Free The Colonel's Daughter by Lili Tufel Page A

In the bathroom, she studied her hair in the mirror. After wiping eyeliner that had run under her eyes, she fidgeted with her brown hair, taming her wavy locks. When she stepped outside, she spotted Dallas pumping gas.
    She grabbed the grocery bag off the driver’s seat and looked inside. “Hmm…where are my new…oh…what else did ya get…chips…ah yes…soda…and a…”
    Dallas placed both arms on the open Driver’s window, “Hey that was supposed to be a surprise.”
    “You got me a sketch book? And pens?”
    “Well…it’s really just a notebook…it’s all they had.”
    Abby sighed with animated eyes.
    “We need to get a move on.” He slammed the truck door. “I’ve broken enough rules as it is.”
    “Really, you mean you don’t kiss all the women you rescue?”
    “No ma’am I don’t.” He clicked on the seatbelt.
    Entering the highway, Abby’s fingers fidgeted with her new pen, her mind drifted to a memory, her gaze towards the horizon. “This isn’t my father’s first time hostage,” she exhaled. “Before I was born, he was captured by the Guerilla in South America. The Colombian Communist Party, FARC. I’m sure you already know about them.”
    “Yeah, the FARC is still around. They’re funded mostly by the cocaine drug cartel.” He paused. “The Colonel told Javi and me the story while we were with him in Afghanistan. He told us how he went out there to extract two American DEA agents who had been kidnapped in Medellin and his mission failed.”
    “Yep, that’s right. Unfortunately my father was outnumbered.” Abby stared at his hands grasping the steering wheel. “I’m guessing something like that happened to you when you were trying to rescue my dad?”
    He glanced at her face. “Something like-that.”
    “Did he tell you about his scorpion bite?”
    “No, he never mentioned a scorpion.” Dallas raised an eyebrow.
    “Those guys were being forced to travel through the whole jungle by foot. And one time a scorpion crawled into his boot and got him real good right on his heel.” A squeamish Abby shrugged her shoulders.
    “Oh man, that had to have been painful.” Dallas squinted.
    “Well, he got very sick. He broke into a cold sweat. Then he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t feel his legs. And since the hostages were not allowed to stop moving, the two DEA guys carried him through the Amazon jungle. And right before they reached a small village, their captors beat them and left my father to die right alongside a dirt road.”
    “Your dad’s been through a hell of a lot. He’s the bravest man I know.”
    Keeping her gaze on the horizon, she continued. “My father could hear the armed men laughing and calling out to him.”
    “What’d they say?”
    Her voice deepened, “Pray Gringo pray that somebody picks you up before you die Gringo.”
    “Yeah, I’ve been called Gringo before. I hate it.”
    “My dad always told me that he never prayed so hard in his life…up until he passed out. And when he opened his eyes, all he could remember was the image of a radiant woman and the smell of lilacs that filled the small room.”
    “Now that you mention it, I remember your father asking us in the small cave if we smelled lilacs. I thought he was joking.”
    “I heard my father say many times that the beautiful lady saved his life.”
    “Who’s the lady?” He rested his right arm along the top of the seat while steering with his left hand.
    “It’s an image of the Virgin Mary called Our Lady of Guadalupe. It hung on the concrete wall of the cottage where the villagers took him in. They lay him on a cot for a month while he recuperated and his cot faced the large framed picture.”
    “I know who she is. She’s from Mexico.”
    “Yeah,” she smiled, “I went to Mexico with my father to visit the Basilica of Guadalupe. It was an emotional trip for us after having him back home safe. He always said that surviving the jungles of Colombia was a miracle.”
    “I would