In a move that would shock those who didn’t know Raina’s background in martial arts she then instructed Mason, “Okay uncuff him.”
Mason scowling at the man complied with Raina’s request, jamming the key into his wrist cuffs—only leaving his feet shackled lest he try to run off. The man seeing his cuffs fall away flexed his arms in relief.
He then looked at Raina and exclaimed, “Ok—mamacita!”
Raina challenged him, “You have something to say to me?”
The greatly emboldened man willing to take his chances stepped toward her as he laughed, “Not so much something to say mamacita—but something to do.”
Leering at her, he then tried to put his hand on her hip. But would prove to be a fatal mistake, giving Raina all the excuse, she needed, to unleash her full wrath upon him. As soon as the hand came near, she expertly knocked it away with her forearm, this was then followed by a quick but punishing punch right in the man’s jaw, dislocating it upon impact.
As the man reeled in pain, Raina cupped both of her hands together into one massive fist, jumped in the air and slammed her wedded fists right down on the crown of Doggie’s head like a pile driver, making him clench his now broken jaw. As the man staggered, she then delivered the final blow spinning around and kicking him right in the chest knocking him backwards right in the middle of the other onlooking, shocked prisoners.
The man with his broken jaw hanging from his face, struggled to sit himself up as he coughed up blood. He finally managed to right himself to a sitting position as he choked, “Please… please…. That’s enough.”
Raina standing over him with clenched fists asked, “So—have you learned your lesson?”
Doggie responded, “Yes ma-am. Yes I have.”
As the group saw their fearless leader systemically decimated by Raina’s blows, you could instantly feel the wind leaving their sails as the previously defiant men hung their heads in abject shame and despair at their fate. Now as docile as the dog their ringleader claimed to be, there would be no more attempts to circumvent authority.
Raina knew the guy was a jerk but she couldn’t help but feel bad for giving him such a thrashing. She perfectly understood Mason’s strategy however. She knew that although they were constantly on his case about being too rough with prisoners, suspects, and civilians. With her it was a different story. No one was going to question Raina using self defense when a man lunged at her.
Mason tried to walk over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, but when she tensed up from the unexpected contact, he jumped back half joking, “Woah—it’s me Mason remember?”
Raina laughed, “Right…”
He complimented her, “Nice work anyway.”
Raina shrugged, “I try.”
Looking to Benton, Mason nodded his head toward Doggie, telling him, “Alright Matt—Cuff him please.”
Mathew Benton walked up to the beaten and battered man and slapped a new pair of hand cuffs on his wrists, asking him, “Can you walk?”
Doggie gurgled through the blood, “Yes…”
Mason and Benton then proceeded to strong arm the whole group, as Mason ordered “Alright guys. Let’s move out!
Brian Nelson meanwhile was detached from the tree that had held him bound and placed into the custody of Raina who also looked after the two small children. They traveled in this fashion for the better part of the day until they reached the neighboring village.
The village—if you could even call it that—was about as remote as it could get. It consisted of simple earthen built dwellings made out of clay with thatched roofs surrounding a larger log house in the center which served as a sort of meeting place for the community.
As obscure as this village was however, it was a metropolis compared to the lifestyles of the surrounding wild indigenous peoples who lived underneath nothing but the canopy of the rainforest and the stars above their heads. This village also served as sort of a bridge, and weigh station between those two worlds, with some tribal elders even moving into the community, preferring the stability of village life to an existence of listless hunting and gathering.
It was just such a person who greeted them as they stepped out of the clearing and into the village. The old man, dressed head to toe in tribal paint and dress, had been sitting in front of a group of villagers outside of his hut, speaking with them as if he were narrating some kind of story.
At first neither the man, or his audience noticed them, but the old man finally caught their movement out of the corner of his eye, and looked to his left just in time to see the weary travelers emerge from the tree line. Shouting in astonishment, the man stood up and pointed at Mason’s rag-tag group as they approached.
Soon all heads were turned in their direction. Mason shot a look at Benton as the two braced themselves for an aggressive response. He then watched as the old man quickly ran into his hut. But he didn’t come out with a weapon, he came out with a young woman. The man then directed the woman to look toward them. Mason couldn’t quite tell from his vantage point who she was focusing on, but the woman was actually looking toward Raina and the two children.
The next thing they knew, with a voice of plaintive sorrow yet jubilation, the woman excitedly wailed, “Isadora!! Hugo!! Isadora!! Hugo!!” The little children’s eyes grew wide and a big grin filled their face as they excitedly shouted, “Mamae!! Mamae!!”
Mason didn’t have to be fluent in Portuguese to know that these kids were addressing their mother. Raina realized as much too, and releasing the children’s hands which she had been holding, she heartfully encouraged them, “Go ahead—Go to mamae!”
The children didn’t need any further instruction, as they ran to their mother continually crying out, “Mamae!” the whole entire way.
The woman embraced her children, holding
