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louder.  Smoke wafted down the path, the smell of burning wood. She could see the glow ahead where the buildings burned.  Her heart sank.  Everything here was made of thatch and wood. The fire would spread easily; nothing would be left. 
    Her thigh muscles strained, but she didn’t slow.  Picturing the villagers she’d come to know and care for over the last three months, she increased her pace.
    Nearing the top, the crowd began to thin out. Soon, there was no one.  Jen drew up beside her and they reached the top together.
    Laney quickly stepped into the trees and Jen followed. A girl’s scream erupted.  Laney’s heart pounded even harder.
    “Elena,” Jen whispered, her voice even, but Laney heard the emotion nonetheless.
    “I know.”
    Silently, they made their way through the foliage.  They circled the village, drawing closer to the noise.
    “Who do you think it is?” Jen whispered.
    Laney pushed a branch out of the way. “I’m guessing one of the cartels.  A huge field was burned just over the border in Colombia two weeks ago.  They’re probably looking for new fields.”
    “But why here?”
    Laney glanced over her shoulder, her eyes finding Jen’s in the fire’s glow. “When cartels’ take over, they don’t just grab the land. They also grab the people as workers. Elena’s village is perfect.”
    “And the children?”
    “The boys will be turned into workers. And the girls—” She paused, taking a breath. “The girls will be used for entertainment.”
    The main community hut came into view. Laney pulled Jen to the ground. Together, they stared at the destruction before them.
    Armed men gathered the villagers together. Others lay where they’d been felled, pools of blood surrounding their bodies. Huts burned, and families clung together, wailing at their loss. A few hours earlier, they’d walked through this same village and it had been a place of peace and family. Now it was the scene from a nightmare.
    Smoke wafted through the buildings and armed men walked in and out of the smoke like specters, dragging or shoving villagers. The violence, the weapons, it was a perfect example of a cartel taking over. And yet . . .
    “Something’s not right,” Laney mumbled, not being able to put her finger on exactly what was bothering her.
    Jen stared back at her, incredulous. “Something? Nothing here is right.”
    “I know. But there’s something else.” She stared at the men. They were all dressed in common clothes, loose cotton tops and dirty pants. The right costume for cartel men . . . Costumes? Why did she think costumes?
    She grabbed Jen’s arm. “Look at their boots.”
    The men were wearing the exact same black boots – military issue, if she wasn’t mistaken. These weren’t cartel members, although they were playing the part.
    A scream pulled her attention. A young girl was being dragged into one of the huts. The large man pulling her laughed as she struggled.  Finally, he grabbed her around the waist and slung her over his shoulder.
    Laney felt like she’d been punched in the chest. “Elena.”
     

    CHAPTER 6
     
    Stealth forgotten, Laney and Jen stormed through the trees on the outskirts of the village.  The hut Elena had been taken to backed onto the forest.  They reached the tree line closest to the hut.  Thirty feet of open space separated them and their target. Two mercenaries herded a family out of hiding from the hut next to it. 
    Laney hefted her sidearm.  She wouldn't be able to take them from here.  They were too far away.  She'd have to get closer.  She could move along the tree line until she was right behind them, but that would take time. 
    She turned to Jen.  “I’ll take care of the guards and the family.  You get our girl.”
    Jen rocked back on her heels.  “On the count of three.”
    One of the gunmen roughly shoved a boy no older than seven.  The father grabbed the gunman’s arm and the gunman back-fisted the poor man.  He crashed to