The Sands of Time

Colonel Fal Sostelo was on his tenth cigarette. I can't put it off any longer, he decided. Bad news is best gotten out of the way quickly. He took several deep breaths to calm himself and then dialed a number. When he had Ramon Acoca on the telephone, he said, "Colonel, we raided a terrorist camp last night, where I was informed Jaime Miro was, and I thought you should know about it."

There was a dangerous silence.

"Did you catch him?"

"No."

"You undertook this operation without consulting me?"

"There was no time to - "

"But there was time to let Miro escape." Acoca's voice was filled with fury. "What led you to undertake this magnificently executed operation?"

Colonel Sostelo swallowed. "We caught one of the nuns from the convent. She led us to Miro and his men. We killed one of them in the attack."

"But the others all escaped?"

"Yes, Colonel."

"Where is the nun now? Or did you let her get away, too?" His tone was scathing.

"No, Colonel," Sostelo said quickly. "She is here at the camp. We have been questioning her and - "

"Don't. I'll question her myself. I'll be there in one hour. See if you can manage to hang on to her until I get there." He slammed down the receiver.

Exactly one hour later, Colonel Ramon Acoca arrived at the camp where they were holding Sister Teresa. With him were a dozen of his men from the GOE.

"Bring the nun to me," Colonel Acoca ordered.

Sister Teresa was brought to the headquarters tent where Acoca was waiting for her. He stood up politely when she entered the tent and smiled.

"I am Colonel Acoca."

At last! "I knew you would come. God told me."

He nodded pleasantly. "Did He? Good. Please sit down, Sister."

Sister Teresa was too nervous to sit. "You must help me."

"We're going to help each other," the colonel assured her. "You escaped from the Cistercian convent at avila, is that correct?"

"Yes. It was terrible. All those men. They did godless things and - " Her voice faltered.

And stupid things. We let you and the others escape. "How did you get here, Sister?"

"God brought me here. He's testing me as He once tested - "

"Along with God, did some men also bring you here, Sister?" Colonel Acoca asked patiently.

"Yes. They kidnapped me. I had to escape from them."

"You told Colonel Sostelo where he could find those men."

"Yes. The evil ones. Raoul is behind it all, you see. He sent me a letter and said - "

"Sister, the man we're looking for in particular is Jaime Miro. Have you seen him?"

She shivered. "Yes. Oh, yes. He - "

The colonel leaned forward. "Excellent. Now, you must tell me where I can find him."

"He and the others are on their way to eze."

He frowned, puzzled. "To eze? To France?"

Her words were a wild babble. "Yes. Monique deserted Raoul, and he sent the men to kidnap me because of the baby so - "

He tried to control his growing impatience. "Miro and his men are headed north. eze is to the east."

"You must not let them take me back to Raoul. I don't want to see him ever again. You can understand that. I couldn't face him - "

Colonel Acoca said curtly, "I don't give a damn about this Raoul. I want to know where I can find Jaime Miro."

"I told you. He is in eze waiting for me. He wants to - "

"You're lying. I think you're trying to protect Miro. Now, I don't want to hurt you, so I'm going to ask you once more. Where is Jaime Miro?"

Sister Teresa stared at him helplessly. "I don't know," she whispered. She looked around wildly. "I don't know."

"A moment ago you said he was in eze." His voice was like a whiplash.

"Yes. God told me."

Colonel Acoca had had enough. The woman was either demented or a brilliant actress. Either way, she sickened him with all her talk of God.

He turned to Patricio Arrieta, his aide. "The Sister's memory needs prodding. Take her to the quartermaster's tent. Perhaps you and your men can help her remember where Jaime Miro is."

"Yes, Colonel."

Patricio Arrieta and the men with him had been part of the group that had attacked the convent at avila. They felt responsible for letting the four nuns escape. Well we can make up for that now, Arrieta thought.

He turned to Sister Teresa. "Come along with me, Sister."

"Yes." Dear blessed Jesus, thank You. She babbled on. "Are we leaving now? You won't let them take me to eze, will you?"

"No," Arrieta assured her. "You're not going to eze."

The colonel is right, he thought. She is playing games with us. Well we'll show her some new games. I wonder if she'll lie quietly, or if she'll scream?

When they reached the quartermaster's tent, Arrieta said, "Sister, we're going to give you one last chance. Where is Jaime Miro?"

Haven't they asked me that before? Or was that someone else? Was it here or - it's all terribly confusing. "He kidnapped me for Raoul because Monique deserted him and he thought - "

"Bueno. If that's the way you want it," Arrieta said. "We'll see if we can't refresh your memory for you."

"Yes. Please. Everything is so puzzling."

Half a dozen of Acoca's men had entered the tent, along with some of Sostelo's uniformed soldiers.

Sister Teresa looked up. She blinked dazedly. "Are these men going to take me to the convent now?"

"They're going to do better than that," Arrieta grinned. "They're going to take you to heaven, Sister."

The men moved closer to her, surrounding her.

"That's a pretty dress you're wearing," a soldier said. "Are you sure you're a nun, darling?"

"Oh, yes," she said. Raoul had called her darling. Was this Raoul? "You see, we had to change clothes to escape from the soldiers." But these were soldiers. Everything was muddled.

One of the men pushed Teresa down on the cot. "You're no beauty, but let's see what you look like underneath all those clothes."

"What are you doing?"

He reached down and ripped off the top of her dress while another man tore at her skirt.

"That's not a bad body for an old lady, is it, fellows?"

Teresa screamed. She looked up at the circle of men surrounding her. God will strike them all dead. He will not let them touch me, for I am His vessel I am one with the Lord, drinking from His fountain of purity.

One of the soldiers unfastened his belt. An instant later she felt rough hands pushing her legs apart, and as the soldier sprawled on top of her, she felt his hard flesh penetrate her and again she screamed.

"Now, God! Punish them now."

She waited for the clap of thunder and the bright flash of lightning that would destroy them all.

Another soldier climbed on top of her. A red haze came over her eyes. Teresa lay there waiting for God to strike, almost unaware of the men who were ravaging her. She no longer felt the pain.

Lieutenant Arrieta was standing next to the cot. After each man finished with Teresa, he said, "Have you had enough, Sister? You can stop this at any time. All you have to do is tell me where Jaime Miro is."

Sister Teresa did not hear him. She screamed in her mind: Smite them down with Your power, Lord. Wipe them out as You wiped out the other wicked ones at Sodom and Gomorrah.

Incredibly, He did not answer. It was not possible, for God was everywhere. And then she knew. As the sixth man entered her body, the epiphany suddenly came to her. God was not listening to her because there was no God. All these years she had deceived herself into worshiping a supreme power and had served Him faithfully. But there was no supreme power. If God exists, He would have saved me.

The red haze lifted from Sister Teresa's eyes and she got a clear look at her surroundings for the first time. There were at least a dozen soldiers in the tent waiting their turn to rape her. Lieutenant Arrieta was standing at one side of the bed watching. The soldiers in line were in full uniform, not bothering to undress. As one soldier lifted himself from Teresa, the next soldier squatted down over her and a moment later penetrated her.

There is no God, but there is a Satan, and these are his helpers, Sister Teresa thought. And they must die. All of them.

As the soldier plunged into her, Sister Teresa grabbed the pistol from his holster, and before anyone could react, she turned it on Arrieta. The bullet hit him in the throat. She then pointed the gun at the other soldiers and kept firing. Four of them fell to the floor before the others came to their senses and began to shoot at her. Because of the soldier on top of her, they had difficulty aiming.

Sister Teresa and her last ravisher died at the same moment.