The Serene Invasion Read Online Free PDF

should have been.
    She said, “Their guns jammed, Ben. We were lucky.”
    “You saw them, saw what happened. It was the work of the Lord. Their guns did not jam, Sally. They just could not bring themselves to kill us.”
    She shook her head. “I don’t know what the hell happened. I’m just grateful...”
    She brought the truck to a sudden stop, leaned through the window and vomited.
     
     
    S HE FOLLOWED THE wadi to the road running north-south, and turned left.
    She accelerated, residual fear pushing her to drive at speed. She knew the terrorists had no means of leaving the hut other than on foot, but it was as if what they had subjected her to was affecting her rationality. She half expected the men to leap out at them from behind the passing trees.
    They came to a T-junction and Sally braked.
    Ben said, “I know where we are. See, in the distance, the village of Moganda. We are perhaps one hour away from Kallani.”
    “Turn around, Ben, and I’ll try to untie you.”
    She picked at the tight knot until she had worked the twine loose and pulled the binds free. He smiled at her, rubbing his wrists.
    She gunned the engine and turned right. She checked the fuel gauge, smiled when she saw that it indicated the tank was a little less than half full.
    The decision came upon her unexpectedly. She knew, once she arrived back at the medical centre, that she would locate Dr Krasnic and resign then and there. Krasnic would demur, tell her to take a break and think through her decision. But she also knew that she was never going to work at Kallani again.
    She had given the place five years of her life, and that was quite enough.
    They came to the outskirts of Kallani just under an hour later. A crowd surged along the high street. An almost palpable sense of excitement filled the humid late afternoon air. The attack at the medical centre was big news, in a place where for month after month nothing ever happened.
    They edged through the crowds, drove through the centre of town, and minutes later arrived at the medical centre. The gates were open, and within Sally made out two Ugandan army trucks, a police car and a Red Cross jeep.
    Crowds milled outside and within the compound so that their return, edging through the citizens and into the medical centre, was hardly commented upon.
    The charcoaled bodies of the dead soldiers had been covered in dark green military tarpaulins. The watchtower still burned feebly, a mere blackened timber skeleton against the hazy sky.
    Army officers, fat Ugandan policemen, and Red Cross officials stood about in small groups, conferring and consulting softscreens and speaking into wrist-coms.
    Sally killed the engine, the truck just another vehicle amongst many. The engine ticked, cooling. She stared out at the activity in the compound.
    A tiny African girl moved from a prefab ward and crossed towards the truck. She paused to turn and call something, and a dozen faces appeared at the windows. Sally opened the door and climbed out. The little girl ran to her, repeating her name and saying in Swahili. “You come back! You come back! Kolli, she says bad men took you.”
    “I’m back, Gallie. I’m back. Don’t worry.” Sally swept up the child, hugged her to her chest and carried her over to the prefab. Inside, twenty children were cowering in their beds, staring at her with wide eyes.
    Mary, the nurse fresh out from England, hurried to her and said, “It’s Dr Krasnic. You must see him. He’s... he’s in his office. He has a pistol. I tried talking to him, but...”
    Sally transferred Gallie to Mary’s custody, turned and hurried from the prefab. She almost collided with Ben on the way out.
    “Sally?”
    “Come with me!” she ordered. “It’s Yan.”
    She feared what she might find as she ran across to Krasnic’s office. His frequent depressions, allied to what had happened that afternoon at the complex, was a combination that did not bode well.
    She came to the office and pushed open