The Fallen (Angelic Redemption) (6 page)

“You should shower.”

“My name is Heidi.”

Joaquin nodded, unwilling to know more about her
yet.

“What should I call you?” she asked.

Studying her, Joaquin said nothing. The girl
stared back at him, unflinching. He frowned at her lack of fear, but figured
she must be loopy from the heat.

“You need to clean up before we go out to eat.
People might think I’ve kidnapped you. We need to get out and be seen, so they
don’t alert the authorities.”

Heidi turned towards the bathroom then back to
him. “Do you have anything else for me to wear?”

“I will. Now go shower. I will be back in a few
minutes. Don’t leave the room or answer the door.”

“What if the police come?”

“Do not answer the door,” he said coldly, already
irritated with this assignment.

Heidi didn’t react to his tone. She just nodded
once and disappeared into the bathroom. Joaquin edged towards the door, nervous
to leave her. While checking in, he had noticed a small boutique with the kind
of clothes a young American might wear on vacation. Needing to improve her
appearance, Joaquin opened the door and soaked in the heat of the night.

Hurrying to his destination, Joaquin thought of a
dozen unhappy scenarios awaiting him upon his return. This dread caused him to
rush around the store, grabbing several shorts and shirts he thought might fit
Heidi. As he paid, the woman behind the counter tried flirting with him. Once
she got a good look at his dark irritated eyes though, she seized his money and
hurried him out of the store to his relief.

Joaquin knew he needed to avoid drawing attention
to himself, but he couldn’t slow his pace. Gripping the shopping bag and
fingering the handle of his gun for reassurance, Joaquin imagined the door
kicked open and the girl gone. Even upon finding the door seemingly untouched,
Joaquin realized his hands were shaking. He opened the door, certain the girl
was dead.

Heidi sat on the bed watching a telenovela - her
wet hair wrapped in one towel, her body in another. She glanced at him then
back at the television. Relieved to find her unharmed, he grunted his greeting
and tossed the bag next to her on the bed.

“Get dressed and we will eat.”

Nodding, Heidi stood up and took the bag. Even
with her body respectfully covered, he found her lack of modesty irritating. No
matter how helpful he had been, she should fear him. Men like him always wanted
something in return for their generosity. Joaquin figured her youth and clean-cut
appearance masked a whore underneath.

Wishing she might be worth all this effort,
Joaquin grew disappointed. So far the evidence was stacking up that Heidi was nothing
more than a bimbo lucky enough to stumble upon a lost man looking for redemption.

Heidi soon emerged from the bathroom in a slightly
oversized shirt, tan shorts, and her old tennis shoes. With her hair pulled
into a ponytail, she looked around sixteen. Finding her presentable, Joaquin
signaled for Heidi to follow him and they headed into the increasingly muggy evening.

Heidi was quiet. He appreciated that much about
her. She sat silently, reading the menu, no clue to her mood present on her
face. Joaquin found himself studying her for so long that he was unprepared to
order when the waiter appeared. Picking something at random, Joaquin soon
returned to staring at Heidi.

“You’re used to men fixing things for you, yes?”
he finally said.

“What?”

“When you first saw me, you said you knew I’d
come. You expected someone to save you. Why would you expect that unless you’re
used to other people fixing your problems?”

Heidi studied him, her green eyes betraying
nothing. She finally smiled slightly.

“I meant that I knew God would send someone to
help me. Just like He helped me escape from that prison and find a car with
keys inside. He’d been helping me all day. I knew that was why you were helping
me. God sent you.”

Joaquin could not respond. He almost wanted her to
whine and annoy him, but she showed no interest in gaining his sympathy. Watching
the other patrons, she ignored his dark eyes on her again. Overhead, the
Brazilian songstress Astrud Gilberto serenaded the restaurant and Joaquin
noticed Heidi sway to the music.

“Why would God want to help you?” he said finally.
“He didn’t help those people at the motel.”

This comment clearly bothered her and Heidi’s eyes
flashed down at the table shamefully.

“I’d hoped that if I left the dumpster, those men
would follow me and leave the others alone. I guess that was stupid.”

“Why bring trouble to the motel in the first
place, if you never planned to hide inside?”

Heidi frowned at him, her nose crinkling in a way
that made her appear even younger.

“I didn’t come to the motel. I just went in one
direction and kept going until the car wouldn’t go anymore. That brought me to
the motel. I never had a plan. I assumed God did.”

“God wanted those people to die?”

Maybe his goal was to make her cry, but she held
his gaze, eyes dry.

“Why did you help me, if it wasn’t God?”

Joaquin shrugged, eyeing the waiter who brought
them appetizers.

“Why are you still helping me?” Heidi said.

“I like to finish what I start.”

Heidi played with the straw in her soda.

“Do you believe in God?”

He shrugged again, but this time she smiled at his
indifference.

“You believe.”

“I don’t believe God is helping someone like you.”

Frowning, Heidi tilted her head. “Why wouldn’t He
help me or any other person in need?”

Joaquin sighed, eating even as his stomach
rejected such sentiments. It ached for some resolution to this situation.

“Can I call the police soon?” Heidi asked.

Joaquin stopped chewing and eyed her darkly. “Why
would you do that?”

“I wasn’t the only woman those men took from the
clinic. Someone has to save them.”

Joaquin snorted slightly at her naiveté. “What
makes you think the police would help them?”

“I don’t understand.”

“This isn’t America. The police see what they are
paid to see. You think they care about you or your friends?”

“Then who will help them?”

“It would seem no one unless God takes a personal
interest in their welfare as He’s done with yours.”

Heidi pushed her body deep into the chair. Her
eyes were conflicted, maybe even defiant.

“I don’t accept they won’t be helped. There must
be someone who can do something.”

Joaquin shrugged, munching on chips and enjoying
her dilemma. He refused to care about her or her friends. This situation was
just a job and he didn’t become emotionally invested in his work.

“Well thank you for your help today, but I’m not
pretending there’s no hope for them.”

With that declaration, Heidi stood up and rushed
toward the door. Joaquin, startled by her sudden movement, hurried to halt her
exit. Many eyes focused on the fleeing girl and Joaquin’s only choice was to
pretend as if she was heading towards the dance floor. Grabbing her hand
tightly, he yanked her back to him.

“Don’t be so stupid. Those men that came to kill
you will not be impressed by our escape. Do you think you are safe?”

“How would I know what they will do? I don’t even
know why they took me?”

“Took you from where? What kind of clinic was it?”

“Just a little health clinic. You know,
vaccinations, basic health care. Nothing with drugs or anything.”

“They probably planned to ransom you to your
parents back in the US.”

“But two of the other girls were Americans and the
doctor was from Canada and they were held with the Mexicans whose families have
no money.”

Joaquin’s interest finally peeked. “You were
singled out?”

Nodding, Heidi stared at him with that expression
he couldn’t quite read.

“Why?”

“I already answered that,” she muttered, scowling.

“Am I annoying you?”

Heidi stared him directly in the eyes as she said,
“To be honest, you’ve been annoying me since we got to the hotel.”

Joaquin couldn’t help smiling. “You do understand
I could kill you as easily as I killed those men at the motel?”

“Yes, but you won’t,” she said with certainty.

“Why is that?”

“Because you want God’s forgiveness.”

Joaquin, who had been doing no more than shuffling
his feet to the beat, stopped moving and studied Heidi. Letting go of her
hands, Joaquin leaned forward and spoke softly.

“Come sit down and we will start from the
beginning. I can’t help your friends with so little information.”

Heidi glanced towards the exit, clearly ready to
bolt. He nudged her toward the table though.

“You don’t want to waste all that food, do you?
Not with so many starving people in the world.”

Heidi sighed and returned to her seat, pulling at
her ill-fitting shorts before sitting. Joaquin joined her and the waiter
appeared quickly with their food.

“Why won’t you tell me your name? Is it a secret?”

Joaquin shrugged. “My name is Manuel.”

Heidi poked at her food with a fork. “No, it’s
not.”

“Well aren’t you full of knowledge tonight. It
hasn’t helped you much though, has it?”

Ignoring his comment, she stared into his eyes and
asked, “What do you want me to tell you that will help my friends?”

“Start at the beginning. Why are you in Mexico?”

“I volunteered to work at the clinic.”

“And why do you care about the people here?”

Heidi rolled her eyes at his comment, causing
Joaquin to smile.

“I’ve only been here a little over a month. The
girls I was living with had been here longer and they’d never had any trouble
before. Then yesterday, some men showed up and took us all by gunpoint and put
us in a van. Maggie, the doctor, told us it was a mistake and we would be let
go soon.”

“Did you believe her?”

“I don’t know. I just went with the flow. They then
separated me from the others and put me in a cell away from them. I could hear
my friends crying and talking to each other. I also heard the men say someone
was coming for me. I didn’t know what to do.”

“How did you escape?”

Staring at her food, Heidi didn’t seem to hear him
at first.

“Maybe you’re right about me. Maybe I am used to
people taking care of me. My life has never been hard or scary, so maybe I’ve
never noticed it before. I didn’t know what to do sitting in that cell alone. I
didn’t plan on doing anything, to be honest.”

“But you did do something.”

“I just prayed. I sat there like a dummy and
prayed and asked God to save me because I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even
know if I was supposed to do something or was I supposed to just go along to
get along like I always do?”

“What did God tell you to do?”

Heidi thought he was making fun of her. Joaquin
could see this from her expression, but he only waited for her to answer.

“These men were arguing and then they walked by my
cell and started hitting one another. Not so much fighting, but bullying each
other. One of the men dropped a key and it literally fell into my cell. I don’t
know if he did it on purpose or if God did it? Since it happened, I couldn’t pretend
it wasn’t a sign.”

“A key just fell into your cell and you did what
next?”

“I waited until the men were away and I unlocked
my cell. I tried to go towards my friends, but they were being guarded. I
thought I could get away and send help. I still hope that.”

Joaquin’s face remained noncommittal on the issue.
“Then what?”

“I got outside and realized I didn’t know where we
were, but I started looking for a car. I found a few cars with keys in them,
but they were blocked in by other cars. I kept looking until I found the one
that broke down at the motel. As I drove away, the men started shooting at the
car, but I don’t think they were aiming at me, just the car, you know? It broke
down at the motel and you know the rest.”

“Where did you live before you came to Mexico? Texas?”

“No, California. My brother went to college in Texas. I stayed in Santa Cruz with my parents.”

“Are you a weak woman, Heidi?” Joaquin asked, holding
her gaze.

“Define weak.”

“Do you give into your fear?”

Heidi nodded and her candor unnerved him.

“Why are you here really? Why come to Mexico to help the little brown children? Did your parents send you?”

“No. They help people by writing checks.”