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Back Blood in the Water
Chapters (82)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. Praise for Blood in the Water
  81. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  82. Newsletter Sign-up

“I do not believe you.” And with that, the man in charge took his large knife and swung it down as hard as he could. The blade sliced through her throat and traveled all the way down to the vertebrae before it stopped. The blood poured out over the altar like a deep red velvet cloth. “This is what your God brings these people, Father!” he shouted. “Death!”

“You will burn in hell!” Cardozo screamed. He lunged forward, but was cut down by automatic gunfire. The soldiers then turned their weapons on the congregation and mowed them down as they clambered to get away. Vincente watched the bodies dance and lunge as the gunfire tore them to shreds before it died away. The entire time, the man in charge was laughing maniacally.

When the shooting was over, the church looked like it had been painted in blood. Vincente sat there, in shock, unable to move. He watched the soldiers pick over the bodies, looking for anything of value that they might loot from the dead, until another man came in from outside.

“Holy fuck!” the man said. He was dressed in higher-grade military fatigues, and spoke Spanish with a distinctive accent. American. “Jesus holy fuck, what the fuck did you do?” he demanded of the man in charge.

“I sent a message.”

The American looked appalled. “You can’t do shit like this.”

“This is what is needed,” the man in charge said. “That is why you give us the weapons.”

The American shook his head, but did nothing. “We gotta get out of here,” he said. “When this is discovered, we need to be long gone.”

The soldiers filed out of the church and disappeared into the hills.

Vincente never knew for how long he sat there, staring out at his mother’s naked corpse, splayed out over the altar, her head nearly severed from her body. He was found by the first people on the scene, sometime later, his eyes still open. When asked his name, he didn’t respond. In fact he didn’t speak again for more than two years. Eventually his brother Javier was located, and he took Vincente away with him so that he could be trained as a soldier.

For years afterward, those who survived the massacre wondered what had gone on in the little boy’s head as he witnessed such terror. He would never speak of it, but nor would he forget. And only he knew that as he witnessed the horrors, he made two promises to himself. He would never trust God again, and he would do everything he could to kill as many of those who had visited such horrors against his country from afar.