“That would be welcome,” Dr. Nazer agreed.
Jamal took the plastic box and nodded. “I’ll unload your things,” he said.
She nodded.
“Why don’t you talk to our patient with the punctured lung while I discuss our new sterilization techniques with the nurses?” Dr. Nazer said.
Carys nodded.
It was nightfall when a dilapidated car pulled up to the clinic in a wave of dust. Carys watched as an old man almost fell out of the driver’s seat. He didn’t look like someone who should be out of bed, let alone driving on dark dirt roads. He heaved in a deep breath and tried to yell something in Arabic, but it came out a hoarse whisper.
She ran up to him, but he shooed her away. He made it clear that he didn’t want to talk to some strange white woman he didn’t know. He wanted to talk to Dr. Nazer. She hustled inside to Dr. Nazer’s office where he was asleep on a cot. Quickly she explained the situation and he got up to talk to the old man.
Faizah, the nurse who was going to house Carys for the night, came up to her and said she would be leaving in an hour. Carys had watched her work throughout the day and had been very impressed with her abilities. For that matter, everyone at the clinic had been outstanding. They were caring, professional and kind.
“Let me help,” Carys said as she picked up a bedpan. She might be a surgeon, but when you came to Africa to help, no task was too menial, you pitched in. Faizah and the other nurse grinned as the work went faster.
“Inaya and her husband will be here soon to take over until morning,” Faizah explained. “We try to have everything done for the woman who works the shift at night.”
“Dr. Adams?” Dr. Nazer called from outside. “Please come. Bring Faizah as well.” They looked at one another, and Faizah shrugged as she handed the sheets she was folding to the nurse’s aide.
This should be interesting, Carys thought. The old man didn’t want to have anything to do with her, why was Dr. Nazer having her come back out when her presence bothered him so much?
Nazer and the older man were arguing hotly when she and Faizah walked outside. Even though it was nine at night, it was still hot. For just a moment, Carys caught a slight breeze and she lifted her face towards it, trying to block out the men’s voices. She knew they were arguing about her. Wasn’t the first time and wouldn’t be the last time.
Faizah gave a heavy sigh. “You are a very wise doctor, yes? You have already helped to find out why the patients were getting sick during surgery,” Faizah’s expression was filled with admiration. “Our old ones can be set in their ways. They don’t like change.”
“Don’t worry, the same thing happens in my country,” Carys smiled. She hadn’t thought about it in a long time, but she remembered her great-grandmother and some of the comments she had made when Carys had been young. Change took time.
“He needs you. It is bad. Will you go?” Faizah asked.
“I haven’t been listening,” Carys admitted. She had been trying to block out the argument once she realized it centered on her.
“I want you to both go,” Dr. Nazer said. “Faizah, you will make the situation more comfortable for Dr. Adams. There is a woman in need, who lives at least two kilometers from him. She has three young daughters. He does not like her husband, but her eldest daughter begged him to go for help. He made this trek because the woman has been in labor for over a day. He thinks the woman will die and the girl children will try to come and live with him and his wife because the father is never around.”
“Why hasn’t the midwife helped?” Faizah asked. Carys wondered the same thing.
“Umar said the midwife was not available.”
Carys and Faizah exchanged a glance. This did not seem right. It sounded as if this woman had been ostracized from the community.
“Of course, I’ll go, but Faizah can stay here, her children need her.”
“My daughter and son are old enough to stay with their father. I will go. Come, we must hurry.” She headed for the car. Who was Carys to disagree?
“Let me get everything.” She went inside and looked over everything she’d brought with her in the RISK kit. She grabbed what she needed.
“Let me help,” Rashad squatted down beside her in the dim light. He had a smaller sturdy case for her to use and carefully placed bags of saline from the clinic's storage. Carys grabbed the fetal heart rate monitor, and all the meds she’d need; antibiotics, anti-nausea meds, pain medication in tablet form, anti-inflammatories, as well as vials of morphine. She grabbed a handful of syringes and needles.
“I suppose you’re going to want to take your own surgical instruments?” Rashad laughed at his own joke, then went into a long bout of coughing.
“Dr. Nazer, go back to bed,” Faizah admonished. “Dr. Adams and I will take care of this.” Carys drowned them both out as she grabbed the tubing for adults and infants, antimicrobial washes, alcohol wipes and whatever else she could think of that would fit into the case. Then she shut it.
Her backpack sat in the corner of the surgery, and all she’d grabbed out of that so far had been a bottle of water and a protein bar. She’d eaten with the staff for dinner. She looked up. “Faizah, do you have everything you need?” Carys asked.
Faizah held up a cotton tote—apparently, she traveled light.
“Okay, let’s go.” The nurse tried to grab the kit from her, but she wouldn’t let her.
“I’m much bigger than you are, Doctor,” Faizah argued.
“Fine, you can carry my backpack.” The woman grabbed it and they went out to the car.
Faizah pushed back the front passenger seat so Carys could crawl into the back.
Here goes nothing.
Carys winced when she banged her knee against a piece of metal that stuck out from the back of the driver’s seat.
Well, at least when she got in the back seat, she couldn’t see the old man glaring at her anymore.
“Father, where are you taking us?” Faizah asked the old man deferentially.
“Far away. To the woman’s shack. We must hurry.”
Sitting in the backseat, Carys held on for dear life.
3
Cullen put down his phone and grabbed his go-bag.
He looked around his house and whistled. Aries skidded to a stop in front of him. “I don’t know, Boy, that was almost five seconds, are you slowing down?” he asked.
His German Shepard gave him a grunt of disdain—there was no way he was going to take that kind of smack talk from him. After all, Aries knew who the superior being was in this house, and it sure as hell wasn’t Cullen Lyons.
“Gotta go, boy. Baily’s going to be coming to take you for a walk tonight.”
Aries barked. The damn dog was smiling at him.
“You traitor, I knew you liked my little sister better than you do me. Do you like Chelle better than me too?”
He barked twice this time.
“You’re an ass.”
Aries wagged his tail.
“Next time I barbeque steak, you’re not getting any,” Cullen groused. He did a quick sweep of his house and saw that everything looked in order. Aries lunged toward the sliding glass door near the kitchen.
“Nope, it’s not playtime until Baily’s here.” Hell, even when Baily was here, he wasn’t always happy that she let Aries have his freedom outside with the door open, but he knew that she did. Of course, his little sister was armed and dangerous. She was the bloodthirsty one. Chelle, on the other hand, wouldn’t pick up a gun if her life depended on it. Hence the reason he didn’t ask her to housesit on his new lot of land out in the boonies. It had been too good of a deal to pass up, and it was exactly what he’d always wanted, but it was isolated, and he didn’t feel one hundred percent comfortable with Chelle staying here alone.
He picked up his duffel and Aries came bounding over to him. “I’ll be back, Buddy.”
Aries came over and pawed at his bag. “Oh, now you give a damn,” Cullen laughed. The dog too
k the bag in his teeth and pulled.
“Stop it,” Cullen said without heat. When Aries kept at it, Cullen sighed and gave the command to stop and sit. Aries immediately complied.
“Good boy.” He gave his head a rub. “I’m going to miss you, Buddy.” He set the alarm and left the house. He really needed to unpack so he could park his Jeep in the garage, but it just seemed like something better to do, kept coming up. He shook his head and got into the Jeep and took off down the windy tree-lined road.
He was at the top of the hill when he saw Baily’s piece-of-shit Buick. She waved at him as she sped by him. Thank God he had checked over her car last week, especially the brakes, otherwise he’d have to follow her back to his house to make sure she was safe.
Sisters.
Cullen was surprised to see when he got to the airbase at Norfolk that he was ahead of half the team, but then he found out the others had been at a concert. Really? Who in the hell liked country music and would actually pay to attend an outdoor concert in Virginia Beach? For God’s sake, the mosquitos had to be hell.
Jazz. Now that was music.
“Not into the Ladies?” Max asked as Cullen set down his bag in front of him.
“Huh?”
“Lady Antebellum, that’s who’s playing at the amphitheater tonight. Kane took A.J. to the concert, and Leo and Asher brought dates.”
Cullen looked down at his watch. They had another twenty minutes to get their asses here. “They’re not going to be driving their dates home, so do you know how they’re coordinating things? I can’t imagine Leo letting anyone drive his truck.”
Nick Hale walked up to them. “I just spoke to Kane. A.J. and the women are staying for the rest of the concert, then she’s going to arrange to get Asher’s car back to his place as well as the girls back home.”
Cullen frowned, trying to work out the logistics in his head. He gave up. He knew that somehow A.J. had it under control. Kane’s fiancée was able to manage any type of situation that life threw her way. Hell, he’d seen her manage a literal circus in the Middle East.
“So where to, Lieutenant?” Cullen asked as he saw the Omega Sky team gathering around their leader.
“Our two teams are going to be splitting up. The shit hit the fan in both places at the same time.”
“Sounds about right,” Raiden Sato said as he walked up. “When it rains, it pours.”
“I don’t think rain has anything to do with it where we’re going,” Cullen smirked.
Raiden nodded his head in agreement. “So, Max, are we taking off as soon as the party-animals get here?” the man asked.
“Roger that. This is going to be the last mission without an additional man. Baranov pulled together Omega Sky after his old team was disbanded. He’s got a couple of men he’s recommending to me. We’re going to train with them when we get back and determine who would be a good fit.”
Cullen looked over to the loose circle at the other end of the tarmac. He had a couple of suggestions, but he highly doubted that Kostya would let them be released.
“Hey, are you ready to get this show on the road?” Asher Thorne called from across the airfield. The man was a loud bastard when he put his mind to it. All of them turned to look. It wasn’t often he saw his teammates dressed up in button-down shirts. Hell, was that gel in Kane’s hair?
“Hey, pretty boy, I don’t think you’re allowed on the plane looking like that. You’re going to be the first one the enemy shoots at.”
As the men jogged towards them, Raiden Sato took a step backward. “I smell perfume.”
“Fuck you, Sato.” Leo sighed.
Kane and Asher laughed. “We had to sit downwind of his date, between the big hair, high heels, claw-like nails, and perfume, she stood out like a sore thumb.”
“Hey, she had a couple of assets,” Leo protested.
“They were fake, and she barely had them covered,” Asher said with disdain. “You’re not really intending to see her again.”
“I’m sure not going to take her out on any more group outings, that’s for damn sure,” Leo said.
Kane let out a deep chuckle. “That’s probably for the best, A.J.’s going to give you shit for months as it is. I don’t think she was impressed.”
“We can’t all be so lucky as to find a woman while we’re on a mission,” Leo griped.
Max held up his hand. “Okay, enough fun time. We’ve got a job to do.”
“I’ll just be glad to finally see some animal besides a damn camel,” Asher said as he hoisted his duffel higher on his shoulder.
“Hey, you get to see “Lyons” damn near every day,” Cullen reminded him.
“You walked right into that one,” Raiden shook his head at Asher.
“Please, Max, I’m begging you, fill us in on the mission,” Kane said. “Don’t make me listen to this shit anymore. Cullen actually thinks he’s funny.”
“Get on the damn plane. We’ve got fifteen hours to talk. Hopefully, we won’t have to hear about Leo’s love life or any more smart remarks from Cullen.” Max jerked his chin toward the plane.
“Good God! Get your head down!” Cullen grabbed the private security man he’d met twenty minutes ago and shoved him to the ground. He didn’t know why he bothered saving his life. If he was so stupid as to pop his head up for a second time, like a meerkat coming out of its hole, while they were in the middle of a gunfight, he wasn’t going to live long anyway.
“Thanks, man,” Hans shouted above the gunfire. “Why are they shooting? I spoke to them two hours ago, they said they were going to leave.”
Cullen looked at him like he had grown two heads. Didn’t he realize he was trying to negotiate with butchers?
Where was this bastard from, the moon?
Asher glared at Hans and pointed at the floor. “Pick up your gun and start shooting,” he yelled.
“Oh, right.”
Cullen prayed to God that things were better for Max and Nick at the embassy. At least they were working with Marines, and not civilians!
“How many did you say were working with you?” Cullen asked again as he took another five shots at the targets that peeked out from behind the barricades. He needed to keep the assholes occupied while Raiden made his way to the hospital rooftop and eventually took his shot at the sniper in the building across the street. They’d been pinned down long enough. It might have been only twenty minutes, but anything over two minutes was too long as far as Cullen was concerned.
Once Raiden was in place, he could give Kane and Leo some direction since they were still at least three blocks over. How had this turned into such a shit-show so fast? He looked over at Hans and remembered why. Seriously, how had he ever been hired out as private security? He was supposed to make a situation better, not throw gasoline onto the fire.
“Answer the question,” Cullen shook Hans’ shoulder.
“What question?”
“I asked you how many men do you have working with you?”
“There’s four of us, but Roger’s already dead.” Hans’ words came out shaky. For that matter, so was his aim.
“Stop shooting, you’re useless. Go over it again; you went out and spoke to the RSF rebels, why did you do that?”
“The police were finally here. I figured it was safe. So, I took a chance. I told them they had the wrong place, there were hardly any doctors here, I figured they would go away. The police pulled me back, and then the rebels just opened fire.”
Jesus.
Hans popped up again and took another shaky shot. He almost hit the wall instead of shooting out the window into the barricade.
“Just sit your ass down below the windowsill and keep answering questions.” They needed intel. By the time they’d arrived, the hospital was already surrounded.
Cullen and the rest of the Night Storm team had been informed that the peace talks between the newly formed government and the rebel RSF had broken down in a big way. One of the generals on the Transitional Military Council
had been murdered. Shot in the face. Now they had yet another man calling himself the General in charge of the real and good Rapid Support Forces. But nobody really knew who could be trusted.
“So, Roger is dead, who’s alive on your security team?” Cullen yelled above the gunfire.
Please God, say they were of more use than Hans.
“There’s Isaac. Then there’s Kip.”
“Where are they?” Asher demanded before Cullen could.
“Upstairs,” Hans mumbled the answer as Cullen took three more shots. “They’re positioned on the south and north sides of the third floor, or it could be the east and west, I’m not sure. They said they could protect the patients and fire at the rebels. Isaac sent me down here when he saw you plow through rebels’ barricades into the hospital lobby with the armored truck.”
“Wait a minute, I thought you said you were in charge,” Asher questioned as he looked over the windowsill and took another shot. Cullen watched with satisfaction as another rebel went down.
“I am,” Hans said.
It looked like the rebel forces might be pulling back. At the very least, they were waiting on their sniper to take them out.
Fools. They were leaving their flank open and their sniper was going to bite it soon. He didn’t stand a chance with Raiden Sato holding a rifle.
Hans started to get up. “It’s over, right?”
Cullen shoved Hans so hard that he skidded down the wall onto his butt.
“Sit your ass down! I’m not going to tell you again. The next time I’m going to watch you die and figure it’s for the best because you’re too much work to keep alive.”
It was time to contact Kane and Leo. At least the dumbass had the good sense not to say a damned word while Cullen reported into Kane.
“Yeah, Raiden’s been on the roof for about two minutes,” Cullen confirmed. “Apparently, we have two of the Doc Without Borders security forces helping us out on the third floor. We have one…” Cullen glanced over at Hans and decided to be nice. “We have their C.O. with us. He’s along the lines of Anderson from BUD/S.”
Her Tempting Protector: Navy SEAL Team (Night Storm Book 2) Page 3