Special Forces Rendezvous Read Online Free PDF Page A

patient was more than a tad cranky.
    “Sure thing,” she called back.
    Ten minutes later, she’d successfully assisted Nadir in drawing
blood from the bawling two-year-old. Afterward, she went to check on her own
patients, pleased to see that many of the ones who’d come in complaining of
malaria-like symptoms were no longer showing signs of the parasite. She still
couldn’t release them until the blood test results were in, but she was fairly
confident they weren’t looking at a serious outbreak.
    For the next three hours, she bustled around the clinic, doing
everything from stitching up patients to changing bedpans. Her white coat might
label her a doctor, but the clinic was so understaffed that the responsibility
lines blurred significantly, and Julia often found herself being not just a
doctor, but also a nurse, a surgeon, a janitor, a cook, a babysitter or any
other job that cropped up.
    It was no surprise that by the time nine o’clock rolled by she
was ready to collapse. Because she was on the evening shift, she hadn’t eaten
dinner with her colleagues. She’d scarfed down a can of cold beans during a
break between patients, and her stomach rumbled with hunger by the time she
shrugged out of her coat and left the clinic through the back doors.
    The D.I. staff lived in heavy canvas tents behind the building.
There were four large tents, two for the men, two for the women, which housed
six cots each, and along with those, there were a few smaller tents for people
with special circumstances; one for Simone, and the others were reserved for the
married staff.
    She strode to the tent she shared with Lissa and two other
nurses—Kendra, a lovely African-American woman from Detroit, and Marie-Thérèse,
a young French blonde right out of nursing school.
    Kendra was passed out on one of the cots, so Julia tried to be
quiet as she sank onto the edge of her cot. She dimmed the battery-operated lamp
so as not to disturb the sleeping nurse, then opened one of the two drawers and
pulled out her toiletry kit.
    As tired as she was, she wanted a cool shower before bed to
wash off the heat and grime of the day. There was a bathroom and shower area
behind the tents, which they shared with the men. Not that it mattered much in
such primitive conditions, but a schedule had been arranged to preserve the
modesty of those who actually still cared about things like that. Julia was
always far too exhausted to worry about who might see her naked.
    She stood up with her toiletries in hand, then froze when the
radio on the night stand began to crackle. Shooting a quick look at Kendra, she
grabbed the radio and hurried out of the tent, ducking through the flap.
    Outside, the small recreation area was deserted, and she headed
for the long picnic-style tables where the staff usually congregated for
meals.
    “J-J-Julia...c-can...h-hear me?”
    She could barely make out the tinny voice emerging from the
speakers, but it sounded like Kevin’s. Her brows furrowed as it suddenly
occurred to her that he still hadn’t come back.
    As more static hissed out of the radio, she clicked the button
and said, “Kevin, is that you?”
    “J-Julia...”
    She heard him more clearly this time. Relief swept through her.
All right, at least he was still in one piece. He’d probably decided to spend
the night in one of the villages rather than trek it back to the clinic in the
dark.
    “Kev, do you read me? Where are you?”
    “I...village...Esperanza...”
    Julia frowned. “Esperanza? Why did you go so far north?”
    More static, followed by what sounded like a round of heavy
coughing. “Things...h-here...bad.”
    For the first time since she’d heard her colleague’s voice, a
real pang of concern tugged at her gut. “Kev? What’s going on there?”
    “I...t-treatment...don’t know...never seen it before.”
    Unease circled her spine like a school of sharks. Her palms
started to tingle as a wave of panic swelled inside her.
    “The