Page 29 of Her Steadfast Hero

“They killed them. They killed them all. They’re dead.” He was crying so hard it was difficult to understand him. “They butchered them.” A deep rock of dread hit the pit of his stomach.

“Who’s dead?”

“My papa. My uncle.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

David put the phone on speaker. “Where? Where are you? Are you safe?”

“They called me. They told me to run. We were in the mountains. I hid in a cave with my cousin.”

“Who are you? What’s your name?”

“Juan.”

Too many damn Juans. “Juan who?”

“Juan Hernandez, sir.”

“I need you to calm down. Take a deep breath. You and your cousin, are you safe?”

“I think so,” came the trembling reply.

“When were your uncle and father killed?”

“They called two hours ago. My cousin went and found their bodies. The other three men were dead too. They were cut up. Why would they do that?”

To make a fucking point. The fuckers were trying to scare the prison guards. Try to get them to stop tracking them.

David put the phone on mute. “Joaquin, can you get them tracked on GPS?”

Joaquin shook his head.

“Why the hell not?”

“Only have the team leader’s phones set up to track one another.” Damn it! David took the phone off mute.

“Juan, can you tell us where you are?” David kept his voice calm. Reassuring.

“We’re two hours from the prison. In the mountains. Can you come and get us?”

David put the phone on mute.

“How old are these kids?” he asked Joaquin.

“Eighteen, same as Manuel,” Joaquin explained.

Yeah, but they’d just seen their parents butchered. Now they were scared boys.

David turned to Bernardo. “Call the other team who’s out in the countryside, see if they can pick them up. Even if they can’t, tell them to be on the lookout for these butchers.”

“I have them on the phone right now,” Bernardo said, holding up his cell phone.

David thrust his phone to Joaquin. “Talk to the boys. Keep them calm.”

He grabbed the phone from Bernardo and quickly told the team leader the situation.

“We’re at least fifteen kilometers in the other direction,” the man explained. “The roads are a mess with the earthquake damage. It’ll take us hours to get to the kids, especially up in the mountains.”