He was in Afghanistan again. He could still see the flashes of an explosion, hear Darren’s screams. His best friend had become one of the statistics. Sixty million mines were still left unexploded in seventy countries...sixty-five people maimed or killed every day...
He forced his mind to focus on what was going on.
“Get me some more light,” Maddie shouted as she started cutting off the clothing around the wound.
“What can I do?” Grant asked.
“We need to get the wound cleaned and covered. There’s clean, boiled water, covered in pots behind you.” Her hands shook as she turned to one of the men. “I’ll do everything I can to save your son, but I want you to promise to let us go once I get him stabilized.”
“You’re in no position to bargain, because I’m the only one keeping you alive right now,” he said, holding her gaze. “So if my son dies...you will all die.”
Grant 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