Читать книгу Desperate Escape - Lisa Harris - Страница 12
ОглавлениеGrant held up one of the lanterns in order to give Maddie the light she needed to work. He avoided the boy’s panicked gaze, trying unsuccessfully to distance himself emotionally from the situation. His emergency training had taught him the basics of what to do, but the clinical instructions were never the same as experiencing them firsthand.
Especially when it was personal.
“What’s his name?” Maddie asked the older man in Portuguese.
“Jose.”
“Jose... I’m going to do everything I can to help you, but I need you to stay strong. I need you to say with me.”
Memories flashed. With Darren, he and his teammates had done everything they could to save his life. But by the time the helicopter had arrived to evacuate them, too much time had passed. Darren had gone into shock, and it had been too late to save him.
“You need to get him to a hospital.” Maddie addressed the father while she worked to control the bleeding with direct pressure. “I can try to stabilize him—for now—but he’ll die out here in the bush without proper medical treatment.”
The older man’s fingers gripped edge of the table where his son lay. “I warned you, and I meant it. If my son dies... I will kill you.”
“You’re not listening to me.” Maddie added another layer of fabric around the wound. “I don’t have the antibiotics, let alone the tools to do vascular repairs. And if he makes it, he’ll need outpatient and occupational therapy to regain as much function as possible. I can’t do any of that here. You’ve got a plane... It’s your only way to save his life.”
“Oumar...” A woman ran up to where they were working and let out a loud wail when she saw the boy. “Oumar, no...they told me what happened. What have you done to our boy?” She turned to the older man and started beating his chest. “You let this happen to him.”
He grabbed her hands, ordering her to stop. “I haven’t done anything. He knows better than to go play in the woods.”
“You’re his mother?” Maddie asked.
“Yes.” The woman pulled away from her husband and grabbed the hand of her son, her dark eyes filled with panic.
“He needs to go to a hospital where they have the equipment to treat him. He will die if he stays here.”
“Please, Oumar. You must do what she says. She is a doctor.”
He stepped away from the table and spat something into the radio before turning back to Maddie. “Then you’re coming with me—”
“No.” Maddie clenched her jaw. “I’m staying here.”
Grant caught the flash of fire in her gaze despite the marked fatigue in her eyes, and knew exactly what she was thinking. Their best chance to stay alive was to stay together.
“No?” The older man aimed his weapon at Maddie. “No? If you don’t go with me, then I don’t need you anymore. Any of you.”
“Wait.” Grant grasped Maddie’s wrist and stepped in front her. “That’s where you’re wrong. You have a camp full of sick men, which means you still need her here. Antonio and I have medical training. We can help as well.”
The man shook his head. “If I leave her here, you’ll help her escape again.”
“Oumar, please.” Jose’s mother grabbed his arm, pleading with him. “There is no time for fighting. Jose will die while you stand here arguing. And your men as well. They’re right. You need them here.”
Grant felt his lungs expand. He held his breath as they waited for the old man’s response. The tension felt as thick as the humidity. His fingers closed tighter around Maddie’s wrist until he could feel her heart’s rapid pulse. He knew she was scared, but he hadn’t flown halfway around the world to fail, nor did he have any intention of breaking his promise to her brother. One way or another, they were going to get her out of here.
“Fine.” The old man dropped his hands to his sides, the situation defused for the moment. “I’ll leave you here—all of you—alive for now. But I will deal with you when I return.”
He watched as the older man began shouting orders to the other men. A makeshift gurney was rigged, and orders were sent to the pilot. Grant turned around to face Maddie, slipping his hand down her wrist until their fingers touched. With his other hand, he reached out and wiped her damp cheek with his thumb.
“Are you going to be okay?” he asked.
“For now.” She looked up at him, eyes wide open. “But this epidemic is going to be under control soon. And after that...they won’t need us.”
He pulled her a few inches closer. “We’re going to get out of here.”
She nodded, clearly wanting to believe his words as much as he did. “I owe you one. More than one, actually.” A smile briefly crossed her lips before she pulled away from him and started washing down the table with disinfectant. “If nothing else, you bought us some time.”
He worked beside her to clean up, impressed with the way she’d gained control over the situation. She asked one of the women to make a diluted mixture of cooked cereal and water for the cholera patients she’d been treating, while several of the men headed into the forest with Jose. He realized he’d misjudged her strength. There was no doubt her parents loved her. They spoke of how smart and accomplished she was, but they’d been against her coming here. Believed she was wasting her God-given talents and wouldn’t be able to handle the work.
But they’d been wrong.
He’d seen the courage in her eyes. The boldness it had taken to stand up to her captors. Maybe it was true that difficulties brought out hidden strengths in a person, but there was more about Maddie Gilbert than met the eye—something that part of him wanted to stick around and discover even after all of this was over.
But that was something he couldn’t afford to do.
She turned to him, breaking the silence that had fallen between them as they continued working. “You were there when Darren died.”
It was a statement rather than a question, but one he’d never spoken of with her. After the funeral, he’d answered her parents’ questions about that day, knowing if Maddie ever needed those same answers from him he’d be there to tell her.
“Yes,” he nodded. “I was there.”
“Did tonight remind you of that day?”
She might not have been there that night, but she had to be facing some of the same haunting images of losing her brother he was.
“Yes. It was...almost as if I was there again, during those final moments.”
A place he dreamed about at night. A place he longed to escape.
She scrubbed at an invisible mark on the table. “Two weeks after I arrived here, I had to treat my first land mine victim. All I could see was Darren.”
“Somehow we didn’t think it could happen to us. We were out to save the world. Invincible. Always wishing we could ignore the fact that all it took was one wrong step...”
She stopped to look up at him, allowing the light from the lantern to catch the yellow-copper colors in her eyes. The soft curve of her lashes. “Thank you,” she said.
Grant fought to push away the unexpected draw. “I haven’t got you out of here yet. I told your mom I planned to have you back by Christmas, and I’m going to do everything in my power to keep my promise.”
“It’s hard to believe Christmas is in a couple weeks.” A look of sadness registered on her face. “But I’m not just thanking you for today. I’m talking about your being there the night Darren died. And for coming to rescue me. You didn’t have to come.”
He touched her arm briefly before pulling away. “Yes, I did. I owe Darren.”
He might not have been able to save his friend, but he was going to save Maddie.
“Is that why you came to rescue me?” She asked. “Because of Darren’s death?”
His face must have betrayed his thoughts for her to ask such a pointed question.
“No...I...” He didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t want to answer. Because she was right. He’d come to play hero and make up for not saving Darren. Which meant he hadn’t come for noble purposes. Not really. He’d come to ease his own conscience.
Her gaze shifted back to the table and, as if reading his thoughts, she said, “I know what it’s like to do something good for the wrong reasons.”
“What do you mean?”
“I came here, in a way, because of Darren, too. I was looking for what he found with his career. I hoped that somehow helping others would help me find that missing part of myself.”
“And did you?”
She shrugged at the question. “It depends on the day, I suppose. I came here convinced I’d save the world. Instead I’ve had to realize I can’t fix everyone. People are going to die, and I can’t stop it.”
Like Darren.
“But then,” she continued, “there are times where I think I’m making a difference in one person’s life and somehow...that’s enough.”
“Darren was always so proud of you.” Grant dropped the rag he’d been using into the bucket of soapy water they’d been using to clean up. “He talked about you all the time. His little sister studying to become a doctor.”
Her smile lit up her face this time. “I like to think he would have been proud of my coming here as well. My parents weren’t too happy about my decision, though. I was supposed to marry Ben, join some swanky family practice and spend the rest of my life working nine-to-five and having their grandbabies. And while there’s nothing wrong with that, it wasn’t enough for me.”
He watched her wash her hands and then motion to one of the women to get more boiled water while she grabbed bags of salt and sugar for the rehydration mix.
“Can you hand me those cups?” she asked him. “With no Google available out here, thankfully I have the measurements memorized.”
He watched her work, jumping in to assist when she asked. He couldn’t help but see the irony in the fact that her skills as a doctor had saved her. And yet as soon as the epidemic was controlled, there was a good chance they would kill her.
“I guess this wasn’t what you imagined when you signed up with Doctors International,” he said.
“Being kidnapped? Not exactly.” She let out a soft laugh as she started mixing up the drink for her patients. “Though the past few months haven’t been without challenges, either. Most of the time, I’ve been working up north, in a small rural hospital. Every day, I see the same thing over and over in the maternity ward. It’s stifling inside. There are rusty ceiling fans, but no electricity. In the US, one in just over two thousand women will die giving birth. Here, it’s one in less than twenty. Most don’t even consider going to a clinic. And even if they do, most—especially those in the rural areas—can’t make it to the hospital.”
He knew the issues she faced on a daily basis. Diesel generators were the primary source of electricity in the capital, and that lack of infrastructure spread throughout the entire country. There was one functioning hospital and even there equipment was limited. Most of the country’s health facilities had no electricity. Generators came to life during surgery, but there wasn’t enough fuel to run them continuously for refrigeration to store blood donations or for incubators for babies born too soon.
“But that’s not the entire picture,” she continued. “I see the smile of the children when I go out into the villages to teach preventative care, and the love the mothers have for their babies. Old men sit on mats outside thatched roofs, playing with their grandchildren, while chickens and goats run around. It’s a completely different world than the one I grew up in. But when I sit down and talk to the women about their pregnancy, or the babies they’ve lost and the children they’re trying to provide for, I realize just how similar we really are.”
“I’ve discovered the same thing everywhere I’ve lived. Most of the differences pale when you start working together to make things better.”
“I wish my parents could understand that. I’ve tried to share with them why I needed to come...and why I still want to be here.” She stopped and looked up at him. “But I haven’t asked you about them, because I know they can’t be taking this well. Do you think they’re going to be okay?”
Her unspoken question hovered between them.
Were they going to be okay if she didn’t make it home alive?
“They’re scared,” he said. “They will do anything to get you back. Because they’ve already lost one son, and they don’t want to lose you as well.”
She nodded. “I watched their reaction to losing Darren. I never meant to put them through something like that again.”
“You’re not going to, because we’re going to find a way out of this.”
He watched her continue to work, realizing that she was different from most of the women he knew. Most were happy with the dream of a white picket fence and a husband. Problem was, he’d never be able to give someone those things. And so far had never found anyone who was willing to break that mold with him. Maddie, though, was clearly different.
Maybe when all of this was over...when life went back to as close to normal as possible, he’d consider finding a way to get to know his best friend’s little sister...
She glanced at a couple of the armed guards as they walked by. “As soon as we’re done here, I need to talk to you about something. Privately.”
“About?” Her statement brought him back to reality.
Her hand moved to the locket hanging around her neck. “Information connected to what’s going on here.”
* * *
An hour later, Maddie walked toward the fire, fighting the exhaustion coursing through her body. Her head throbbed and her legs felt like jelly. But it wasn’t just the physical fatigue she was dealing with. The emotional strain of the past few days was taking its toll.
She’d finished making up the rehydration mix and checked on each of the patients she’d been treating. While antibiotics would have shortened the duration of the symptoms, ensuring each person was rehydrated was what mattered most. “Are you done?” he asked.
“For the moment.” She tugged on the end of her ponytail as she sat down beside him on the fallen tree stump being used as a bench. She’d always seen him as a hero, saving the world alongside her brother. And now, all these years later, that was exactly what he was. The hero who’d flown all the way across the Atlantic to save her. While keeping his promise to her brother.
She caught his profile in the firelight and felt a flurry of emotion pass through her that she didn’t know how to identify. She’d always seen him as strong and capable of anything, with those bright blue eyes and a hint of stubble across his chin. She’d also known firsthand the risks he took every day to save the lives of others.
What she couldn’t remember was having more than a handful of one-on-one conversations with him over the years. And those talks had always been more awkward exchanges, at least for her, because she’d had a crush on him and hadn’t wanted anyone to know. Especially Grant or her brother. Darren had always seen her as the little sister he had to keep safe from the world. Even when she’d been all grown up and in medical school. And she’d always imagined Grant saw her in the same way. So she’d made herself forget about him. Until today.
“Are you hungry?”
She looked up at Grant’s question, realizing one of the women was standing in front of her with dinner.
“I’m sorry.”
The woman handed her a bowl of stew. She thanked her, but her appetite had long since vanished. She tried to eat a few bites, but only to keep up her strength.
“How’s Ana?” Antonio asked from the other side of Grant.
“I’ll have to watch her carefully, but the rehydration drink already seems to be helping and her fever’s gone down some.”
“That’s good news,” Grant said.
“Yes, it is. I just wish I could treat her properly.”
Grant pulled out a zippered canvas tote from the backpack he’d been carrying. “One of the men confiscated most of what I brought, including the two-way radios and phones, but I convinced them to let me keep the clothes your mother sent. Your parents met me at the Denver airport before I flew out. She thought you might need a few things when I found you.”
When he found her. Not if.
Maddie felt a surge of emotion as she looked down at the set of blue scrub pants and T-shirt with the Doctors International logo she’d been wearing since they snatched her. Grant’s reminder that the holidays were just around the corner had managed to make her feel more homesick.
Even as a med student, when she might’ve had to come late or leave early, she’d never missed Christmas with her family. Her mother would have already decorated the tree and started planning the meal that would include all of the relatives in a hundred-mile radius as well as a handful of people from church who didn’t have family nearby.
She balanced her dinner on her lap and opened the bag her mom had sent. A pair of tan pants, a black tank top and an olive-colored button-down shirt, along with some underwear, a purple sundress, a compact Bible and a small toiletry bag full of travel-size products, including a toothbrush.
“I wish I could have brought more—”
“No. Wow. This is perfect. I never knew how excited I could get over deodorant and a new toothbrush.” She let out a soft chuckle and smiled at him. “Thank you. Now all I need is a hot shower.”
“There’s a letter in there as well from your mother.”
She pulled out the pink envelope and traced her finger across her mother’s handwriting on the front. She’d wait to read it later when she was alone and didn’t have to keep her emotions in check. Because at the moment it wasn’t going to take much for her to lose it.
“You said you needed to talk to us about something,” Grant said.
She set the bag down beside her and picked back up her bowl of food, keeping her voice low enough to ensure none of the guards across the compound could hear her. “I’m sure you know that this is not just some military camp. The men here are involved in drug trafficking, and their network is extensive.”
Antonio nodded. “My country’s involvement in the trade is no secret. Cocaine barons of South America use countries like mine as part of their route to dealers in Europe.”
For as much as she’d seen, she still had questions. “As a doctor I’ve heard the rumors, and I’ve seen firsthand patients who have overdosed from cocaine. But why do they stop here? Why not just fly directly to Europe?”
“It’s a way to avoid detection of large shipments by European militaries,” Antonio said.
“So, what?” she asked. “They break up their shipment and then transport it?”
“Exactly. It’s sent by smaller aircraft or even by human mules. South American cartel members show up here with more firepower than our police and military put together. Our police don’t have handcuffs or computers or even enough guns for our officers. They, on the other hand, have money, rifles, ammunition and know every inch of this country’s remote areas. They can literally buy the government and do what they want.”
“Enough money to pay people off to look the other way and make what they do even easier,” Grant said.
“They brought me here because they needed a doctor,” she continued. “And I’m sure you know by now that they shot and killed my supervisor, Gavin Richards, when they found out he wasn’t a doctor.”
She closed her eyes for a moment, wishing she could erase what she’d seen. She’d tried to stop them, but could only watch as one of them pulled the trigger. Simply because they didn’t need him.
I need You to help me through this, God...please.
She drew in a slow breath. “But that’s not all. The day before I was abducted, I met a man at the hospital during one of my shifts. His name was Sam Parker.”
“Sam Parker.” Grant leaned forward, his arms resting against his thighs. “He’s a journalist, isn’t he?”
Maddie pushed her food around on her plate with her spoon, nodded.
“I saw something about him on the news before I left the States,” Grant said. “He was shot, wasn’t he?”
“Yeah. He was here in the country doing some research for a spread in a magazine and stumbled across a story someone didn’t want to get out. Whoever it was tried to kill him. Initially he survived, and a Good Samaritan brought him to the hospital where I treated him for a gunshot wound, but he didn’t live through the night.”
Maddie hesitated before continuing. Death had always been a part of her job, but lately she’d seen so much tragedy. Tragedies that should never have happened. She leaned forward and lowered her voice, her dinner forgotten. “Before he died, he told me he had evidence of a high-profile US State Department employee tied to this country’s drug trafficking.”
Grant let out a low whistle. “That’s a big story.”
“Yes, it is,” she said.
“And plausible,” Antonio added. “The trans-Atlantic traffickers of drugs and other illegal substances need countries where they can not only fly under the radar of the international community, but also—due to high corruption—not have to worry about the local authorities. And with the profits involved, it’s not surprising to discover there are outsiders involved.
“Do you have a name?” he asked.
“No, but I’ve got something just as good.” She clutched the locket she was wearing between her fingers. “It’s a flash drive with the evidence Sam was planning to expose. He said if anyone found it he could tell them it was a gift for his girlfriend and no one would think twice.”
Grant glanced behind them where a couple of the guards were laughing and drinking. “Does anyone know you have this information?”
“It’s possible someone saw me talking with Sam.” She shook her head. “But when he gave it to me, there was no one else in the room except for a few sick patients, and I’m sure they weren’t paying attention.”
“So you think you were kidnapped just because they needed a doctor...not because of the information Sam gave you.”
“As far as I know.”
“Whatever the reason, we need to get you out of here.”
Grant didn’t have to say anything else for her to know what he was thinking. Once the epidemic was under control, she’d be disposable—all of them would be—just like Gavin.
“But how do we get out of here?” Maddie asked. “If they’re guarding the airstrip and the only other way off this island is by water...”
Grant looked around the camp. “We’re looking at a couple dozen armed men who are currently focused more on what they’re drinking than us at the moment.”
“But if they catch us a second time,” Maddie said. “They’ll shoot first and ask questions later.”
Her stomach knotted. She set down the plate of food beside her, knowing he was right. This was it. There would be no second reprieve.
Someone slipped through the shadows behind them and sat down on the log next to Maddie. Jose’s mother. She was carrying an infant tied securely around her back with a piece of wide, colorful cloth. Sliding the baby around in front of her, the mother pulled her out of the makeshift sling and handed the baby to Maddie.
Maddie took the infant and cradled her in her arms.
“I think she might have the sickness.” She lowered her voice, her eyes on the guards who sat on the other side of the fire, and added, “You helped save my son. I’m going to help you escape.”
