What I Fight For: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Easy Team Book 1) (5 page)

Chapter
Five
Emilia

              “Oh my god, this is like stepping into Satan’s anus,” Doc Jones groaned as he stepped out of the small airport.

              “God, you’re not kidding,” Margie said, taking in the small and desolate little airstrip we had landed at. “It has to be at least a 110 degrees right now.”

              “150,” Doc Jones corrected, mopping his already beading forehead. “500, maybe even.”

              I couldn’t argue with either of them.

              We were huddled around our suitcases and large medic supply trunks, waiting for out escort. I could feel beads of sweat trickling down my back. Holy crap, this heat was no joke. We’d have to be careful not to get heat stroke while we worked here.

              My lips tightened as I imagined Edward enjoying a nice breezy California day with his fiancée while I was sweating my ass off in the middle of nowhere.

             
No.
I had to stop thinking about him!

              I looked around the group. “Well, hopefully our base camp will have some fans,” I said, trying to inject as much optimism as I could into my voice.

              The group just grunted in acknowledgement, too exhausted from the heat to say much more.

              But I smiled at their grunt, touched to just see them here in this heat with me. After the morning meeting, Doc Jones had quickly filled in Margie with what had happened. Immediately, Margie volunteered for the mission. Immediately, she was told she was too valuable a floor nurse to lose. But she argued that there was a greater need for efficient nurses in a place like Qunar than in L.A.

              And along with Margie, Tammy had joined as well. She had huffed and puffed at hearing about Edward’s gall to suggest me for the trip. “That slimy little weasel!” she had said, her blue eyes narrowing. She stamped her foot and looked up at me. “You should know that I never liked his nose! It’s too skinny and weak. Like the man himself.”

              With three more nurses, our staff was complete. When I had mentioned to Doc Jones how we had essentially stolen the entire ER staff, he had simply shrugged and said, “That’s Listrom’s problem. He brought the mission to our table anyway.” And that was that.

              Soon we were packed and on a long flight to half way across the world.

              “Oh look! There’s Mr. Carew!” Tammy said, pointing to a large olive Humvee coming in from the distance.

              A familiar weather beaten face stuck his head out from the side of the vehicle and smiled at us. “Hello, hello!” he called out.

              The large vehicle stopped right in front of us. Mr. Carew stepped out and surveyed us with beaming eyes. “I’m so glad you are here! So glad! There’s so much work to be done and your help will be such a blessing.”

              Seeing the sincerity in his gaze and the bags of exhaustion lining his eyes, I suddenly felt a small spark of satisfaction in coming. No matter what brought me here, I was here now. And maybe I could do so measure of good.

              This was a place where I could throw myself into work and be far removed from the drama and heartache of men. I could focus on just the work at hand and maybe through time and distraction, I could begin to heal. Maybe, by the time I returned to California, I’d be a whole new woman.

              “Why don’t you all climb in and we can head over to base camp,” he said, opening the car doors. “I know you all must be exhausted from your flight!”

              “What about our trunks?” I asked. There was no way we could fit into the Humvee with our suitcases and our medical supply trunks.

              Mr. Carew clapped his hands and then waved them at me in comfort. “No worries! No worries! Another vehicle is coming to pick these up. They will be following us back to base camp. I came on ahead since I figured the heat might be a bit of a surprise for you.”

              I saw the twinkle of humor in his eyes. I couldn’t help but laugh.

              Doc Jones huffed a laugh. “I think Satan’s shits are cooler than this weather.”

              Mr. Carew chuckled ruefully. “You’ll get used to it. Just give it a few weeks.” He got into the driver’s seat. “Now, let’s go, shall we?”

***

              “This is quite the set up, Mr. Carew,” Doc Jones said as we drove into base camp. “Much larger than I had expected.”

              Mr. Carew nodded. “Same here. But I have to say, Easy Team soldiers are amazing men. They can find resources and connections anywhere. And once they were notified about our arrival, they helped set up additional space for medical usage.”

              “Easy Team?” I asked, confused.

              “They’re a patrol team for the refugee camp here,” Mr. Carew explained. “Former soldiers. They work independently now.”

              “Mercenaries,” Doc Jones said, a brow raised in curiosity.

              Mercenaries? I looked back at Mr. Carew in surprise. Really? That sounded…dangerous.

              Mr. Carew shifted uneasily in his seat as he kept his eye on the road. “Well…yes,” he admitted. “But that word usually has such a negative connotation. Easy Team works with more of a moral compass than most mercenaries. They were the ones who set up your workspace here. You’ll see. They are good men. And they’ll make good guides for you here.”

              “Wait,” I said, confused. “Are you saying that we’re going to be working with them?”

              Mr. Carew nodded, looking at me in surprise. “Why, of course. Even though this is a small camp, it’d be dangerous for you to be working out there without at least some protection. Easy Team will be on hand to guide you and to protect you as you work.”

              I looked around the camp. No wonder it was so big. It wouldn’t be just us staying here.

              “I thought you were going to be our liaison here, Mr. Carew,” Doc Jones said from the back.

              Mr. Carew shook his head. “No, I’m afraid not. My role is more foundational. I help recruit and set up teams. I’m constantly moving around to the next location to help them find the services they need.” He shook his head. “And there are so many camps in need so I’m afraid I’ll always be on the road.”

              Despite this surprising new information, I looked around, impressed. There was an abandoned building that looked like it might have been a restaurant at one point. That was now used as temporary barracks. Behind it was a small but neatly built structure that looked like a storehouse. Around these two main buildings were several tents of varying sizes.

              The largest one stood at the far center of camp and looked to be some kind of meeting space. The second largest stood close by. Judging by the neat stack of pots and pans outside of it, I could guess it to be some kind of mess hall. There were several smaller tents set up around the larger ones, all serving some kind of purpose. It was quite impressive. It almost looked like a little town.

              But the grand finale was saved for last.

              At the far end of camp was a large, heavy canvas medical tent that was propped up, looking to be about almost twenty by twenty feet. Under the heavy canvas tent flaps, I could see a thick protective plastic flap, protecting the entrance. That was good. It would help keep the space clean and sterile. Or at least as clean and sterile as we could get it here.

              Outside were some of the trunks we had sent on ahead, neatly stacked by the tent front.

              “Wow,” I said.

              Mr. Carew beamed with pride. “I know,” he said. “Unchartered Relief Aid recently invested in some newer tents that are a little better designed for the modern medic in mind. Come inside! You must see the inside!”

              Parking the Humvee outside the tent, we all stepped down eagerly. With a grand flourish, Mr. Carew pushed back the heavy tent flap and let us all in. It was cool inside although no fan was turned on. The canvas tent must’ve been lined with some kind of heat repelling fabric.

              Inside were four hospital beds, each with a clean curtain waiting by its side. There were several portable medical sets, equipped with several drawers filled with the essentials like bandages, syringes, gauze, etc.

              We slowly took in our surroundings, amazed and impressed. None of us had expected to see anything so nice here. I know I had personally been picturing a hot open tent with flies buzzing in our faces as we tried to treat patients in a dirty, sandy environment.

              There was even a little storeroom inside the tent that carried some basic medications and vaccinations.

              “This…might not be so bad,” Margie said. It was hard to impress an experienced nurse like Margie. But this tent was doing it.

              “Right?” I said, opening one of the medical chests and finding neat rows of packaged scalpels and scissors. “Whoever this Easy Team is, they did a good job of setting up the place.” Especially if none of them had any medical background. They had placed everything in a very logical order. We wouldn’t have to change anything at all. We could just get straight to work.

              I looked around the tent and saw my team browsing in awe around the space when I noticed someone was missing. “Where did Mr. Carew go?” I asked.

              Doc Jones looked up from the tiny autoclaves. “Oh, he said that he was going to go grab the—”

              Suddenly, Mr. Carew’s face popped back into the tent. He made a waving gesture at me. “Dr. Lyon, could you come out for a moment? I want to introduce you to the Captain of Easy Team. He’ll be your main contact and guide throughout your stay here.”

              I made a gesture to the rest of my group. Although Doc Jones was the more senior doctor, I had been the one assigned this relief mission so technically, I was team leader.

              Together, we exited the tent and stepped back out into the blinding dry heat. I squinted my eyes as I adjusted to the brilliant sunlight again.

              “Dr. Lyon,” I heard Mr. Carew say from somewhere to my right. “May I introduce Captain Cooper Hawking?”

              I blinked, waiting for my vision to clear. Slowly the black shapes blinded by the sun began to fade into colors more recognizable.

              I stuck out my hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Cap—”

              The words dried out on my tongue. I looked at the figure in front of me in stunned amazement.

              It was him.

              The height. The broad chest. The muscular forearms that his rolled up sleeves revealed. And the dark, penetrating gaze.

              It was my mystery man.

              Here. In Qunar.

             
What the fuck?

              “Holy shit,” I breathed to myself.

              I saw the shock and surprise cross the man’s eyes as well but he was doing a much better job of keeping his composure. But I saw his lips twitch as I muttered my oath.

              “Ditto,” he said.

Chapter
Six
Emilia

              “Can you tell her that she needs to put this cream on at least twice a day?” I asked my interpreter, holding up two fingers. The boy nodded and spoke to my patient with what I hoped were the correct instructions.

              The Pakresh woman nodded, smiling nervously at me as she gently patted the newly bandaged arm.

              I gently squeezed her shoulder. “Twice a day. Then come back in a week and I can take out the stitches,” I said. The boy translated instantly.

              The woman nodded and then slid out of her chair, quickly rushing out of the tent with the cream clutched in her hands.

              I blew out a breath as I mopped some of the sweat from my forehead. When we had arrived at the camp, people had rushed towards us as soon as they had learned we were doctors. They had formed huge lines to get attention. I was touched to see the gallantry as men pushed women and children up to the front of the line.

              But as soon as they stepped inside our little makeshift tent that we had set up in the middle of the camp, they became shy and quiet, as if a little scared of the strange medics.

              I didn’t blame them. As refugees fleeing such a violent civil war, they probably had seen very little kindness in the last few months or even years of their lives.

              We had done our best to set up our workstations. The huge and well-equipped tent at base camp, we learned, would only be used for serious cases where patients would require constant monitoring or supervision or for cases from the nearest town, which I heard was about fifty miles away.

              The town had also suffered in the influx of refugees and hidden bombers, causing many of the professionals of the town, including doctors, to leave. They were also without medical care.

              Another patient stepped in to the hot tent. This time it was a mother with a little girl. I smiled at the little girl and gestured at the folding chair, my makeshift exam table.

              Before starting, I quickly glanced behind me. The tents here were much smaller. We even had to commandeer a few refugee tents for our temporary set up. Behind me, Doc Jones and Tammy were working together. Margie and another of the nurses were working a tent down. I also had a nurse with me but I had sent him to check on the patients waiting in line. If there were very minor issues, he could deal with it there on the spot, relieving the line of some extra patients.

              “Bear, Scotty’s moving towards the west gate! Move on down the perimeter!” I heard a very familiar voice shout from outside.

              “Copy that!” a voice replied.

              Even in this heat, I felt a small cool thrill of excitement run down my spine. It had been a shock to the gut to see that man again. And of all places, here!

              But now I had a name, Captain Cooper Hawking.

              Whatever I had imagined the mystery man from the bar to be, it had
not
been some kind of Special Forces mercenary. But I had to say, looking over his muscular physique in his desert camo, the occupation fit him perfectly.

              He looked like he wore courage like a second skin. For some reason, I suddenly felt shy meeting his gaze.

              Instantly, my team had caught on to the odd vibe during our first meeting. I saw Doc Jones from the corner of my eye raising a brow in confusion and question towards Margie who shrugged in response.

              Tammy’s eyes had widened in shock, remembering the man as well. “Oh my god!” she had breathed. “There’s no way.”

              My heartbeat skipped a beat even now remembering the devastating lazy smile Cooper had given Tammy. “Way,” he countered.

              We were quickly introduced and given a rundown of the rules of camp.

              “Though it’s a safer camp than most,” Captain Hawking had lectured, “it’s still considered dangerous grounds. We’ve had lots of insurgents sneak across the border and hide among the refugees. We’ve also had some roving gangs infest the nearby town. With so many fleeing, it’s ripe territory for the picking. So we suggest that nobody leaves camp without an escort. We request that you only leave the boundaries of camp when in the company of a member of Easy Team. Is that understood?”

              Authority and command radiated from his tall body. It was very easy to see that the man had been born for leadership. And yet there was a playful light that glinted in his eyes that spoke of someone who knew how to not take himself too seriously.

              “Yes, sir!” Doc Jones had shouted, raising a hand to his forehead in a severe salute.

              Captain Hawking quirked a brow in amusement. The older doctor matched his sardonic gaze.

              Cooper nodded. “Dismissed then, soldiers,” he said dryly.

              It had looked like Captain Hawking was about to approach me to speak with me privately when he was waylaid by one of his men, requiring his attention. He gave me a lingering look that said,
next time
, before heading off.

              I swallowed. Thank god. I didn’t think I was ready to have a one on one with him just yet.

              “Doctor?” the little boy next to me asked, interrupting my train of thoughts.

              I shook my head, immediately pulling myself together. “I’m sorry, Puhar,” I said sincerely. Easy Team had managed to find three boys who all had some grasp of English to act as our translators. Cooper and some of his men seemed to have a handle on Pakreshi, the language of the refugees, but not enough to translate medical directions or consultations. Plus, they still had patrol duty.

              I smiled at the mother who clutched her daughter tightly in her lap. “Can you ask her what she wants me to look at?” I asked Puhar, keeping my thoughts as focused as possible on everything but the mysterious and devastating handsome Captain that guarded the grounds behind me.

***

              “Oh my god,” Doc Jones groaned, sinking into a chair. “I think my bones have literally liquefied into jelly. Is that medically possible? Marg, is that possible?”

              Margie, who was sitting in front of one of the hospital beds in our medical tent back at camp, slumped forward, her head hitting the white linens with a soft
thud.
             

              “I don’t know,” she mumbled from the sheets in exhaustion. “You’re the one who went to medical school.”

              “I did?” Doc Jones groaned, as he stretched one leg then another. He was covered in dirt from neck to knee. It had been a long and dusty day working in unbelievably hot temperatures. We had arrived at the camp at 10 in the morning but hadn’t left till 8 at night. And through it all, our longest breaks were the moments we had managed to snag a drink or two of water before we were back at it with the next patient.

              “I don’t remember,” Doc Jones continued, his eyes closed in weariness. “I don’t even think I remember my name, Barbara.”

              Tammy sat next to the doctor, nearly falling asleep in her seat. “I can’t believe all the people we saw,” she mumbled. “And that wasn’t even half the camp.”

              I was slumped in a wheeling stool. My calves throbbed like there were drummers inside the muscles. My back was so stiff, it hurt just to breathe.

              But before I could doze off right there on the spot, I caught myself. “Okay, I guess I’ll go wash up first,” I said, grimacing as I rose to my feet.

              Doc Jones stared at me with stunned amazement, his head rolling back on his shoulders. “How? How can you wash up when you have no bones?” he asked.

              I managed a small laugh. “I’ll come back and roll you to the spigot on a wheelchair,” I said. “Rest for now.”

              My entire team grunted in exhaustion as I left the tent.

              I took in a deep breath as I met the cool night air. Daytime was like working on the surface of the sun. But nighttime in Qunar was almost peaceful. Pleasant. The heat dissipated and a coolness blew through the desert.

              I walked around towards the back of the medical tent. A few feet away was a small spigot and a chipped porcelain basin. This was where most of the dishes were done and where we got our potable water. It was connected to a deep well so the water was refreshing and cool.

              I should shower but washing here was such a chore. We had use a shower with a tank of water which had to be refilled before each use. And the pressure was so low it felt as if I was being dribbled with water rather than showered.

              Besides, I was too tired. I turned the spigot and let the basin fill half way. I washed my face, letting the cool water wash away the dirt and grime and heat of the day. I carefully washed my hands, making sure to scrub under my nails and between my fingers. Who knew if there were any communicable diseases running silently around here? We had to be careful.

              Finished with my ablutions, I wiped my face with a small hand towel I had thrown around my neck.

              Leaning back, I closed my eyes and breathed deeply again. It was so strange to breathe in air that wasn’t congested with smog. So used to L.A. air, I never really took deep breaths. But the air here was so clean. It was so crystal clear that I couldn’t seem to get enough of it. During the day, it was a muggy mess but at night, it felt so refreshing.

              “So are we going to talk about that weirdness of seeing that guy here or what?”

              I whirled around, surprised by the intrusion.

              Tammy was standing behind me, her own towel wrapped around her neck. Clearly none of us would be taking a shower tonight.

              “What?” I asked.

              Tammy rolled her eyes. “Don’t ‘what’ me, Em,” she said, advancing on me like a tiny panther. “That’s the same guy from Reggie’s! Did you know he would be here?”

              “Of course not!” I said, almost affronted. “How would I know something like that?”

              Tammy shrugged, eyeing me suspiciously. “Well, you
were
in his arms that night.”

              My eyes widened. “I was not!”

              Tammy shook her head. “Yes you were. You had passed out and you looked
mighty
cozy in those arms of his.” A sly look passed through her features, her lips curling up into a smile.

              Why was it suddenly getting hot out here?

              “You know I’ve been meaning to ask,” she continued. “What did he write on you?”

              “Huh?”

              “On your arm,” she said impatiently. “He had taken a marker and had written something on your arm. I didn’t get a chance to read it though because I was too busy hauling your carcass into your bed and making sure you didn’t choke on your vomit in your sleep.”

              I made an offended sound. “I’ve never vomited in my—”

              “Was it his number?” she asked slyly, her eyes practically glinting in the moonlight.

              “None of your business!” I said a touch too quickly and too loudly.

              “Oh so it was!” she said in satisfaction. “So did you call him? After that night? Did you see him again?”

              Flustered, I straightened myself up. “Nurse, you should wash up quickly so you can grab some rest. We have a busy day tomorrow as well,” I tried to say in a prim clinical voice.

              But it only made Tammy grin wider. “How busy are
you
going to get?” she asked with a heavy drop of innuendo in her voice.

              “Oh come on!” I huffed as I walked off to cool my heating face. Behind me, I heard Tammy laughing to herself.

              I walked quickly and without real aim. I just wanted the night air to blow against my steaming cheeks. I walked past the large main tents, a storeroom, another smaller tent. I saw a fallen tree trunk out in the dark distance nearly covered in some rocks and brush where I could sit and take a moment for myself away from prying nurses.

              I was about two steps away from the hidden space when I suddenly felt a powerful grip grab a handful of the back of my shirt, yanking me back hard.

              “Gah!” I cried out as I lost my footing and fell completely backwards. But instead of hitting the packed dirt, I hit a solid chest.

              My heart thumped hard and my breathing suddenly grew shallow.

              Gulping, I slowly raised my eyes upward to see the face of Captain Hawking looking down at me with a curious expression.

              “And just where do you think you’re going, Dr. Lyon?” he asked calmly.

              I tried to stand myself up but he kept firm hold of my shirt, keeping me pulled against him. I struggled a bit but I was held completely prisoner. And through my futile struggles, Cooper looked down at my with the same bland look of curiosity as if not at all feeling my squirming against him.