Three Courageous Words

“Well, Big Mac,” Angela said. “I need to get back to the camp outside town, as soon as possible.”

The men laughed.

“No can do,” the man in the passenger seat said. “And it’s Big Jake.”

“Seriously, I have to go back. My nurse is there. If the raiders who attacked the government office make it out to the refugee camp, they might take her. So, if you’re not taking me there, at least let me out and I’ll walk.” She moved toward the door and placed her fingers on the handle.

“Hey.” Graham reached out with his injured arm and winced but grabbed her wrist anyway. “You can’t jump out of a moving vehicle.”

“If that’s the only way to get back to the refugee camp, I’ll do it. I won’t leave my nurse to be terrorized, killed or sold into slavery.” She spoke louder. “So if you don’t stop this vehicle now, I’m going to jump.”

Chapter Two

“Hold your horses. We’ll take you to the camp,” Diesel said. “Just let me get us far enough away from what’s going on downtown.”

“Jump from a moving vehicle?” Buck chuckled, then stopped when he realized Angela hadn’t been kidding. He shook his head. “You’re as stubborn as you always were.”

Angela lifted her chin. “It’s what keeps me going here. My stubbornness got me through medical school and my internship.”

She didn’t say it, but Buck could hear the comment she didn’t make: Unlike you.

Buck felt the cut like a knife to his gut. “I had my reasons for leaving,” he said and ended it there.

“Where’s the refugee camp?” Diesel asked.

Angela turned away from Buck and focused her attention on Diesel. “Southwest of town.”

Using less-traveled streets, Diesel drove the van to the edge of town. Before they left the cover of the buildings for the open landscape, Big Jake glanced back.

“No one behind us for now,” T-Mac confirmed.

Diesel shot out of Bentiu and into the open.

Not far from the town was the beginning of a city of tents and poorly erected shelters made of scrap plywood and tin.

“We can’t drive right into camp,” Big Jake said. “Remember, we’re not supposed to be in this country.”

Angela nodded. “Our tent is on the back side of the camp. There are some buildings past that where you can hide the van and let me off.” She directed Diesel past the camp and a little farther, to where a stand of shanties stood.

Diesel parked behind one that appeared abandoned.

When Angela reached for the door, Buck gripped her wrist. “I’m going with you.”

“There’s no need,” Angela said with her fingers curling around the handle. “I’m not coming back.”

“The hell you aren’t,” Buck said.

“I’m not here to argue. I have to check on my nurse.” She shoved the sliding door open and dropped to the ground. Without waiting, she took off toward the camp at a slow jog.

Buck shot a glance at Big Jake. “I can’t let her go it alone.”

Big Jake jerked his head toward Angela’s departing figure. “Then go. We’ll wait here as long as we’re not discovered.” He tapped the earbud headset. “Stay in touch. I’ll send a couple men out to keep watch for bad guys.”

“I’ll keep you informed.” Buck jumped out of the van and ran to catch up with Angela.

She didn’t slow for him but kept jogging toward her destination. “You didn’t have to follow me,” she said. “I know what I’m doing.”

“Humor me.” He raised a hand to the makeshift bandage on his arm. “Besides, I need you to patch me up better.”

“How do you know I didn’t do a good job?”

“I’m the corpsman, the medic for the team. It’s my professional opinion that you need to clean the wound and apply a fresh bandage to keep it from becoming infected.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Right. You’re a medic. Do it yourself.”

“I can’t perform surgery on myself, now can I?”

She sighed and kept moving. “Fine. It wouldn’t hurt to clean the wound and apply sterile bandages.”

Buck suppressed the smile threatening to spread across his face. He’d scored a very minor victory, but one that would give him a little more time to convince her to leave an extremely volatile area.

As they approached the sprawling camp, they circled around a large white tent to the entry at the front where a canvas sign was tied over the door. The red, white and black lettering stated Médecins Sans Frontières, which translated to Doctors Without Borders.

Buck knew all about this international nongovernmental organization known for humanitarian relief in war-torn or developing countries with little or no medical services available to the general population. He’d hoped one day to be one of the doctors to volunteer his time to help others less fortunate. He’d had lots of dreams when he’d started medical school.

A woman with graying blond hair stepped out of the tent and frowned when she saw Angela and Buck. “I heard an explosion in town. That wasn’t anywhere close to your demonstration, was it?”

Angela’s lips pressed together. “Brenda, we need to prep for stitches. I’ll fill you in on what happened while we’re sewing up this man.”

Brenda smiled at Buck. “Hi, I’m Brenda Sites. And you are?”

“Graham Buckner, but you can call me Buck.” He nodded toward the tent. “We don’t have time for stitches,” Buck said. “A clean pressure bandage will do for now.”

Angela shook her head. “No, we need to close the wound to keep it from getting infected. I can do it in less than five minutes, if you’ll shut up and let me get busy.”

“All right, sweetheart. You don’t have to be so bossy.” Buck’s lips twitched as he followed Angela into the tent, his gaze taking in the neat little hospital complete with a few beds and a separate room for more advanced procedures.

His curiosity always piqued when he was around medical equipment and medicine. More than anything, he wished he’d been able to finish his degree and residency. Alas, his past had caught up with him, and he’d had to leave school or risk exposing the people he cared most about to the murdering, scum-of-the-earth gang members he’d grown up with in Chicago.

He’d left school, Angela and his dreams behind to get away from his past and to get his past away from Angela. He couldn’t regret that. She’d deserved to finish her schooling without being stalked, harassed and potentially harmed by Buck’s old gang members.

The only way Buck had gotten the gang to leave him and Angela alone was to give up his dreams and leave Chicago all together.

“Have a seat.” Angela indicated a folding chair in front of a small field desk.

“Really, we could just clean the wound, bandage it and be done in a lot less time,” Buck said. “If you’ll give me whatever you use to clean with, I can try to do it myself.”

“Didn’t you say you couldn’t perform surgery on yourself?” Angela washed her hands, dried them and pulled on a pair of latex gloves, while her nurse spread out sterile drop cloths across the table, then laid out scissors, gauze, Betadine and tweezers. She used the scissors to remove the makeshift bandage from his arm. Blood oozed from the wound.

Angela inspected it. “See? You need stitches.” She took over after the nurse completed removing the bandage and irrigated the wound with a syringe.

The nurse patted it dry with gauze and applied Betadine to the skin around the wound.

Angela threaded the needle with suture line, her movements quick and efficient. “We’re short on local anesthetics. Hell, we’re out of most medications.” Angela met his gaze with a steady one of her own. “You’ll have to hold very still and grin and bear it.”

If he wasn’t mistaken, she almost looked like she was enjoying taunting him with the threat of pain. He nodded. “Just do it quickly. We don’t know when or if Koku’s men will show up and cause more trouble.”

Before the last word left his mouth, she stuck the needle into the edge of one side of the wound and looped it through the other. She talked softly as she worked, informing her nurse of what had occurred in Bentiu.

Buck stared at the top of Angela’s head while bracing his jaw to keep from cursing. It hurt like hell, but he wouldn’t jerk his hand away or let loose any of the choice words he wanted to say at that moment. Instead, he focused on Angela, taking advantage of her concentration on his arm to study her.

She hadn’t changed much in their years apart. If anything, she’d become even more beautiful. Her dark hair framed her face, her olive-toned skin was a little darker and the confidence she exuded was palpable. The woman had matured into a self-assured, capable doctor with a steady hand.

Buck’s heart swelled with pride for her. “I always knew you’d make it,” he said softly.

Her hand stilled for a fraction of a second before she tied off the first stitch. “That’s what happens when you stay focused.”

Her comment hurt. He shouldn’t have let it, but it did. Angela hadn’t known how much he wanted to stay at school and be with her. He hadn’t told her, figuring a clean break would be better than leaving her holding out hope for his return. “I had my reasons for leaving.”

“Yeah. And it doesn’t matter, does it? You left. I stayed. We lived our own lives.” She slipped the needle into another section of the wound. “Separately.”

Buck winced and bit down on his tongue. He figured Angela was right. Why bother rehashing the past? It was over. What he needed to do was concentrate on getting her out of the camp before Koku’s men came looking for another place to shake up.

Angela and Brenda worked on his arm with quiet efficiency.

By the time Angela tied off the last stitch, Buck could swear he’d ground at least a quarter of an inch off his back teeth. He released the breath he’d held and stood.

“Now, let’s get you out of here.” Buck reached for her wrist.

Angela stepped backward, avoiding his hand. “I told you, I’m not going. I can’t leave these people.”

“You saw what happened in Bentiu. Those guys could come here next.”

“These people need us. We can’t abandon them.” Angela peeled the gloves from her hands.

Buck’s jaw tightened. He couldn’t walk away and leave her here, in danger. “You’re not safe.”

“They’re not safe.” She laid the gloves on the table and captured his gaze in an unflinching one of her own. “I’m not going.”

Big Jake’s voice came over Buck’s headset. “We’ve got company.”

“You may not have a choice,” Buck said. “My guys say Koku’s men are coming into camp as we speak.”

No sooner had he made the announcement than a burst of gunfire could be heard outside, followed by women screaming.

“If you don’t leave for me—” Buck nodded toward her nurse “—leave for Brenda. We need to get both of you out of here. Now.” He took Angela’s hand and dragged her toward the door.

More gunfire erupted.

Angela dug in her heels and pulled her hand free. “You’re a SEAL. You can stop them.”

“Not if we’re outnumbered. And sometimes that only causes more casualties when so many civilians are involved.”

“Seriously, guys,” Big Jake said into Buck’s ear. “They’re headed straight for your tent.”

“My men say Koku’s men are headed directly for this tent. Are you coming with me or staying to argue with a killer?”

* * *

ANGELA HAD SPENT so much of her time working with and healing the people in the refugee camp. To leave them would be like abandoning her own children.

“Dr. Vega.” Brenda touched her arm, her eyes rounded, her hand shaking. “We can’t help anyone if we’re dead.”

Her nurse’s words hit hard. If Brenda was scared, Angela owed it to her to get her out. She turned to Buck. “Take my nurse and get her to safety.”

He shook his head. “I’m not leaving without you.”

One of the women Angela had been training to assist with medical treatments ran into the tent. “Dr. Angela! Dr. Angela! The men. They’re coming for you. They’re coming for the doctor.” She took Angela’s arm and hauled her toward the door. “You have to go. You go. Now.”

Angela’s gaze met Buck’s over the woman’s head. “Okay. We’ll go.”

Buck touched his headset. “We’re on our way.” He stepped in front of Angela before she could leave the tent. “But not that way.” He pulled his Ka-Bar knife from the sheath on his belt and strode through the tent to the back, where he jabbed the knife into the fabric and slit an opening large enough for a person to get through.

Then he stepped out and held the fabric wide. “Now you,” he said, waving for Brenda to come next.

The nurse ducked through and moved out of the way.

While Buck and Brenda were making their way out of the tent, Angela got busy throwing equipment, supplies and medication into her backpack.

Buck stuck his head back into the tent. “Angela, we have to go now. They’re almost on us.”

Angela shot one final glance around the tent she’d called home for the past six months, tossed in a couple bottles of water and dived out of the tent.

Loud voices could be heard from the men storming through the refugee camp toward the hospital tent.

Her heart thundering against her ribs, Angela ran.

Buck grabbed the backpack from her arm and slung it over his shoulder. Then he took her hand and urged her to go faster.

By the time they reached the deserted shack, Angela could barely breathe. T-Mac and Harm were waiting at the sliding door, where they lifted Brenda off her feet and into the van. They did the same for Angela and then clambered in after them. Buck was last inside, slamming the door as the vehicle took off.

Angela stared through the back window of the van at the camp she was leaving behind. Smoke rose from the tent they’d just vacated, the fabric succumbing to the flames shooting into the sky.

Men in black clothing ran toward them, firing their rifles.

But by then, the van was far enough away, and the bullets fell short.

“We don’t have much of a lead on them,” Buck said. “Once they get their trucks rolling, they’ll be after us.”

“Then we need to keep rolling,” Big Jake said. “The faster, the better.”

Diesel pressed his foot to the accelerator, taking the van as fast as it would go, fully loaded with SEALs and the women.

“If we’re lucky, the sun will set before they catch up to us,” Big Jake said. “The 160th is on standby for extraction as soon as we give them the coordinates.”

“In the meantime,” Diesel tossed over his shoulder, “any suggestions on a place around here to hide a van and eight people?”

Angela thought hard. For the most part, she’d been confined to the hospital tent, working nonstop with masses of people living in the terrible conditions of the refugee camp. But there was one time she and Brenda had been asked to help a village elder in another small town nearby. She glanced out the window. They were headed that direction. “I know of a place.”

Leaning through the gap between the two front seats, she watched the road ahead, trying to remember where they’d turned to get to the village.

Brenda squeezed in next to her. “Are you taking them to Abu Hanafi’s village?”

She nodded. “The turnoff to the village should be coming up soon.”

“Remember, it was where the abandoned tank tracks were,” Brenda said.

“Right.” Angela turned to Diesel. “There should be some buildings coming up soon and a field beside the road with what looks like a pile of junk metal. It’s actually the tracks from an army tank.”

Diesel nodded. “I’ll be on the lookout.”

Angela glanced back through the van’s rear window, her pulse pounding. As she turned back to the front, her gaze skimmed across Buck. Her heart did a backflip. When she’d first realized who’d plucked her out of the middle of the protest, she’d been too angry to fully appreciate what had happened.

In this totally different part of the world, why had fate brought Graham back to her? At that very moment?

He was the same Graham she’d known and loved in medical school, yet different.

His body was honed, his muscles tight and strong, and his eyes...those gorgeous blue eyes she’d fallen into on their first group project were somehow different. Although still the same blue, they appeared to see more and have more depth than before. The lines around the corners of his eyes added character, and the scar on his chin made her want to reach out and touch it.

As quickly as the thought sprang into her mind, she pushed it away and returned her attention to the road in front of the van.

Ahead, on the left, was a field of long grass with a patch of dirt next to the road. Rusted metal lay in a heap in the middle of the dirt.

“There!” Angela pointed to the dirt road past the tank track. “Turn there.”

Diesel only slowed enough to negotiate the turn and then sped along the bumpy road, barely more than a rutted track.

Big Jake’s brow crinkled as he glanced her way. “Are you sure this is the way?”

“Positive.” She nodded toward a blue tin shack. “I remember that blue building.”

“And the one with the orange roof,” Brenda added, pointing to the structure.

“The village is another mile or more along this road, and it’s tucked into the side of a hill.”

“As long as the dust settles before the rebel attackers get to where we turned off, they won’t have a clue we came this way.”

“If the dust settles,” T-Mac said.

Angela glanced back at the cloud of dust rising up behind them.

Buck touched her arm. “It’ll settle.”

She gave him a hint of a smile and turned away. So many forgotten emotions welled up inside her. Why did he have to come back into her life? Why now? But if he hadn’t, she might be dead. The protest she’d staged against the local government could have ended a lot worse. She prayed the women who’d gone along with her had made it back to safety.

Leaving behind the refugees she’d grown to care for was killing her. But like Brenda had said, she couldn’t help people if she was dead.

Soon, they came to the little village tucked into the side of a hill. Shacks and huts lined the road, with barely clothed children playing outside.

“Let me out,” Angela said. “I’ll speak to Abu Hanafi. He might not want us in his village if we bring trouble with us.”

“Tell him we won’t stay any longer than it takes to get airlifted out,” Big Jake said. “And we’ll arrange pickup away from his village so as not to draw too much attention to it.”

Angela nodded and hopped out of the van. Buck followed.

“It might be better if I go alone,” Angela said.

“Not happening.” He gripped her elbow and marched forward.

Angela shrugged free of his hand. Every time he touched her, that same jolt, like an electrical current, ran through her, reminding her of the connection they’d had when they were much younger.

She tightened her jaw. That was the past. “I got along fine without you for six months in this country. I can do this on my own.”

“Then do it on your own, just with me. I won’t say a word. You’ll barely know I’m there.”

She snorted. “You’re over six feet tall. Much taller than many of the people in this village. I think I’ll notice you. And I won’t be the only one.” As much as she protested, she did feel protected when he was around.

Angela led the way to the mud-and-stick building at the center of the little village. A woman wearing a faded red-and-gold dress with a red scarf draped over her head and shoulders stood in the doorway with a toddler on her hip.

With a smile, Angela addressed the daughter of the village elder. “Uluru, how are you and your children?”

She knew from the last time she’d been here that Uluru spoke perfect English she’d learned at a missionary school when she was much younger. At twenty-one years old, she had three children, the youngest of which she was holding.

“They are well. I am teaching Kamal his letters. He will go to school one day.”

Angela nodded. “Your children will be smart as well as beautiful, like their mother.”

She snorted softly. “If they live that long and are not stolen away by Koku’s army.” Uluru moved out of the doorway. “You are here to see my father?”

“Yes,” Angela said.

“And this man with you, who dresses like one of our men?”

“He is my...” Angela almost said boyfriend, but that was so many years ago.

“I’m her fiancé,” Buck said and cupped Angela’s elbow. “We are to be married soon.”

Angela swallowed hard to keep from disagreeing out loud. Now that he’d said it, she couldn’t deny it without appearing wishy-washy in front of Uluru and her father.

Uluru’s gaze swept over Buck from head to toe before she nodded. “As the doctor’s betrothed, you are welcome in our home.”

Inside, the structure was cast in shadow, with no electrical lighting in use.

Uluru passed through the house and out into a small courtyard where an old man, dressed all in white much like Buck, sat cross-legged on the ground in the shade of a tree.

Angela waited for the man to invite her forward.

When he did, she sat cross-legged across from him, and Buck sat beside her.

Uluru joined them, setting the toddler on his feet. The child wandered off to play with a stick.

Angela studied the man, searching his face for any signs of illness. “You are well?” she asked.

Abu Hanafi nodded, his gaze going to Buck and back to Angela. “Who is this white man who dresses like one of our people?”

Buck sat up straight, meeting the man’s gaze with a strength and confidence Angela had to admire. “I am Dr. Vega’s fiancé.”

The elder continued to stare at Buck for a long moment, as if sizing him up. Finally, he gave a single nod. “Why are you here?”

Angela realized the elder wasn’t speaking to her, but to Buck. In deference, she let Buck respond.

“There was an attack on the government building in Bentiu. We believe it was Koku. Then his men attacked the refugee camp,” Buck said. “My men and I got Dr. Vega and her nurse out before they could be harmed. We all need a place to hide until after the sun sets, at which time we will leave.”

Abu Hanafi’s brow furrowed. “You have brought danger to my village?”

“We hope not,” Buck said. “But we will leave as soon as we can.”

“Or we could leave now, if you think we have endangered your people,” Angela said softly.

A long silence stretched between the elder, Angela and Buck. Finally, Abu Hanafi nodded. “You will stay until dark. However, if trouble follows you, you will leave sooner. Too many of our children have been stolen by Koku and his men.”

“Koku has taken children from your village?” Buck questioned.

“He takes our young boys to fill his army,” the elder said. “We are forced to hide them in the bushes when Koku is in the area.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Angela said. “I wish we could do something to stop him.”

“You have to know where to find him,” Buck said, “in order to do anything to stop him.”

Once again, Abu Hanafi studied Buck. “You are not a doctor.”

Buck shook his head. “No, sir.”

“You are an American soldier?”

Buck tensed beside Angela. “No, sir.”

That penetrating gaze pinned Buck to his spot. But Buck wasn’t giving the man any more than he already had. “Sir, we should move our vehicle before Koku’s people see it and report back to him.”

Abu Hanafi waved his hand. “Go.”

When Angela rose to her feet, he touched her arm. “My people owe you a debt we cannot repay.”

“You owe me nothing,” Angela assured him.

The elder dipped his head. “I can only repay you in friendship.”

“Which is the most important payment of all.” She held out her hand to the man. He took it in both of his. “Thank you for saving my life.”

“You’re welcome.”

Uluru led them through the house and back to the van. “You can park in the trees at the base of the bluff,” she said.

“Thank you.” Angela strode back to the van, anxious to get away from Buck and the chemistry he seemed to be stirring up inside her. The faster they resolved the issue with Koku, the quicker she could get back to helping others.