Riders of the Pale Horse Read Online Free PDF Page B

nursing.His mother survived the embarrassment of her son becoming a nurse by declaring that he was doing vital research in the medical field.
    Wade proved to have a true gift for working with sick people. He was incredibly patient and infinitely gentle. He took time for the old and the lonely and the frightened. He accepted the most menial of duties without objection and carried them out professionally. When a local hospital gave him a six-month-trial contract, Wade spent more time on the wards than any other nurse and many of the doctors.
    But Wade’s mother stayed after him constantly to fulfill his destiny, as she put it. Wade remained silent and did nothing. Exasperated beyond speech, she finally mailed off for missionary application papers herself. During one Sunday afternoon visit, she slammed them down in front of him and demanded he complete the forms then and there.
    Wade did not mind. He knew the whole thing was an exercise in futility. He had absolutely no aptitude for missionary work. Anybody but his mother would see that immediately, and send him packing. So Wade filled in the papers for the sake of peace, and when it came time to select his destination, he checked the most exotic name on the list: Grozny, capital of the Autonomous Republic of Chechenya, the Russian Federation.
    The review board, however, decided to pay more attention to the nursing director at Wade’s hospital than to their own impressions of the young man. The nursing director wrote and then followed the letter up with an unsolicited telephone call. She said that the young man had the power of a true healer. He held hands and people simply felt better. He did the work of ten and did so without complaint. She actually had been forced to send the young man home on several occasions. He would be missed at the hospital, but the nursing director was a Christian and would never stand in the way of someone called to service.
    It was only at the airport, on the day of his departure forEurope and final mission training, that his mother-the-soap-opera-star had become just a mom. By then it was too late. The fact that Wade was actually leaving hit her with the force of John Henry’s hammer, and she had fallen apart. She had sent him down the departures tunnel with her wails echoing in his ears.

    Wade had never in his life run across anybody like Rogue Robards. Not even close.
    Robards was as solid as he was big—a rock-hard man with skin the color of a well-worn saddle. Though he was in his late thirties, the sheer power of the man made the number of his years unimportant. He exuded an unquestionable confidence, a complete reliance in his own ability to overcome whatever rose up before him. His smile came as easy as the sunrise, but contained neither warmth nor friendliness. It was as cold and confident as the gleam that lit the depths of his gray eyes.
    â€œWhat do you make of all that fuss raised over you back there?” Rogue demanded.
    Wade shrugged. “I guess it’s like Reverend Phillips says, they know I tried to help them.”
    â€œYou a doctor or something?”
    â€œA nurse.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you get qualified as a doctor if you knew you were gonna come over?”
    â€œMaybe I should have.”
    â€œWell, there hasn’t been a man born who’s learned how to backtrack,” Robards said easily. “Might as well bury past mistakes and get on with life, right?”
    â€œI guess so,” Wade said, marveling at the idea that it could really be as easy as that for somebody. Not for him, of course. Just for anybody.
    Wade directed their course along the winding, crumbling streets of Grozny. The city was largely destroyed, almost every building pitted with shell holes and blackened by old fires.Few windows were intact. Tall Stalinist towers rose like grim tombstones to an era that was no longer. The city was now split distinctly in two, and the Muslim section contained the largest