She crossed to the center aisle and stood in their path, her palms raised as she had done with Saxon. But this time Kira was certain her life was in danger. She used the language her father had taught her, speaking in their native Arabic. “This is a place of healing. You are not welcome here.”
The man on the right, the older of the two, though not by much, replied in the same language, “We go where we please. The will of God Almighty will be done in this place, as it will be done everywhere in the coming days.”
Now there was a terrifying thought. Was this all about some impending attack? She would have to ask her contact at MI6 if they’d heard anything.
“What do you want?” She needed to delay them as long as possible, giving that American team as much of a head start as possible. “You cannot steal our supplies. There are people here in need.”
“We do not want the kind of hope you offer, that only weak people are willing to accept. Our cause is just. We will kill the infidels who invade our country.”
And they’d do it caring nothing for the people in their way. Innocents they viewed as nothing but collateral damage.
“There haven’t been any of those people in here.” She shook her head, playing the dumb female they considered her to be—or someone with too much to lose if she spoke the truth.
But what did she have to lose? Everything she valued was on her person. There was nothing for her anywhere else in the world other than here.
The thought struck her with something a lot like grief. But it was the loss of something she’d never had.
A dream she had long since given up on.
“I have patients coming in who need to be treated. You both need to leave.” She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin.
The older of the two muttered something that would have made her gasp if she wasn’t already on high alert. She couldn’t give away that she was anything more than a doctor in a war-torn country.
He crossed the space between them in a second and brought his gun down on her temple. She swung her arm up to block the blow, but it was far too late to do anything about it. Pain exploded in her skull, and she started to collapse.
A gunshot went off inside the tent, so loud it sounded like fireworks. The pain felt like it was fracturing her head, but she couldn’t get up.
The man who struck her fell to the ground, his lifeless eyes staring at her from where he had slumped. His friend turned and didn’t even take one step before more bullets slammed into his back. He tripped and landed on the ground.
Someone in the tent started screaming, the sound far too close to her splitting head.
Kira was rolled to her back. She tried to focus on the person over her and managed to discern Simon’s features. Saxon knelt on the other side of her. Both of them stared at her with similar expressions on their faces.
“That looks bad.” Saxon glanced at Simon.
The nurse palpated the edges of the wound on her forehead. Kira screamed at the pain that whipped around inside her head. “It’s bad,” Simon said. “And our X-ray machine is on the fritz. I’ll have to call for a medevac chopper to take her to the hospital.”
She felt moisture run from the corners of her eyes.
“Sax, we have to go. There’s a change of plans.” The other man came over, his face swimming into view. “That was a brave thing you did.”
“More like stupid.”
“Sometimes those two things look the same.” The team leader grasped the collar of Saxon’s bulletproof vest and tugged. “Come on. Time to go.”
“Not until I know she’s going to be okay.” He was tugged all the way to his feet, whether he liked it or not.
The team leader said, “Right now, we have to go save someone else’s life. Someone who doesn’t have a medevac chopper coming for her.”
Saxon knelt again quickly. “I’m sorry you got hurt.”
Kira tried to think past the pain.
Strong fingers squeezed her hand, and then he was gone.
Two
Five years later