Project Rescue - A Shifter Novel (NaNoWriMo19)
Chapter 41 - Camera Shot

“Hey, I’ve been looking for you. Barbosa is worried sick about you. He thought-”

I didn’t let him finish talking. I stabbed him in the heart and took his junk too. I wanted to leave him where every man in Barbosa’s army would know I killed him. I took his radio and jumped back up in the tree, waiting on Claw.

“Wow, Selina, he must have pissed you off,” Claw said, holding his junk as I smiled.

We ran in the trees, using the super animal highway and caught up with the men rather quickly. We jumped down in front of the men causing Madrid and Matheus to jump.

“Shit! You two almost gave me a heart attack,” Madrid whisper yelled as we laughed at him.

Matheus started off faster through the rainforest. I knew he wanted to get Manuel to a hospital as quick as possible. I knew he needed the hospital. I just hoped his stitches held until he got there.

I, again, felt something off. I didn’t know if we were being followed but something was going on. “Hey, guys, look in the trees for cameras or men. Something feels off.”

We started moving slower as a few of us at a time would look in the trees.

“Found it,” I told them quietly as I jumped down from the tree, landing in front of Matheus. “Is this one yours?”

“No, it’s not. Shit! We need to get all the cameras down or they will replace us easily,” Matheus told us.

Claw and I took to the trees on one side and Digger and Warrior jumped in the trees on the opposite side of us.

We would jump trees within a mile radius of us. Whatever we found we took the guts out of the cameras and put them back up. If we would have torn them down completely Barbosa would know exactly where we were going. We had finally destroyed the ones in our vicinity and jumped back on the ground.

“We need to know if the cameras are all disabled. We need to make sure he doesn’t know where we are going,” Madrid reminded everyone.

I looked around and walked over to Matheus. “Which direction are we going? And, are you sure Manuel didn’t tell them about this place? I know how bad the torture can get with him and most men will break in the end.

Matheus held up his hand for everyone to stop. He walked over to Manuel. Manuel opened his eyes as he walked up to him. “Did you by chance let Barbosa know about the other place? I’m not blaming you if you did. I know he tortured you.

Manuel shook his head. “No, I told him about your bunker, but I knew he couldn’t get in, well, not unless he had a missile.”

Matheus patted Manuel's shoulder. “I wouldn’t have blamed you. Thank you for not telling him. I just had to make sure.”

Matheus walked back over to Selina and shook his head no. “I guess he wanted to cover his bases like me. I hate that man with everything in me. We will get him.”

I hugged Matheus as we got ready to walk again. I agreed with him about the cameras. The monster was getting paranoid. Good. I was right there with Matheus about hating the man. He was despicable. He would do anything to be on top of the drug trade, including killing his own family after he pimped me out.

He was one sick and perverted puppy.

The day dragged on as we took turns dismantling the cameras. It was time consuming making sure we got everyone of the cameras. We personally destroyed over a hundred cameras. They were spread out in trees or on a root, covered in leaves. Barbosa must of had his men out here covering every place we could have come out at.

We stopped for a break and checked on Manuel. He was wincing every time he was moved, even though the men were careful with him. We could tell he was in a lot of pain, but he never made a sound.

I walked over to check on Manuel's stitches and check his blood pressure. It wasn’t as low as it had been. I hoped he could get air lifted out of here as soon as possible. Matheus partner, Mateo, was doing great but he didn’t have any inside stitches either. I walked over to Claw and whispered to him about giving Manuel more morphine.

Claw walked over to Manuel and checked his blood pressure again. I watched as he wrote everything down. I knew he had to have triple reports to fill out, he was giving morphine to someone who wasn’t in the military. I could tell Manuel would need more morphine than what Claw had been giving him. Manuel was sweating and trembling. As soon as Claw gave Manuel the morphine we watched as the trembling stopped and a sigh left Manuel's mouth. Manuel would be out and wouldn’t feel any pain for a few hours.

I was looking around when I noticed a small boy coming towards us. I didn’t know where he came from and I was worried he would get hurt. Matheus walked over to me as the small child walked up to us.

“Hi,” he excitedly said. “I wanted to thank you, Selina, for getting my sister away from that man.”

“What’s your sister’s name?” I asked quietly.

“My sissy’s name is Isabel. She’s the best sister out of anyone,” he stated with a firm nod.

“Tell Isabel that I too got away from him but we are trying to hide from him. If you see him run, okay? Don’t tell him you saw us or my life will be in danger as well as these brave men,” I spoke quietly to the small child.

Martim and Isabel's POV

He nodded his head and ran back the way he came. He wanted to let his sister know the woman had escaped. He would have to make sure only Isabel heard him or Selina’s life would be in danger and the men who were with Selina. He decided not to use Selina’s name when he talked to his sister.

When the small child made it to his sister he was huffing and puffing. He had run a long way when he smelled the first body. He was lucky to replace them.

“Where have you been? I looked all over for you,” Isabel questioned, crossing her arms under her chest and tapping her foot.

“I found her. The one who saved you. I went and said thank you,” Martim, the little boy, whispered in his sister’s ear, making sure only his sister heard him. “She got away too but he’s hunting her. We need to hide too.”

Isabel stood up, taking Martims hand and walking a little ways away from their tribe. She didn’t want to make any sudden moves and alert her people that she was trying to replace a hiding spot. She didn’t think there were any safe spots in the rainforest from that monster of a man. She bent down and grabbed a handful of mud and smeared it on her face and body, covering her brother too. She was going to hide who she was no matter what. She slowly walked back to her tribe and worked on getting water to take back to their village.

Hopefully it would be enough to fool Barbosa.