The soldiers flew into action and Ty ran off around the building.
“That was the first explosion, and second was over here,” Ty said to the two men as his eyes scanned the complex. They ran forward with their guns in hand. As they continued through the complex and people came out of buildings Ty directed them to leave by the front gate. They needed to get everyone out of the building. There had to be a search to make sure the explosions were over. The buildings that had been blown could have structural damage that could give at any moment.
He moved to the side and just as he came face to face with the damage of the other explosion Ty watched a little boy being carried, dead, down the path to the main gate. The mother’s face was pulled into a tight sob, her cry almost silent. She was moving with her eyes partially closed and Ty had to look through thick dust and smoke to see where she’d come from. There was rubble all over the ground and there could be no doubt to Ty that this was the larger of the two explosions.
“Brandt, we need more men here,” Ty yelled and Brandt immediately turned and ran to get more help. “Let’s go in,” Ty turned to Tomlinson.
Ty led the way with the smoke and dirt stinging his eyes, partially blinding him to what lay only feet in front of him. He felt like he was swimming underwater in a very murky pond. Despite the screams and cries of the injured and scared, there was also a sense of silence. Compared to the sound of the explosion everything had seemed quiet. Still, almost. Ty took out his flashlight and moved it around as he stepped into the compromised building. There was another body. Ty bent and put his fingers to the neck of the stocky man in local clothes but as he touched it, the head rolled and exposed a missing chunk of skill.
He stood up, his heart sinking. A brief memory of the explosion that had killed his two friends bounced through his mind but he pushed it away. Here, now, this was where he was needed. Ty looked up and saw Tomlinson moving forward. Ty followed.
There was a stairwell that was partially caved in and Ty could see a face behind it.
“We need to move this,” He pointed to the rocks and Tomlinson and Ty immediately began to move the mounds of rock. His muscles worked without being asked, they barely recognized the heaviest rocks.
As it was removed Ty could see that other faces behind the man belonged to children. They were all speaking, and crying, there were some adults interspersed, a few of them carrying a child. The sight made Ty’s stomach clench. Who would do something like this to children?
He moved faster to get the rocks out of the way, then lifted one child over the remaining rocks and pointed in the direction of the main entrance to the complex. He helped the adults over and held the children they’d carried while they made their way over the immovable part of the caved structure. Ty watched them go and a pressure released within him to know that these people, the children and their parents would not be the victims of this bomb today. Their faces were frightened and Ty felt a similar fear within himself. There was no immunity to fear and he’d lived with it everyday that he spent in this land, though it had never stopped him from doing what needed to be done.
There was no sign of any doctor or nurses and a sour taste rose in his mouth. After the clog of children and parents had been removed from the stairwell, Ty stepped over and moved up the stairs himself. The passage felt stable enough. At the top Ty and Tomlinson looked around. The dust was clinging to the air and Ty stepped on strewn drawings that had found their way on top of and underneath the chunks of wall.
Ty moved into the corridor and into one room. A large woman stood with a child on a bed and a mother just next to her.
“We need to get you out of here,” Ty said to the woman. She leaned an ear closer and Ty yelled the words to her. The blast may have taken her hearing for now, possibly forever.
The woman nodded, “The child needs to stay with the machine.” There was a machine working next to the child that Ty hadn’t noticed. It must have had back up power or something because there certainly would be no electricity now. Ty nodded and pointed to Tomlinson.
“Can you get them out of here?”
Tomlinson nodded and gestured the parent to lift the child, as Tomlinson lifted the machine. He motioned and the two began a precarious journey to the outside world.
“Who else is here?” Ty asked.
The woman was Scottish and she walked Ty to another small bed. There was no parent next to this one and the child appeared unconscious. Perhaps even a blessing considering the days events.
“She’s in a coma,” The Scottish woman yelled.
“Can you manage to get her out of here?”
“I think so, but what about the others?”
Cold fingers clenched around Ty’s spine, others. “I can manage them, we have more soldiers coming to help here.”
The woman nodded hesitantly.
“Please,” Ty said.
The woman moved to the little girl and Ty turned to locate the “others.” He moved out of the room and turned once to make sure the Scottish woman was able to handle the little girl but the woman moved with a skill and quickness that left Ty confident of her abilities. He moved further into the hall and turned into the next room. He felt a movement along the floor and instantly knew that the building was not safe. It could crumble at any moment.
He heard the sound of boots on the stairs and turned back toward the stairwell.
“Wait, I don’t think the floor is stable,” He put a hand out to the ascending soldiers. The Scottish woman was walking toward Ty and Ty motioned one of the soldiers to help her. She looked at all of the men including the man that had come to help her then she walked past them and headed down the stairs in a precarious manner.
“We’ll go one at a time, I don’t want to risk a collapse, tread lightly. We need to get any remaining children, parents, or doctors out of here. Brandt you follow after me. I’ll go all the way back and you follow, then once the floor is clear the next man goes. I think there are four or so rooms up here, each needs to be checked and everyone needs to get out as soon as possible. Good?”
The men nodded and Ty turned back to the hallway. He walked with as little impact as possible. Some steps felt ok and others gave him the feeling of walking on thin ice.
He continued back to the very end of the hallway and looked into the open door. As he looked in his breath caught in the back of his throat. This side of the building had been hit the hardest. There was a child lying unconscious on the floor. An adult employee sat next to the child, he was pressing a cloth to his leg. The cloth was soaked in blood and Ty knew that the gash there must be very large.
Kneeling above the child was a woman. The doctor looked up, it was the woman he’d met the other day. Her blue eyes looked directly into his and even in the agony of the situation her eyes sent a thrill through him.
“There’s a defibrillator one room down on the right, it’s behind the door in a case, bring it to me.” The woman yelled at Ty then turned back to the child. Only then did Ty realize that she was doing CPR. He turned so hard that he hit the wall, then continued on to the other room, forgetting all about his soft steps.
His hands fumbled and he pulled the box off the wall with a crack. When Ty stepped out of the doorway, Brandt was walking by in front of him. Ty walked around him and into the room while Brandt followed.
“Can you get him out of here?” Ty nodded to the man with the bleeding leg. “This part of the building is the least stable.”
Ty moved to the floor and unfastened the box, hitting the button that would begin powering the machine.
“They’re special for children,” Léonie said preempting a question that Ty hadn’t had. “Do you know how to use them?”
Ty nodded, “But I’ve never worked on a child before.”
Léonie nodded, “It’s ok, I’ll talk you through it.”
Brandt had moved to the man with the gash in his leg. He was working to help him up and get him out of the room.
Ty’s fingers weren’t wo
rking properly and he fumbled with the case.
“Pull the paddles out,” She referred to two little pieces of material each attached to a wire that was attached to the box. “There’s a piece of film on each, you’ll pull it off and stick one over his heart.”
Ty pulled the film off and stuck the oval over the little boys heart. The boy had a small pointed face that looked as if he should open his eyes at any moment, look up at Ty frightened, scream, cry, say something, anything, but there was no response, nothing.
“Pull the film off the other,” She watched as she moved then took the oval and flipped the boy over, placing the oval on his back directly opposite the first one. She turned the boy gently back over again and removed both her hands as she pressed the button on the plastic part of the machine.
Her eyes flicked up to Ty’s and he could see how scared she was. She looked back to the boy as the machine counted down. The shock went off and the little body gave a jolt.
She put the heel of her hand back on the boy’s chest and began compressions again. The boy looked so tiny under her strong hand. She tilted the little head back and gave the boy two breaths, her palm returned to his chest and she resumed compressions. The plastic box spoke, telling the room that it was ready to shock again. She pulled her hand away and watched the boy intently. The machine charged then shocked the little body. The body lifted and dropped back to the floor as the boy’s brown eyes flickered open.
Chapter Five
“Oh mon Dieu,” Léonie gasped as he began to breath again. His eyes finally took on the panicked look that Ty had been expecting. Léonie turned the little body on its side into the recovery position. “Just a minute more here then you can take him down.”
“You can take him down,” Ty said. “It’s not safe for you to stay here.”
“I can’t leave until everyone else is out.” She looked at Ty’s face and added, “I won’t leave until every one else is out. I have to check the other rooms.”
Ty exhaled and stood, walking back out of the room to find one of his men or one of Sabeir’s men to carry the little boy out of the building and out of harms way.
Ty walked into the next room and saw one of his soldiers leaning over an employee with a metal rod poking out of the interior of a cement blocks stuck through the man’s shoulder precariously close to his heart.
“Come,” Ty yelled to the soldier. “Quick,” Ty walked back to the other room. “Take the boy out to safety, he’s just had CPR he needs to rest—to see another doctor, ok?” The soldier nodded.
“Wait,” Léonie yelled as the man lifted the child.
“There’s an MSF staff person with a metal rod stuck through his shoulder close to his heart.” Ty told Léonie as she watched the child.
She stood. “Be gentle, he needs another doctor to watch him.” Léonie instructed the soldier then walked out behind Ty.
Léonie grabbed a pair of plastic gloves off the wall as she jogged over debris to the room. When she stepped in she paused for a moment then continued in.
“Everything is going to be ok,” Her voice was calm and sure though Ty was almost certain she couldn’t really feel quite so certain. The sight was gruesome. “Over there, see what you can find, bring everything.” She pointed to a pile of medical supplies that had once been on a rolling trolley but now lay strewn across the floor.
Ty began to collect the supplies as best he could, placing them on a tray. When he was done he walked everything over to Léonie.
“If there is anything that is obviously unsanitary throw it away,” She instructed. Ty looked through the supplies. There were a few with ripped packaging and those he took out and threw to the floor but everything else looked good to him.
“Sir,” Brandt was in the doorway. Ty put the supplies next to the doctor and moved over to where Brandt was standing.
“Brandt?”
“The floor is almost cleared. Anyone who is critically injured is being moved to the building with the least amount of damage. There are some doctors there now. Others are just being taken out into the street until they can be relocated.”
“Ok,” Ty nodded. His mind was travelling through every channel of action. Was there something he was missing? Somebody he’d forgotten? “Double check this building when the last of everyone is out of here then tape it off. We’ll be out as soon as we can. Double check the other building, the one we saw when we first came in and have Sabeir send troops around to check for any additional threats. Something else that might go off, check people, cars, anything that could be a potential threat. Ok?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Brandt, good job.” Ty turned back to Léonie. He moved down to get a better look at the injury.
“What do we do?” Ty asked.
“I think you’re going to have to pull it out.”
Ty turned to Léonie, “Me?” It was not what he’d been expecting to hear.
“You’re stronger. I want it to come out as quickly and easily as possible. Straight back. We won’t get him out of here otherwise.” The metal rod was still connected to part of the wall that had fallen and unless they could hack that part of the wall apart or cut the rod with some high-powered equipment then the guy would have to stay where he was.
“Can you hear me?” Léonie slapped the man’s face a few times, and the man’s eyelids flickered. “The pain made him faint but he’s in and out. He’s American,” Léonie said to Ty as if this would make a difference to him. In a way she was right, he felt an added responsibility but he liked to think that he didn’t make distinctions from one life to another. A human was a human. This man deserved to be saved just as much as an Afghan doctor would deserve to be saved. The man had sweat matting his hair back.
“Do you think you can pull it out?”
Ty looked over the full display. The metal rod, attached as it was would be very hard to move backwards.
“I think it would be easier to move him backwards off of it, I’m not sure I could do it the other way.” Ty stood and walked the down the length of the broken wall, but the rod went firmly into the bricks and down into the floor.
Léonie was staring at the man, her forehead crunched together, and Ty could tell that she was thinking the whole thing over.
“Ok,” She nodded. “I think it goes in maybe two inches, hopefully no more. I will brace the rod the best I can and you will pull him straight back. Then we have to stop the bleeding. There will be a lot of blood.”
That was one thing Léonie didn’t need to tell Ty. He was well aware that there would be a sizable amount of blood.
“Get gloves, we have to try to keep the wound as clean as possible,” She instructed Ty as she organized the items on the tray. She ripped open gauze, opened a packet of soap, sterile tweezers. “We may not do anything but try to stop the bleeding.”
Ty walked around the back of the man’s body.
Léonie’s breathing was unsteady and Ty watched her face. She’d never had to do anything like this. He was certain of it.
“Ok,” She licked her lips. “I’ll count to three?”
Ty nodded. He wrapped his arms around the man’s body, trying to be gentle while also getting a strong enough grip to pull him completely off the rod. His heartbeat was slamming against his eardrums. The acrid smell of blood mixed with the smell of dirt and metal pooled in his nose.
Léonie grabbed onto the metal rod, trying to brace her body so it wasn’t likely to move side to side.
“In one,” She looked at Ty. “Two,” Her voice shook. “Three.”
Ty pulled straight back with all his strength. He could feel the man’s body pulling off of the rod then Ty fell back with a crash. The blood was instantaneous. Léonie jumped over to where they lay and moved the man sideways while Ty helped from beneath him. The ground was covered and it seemed like the worst possible place to lay a man on the ground.
There was warm red blood all over Ty’s gloved hands.
“He’s bleeding a lot,” Ty reali
zed what he’d said after he’d said it. She’d warned him, hadn’t she? It didn’t seem like the best observation to make after she’d just told him what to expect.
“Too much,” Léonie said back to him and it was then that he noticed the look on her face. Something was wrong. “I think he punctured a lung,” She felt his chest movement as he breathed and pressed her other hand over a wad of gauze that was meant to break the flow of blood. “This isn’t working.” She switched the sopping gauze out for fresh gauze but almost as soon as she put it down, it was also soaked through.
“We get him out?” Ty asked. What else could they do but get him over to the emergency staff that still had working equipment.
“I would prefer not to, but I don’t think we have a choice.” Léonie looked over the man whose eyes had closed now. She took off one glove and held her fingers to the man’s neck, searching for his pulse. “I can’t feel it.”
“We’ll get him out,” Ty stood ready to pick the man up himself.
Léonie sat staring at the man.
“Come on, we’ve got to move now. Brandt said they were doing emergency work on people who’d been critically injured. We can get him there.” Ty’s voice was rising in volume.
Léonie stared at the man’s face, “I can’t even remember his name.”
“That doesn’t matter now,” Ty knelt to pick him up. He’d seen people go into shock before and he had to act even if Léonie could not.
As his hands reached down she put her one exposed pale hand across his forearm, “He’s gone. He’s dead… and I can’t even remember his name. I’ve probably seen him a dozen times and I never asked him.”
Ty’s fingers turned cold. The man’s face seemed to turn blue around the edges as he watched. His hands shook as he pulled them away.
There was a groan within the building and floor beneath them moved.
Chapter Six
“We need to get out of here,” Ty held out his hand for Léonie to take. She didn’t move from her position. Ty moved behind her, put his hands under her arms and picked her up until she was standing. Léonie looked at him surprised. “We need to get out of here, this building isn’t stable,” Ty said again.
Romancing the SEAL: The Complete Box Set (SEAL Military Romance Series Book 4) Page 3