared in English close to her ear but loud enough for the others to hear. He forced her hand down to the bulge in his crotch. “You know you want this.”
“I know no such thing.”
The leader rubbed his chin. “How old are you,chica?”
“I’m seventeen. My papa was Axel Anderson. A great revolutionary hero.”
The compadres laughed again.
“Revolutionary hero, huh? Well, Miss Anderson, we’ll have a doctor determine your virginity. After that, you’ll be servicing us until there’s nothing left of you.”
“Or you,” Axalia tossed the retort in defiance.
Their laughter echoed in her ears as a pair of men dragged Axis’ bruised and battered body between them toward a series of cinder block buildings set in a U around a courtyard with—of all things—a baby-faced angel water fountain. She’d smash the vile statue as soon as an opportunity arose.
The grass grew greener and thicker the closer they approached the compound. The sun glinting off the white stucco façades of the two-story buildings almost blinded Axalia. Her eyes watered in the brightness.
Once they reached the courtyard, men, women, and children ventured out to see what was happening. The leader barked atthe onlookers to stop gawking and return to their work. They obeyed without a single emotion registering on their faces.
Axalia smiled. She recognized those vacant expressions. Yes! Yes! Yes! She and Axis had finally found a place where they belonged.
They entered a low-lying building that ran perpendicular to the mountains. Axalia preferred its cool, dim interior to the glaring warmth of the day. When the men led Axis away from her, though, a small knot of worry formed in her stomach. It swelled after the leader hooked her wrists to a chain dangling from a wooden crossbeam and raised her body two feet off the ground in a rectangular room. She was completely at their mercy.
“No one will touch you,” the leader assured Axalia. His deep voice resonated with a strange possessiveness.
The heavy metal door banged shut. Keys jangled in the lock. Finding herself in this predicament caused laughter to bubble inside Axalia despite her concern for her brother.
A cold bucketof water drenched Axis. He groaned as much from pain as in protest of this new assault. Every inch of his body ached.
“Wake up, dog!”
Spoken in English, the harsh command, followed by a vicious kick in his ribs, roused Axis from his stupor. He opened his eyes and blinked until his vision focused on a pair of black boots.
“General Jorge Escobar,” Axis muttered in a raspy voice. He swallowed and tasted blood.
“You think the General is at your beck and call? You think to command him to appear in your miserable presence?” The assailant stomped on Axis’ face, shattering bones in his cheek.
A wave of dizziness and nausea hit Axis. When it passed, his gaze traveled from the man’s boots up to his dark bearded face. Axis’ jaw felt loose, but he summoned the courage to speak. “His…his granddaughter…is alive. My…half…half-sister. Lola…”
At the mention of Lola’s name, Axis’ captor let out a low, menacing growl, yanked him to his feet, and slammed him down hard in a cold metal chair. Without a word, he secured Axis’ hands and feet with zip ties. Before he left, he threw a right hook that decimated Axis’ other cheek.
SOMEWHERE IN MEXICO
GENERAL JORGE ESCOBAR’S COMPOUND
Axis and Axalia
His wounded leg throbbed,and he thought Captain Pierce might have been right about the flesh-eating bacteria. Axis’ head drooped. Snot and blood dripped from his broken nose and lacerated face. He wondered what was happening with his sister. Was she being raped and tortured? If she wasn’t restrained, she’d kill anyone who touched her. And if she didn’t, if he lived, he would break their necks with his bare hands. He’d already eliminated an orderly at Western State Mental Hospital for molesting her.
To pass the time, Axis counted drops of blood. One. Two. Three… After twenty he lost count. The urge to move, to do something with his hands, burned inside him, driving him nearly mad with its persistence. When he couldn’t take it anymore, Axis opened his mouth to scream with frustration but clamped it shut as the metal door clanked open.
A bald, clean-shaven, slender but well-built man strode toward Axis. He shivered at the sharp, angular features of theman’s face, the cruelty of his thin lips, the deadliness of his dark gaze. Not to mention the scabbard that swung low on his hips.
