What I Fight For: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Easy Team Book 1) (4 page)

And no doubt, give you a raise in the range of a couple million
, I thought cynically. And looking at Doc Jones’ stony face, I could tell he had reached the same conclusion as well.

Mr. Listrom didn’t care about the people of Qunar or the lives of his doctors. He cared about the bottom line and a handful of doctors could be worth tens of millions of dollars in investment and publicity.

“So what we’ll need is a few volunteers,” Mr. Listrom said, looking around the table at the doctors who suddenly all had something more interesting going on in their laps. “Once we finalize the doctors on the team, they can pick a handful of staff members of their choosing. Then Mr. Carew will give you the details on your departure timeline.”

There was a short and tense silence in the room before Edward interrupted it with a cough. “How long will this mission be for?” he asked.

“About three months, doctor,” Mr. Carew replied.

The entire room reeled. Three months! At most, I had been expecting an answer of three weeks. Three months was an enormous commitment. I felt terrible for the refugees in Qunar as much as the next person but three months in a country that was under strained resources and periodic bombings seemed like a sacrifice that I just couldn’t make.

It was too frightening.

Suddenly the image of the tall, dark stranger from last night popped into my head. I knew it was crazy and silly and probably more than a little selfish but I had the chance to move on from my broken heart here. Somewhere in L.A. was a mysterious man who I had had a moment with. A moment worth exploring. A moment worth staying for.

The doctors all looked around the room, none of them wanting to volunteer and yet none of them willing to refuse outright either.

Suddenly, Edward stood up.

Straightening his white coat, he said, “Mr. Listrom, I think that this is a very noble mission. And to better aid Mr. Carew and the people of Unchartered Relief Aid, I think that we should send the best suited doctors.” He cleared his throat, keeping his gaze fastidiously pointed away from my end of the table. “I suggest we send Dr. Lyon. She works in ER and has experience in sudden and traumatic wounds. She would be best suited for the environment Qunar would present.”

My jaw dropped.

Doc Jones’s hands fisted in outrage.

The tension in the room increased twenty fold and I could feel every doctor at the table staring at me. Except, of course, Edward.

So instead of dealing with the messiness of post-break up life like a grown up, he was volunteering to send me away to a country that was facing life and death dangers? He would rather me be in a camp that could be car bombed than two floors down in a hospital?

What. The. Fuck.

But Mr. Listrom seemed to be taking in the suggestion, nodding in agreement. “That is a good point, Dr. Kincaid. Especially with the trauma that she has seen in this part of the neighborhood.” He sniffed distastefully.

Yeah, well, I think gunshots and stab wounds are pretty distasteful too, buddy,
I raged in my head.
But so is poverty and violence.
After having worked in the ER for as long as I have, I knew that a gang member was more than just his stab wounds and tattoos. He was a boy who had grown up with no examples and limited opportunities. He had started life on the back foot and so had made the decisions that he thought were best for his survival.

“Dr. Lyon?” Mr. Listrom said, looking my way.

Oh god, what could I say?

“Well—” I started off, trying to figure out a way to buy time. But Doc Jones beat me to it.

“I’m sorry but I have to disagree, Mr. Listrom,” Doc Jones said emphatically. “We are always short staffed in ER and need all the hands we can get. Dr. Lyon is one of the best on our team and losing her would be detrimental to our already small staff.” Doc Jones jerked his chin towards Edward, his eyes narrowed. “But Dr. Kincaid there is the head of surgery, a very large department. Skills like his would be invaluable in a place like Qunar. And his department is large enough to handle his absence.”

Edward’s eyes widened at Doc Jones’s recommendation then narrowed in annoyance. Doc Jones matched his gaze, his own eyes fiery with outrage on my behalf.

Mr. Listrom seemed completely oblivious to the exchange. He instead tapped a finger to his chin. “Hmmm…yes I can see that,” he said slowly. “And it would make a great headline piece. ‘Head of Surgery Volunteers in Qunar Relief.’”

Mr. Listrom’s eyes practically glowed at the free publicity he would be getting from such a piece.

Edward quickly countered. “I don’t doubt that that would be a good piece, sir,” he said ingratiatingly. “But surgery is a specialized team. We have as many doctors as we do because we need so many specialists. ER, on the other hand,” he threw Doc Jones a contemptuous glance, “is more about general treatment and immediate action. Things that would suit Qunar. It would be much easier to find a doctor to fill in Dr. Lyon’s spot in ER than it would be to find a doctor to fill in mine.”

Oh that pompous asshole!
What the hell did I ever see in him? How dare he try to minimize the work that my staff and I did?
General treatment?
Well, let’s see him and his precious specialists try to deal with a dozen stabbings, a rupturing pancreas, and a breaching baby all at once.

Mr. Listrom nodded, tapping his chin again. “That is true as well. Dr. Lyon, what do you say? Would you be willing to join Mr. Carew in Qunar?”

I swallowed. If I said no to the head of the hospital now, I knew I’d be on his shit list for the foreseeable future. Mr. Listrom valued publicity and money in that order and anyone who deters him from getting both would always be on his blacklist. And I was a young doctor. I needed to create a good foundation if I ever wanted to move up in the department.

For the sake of maintaining my future, I swallowed. “Of course,” I said hoarsely.

Mr. Listrom slapped his hands. “Excellent. Well then—”

“Then I volunteer as well,” Doc Jones interjected.

Mr. Listrom looked at him in surprise. I stared at Doc in similar surprise.

“That’s not necessary, Dr. Jones,” Mr. Listrom said. “Dr. Lyon will head the team and she can recruit some staff members to join her. We don’t need the head of ER going off as well. That’s too many from one department.”

Doc Jones’ jaw tightened as he said evenly, “Well, it’s only
general
treatment
in ER. As Dr. Kincaid said, it will be easy to find replacements for us. If Dr. Lyon goes, then I go as well.”

Mr. Carew beamed. “Wonderful!” he said. “It’ll be a great help to have
two
such talented doctors on our team!”

Mr. Listrom’s mouth opened and shut ineptly, unable to stop Mr. Carew from accepting Doc Jones’s offer. He instead turned and glared at Edward, who had the grace to bow his head sheepishly.

Now Mr. Listrom would have the more arduous task of finding a new Head of ER and that would be no easy task indeed. As casual and sarcastic as Doc Jones was, he was an incredible doctor with unmatched stamina and skill. I highly doubted Mr. Listrom would find an equal.

I looked over at Doc Jones and whispered, “You didn’t have to do that.”

Doc Jones shook his head. “
He
didn’t have to do that,” he said contemptuously, referring to Edward and his dirty move.

I sighed. I couldn’t argue there.

Doc Jones suddenly leaned back in his seat and looked at me, a wry smile tugging at his lips. “I always imagined taking a vacation some day near some sand in a sunny place with a coconut drink in my hand.” He shrugged. “I guess I should’ve been more specific.”

I couldn’t help but grin at his humor. “Coconut drinks don’t sound too bad.”

***

              I slid down the wall in the corner of one of the empty staff break rooms. I pulled out a crinkled piece of paper from my scrub pocked and looked at the number I had carefully transcribed from my arm.

              With my heart thudding near my ears, I pulled out my cellphone and dialed the number.

              The deed was done and I was put on the roster for the Unchartered Relief Aid mission to Qunar. But even still, I wanted to meet this mystery man once more before I left if for nothing else, just to see him when I was sober.

              But perhaps if I saw him before I left…and the sparks flew again….Well, three months wasn’t
too
terrible a wait. Perhaps if I set things up now, we could pick up again when I returned.

              The line rang. I swallowed nervously.

              Then suddenly I heard a click.

              “Hello? Hi. Um. This is—”

              But my nervous greeting was cut off by a recorded message.

              “
This line is no longer in service. We are unable to connect you. Please check the number again.”

              I sighed and threw my head back.

             
Figures.

              Well, at least now I could head to Qunar without any loose ends. Without any ends. All my beginnings and endings were about to start again but this time, half way across the world.

Chapter
Four
Cooper

              Bear sighed as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his feet in front of him. “I gotta say, Cap,” he said, his eyes closed in relaxation, “this is a
lot
easier than most of our missions.”

              I snorted as I took a sip from my canteen. I looked out at the barren wasteland. A few hundred meters from us was one of the smaller refugee camps of Qunar. Although it was a relatively peaceful camp, a few days ago there had been a man who had just grown too weary of camp life and had lashed out at people with a makeshift shiv, cutting three people.

              But Bear wasn’t wrong.

              “Compared to terrorist cells, hostage crises, or drug deal busts, yeah, I guess this is a fucking vacation,” I said dryly.

              Bear nodded, ignoring my tone. “Exactly,” he said.

              I leaned back in my own chair.

              Bear was my second in command and had been with me since our days in the U.S. Army Rangers. He was familiar with my sarcasm and knew when to just fucking ignore it.

              The other members of Easy Team were scattered around camp, cleaning up or taking a break in the midday heat.

              As part of an exclusive and highly trained mercenary team, we usually took part in small but very, very crucial missions. We were only tapped when large number companies from Armies couldn’t be used. We were only tapped when regulation and rules of conduct couldn’t be applied to the situation.

              Easy Team did anything and everything to accomplish a mission.

              And I hadn’t been exaggerating my list with Bear either. We had done everything from tracking down small terrorist cells to rescuing hostages to busting up drug cartels.

              And as Captain of Easy Team, I took pride in knowing that though our numbers were small, our men were capable of anything.

              We were all former Special Forces soldiers who realized that our skills and training weren’t something to waste once we put down the uniform. And in our own ways, we had been contacted by the commander of Easy Team, Commander Wolffe.

              And under Commander Wolffe’s leadership, we had been sent all over the world, doing our best to maintain peace where we could.

              So I had been a little surprised when I had been called into Commander Wolffe’s office four weeks ago for out latest assignment.

              “Qunar, sir?” I asked, surprised.

              “Consider it a vacation for all the hard work you and your men have done,” he said, completely serious.

              And it
was
a break. We had been tapped to guard a smaller, more remote refugee camp in a border town of Qunar. UN forces were having a hard time reaching all the camps and not enough foreign aid was being sent. So Commander Wolffe had been contacted for help from Easy Team.

              Essentially, we’d just be babysitting. Watch the camp, make sure nothing gets too out of hand, and take it easy for about four months till reinforcements for the UN forces come to relieve us.

              “After that messy mission in Venezuela, you boys deserve it,” Commander Wolffe said.

              “Thank you, sir,” I said. This is what passed as vacation in my world. And I felt completely at ease with it. So the vacation would be in a Middle Eastern desert with several hundred refugees.

              It could be worse.

              Normally, we’d be patrolling the camp perimeters but at the moment there were UN inspectors present who were inspecting the camp to see just how much reinforcement would be needed.

              And although they had contacted
us
for help, generally speaking, they didn’t like to
see
us when they were around. Easy Team was the stealth force that Armies and governments hated having to admit they needed. We were the Special Forces’ Special Forces.

              So we took advantage of their visit by making ourselves scarce and enjoying some time off to cool down at our base camp.

              “Man, when they said ‘remote,’ I figured we’d be several hundred clicks from the border but they weren’t kidding,” Bear said, eyes still closed. “We are in bumfuck nowhere. It’s amazing these folks even made it out here.”

              “It goes to show you how bad it must’ve been where they came from,” I said.

              Bear was about to reply when Dozer appeared. “Hawk,” he said, “Commander Wolffe is on the sat phone for you.”

              I immediately got up and headed towards the main tent we used for briefings.

              I found the satellite phone waiting for me on the meeting table.

              “Commander?”

              “Captain, there’s a new mission for you,” Commander Wolffe said, immediately getting down to business. “We’ve been contacted by a non-profit that needs protection and guiding while they provide medical services to the refugees.”

              My brow furrowed. “Does that mean we move Easy Team to another camp?”

              “No, they’re coming to your camp,” Commander Wolffe replied.

              “Here?” I asked in surprise. This was such a remote camp. There were other refugee camps that were literally ten times our size. Why would some charity medical team come here instead?

              “Apparently this is a small medical aid team not associated with the UN. They felt they would be better applied in smaller camps that were further away from all the help the UN and Red Cross were providing.”

              That made sense. Only the bigger camps were getting the majority of the aid. The three people that had been cut by the shiv a few days back had been tended to and bandaged by members of Easy Team since we had no medic present.

              A medical team here would be a big help to the refugees and to us since we wouldn’t have to be stretched so thin providing guard duty and medical duty at the same time.

              “When do they arrive?” I asked.

              “They’ll be arriving at a temporary military Air Force base north of you in three days. Their Qunar liaison will pick them up and drive them and their supplies the rest of the way to camp. Because they are a volunteer mission team, they will need any protection and guidance you can give them. For some of them, I hear, it’ll be their first crisis mission.”

              Oh great, a bunch of cherries coming to camp.

              “Understood, sir. We’ll make sure to take good care of them,” I said.

              “I’m counting on it,” Commander Wolffe said before hanging up.

              I sighed as I lowered the sat phone. It wasn’t that I didn’t appreciate or admire the countless doctors that were risking their lives to come to Qunar to help those who were so very much in need.

              But usually, first time crisis mission doctors were easily squeamish. They had a hard time adjusting to the fact that they weren’t at their home hospital anymore. Here, electricity was spotty, running water sometimes impossible, and danger always present.

              I imagined a bunch of Ivy League graduate doctors coming in with pink hands and green ears. I could hear my men groaning at the thought of having to babysit a bunch of cushy doctors while also patrolling the camp.

              Oh well. As long as these medics followed our orders and helped where they could, I was pretty sure I could get them back home in one piece.

              So much for that vacation.