WAR: Intrusion (2 page)

Dr. Kirk stared at him a long moment before finally lowering her weapon. She skirted the dead snake, then sat on the other side of the lassie. Gathering the screaming child into her arms, she spoke soothingly in the local language while the girl snuggled against her chest. A few minutes later, after a soft hiccup, the child stopped crying.

Lachlan rose to his feet and backed away, giving them some privacy. He did a quick survey of their surroundings, but there was no sign of a distraught parent coming to see what was the matter with the child. “What was she doing out here alone?” Lachlan said, a bit more sharply than he’d intended. He knew his question was a mistake the moment it left his lips, but damn it, the lassie should have been supervised. Any idiot with a heart would make sure she stayed out of danger.

Dr. Kirk narrowed her eyes at him. “The regional schools are on break this month. Sisi’s parents, like many villagers, can’t afford to stay home. They need to tend the fields in order not to starve. So they left her under the care of her older brother.”

“Fine job he’s done,” Lachlan shot back. “Sisi grabbed the snake’s tail. If not for me, she’d be dead.”

The doctor’s lips tightened. “Back down, mister. I happen to agree with you. This isn’t the first time Sisi has gotten into trouble while her brother played soccer with his friends.”

Sisi had been peeking shyly at Lachlan during this conversation. Now she wriggled to get free. With an affectionate shake of her head, Dr. Kirk released the child from her embrace, then stood up.

After wiping her nose on her doll’s dress, Sisi marched over to Lachlan. “Thank you, snake-killing man,” she said in accented English. “Dolly needed a plaster.” She held up the doll so Lachlan could see the small sticking plaster affixed to the doll’s arm. No. On second observation, it looked like a piece of Sellotape with special coloring to make it look like a plaster.

“Fixed Dolly’s boo-boo,” she announced proudly. “Just like Dr. Helen.”

Er. Now what? Was he supposed to kiss the doll’s boo-boo? Clap and praise Sisi for playing doctor? It was a good thing Tony was patrolling elsewhere, otherwise he’d surely give himself away with his laughing.

Dr. Kirk knelt down beside the lassie. “I’m very proud of you for remembering to use Dolly’s special plaster. Good job.”

Sisi beamed at her.

“But it was dangerous to sit in the jungle,” Dr. Kirk chided gently. “Isn’t that right?”

Sisi frowned, then nodded reluctantly.

“Do you remember what we told you?” Dr. Kirk prodded.

The child’s bottom lip went out and Lachlan feared she’d resume her wailing. Only years of training kept him from backing away.

“Stay away from the bad snakes,” Sisi muttered. “More than this far.” She held her arm out to her side.

“That’s right.” Dr. Kirk looked up at Lachlan. “There’s been an increase in the green mamba snake population lately. All the children have been warned to only play in areas that are several adult-arm-lengths away from any trees or bushes.”

Dr. Kirk appeared genuinely concerned about the child’s health, but Lachlan didn’t buy it. His father had taught him all too well how the caring manner of a doctor could hide a monster. His fingers twitched as Lachlan fought against the urge to snatch the girl away from Dr. Kirk.

“What are you supposed to do if you see a snake?” Dr. Kirk asked Sisi.

The girl lowered her eyes and hugged her doll to her chest. “Get away,” she mumbled. “Or scare it with a stick.” Her lip trembled. “But it was so pretty.”

The doctor smoothed her hand over Sisi’s hair. “I know, sweetheart. But not everything that is pretty is safe.”

Lachlan bit back a snort. Aye. He knew all about that.

“Next time, do what we told you, okay?”

Sisi sniffled. “Okay.”

“Dr. Helen. Dr. Helen! Is everything all right?” A local woman in a nurse’s outfit dashed down the driveway from the clinic. She stopped beside them, noticed the dead snake, then jumped sideways with a gasp of alarm.

“Everything is fine, Theodora,” Dr. Kirk answered. “But Sisi has had a bit of a scare. Would you please take her home and tell her brother that his inattention almost cost his sister her life?” She nodded at the snake. “Also, please tell Tobo to come and remove the snake’s body.”

“Of course.” Theodora bent down and spoke to the child in the local language. She held out her hand and Sisi took it easily. As they headed down the path toward the village, Sisi glanced back over her shoulder at Lachlan. She waved Dolly at him. “Bye snake-killing man!” she called out, then turned around and skipped alongside the nurse.

Lachlan felt a little flare of warmth in his chest at the girl’s open affection. Once she and the nurse had disappeared from view, he turned to the doctor.

The lass aimed her shotgun at his chest. “So, snake-killing man, who are you and what brings you to this remote part of the country?”

Lachlan took in the tight line of her shoulders and her white-knuckled grip on the shotgun and once again held out his hands to remind her that he was unarmed. “Easy, lass. I’m not going to hurt ye.” Christ. He didn’t hurt women. Even his father, may his soul rot in hell, had never laid an angry hand on Lachlan’s mother or killed one of his female patients.

Yet Dr. Kirk looked poised to either shoot him on general principal, or flee. Neither of which would get him the information he needed. He gave her a lopsided smile in an attempt to disarm the suspicion he saw in her eyes. “Ah, well. I’d hoped to introduce myself under better circumstances, Dr. Kirk. I’m Lachlan MacKay.” He held out his hand to shake. “I’m here on behalf of one of the businessmen due to arrive for the grand opening. I’ve been asked to check that the clinic is truly providing the villagers with the promised level of health care. I’ll also be checking that this area is a safe location for the clinic and that the security arrangements for the grand opening are adequate.”

“What security arrangements? This is a peaceful part of the country. There’s been no rebel activity here. We’re safe.”

Lachlan almost rolled his eyes at her naïveté. “You’re a foreigner in a region the rebels are trying to make foreigner-free. There is no such thing as a safe place.” He glanced pointedly at her weapon. “You must agree, since you’re wielding a shotgun.”

“This is for non-human threats.” She nodded at the snake’s corpse.

Lachlan didn’t think she’d have had much chance of hitting the fast-moving snake, but held his tongue. Instead, he wiggled his hand, still waiting for her to shake.

She glanced down and frowned. “I believe I’ll wait until there’s no snake blood on your skin.”

He blinked in surprise. “Ach. Apologies. I forgot.” Putting on a smile he hoped was boyishly rueful, he pulled a small container of sanitizer out of his pocket and proceeded to clean off the blood.

“Show me your ID,” Dr. Kirk said.

Lachlan pulled out his wallet and passed it to her without hesitation. Dr. Rene LaSalle, one of WAR’s primary allies, had arranged for Lachlan to be assigned to the security detail of a friend of his who’d been invited to the grand opening. The ID would pass inspection.

After studying his ID, Dr. Kirk passed his wallet back to him. “So, you just happened to be walking to the clinic when you, what?” Dr. Kirk asked, the suspicion back in her voice. “Saw the snake aiming for Sisi?”

“Something like that, aye.”

“If what you say is true, Mr. MacKay, then where is your stuff? Surely you have personal belongings?”

He tucked his wallet back into his pocket before answering. “My rucksack is in the bushes.” He gestured to his left. “With your permission?”

She nodded, yet kept him covered with the shotgun as he retrieved his pack and swung it onto his shoulders. “Shall we?” he said.

Dr. Kirk gave him a look, then motioned with her shotgun for him to precede her down the road to the clinic.

Refusing to have her weapon at his back, he instead walked beside her. “I don’t think the weapon is needed, is it, lass? As I said, I’m not going to hurt ye. If it’s harm I intended, I would have done so by now.”

She flinched and sidestepped so he wasn’t in her personal space. Lachlan mentally cursed himself. Reminding the doctor that he was dangerous was no way to go about winning her trust.

She shot him a look that made it clear she still had doubts about him, hesitated a moment, then finally lowered the shotgun. Striding toward the clinic, she snapped, “Come with me. I’ll give you a tour of the clinic, then you can be on your way.”

Lachlan made a noncommittal sound. He had no intention of being sent away. He was staying close to the doctor until he found the weapons.

CHAPTER TWO

DAMMIT, HELEN HAD never even considered the possibility that one of the potential investors would send someone to her clinic ahead of time to conduct a due diligence review. As she strode down the concrete driveway toward the clinic, she was acutely aware of MacKay stalking along beside her with the grace and predatory alertness of a tiger. Several inches over six feet, MacKay’s taut, muscular body brought to mind ancient warriors wearing only kilts and swinging broadswords. His well-worn hiking boots, khaki cargo pants, and sweat-stained gray t-shirt were standard attire for a foreign aid worker. Yet this was no ordinary man. The cut that had taken off the mamba’s head had been clean. Not only did MacKay carry an extraordinarily sharp knife, but he possessed both the reflexes and the strength to use the knife in a potentially lethal situation. So yes, she could definitely believe he’d been put in charge of security. The only question was why his boss had decided the festival day celebrations and the clinic’s grand opening represented a threat.

Regardless, she had no intention of letting such a dangerous man stick around. She couldn’t afford to have MacKay report back to his boss that he’d found the clinic in anything less than perfect condition. So she’d give MacKay a rushed tour of the clinic, then send him on to the lone hotel in the regional capital before darkness fell. And before the plane arrived with tonight’s shipment.

“Dr. Kirk. All is well?” The clinic’s head nurse stood in the doorway to the clinic, her eyes moving between Helen and MacKay.

“Yes, Leticia. Sisi attracted the attention of a green mamba while playing with her doll in the jungle.” She jerked her chin toward MacKay. “Luckily, Mr. MacKay was on his way to the clinic and saved her. Although Sisi didn’t realize that at first.” She pressed her lips together to hold back a smile, remembering the male panic on MacKay’s face while Sisi had screamed bloody murder.

At Leticia’s questioning frown, Helen added, “Mr. MacKay has been sent to do a quick survey of the security of the clinic and the surrounding area before the donors arrive.”

“And to make certain your clinic is really as cutting-edge and as effective as promised,” MacKay said.

Sharing a look with Leticia, and hoping the other woman wouldn’t give away the incomplete status of the lab, Helen stepped in front of MacKay and entered the clinic’s waiting room. A quick glance showed her nothing that should make him suspicious.

When she turned around, she saw MacKay freeze in the doorway, nostrils flaring like a wild animal scenting a predator. For a brief second, anguish and fear flashed across his face. Then he set his jaw and stepped inside. But his breathing had sped up and his hands had formed fists.

Sympathy twisted through her. She bit her tongue to hold back from asking if she could help, because instinct told her this wasn’t a man who’d welcome her sympathy.

Then MacKay’s sharp, pewter gray eyes landed on the room’s other occupant and he frowned.

A middle-aged man with his leg in a cast sat on the simple wooden couch with his foot propped up on the coffee table and his head tilted back in sleep. Helen smiled fondly as Ottah emitted a faint snore.

MacKay stepped up beside her. “Made the man wait too long for treatment, did you doctor?”

“No,” Helen said, struggling not to let her annoyance show. “I finished setting Ottah’s broken tibia just before Sisi screamed. He asked if he could stay a while, as he needed a break from his wife’s nagging. As long as he’s not bothering other patients, he’s welcome to stay.”

MacKay’s lips tightened, then he resumed his survey of the room.

Helen watched him carefully. Beneath the several days’ growth of beard, the planes of his face were sharp, but handsome in a rough-hewn, barbarian-warrior type way. Or he would have been handsome if he didn’t radiate disapproval bordering on outright hostility.

Helen wondered whether it was her or the clinic he found lacking. Since no one outside of a small circle of people knew that the clinic had been vandalized, the most likely answer was that MacKay’s research had turned up the old news stories about her mother’s crimes. Her stomach turned over and a wave of bitterness slid through her.

Should he raise objections to her qualifications, she’d make certain to emphasize the measurable improvement in health within the surrounding community since she’d been transferred here a year ago. Helen would also remind MacKay that one of the reasons Layla’s Foundation needed investment money was to hire a local doctor to replace her.

Glancing around the waiting room, she tried to imagine how it would appear to MacKay. Unlike Western waiting rooms, there were no magazines on the coffee table or on the end table between the two armchairs. Instead, Leticia and Theodora had decorated the area with a few hand-carved wooden statues and a small woven basket containing toys for her younger patients. It was a homey, welcoming space with a local flair that made her patients instantly comfortable. Cotton curtains in a garish blue-and-neon-green batik pattern that matched the sofa cushions had been pulled back to allow light to flow through the louvered windows with their security bars.

Uh-oh.

Sure enough, MacKay walked over to the windows. Without comment, he manipulated the lever to first close, then open the louvers. Helen followed him outside and watched as he pushed and pulled on the metal security bars. “A fine job,” he said. “Well-anchored and the spaces between the bars are small enough that not even a child’s hand could slip through.”