by Rula Sinara
She finished nursing and burping Reth, then lay him down to change his diaper. Dalila came in with freshly folded towels and receiving blankets.
“Would you mind watching him for a minute? I ran out of alcohol wipes in here and need some for his umbilical cord stump. I’ll get some from the exam tent. I won’t be long.”
“Of course. I would watch this little one to the moon and back,” Dalila said, scooping him up and kissing his miniature toes. His little wrinkled foot in her wise and caring wrinkled hand. Life was beautiful indeed.
“Thanks.”
Lexi passed through the kitchen and stole a mandazi on her way out. Not the healthiest treat, but one more wouldn’t hurt, would it? She was taking advantage and enjoying them while Dalila was here. Her food alone would be incentive to visit the Corallis’ home in Nairobi after Dalila went back. Then it really would be only a treat.
She could smell the rain in the midday air. The clouds were building again...getting ready for another release so that a rainbow could grace the plains. There was so much that people could learn from nature. The sky billowed like a gray canopy and a vervet monkey scampered up a tree with a mango in his hand and swung his way to an afternoon shelter among the leaves. Lexi smiled as she shook out her mud boots—no one put shoes on out here without shaking them first...just in case a snake or some other critter was inside—then slipped them on and trudged out to the medical tent.
She thought she heard a rustle inside, but when she paused, she spotted a russet bird shaking the branches of a nearby tree. It flew off and Lexi let out the breath she’d been holding. She reached for the tarp that covered the entrance of the tent just as something clattered, like metal against metal or a glass vial hitting a surgical tray. Jacey had to be taking inventory or something.
“Jacey, everything okay?” she said as she stepped inside. Her blood rushed to her feet as a musty hand covered her mouth. A knife held to her throat served as a warning not to scream. It worked. He wasn’t much taller than she was, judging from the height of the arm that held her against his chest. He was wearing a shuka. And designer sneakers caked in dirt.
He spun her around and pushed her to the end of the tent, keeping the knife only inches away. He was a boy. A mere boy. He couldn’t have been more than sixteen. His hand shook ever so slightly and he was breathing rapidly, but there was fiery determination in his eyes.
“I need antibiotics and the needle for it. Or pills for swallowing,” he said. Many boys his age were off at an emanyatta, unless his height made him seem older than he was and he’d not yet been initiated into a warriors camp. But what if this had to do with a traditional teenaged emuratta gone wrong. Circumcisions could get infected. Then again, what if that injured poacher had actually survived this long because this boy had been aiding him? She held up her palms.
“I need to know more if I’m to help you. Who is sick? What exactly is wrong with them? And you can put down the knife. I’m a nurse. I’m willing to help.”
He gripped the knife even tighter and brought it an inch closer to her face. Her mind raced. How could she warn everyone? She had to keep Reth safe.
“No. Just give me the medicine. Put it in this now.” He tossed a leather pouch at her.
“Okay. Okay. I’m going to open this cabinet for the supplies.” She inched toward the metal cabinet and began turning the combination lock that kept it secure. The other cabinet and shelf weren’t locked. She recalled the way some of their supplies had seemed to run out too quickly over the past few weeks. “Is it for a cough? A fever? Or a skin wound? Because if I give you the wrong medicine, it could kill the patient.” Unlikely, unless they were allergic to penicillin, which she had no way of knowing. But she wanted to scare him. Then again, if this was about the poacher, at this point, he’d need major IV antibiotics...if that could even save him. The man was lucky he’d survived this long. Most of what she had was broad spectrum, but the threat of death had a way of drawing out the truth sometimes. She glanced at the boy quickly and opened the cabinet. He’d hesitated, flinching when she’d said “could kill the patient.” Sweat beaded on his face.
“It’s for the skin. And fever.”
Septicemia.
“For you?”
“No. You ask too many questions. Just give me what I need. And don’t make a sound or I’ll use this. I’m not afraid to use it.”
The knife.
She picked out a few vials of penicillin and searched for a weapon of her own. She glanced at the bin where they kept sterilized equipment for minor emergency procedures. A scalpel wouldn’t cut as deep as his dagger, but it was something. The women’s defense class she’d taken years ago in college had taught her to go for where it counted.
Could she do it? Could she injure him? Blind him? He was a desperate kid—another woman’s son—and her gut told her someone, if not the poacher, was putting him up to this. But she had a right to defend herself, too. To keep her home safe. To keep her own child safe.
She fumbled with a few packs of syringes so he wouldn’t get suspicious as she checked the bin. It was empty. Where was the surgical equipment? Her chest sank. Jacey must have taken it all to the autoclave. She took a breath and placed the requested supplies in the dingy pouch.
“Bandages, too.”
She nodded. She needed to think straight. Why wouldn’t he just bring the patient here, like all the villagers in the area did? The rain? The roads? What had driven him to attack her with a knife?
“Do you want me to call our doctor to go with you to treat the patient?” she hedged.
“No.” He shook his head and grabbed the pouch from her. “The bandages.”
Only criminals don’t come in person for treatment.
Her pulse skittered. But the KWS had said they believed the man to be dead or safe across the border. Why was he still in the vicinity? How had he convinced this boy to help him? His wounds had to have prevented him from traveling far or fast enough not to get caught. Shattered leg? Bullet to bone would definitely do that.
She closed the cabinet and pretended to struggle with the latch on the plastic bin where the bandages were kept. She was trying to buy time. If she stayed out here long enough, Dalila would wonder what was taking her so long. Please, please don’t come outside with the baby looking for me. Tell Chad to go look for me. Tell Chad. She willed the other woman to hear her thoughts. She prayed for Chad to sense something was wrong. For him to feel it in his gut.
He had been right all along. She wished he had never stopped trusting and believing in himself. Trust your instincts, Chad.
She opened the box and pulled out a roll of bandages.
How many people scoffed at gut feelings and chalked them up to fear and paranoia? Was she also guilty of dismissing Chad for being overprotective because of the trauma he’d suffered? Yes, she was. And she was guilty of wanting him in her life and loving him, too. Was this karma? Some sort of punishment for betraying Tony by loving Chad?
Tony, if you’re looking down on us right now, forgive me. Help me. Somehow, get through to Chad. Please. I love you, but I love him, too, and I need him. I have to survive this for the sake of our son.
She tried to stay strong. She had to come up with a way to keep the boy from leaving. He needed to be caught. If he left with the medication, they might never see him again...or he could keep returning for more. A constant threat that would shut this place down. But if he was caught, he might reveal information that could lead to the poacher or poachers he was collaborating with. She swallowed hard and tipped her chin up as she handed over the roll of gauze.
“Is someone threatening you? Or your family? You don’t have to do this. We can help.”
He moved swiftly, grasping her arm and spinning her around.
Then she felt the tip of his blade on the back of her neck.
* * *
CHAD AIMED FOR the eye o
f the needle and focused. His arm was tired after all the arm curls, but if he could do this when his muscles were fatigued, it would be a breeze when he was rested. It was something his sergeant used to say back when he was a new recruit. Until you’ve pushed yourself beyond your limits, you haven’t seen your baseline and you’ll never know what you’re really capable of.
Bullseye. The thread hung loosely through the eye of the needle. Oh, the satisfaction.
He scooted his chair back and bumped into the leg of the table, causing the weight he’d been pumping to fall off and land on the floor with a thud, with half of it landing on his foot. He cursed and kicked it out of the way, then rubbed at the pain, only something wasn’t right. The thud and sound of his own voice made him hyperaware of how quiet it was. No cooking sounds. No voices outside or the usual noises of people puttering around the clinic grounds. The baby was probably asleep, but the rest gnawed at him. Where was everyone?
He stepped out of his room and tapped quietly at the door of Lexi and the baby’s room before opening it. Dalila was zipping up the mosquito netting around the crib.
“Chad,” she whispered, “I was just about to come ask you to go see what happened to Lexi. She went for alcohol swabs, but that was ten minutes ago.”
Alarms went off in his head. There was no reason for her to be gone that long. Maybe a patient had showed up and she was helping them. It sounded reasonable in his head, but everything else in him screamed that something was off.
“No problem. I’ll go tell her to hurry it up,” he said, hoping his voice didn’t sound concerned.
He glanced out the window on his way to the door and adrenaline flooded through him. Lexi appeared at the entrance to the medic tent. But her body was too rigid and she moved awkwardly. Then he glimpsed the man still partially covered by the tarp behind her and the glint of metal.
“No!” He rushed into his room for his gun. “Dalila, stay inside the bedroom. Don’t come out unless I tell you to.” He didn’t have time to explain. He knew she’d pick up from his tone to listen to his instructions.
He stepped outside slowly, measuring every move and pointing the gun at the ground behind his thigh. Having it was a precaution but he knew better than to take aim. A loaded gun was never aimed at a target unless the intention was to shoot. That was ingrained in him. And he couldn’t shoot, not with Lexi being used as a shield.
“Hey, Lex. What’s up?” he asked as casually as he could.
She kept her neck still but tried signaling behind her with her eyes. He gave an almost imperceptible nod and she flattened her lips in understanding. She knew he could see what was happening.
“Um, nothing. Just a kid I was treating.”
Kid. She’d stressed the word just enough for him to notice. She was being protective of her captor? He took a few more steps in her direction.
“I’ve armed him with the medicine he needs, so he’s all done and he’s leaving now. Right?” she said, looking over her shoulder. She was gutsy. She was trying to get the kid’s guard down. The blade disappeared from behind her neck and the guy emerged from the tent, still too close for comfort.
His shoes. They were running shoes. His mind zipped to the he footprint at the Masai homestead. The facts started to cluster like iron shavings to a magnet. The kid must have gotten them as a bribe. He needed meds from the clinic for someone else. A drop of rain hit his cheek, then another.
In his peripheral vision, he saw Jacey in the shadows along the side of the tent. He avoided eye contact, keeping his gaze on Lexi.
“Right,” the boy said, deciding to take the out Lexi had offered him. “I should go before it rains harder.”
Chad tucked his gun behind his back and picked up his pace a bit. He waved the boy off and kept his hand held out for Lexi.
“You should hurry before the road floods,” he told the kid. He wanted him to listen, to separate himself from Lexi.
He did.
In a matter of seconds Chad grabbed Lexi and pulled her away as Jacey tackled the kid to the ground. She pinned him down and twisted his arm behind his back, applying just enough pressure that he dropped the knife involuntarily.
“Don’t hurt him,” Lexi pleaded as Chad left her side to help Jacey.
“No one’s getting hurt, if he cooperates,” Chad said, keeping a hold on the boy as Jacey pulled him up from the ground. “Are you okay, Lexi?”
“I’m fine.”
He shook his head at Jacey. “Remind me to stay on your good side.”
Jacey grinned. “Did this little army girl just get complimented by a marine?”
“I plead the fifth,” he said, as Jacey tied up the thief’s hands.
“I’ll allow that for now but don’t expect me to let it go,” she said. “Where do we take him?” The rain had become a downpour; they couldn’t stay outside for much longer. But he didn’t want the kid near Reth or Dalila.
“Bring him to the kitchen. I mean it,” Lexi said when Chad started to protest. She had fire in her eyes.
“Remind me to stay on your good side, too,” Chad said, as he pulled the kid into the bungalow.
* * *
LEXI STOLE A few minutes to check on the baby and change into a dry shirt. It took another few minutes to assure Dalila that they were all okay and that things were under control, though she instructed her to stay in the bedroom. Chad radioed through to both Ben and KWS, but they couldn’t get out to the clinic until after the rain ended.
Lexi closed the bedroom door and padded back into the kitchen area. Chad had moved the table so that their prisoner was cornered in his chair, then he sat on a chair near the door, which Jacey stood guard at.
“No name?” Chad asked. He took a mandazi from a plate near him, popped the triangle doughnut in his mouth and brushed the powdered sugar off his fingertips against his jeans. The kid’s eyes tracked his every move. “Okay, then. Guess I’ll have to pick one for you. How about I call you Mwoga?”
“I’m no coward!”
Lexi had to hand it to Chad. He did know how to push people’s buttons. At least he was putting that gift to good use now.
“Only cowards steal and can’t stand up to bad people who do evil things. The brave always find a way to do what’s right. A brave man should be proud to stand behind the name their mother gave them. Only cowards hide.” Chad ate another mandazi and even hummed appreciatively as he chewed and swallowed. He turned to Lexi as if the kid wasn’t really consuming his attention. “These are so good. I might fill up on them before the lamb and potato stew is done. Then again, I’m hungry enough to eat it all.”
Lexi rolled her eyes at him. “Can I speak to you for a second?” she said.
“Me? Sure. You got this, Jacey?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, raising one brow at the kid and folding her arms. Man, Lexi had never seen this side of her. It was like Jacey was channeling her inner Amazon woman. She admired it.
Chad followed Lexi into his room and changed his tone the second she closed the door. “What? I’m in the middle of something.”
“Are you seriously going to eat in front of him like that, just to get to him? He’s just a teenager caught in a mess, Chad.”
“Exactly. What teenage boy do you know that won’t give his life for food? Trust me on that. I’m a guy. I know.”
“Give him some credit. It took guts to come out here like he did. Yes, it was wrong, but clearly, he didn’t do it for himself. All I’m saying is treat him the way you’d want a stranger treating our s—Reth—if he ever found himself in a bad situation. Teens make bad decisions and succumb easily to outside pressure and threats because their frontal lobes aren’t fully connected yet. Trust me on that. I’m a nurse. I know.”
“He had a knife to your throat,” Chad hissed.
“I remember, and I’m not being stupid. It’s just that there’s more going on her
e.”
“You’re not stupid, just a bit reckless and more of a risk-taker than I’d thought. Not sure I like that.”
“You’re one to talk.”
“Lexi. Don’t worry. I’m not going to torture him...except maybe with food...just a little longer.”
She shook her head and started out.
He put his hand on the door. “I’m trying to get him to work with us before the big guns arrive. KWS won’t be so nice if he’s not cooperating. And, by the way, Lex, you were great out there. Smart. Sharp. Quick thinking. Pretty amazing.” He stole a kiss from her lips and left.
It took a second for her to register what he’d just said...and done. Why did he have this uncanny ability to throw her off balance? She straightened her shirt and joined them in the kitchen.
“So, Mwoga, who sent you here for the drugs?” Chad asked.
“I said my name is not Mwoga. Don’t call me that. I am protecting my family.”
“Protecting? Who threatened them? Because you can’t trust him, whoever he is. He’s just using you, and as soon as he gets what he wants, you’ll be in the way, if you understand what I mean. And then who will protect your family?”
The boy fidgeted with the blue beads strung around his wrist.
“I have KWS on the way, as well as others who have the kind of power to make whoever is threatening you afraid of his own shadow. We can keep you and your family safe. And if you help us find this man and his group, you’d be saving more than just your family.”
Lexi had a feeling Chad wasn’t only referring to the elephants that would be saved with every poacher caught and imprisoned. He also meant his family...his mother, Dalila, Lexi and the baby.
“He said if I told anyone where he was, he’d shoot my family. He can see my mother and sister when they go to gather wood. He said if I warned them and they stayed away, he’d know that I told on him and he’d kill me and my father’s herd. But that if I help him, he will pay me. Our crops were not good this year.”
