Page 79 of Prisoner of War
Serrano lifted his brow. “Then you don’t recognize her?”
Minnie couldn’t see Zalaya’s expression, but his body didn’t move. “Should I?”
“Torrez swears this is one of Peña’s sisters.” Serrano grinned. “She won’t confirm it, of course. Either way,she’ll make fine sport in the bordello, don’t you think?”
Zalaya circled the group of soldiers holding her, taking her measure. When Minnie glimpsed his face it was impassive. “She could be considered a bit too stringy,” he said at last. “There’s lots of muscle there, though. Plenty of endurance, I should think.”
“My thoughts, too. There’s just the matter of preserving gonads.”
Zalaya circledagain. “There’s a number of ways it could be done,” he began. “We could use heroin or morphine. She’s guaranteed to be hooked and then will do anything for her next fix, but then there’s the problem of responsiveness. I prefer them live and wriggling. No matter. There are a number of other chemicals.” He described different drugs, physical bonds and psychological holds such as blackmail. As thelist lengthened, Minnie’s astonishment grew.
Téra’s gaze found Minnie where she sat on the bed and her eyes widened.
Minnie clutched her hands together convulsively. She could think of nothing she could do to save Téra. She was too bound and restricted and too closely observed to be able to do a damn thing. Her own helplessness was a bitter weight.
Zalaya stopped before Téra again. “I do havesome gamma hydroxybutyric acid here. That would do it.”
Serrano wrinkled his forehead. “What the hell is that?”
Zalaya moved back to his desk. “GHB? It’s what the Americans call a date-rape drug.”
Serrano grinned. “That would do it.”
Zalaya dug around in his drawer and withdrew a small bottle of colorless liquid and tossed it to one of the guards surrounding Téra. “Give that to Rosa. Tellher two ccs twenty minutes before a client. It’s supposed to be taken orally so Rosa will have to be inventive about how they make the girl take it. She might add it to a good belt of rum. Alcohol enhances the effect.”
Serrano jerked his head and the guards moved Téra toward the door again. Minnie gripped the bed frame, her heart hammering and her pulse surging sickly. Now was the time to dosomething. Now. Quickly.
Only, she could think of nothing that would save Téra. Every glimmer of an idea ended with both of them dead from submachine gun fire. She clutched the bed frame, her fingers digging into the wood and watched them drag Téra away.
As they moved, Téra struggled. Not for release, but to delay her departure enough to speak her mind. She addressed Zalaya, her tone venomous.“I know what you did to my brother Eduardo, you pig. The doctors from the hospital told me everything and I have told my family. Do what you will with me, you will not turn aside my vengeance. My brother Cristián will come for you and he will make sure that you pay for what you did.”
Zalaya waved her away with the casual flick of the hand.
Téra struggled harder and raised her voice as they reachedthe door. “These others, they fight because they believe in something. They’re just misguided fools. You—you fight because you are a coward and you fight like a coward! You haven’t the courage to face your opponents in open battle. You move in the dark. You’re a worm and a blot on Vistaria’s honor!”
They had her to the door now. Despite being five to one, they were making heavy going of it. Minniefelt a flare of warm admiration for her. Téra—just like her brother—was fighting the good, honorable fight to the bitter end.
“I spit on you!” she screamed as they yanked her through the doorway, dislodging her fingernails from the frame. “I spit on you and your bad blood kin!”
Serrano headed for the now open doorway.
“Shut the door after you. It will muffle the noise,” Zalaya said, for despitebeing out in the hallway now, Téra still screamed her insults and curses and it sounded like she was screaming even harder to ensure Zalaya heard every word.
“Perfectly understandable,” Serrano assured him and shut the door. The sound was muffled, yet Minnie’s heart still thundered anyway. Her lack of power made her sick. Calli would have thought of a way to save Téra. Even Carmen. Minnie wasjust as much a useless, dishonorable blot as Zalaya. Tears stung her eyes and hurt her throat.
Duardo reached for the console, his fingers manipulating the controls. From the speaker, Téra’s shouting again jumped in volume, the words of dishonor and vengeance as clear as if she were back in the room again.
“...my family will remember your name. Every last one of them, down to my dear littlesister, will work to purge your seed from the earth!”
The tears spilled down Minnie’s cheeks and each one was like hot acid on her flesh. Minnie knew that Téra spoke nothing but truth. Every single member of Duardo’s family had more honor in their little finger than she had in her whole useless body. They would know what to do to avenge him and they would never stop.
Zalaya was switching cameras,tracking Téra’s progress as they dragged her to the south wing and the basement where the officers’ bordello was located and still she screamed her promises and curses.
It was too much. Minnie scrambled to the doorway and clutched it, feeling sick. “Turn it off!” she cried. The hot, hard lump in her chest broke from her as a sob. “Turn it off, God, turn it off! Have you no feelings at all?”
He swiveled in his chair to look at her, the brow lifting, Zalaya’s mask firmly in place. “You’re only just discovering this?” Yet he turned the camera off.
Minnie staggered back to the bed and climbed deep beneath the covers to lie in a ball, shivering and weeping. Another casualty for the Peña family and both of them the direct result of her own selfish decisions. Plus she had every reason tobelieve Téra’s threats—the rest of Duardo’s family would not give up the fight.
