Page 95 of The Doctor's Twins

“Are you feeling okay?” he asked.

“What happened?” I asked, trying to put together the pieces of the crazy puzzle.

“Mateo is dead. I’m taking you home.”

“Dead?”

“Yes. You’re safe now.”

“Are you sure?”

“As sure as I’ll ever be,” he said and gently touched my face.

“Ugh! My head hurts.”

“I’m not surprised. You’ve been through the mill.”

I looked down at my clothes. They were clean.

“Oh, I took the liberty of changing you into fresh clothes.”

“I smell awful,” I said and looked at my dirty hands.

“You smell wonderful to me,” Ben smiled.

“I can’t believe you found me, Ben.”

Then I remembered the deep gash Mateo had inflicted upon Ben’s arm.

“How’s your arm?”

“It will be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, Ben.”

The floodgates opened unexpectedly and out gushed fear, pain, regret, and finally tears of joy. I was free! Truly free from the monster who had enslaved not only my body but my mind for far too long.

“We’re not out of the woods yet, my love,” Ben said as he held my hand. I have to smuggle you out of Mexico now but don’t worry. I have a plan.

“The Mexican police will be looking for us, Ben. Won’t they?”

Mateo would have instructed his awful minions to look for me if anything happened to him. Of that I was certain. And, finding him stabbed to death in his home was a dead giveaway in my books.

“Eventually, yes. But, for now, they’ll have to find Mateo’s body, and trust me, that won’t be easy.”

I didn’t want to know what Ben had done with Mateo’s body. I didn’t care, as callous as that may have appeared to the uninformed. I was free and we were on our way home. That was good enough for me.

“How did you find me, Ben?”

“I had some help. Sam and his boys came through for us, babe.”

“How?”

I listened while Ben told me everything that had happened, starting at the point when he realized that Mateo had taken me and up to that of my escape.

“You are my hero, Ben Forbes,” I smiled and lay my head against his shoulder.

“Oh, by the way,” he said, “you didn’t mention the pesky parrot to me. That was nearly a disaster.”

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