Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
“It sounds like Alfi was being properly protective,” Kai said. “How often do you get armed men threatening you?”
“In that part of Sierra Leone? Almost never,” she admitted. “I set up the clinic there as a base camp of sorts. I did it because it’s stable. So I knew I would have somewhere to go back to. The problems are to the east and south, mainly. We do have issues with emergent diseases. We had an Ebola epidemic, but we don’t have mercenaries normally.”
“Yet you had a plan in place for how to deal with them. You didn’t wait to send your second nurse off with the children,” Kai pointed out.
“I’ve been in much darker places. I’ve learned to be prepared.” She watched as Alfi finally put his hands up and let her take over. It was obvious Alfi had run out of options besides being horribly murdered, and the man loved his own face far too much to allow that to happen. “This is where the boss threatens me. He’s good at the intimidation thing.”
The boss was looming over her, his accent thick as he spoke. “I need this man alive. Can you understand that, Doctor? If you can’t save him, no one will be able to save you.”
He turned and walked away.
Steph looked to what appeared to be the second in command. “Is this his son? Someone close to him?”
The man shook his head. “Verslaggever. Don’t know the word in the English. You need to know the word alive. He will kill you. We must to keep this verslaggever living.”
“Excellent,” Kai said. “I’ve got it. We’ll run it through a translator after we’re done here. What happened after the surgery?”
She let the scene shift to the small room where she and Anya had taken turns watching over the patient. “He was still critical, but for several hours we had him stabilized. Once the boss saw that all the monitors were functioning and he had one of his men confirm that it seemed like the patient would live, he gave Nate back to me.”
Steph stood outside the room, Nate swept up in her arms. She was talking to Anya, though tears were running down her face. Yes, she remembered that moment. Once she’d had Nate in her arms again, she hadn’t been able to stop crying.
“He’s awake?” Anya was asking, her voice hushed.
Steph looked around as though trying to make sure they were alone. “Briefly, but his pain was intense and I had to give him something. He wasn’t speaking English. I think he speaks the same language these guys do. I tried to talk to him, but his blood pressure spiked. He needs rest.”
“The boss has already been in here demanding to speak to him,” Anya explained. “I had to tell him that if he tried to wake him up too soon there could be dire consequences. I don’t think he cared. The only thing that stopped him was one of his own men. I wish I knew what he’d said. I don’t speak Dutch.”
Dutch. Anya had believed it was Dutch they had been speaking.
“Very good, Stephanie.” Kai’s voice encouraged her. “That’s important information. Do you have any recollection of speaking directly to the patient?”
“Only the once before I gave him pain meds, and I couldn’t tell you what he said. Shortly after that Anya and I talked, and then I fell asleep with Nate. I woke up to Alfi telling me the patient had died and we needed to run before the boss found out.”
The scene shifted to a small room in the back of the clinic. She hadn’t been allowed to go back to her cabin. The soldiers had told her they needed to keep an eye on her. She was fairly certain the soldiers had taken her bed and the one she’d had brought in for Brody. That was where the boss had disappeared. She hated the fact that he was sleeping in Brody’s bed.
She watched as Alfi entered the room, Nate’s diaper bag already in his hand.
“Stephanie, wake up,” he said, not bothering to turn on the light. “You gotta wake up. We have to get the hell out of here. He’s dead.”
Steph sat up, trying not to disturb Nate. “What?”
Anya walked in behind him. “It’s true. I think he threw a clot. I tried to save him, but he’s gone and any minute now the guard will walk back by. I have to be there to tell him everything is fine. He’s an idiot. He won’t notice. Come on, you have to go.”
“At the time the words didn’t make sense to me,” Steph explained to Kai. “I was very tired. I understood that the patient was dead, but now I remember that Anya knew I was leaving. It happened quickly. Alfi hustled me out to the car and we left then and there. I think Anya believed the guard would do what he’d done all night. He’d been checking in and then doing a long perimeter sweep so he could smoke. She could have snuck off then, but she was trying to give us some cover.”