“Hold it tight,” Payne ordered her. “Hold on to it until we can get him on board the medevac.”
Megan quickly moved as they hefted the Marine off the ground. She kept her hand tight on the strap. They moved in unison like a crab scuttling crosswise. She saw the other Marines from the squad. They were exhausted and the stress was clearly etched on every face. All of them had rips and tears in their trousers caused by the sharp, cutting stones.
They entered the swirling dust cloud, the rotors on the medevac always turning. They were a target and had to keep the blades moving at liftoff speed. Battling the gusts of wind, the dust blinding their sight, they managed to move each Marine into the medevac. Megan worked with a medic on board to stabilize the man who had almost lost his leg. The moment she’d placed the IV in the unconscious man’s arm, the crew chief medic threw her a thumbs-up. Megan immediately climbed out of the helo and quickly escaped out of the roiling dust cloud. Very soon, Luke and Sergeant Payne came running out of the cloud, coughing, tears running down their dirty faces.
Within seconds, the medevac lifted off. More dirt and dust blew into the air. Megan turned and walked away, covering her watering eyes with her hands as she stumbled toward the gate. As the helicopter lifted vertically in the sky, the dust finally ceased. Megan turned to find Luke. He was coughing deeply, bent over and holding his chest with his hand. Moving over to him, Megan slid her hand across his back.
“Luke? Are you okay?” she called, leaning down, her face near his. She saw the dirt and dust in his hair, cloaking his bloodied utilities. His hands were bloody. What had happened up there?
“I’m okay,” he gasped, straightening. Looking into her anxious blue eyes and seeing the care burning in them for him, Luke felt some of the horror slip away from within him. Just her one gentle touch on his back momentarily eased his shock.
“Your hands look like they went through a meat grinder. They have to be looked at. Come with me to the clinic. I’ll get you fixed up.”
Luke looked around at the other Marines in his squad. They were all dragging their butts, exhaustion plainly written across their tense, dirty faces. Reassured the rest of his men were all right, he turned to her. “Okay, let’s go.”
The clinic was closed and Megan opened it with shaking fingers. Adrenaline was still coursing through her. Luke looked like one of the walking wounded.
Opening the door, Luke stumbled in and went directly to the sink in the rear of the house. Megan had added chlorine to the water to ensure that it was free of bacteria. Luke dipped his bloody, cut hands beneath the faucet and ruthlessly scrubbed them with antibiotic soap. The entire basin was splattered with his blood and pink soap.
Megan held out a towel to him. “It looked rough up there,” she murmured.
Taking the towel, Luke could feel pain beginning to seep into his hands. Adrenaline anesthetized wounds, making them numb for a while until it wore off. “It was.”
“I’m so sorry about those Marines.” She searched his darkened gaze and thought she saw tears in his eyes for a moment. Just a moment. He quickly wiped his hands on the towel, turning it bloody.
“It was a helluva fight,” he told her wearily, allowing her to lead him to the chair next to the table. Luke noticed she already had her gloves on and had laid out all the medical items she’d need.
“Sit down,” Megan urged gently, guiding him to the chair.
Sitting next to him, his first hand resting on the desk, Megan quickly assessed the many cuts. “How did you get all of these?” Some were one or two inches long. She carefully moved each of his fingers.
“Nothing’s broken,” he told her, leaning back, closing his eyes. Luke felt helpless and angry. “The three Marines got nailed with a grenade launcher fired from inside the cave. It blew them into the air. I saw the one Marine’s leg nearly ripped off. I had to crawl between the cave and the squad to reach them.”
Megan shook her head and filled a needle with lydocaine. “I doubt you’ll feel this. Your flesh is so torn up...but this will deaden your hand so I can stitch the longer cuts closed.” She swabbed his hands to kill any infection.
Nodding, Luke saw a bottle of water she had thoughtfully set nearby. The cap had already been removed. He grabbed it and eagerly gulped down the entire pint. He looked down at her as she placed antibiotic in the longer cuts. He ravenously took her in. Head down, strands of red hair falling against her temples... Luke needed her in this traumatic moment.
Without thinking, he lifted his other hand and slid it beneath her chin. He brushed his mouth against hers, not caring one bit if someone entered the clinic. All he wanted, all he needed, was Megan. She represented calm in a world gone mad around him. He could have died out there on that rocky slope this morning. Bullets had been screaming around him like a pack of angry hornets attacking him as he crawled to the injured and unconscious Marines. He’d been hit twice, but the Kevlar vest had saved his life. Now he’d have huge purple welts where the bullets had landed.
Her mouth was incredibly soft. Luke could taste sweetness. It was life, he realized, as he deepened their kiss, their mouths clinging hungrily to each other. Her breath was chaotic, and he felt her surprise. His fingers were numbed and he wanted desperately to feel the softness of her cheek and jaw. Strands of her hair held the faint scent of citrus in their strands, and it cleared the metallic stench of blood away from his nostrils.
He wanted to bury himself within her, to feel her soft, gentle arms around him as a counterpoint to the violence he’d just survived. Luke felt her melt against his searching mouth. Oh, God, just give me peace. Peace. Her lips slid along his, her moist breath pumping life into his tense body.
Suddenly, reality returned. If anyone saw them kissing, both of them would get court-martialed. Luke released her as suddenly as he’d taken her.
Megan sat back in shock as she stared at Luke. The predatory look in his eyes burned into her. She was at a loss for words. The suffering she saw in Luke’s face rocked her. She wasn’t prepared for the amount of grief she saw twisting through him.
“It’s going to be all right, Luke,” she soothed. “You’re all right. You did the best you could. I want you to sit back. Relax. Just start taking some deep, slow breaths. You’ve been through hell, but you survived....”
Chapter 9
Dizzied and in shock over the sudden kiss, Megan stared at Luke. His face was grim, his eyes burning with need for her. The silence in the clinic was deafening. Her hands were enclosed around his. “Luke...” she whispered, anguish in her tone.
Luke couldn’t stand the agony in Megan’s expression. Her lips were parted, gleaming from their shared kiss. She hadn’t pushed him away. If anything, she’d wanted contact with him as much as he had with her. “I’m not going to apologize,” he told her in a rough tone. “I don’t know what happened, Megan. One second I was caught up in the emotions of the firefight and the next...” His voice fell. Swallowing hard, he held her gaze. What did he see in her eyes? What was she feeling other than shock over his unexpected kiss? “No excuses,” he added. “It’s my fault. I did this. You didn’t.”
Looking toward the door, Megan whispered, “Luke, if we’d been caught—”
“I know. Captain Hall would throw the book at us. Something just came over me, Megan.”
Shaken, she released his hand and finished stitching up the worst of the injuries on his left hand. “It’s war,” she said. Picking up some gauze she gently dabbed the cuts on his hand. The lydocaine had taken effect and she closed a two-inch cut on the back of his hand. Her voice trembled. “It’s the damned war.”
“This isn’t your fault. This isn’t about strength or weakness, Megan. It’s about the stress of war and how it emotionally affects all of us. The firefight made me aware of my feelings for you. When you think you’re going to die...” He raised his gaze and looked toward the low ceiling for
a moment. “You get real clear with what’s important to you.” His eyes met hers and he said hoarsely, “I was up there scrambling in those rocks, the bullets flying around me. I wasn’t sure if I could reach the Marine with the leg wound or not. All I could think about, all I could see, was your face, Megan. I just held it in front of me as I crawled and got to his side. When I started dragging him backward toward a huge boulder that would give us cover, I kept you, your incredibly blue eyes, in front of me.” He shrugged wearily. “I didn’t think we’d make it to safety, but we did.”
Megan forced herself to focus on the stitches. “I hate war.”
“So do I. So do most people. I don’t know why civilians think we like war. We hate it. We’re in the middle of it.”
“We do our duty,” Megan said as she stitched up two more long cuts. “We serve because we want to help not only the Marines, but the people of this village. We’re trying in our own small way to help heal a terrible situation that doesn’t have any clear answer.”
Even though Luke couldn’t feel her hands on his, he felt better simply because she was helping him. “There are no simple answers to war,” he agreed, wiping his mouth.
The door opened and Sergeant Payne entered. “There you are. You doin’ okay, Doc?”
Megan smiled up at the sergeant. “He looks like he’s been crawling over cut glass, Buck.”
Payne came over, scowled and studied Luke’s hands, which were now stitched up. “Yeah, it was bad up there,” he growled.
Megan wrapped each hand with a dressing. “It sounded awful to us down here. I couldn’t see you, but we could see the explosions and dust.” She glanced up at the sergeant. The man’s face was dirty and sweaty. “Are you doing okay, Buck? Do you or any of the other Marines in your squad need medical attention?”
“No, we’re okay. Doc Collier exposed himself to get to my Marines. He’s the one who took the risks.” Clapping Luke on the shoulder, he said, “Well done, Doc.”
“Thanks, Buck.” Luke held up his newly wrapped hands. The white dressing looked out of place against his dust-ridden uniform. “Good as new.”
Nodding, Buck glanced over at Megan. “I’m very glad the Cap’n isn’t letting you go out with us on these missions.”
“I’m not complaining, Buck.” She made an effort to smile, but failed. “We’re short two medics with this company, anyway. At least with me around, you have two.”
“Yes, and every one of us is very glad you’re here.” Buck gave her a grizzled smile. “Kinda nice to come back here and see a woman’s face. New and different, for sure, but nice. I gotta get back to work. I just wanted to see if our Doc was okay.”
“He’s fine. I’m giving him a sick chit for twenty-four hours.” When she saw Luke open his mouth to protest, her voice became firm. “Twenty-four hours, Collier. And don’t argue or I’ll write down forty-eight hours.”
“She’s gotcha by the short hairs.” Buck chortled.
Luke nodded. “Yeah, it’s the right thing to do,” he said, studying his neatly wrapped hands.
“Get some protective gloves on them,” Megan told him, getting up and putting away the medical supplies. “And I want you on antibiotics.”
“I can get them,” Luke said, standing as Buck disappeared out the door. They were alone once more. Turning, he saw Megan putting the supplies away in a small plastic box. “I wish we had time to talk,” he told her apologetically.
“Me, too, but that’s not going to happen. Now I’m worried about Taliban retaliation.”
“Yes,” he said, moving over to the locked drug cabinet. It was awkward finding the key in his pocket, but eventually, Luke got it.
“What happens after you have a major firefight?” Megan asked.
“Generally quiet for a day or two, and then, according to Hall’s predecessor, the Taliban sneaks close and lobs grenades into our compound to get even. They’re great on revenge.”
Wrinkling her nose, Megan went to the sink and washed her hands with the antibacterial soap. “Great. Something to look forward to.”
Luke took out a bottle and filled it with seven days’ worth of antibiotics. He then shut and locked the drug cabinet. “Did you have close combat like this in Iraq?”
“Not quite like this. Sometimes we got grenade attacks, but it’s nothing like here.” She looked around the neat, clean clinic. “Here, you’re under threat and stress twenty-four hours a day. It never lets up.”
Luke popped a pill into his mouth and washed it down with some bottled water. “Welcome to the land of post-traumatic stress disorder. Almost everyone will have symptoms by the time we leave here.” He capped the bottle and shoved it into the large pocket of his utilities. “How did clinic go this morning? Were the grunts happy to see a woman instead of me?” He grinned.
“It went well. I had ten Marine patients.”
“Hmm, that’s a lot.” Luke walked over to her but kept his distance. “Half of them probably came just to get your touch and care.” He held her luminous gaze. How badly he wanted to kiss Megan once more. He’d tasted her soft and cherishing lips. “I don’t blame them.”
Megan made a sound of frustration. “Yes, some of them had some really lame excuses as to why they were showing up at clinic. I understood. When I worked in the rear at the medical facility, I saw how much a woman’s touch meant to the men who were wounded. There’s a magic that happens.”
“It happened between us.” Luke reached out and briefly touched her shoulder. “I didn’t kiss you because I thought I was dying up there, Megan. I kissed you because I’ve been wanting to kiss you ever since we were at Bagram. We share something good. Do you feel it?” He waited because he was fearful of her answer.
“No, it’s not just you,” Megan admitted in a halting voice. She shrugged. “I’m afraid, Luke. I’ve got this same pattern with you as I did with that officer over in Iraq. War is no place to try and establish a relationship. I worry we’re drawn to one another for all the wrong reasons.” Megan gave him a frustrated look. “I—just need time.”
“I’m going to give it to you,” he said. “No more stolen kisses. The next time, Megan, if it’s mutual, that’s fine. But I’m not going to initiate a kiss like I did just now. Okay?” Luke saw instant relief replace the worry in her gaze.
“Good,” she whispered. “Because I’m still adjusting to all the demands on myself out here. I know I’m not safe in that village. I have a lot on my mind when I’m working with the mothers and children. I worry about a Taliban soldier coming in and shooting me point-blank in the head.”
Luke hurt for her but remained where he was. “I understand” was all he could tell her in a quiet voice. “You’re on the front lines now, no longer behind them.”
“I was trained for this,” she said a little more strongly. “And I accept it without reservation.” Her voice fell. “I—I just didn’t expect to meet or fall for you, Luke. Relationships were not on my mind when I volunteered for this experiment. And I want to carry my part of the load and not mess it up for the other women. General Stevenson warned us as a group not to get into a personal relationship out here.” Mouth quirking, Megan said unhappily, “And I agreed with her. We all did. Now, I’m messing it up and there’s no way I’m going to hurt this experiment because I’m attracted to you.”
“That’s where you need to be,” Luke agreed. “We can’t get distracted.”
“Or worse, others wounded or killed.” She stared at him.
Grimly, Luke nodded. “Agreed. I’ll be responsible from here on out, Megan. I promise. I’ll appreciate you when we work together, but no more stolen moments.”
Relief swept through Megan. “Good...thanks.” She looked at her watch. “It’s chow time. Let’s go eat, because tomorrow afternoon, my cousin and her husband are flying in. And I’ve got to get ready for clinic in the village
tomorrow morning.”
* * *
“Mina, that’s wonderful news!” Megan reached out and hugged the woman. Just as Megan opened up the women’s clinic at 0800, Mina had ridden in on a very tired bay horse, all smiles. She had been gone five days and had first stopped to share the good news with her husband. Gholam had agreed to allow the boys and girls of the villages beneath Timor Khan’s rule to be educated.
With a laugh, Mina hugged her back. They stood in the clinic with the line of women and children waiting patiently for Megan. “This is a great day for our people,” she said, pushing dark hair away from her cheek. She smoothed the green silk scarf across her head. “Now, we must have tea and talk after you close the clinic.”
Looking at her watch, Megan said, “Yes, I think I can. Sergeant Payne is driving over to pick me up at 1300...I mean, 1:00 p.m.” Her cousin Emma was flying in at 1500 and she wanted to be back at the compound to meet her.
Nodding, Mina said, “I’ll have your favorite tea waiting for you in our house.” Her eyes sparkled with happiness and she reached out and squeezed Megan’s arm. “Thank you for all your help!”
For the rest of the morning, Megan walked on air. Luke had bet Megan a box of chocolates that Gholam would never concede to educating both the boys and girls of his village. Luke now owed her that box and her mouth watered just thinking about it. By noon, she had completed her medical duties. Closing and locking the door to the clinic, she walked next door to Timor and Mina’s home. She stepped inside and was surrounded with the fragrance of lamb and delicious spices filling the air. She hurried up the stairs to the second floor and saw Mina in a dark brown robe with a gold scarf across her head.
“Just in time!” Mina said, gesturing for her to sit down at the table.
“Busy day,” Megan said with a smile, pushing the scarf off her head so that it lay around the shoulders of her uniform.
“And a good one.” Mina poured the fragrant tea and sat down. “On my ride back here, I had many days to think, Megan. I know the four widows are helping you, but we need a way for them to make money in order to feed their children. The people of the village give what they can, but I was wondering if you had any ideas that might help. I know that Khalid Shaheen has a charity and he and your cousin donate educational supplies and teachers.”
Beyond Valor Page 13