Freedom: A Captivating and consuming contemporary romance (Freedom series Book 1)

by J Grayland

  “No, none of the children here are.” She looked at me with concerned eyes.

  “Then it may spread to others, I will leave you some medication to help treat any others that may get it.”

  After I had given the two small boys their injections, I moved around the room attending others. I stitched up two finger lacerations, checked over the tiny baby who was small for her age but appeared to be very healthy considering, gave a dose of laxative to an old gentleman who was complaining of stomach pain and on examination I found he was very constipated, and cleaned and dressed some wounds that were obviously infected. We were there for a good couple of hours before Nate came in. “We need to go.”

  “What?” I looked up at him from where I was kneeling down on the floor about to dress the wound on an elderly woman’s foot.

  “Grab your shit we need to go now.” he barked at me.

  “Hold on I'm almost done” I sighed slightly frustrated at his tone. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to stand.

  “Now.” He commanded harshly and started pulling me towards the door. Shaking him off I managed to free my arm from his grip.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him, now exasperated at his aggressiveness.

  “Look I don't have time for details here, we have company coming and I’m getting you out of here.”

  “What the hell ?” Is all I managed to squeak before he grabbed my arm again and pulled me towards the door and outside, moving me towards the military supply truck, then placing his hands on my hips he lifted me up into the back of it. “I need you to get in the corner down the back and under those bags ok? And I need you to be quiet.”

  “But... What the..”

  “Don't piss me off Doc, I mean it not a peep out of you Okay?” He bent his head down so he was now at my level looking straight into my eyes. “Okay?” He repeated, nodding I moved down the back of the truck and buried myself in the corner under the burlap bags. I felt the bounce of the truck as Nate jumped off the back, then the door slammed shut, a lock clicked, and I was plunged into the darkness.

  All I could hear was shouting and the sound of doors slamming, then I heard what sounded like another vehicle skidding on the dirt to a stop. There were more voices, different, heavily accented, I could only make out some words. I heard one say a woman and blonde hair, then I heard Nate say, “No, no woman you see a blonde man, not a woman.” The raised voices seemed to go on forever, I lay there under the heavy bags, my eyes stung from the sweat pouring down my face making liquid trails run down my back and chest. The voices seemed to calm now, I heard doors slamming and the sound of an engine start and the truck started to move.

  The loud sound of gears grinding as it bumped and swayed over the dirt road we had traveled here. The burlap bags rubbed against my skin- they were itchy and burned, I needed to uncover my face and get some air, my throat was so dry that it felt like it was starting to close up and although I was soaked in my own sweat a cold sensation was starting to gather in my stomach and move up into my chest, a familiar coldness that I knew all too well I had to keep it together. I tried to slow my breathing but it had an agenda all of its own, it became rapid and panicked and I felt myself slowly sinking, it was dark.....and I was starting to lose it and drift back to that place where I have struggled to control for years I tried again to regulate my breathing and slow it down. "I will not let you win, you have no power over me, and you never will." I silently chant to myself and take slow breaths in and out. I had to get this feeling of fear and panic under control I listened and concentrated on the bumps and shakes of the truck as it moves and I close my eyes and imagine that I am on a beach watching the roll of the waves coming into shore then sweeping back out again. I start to smell the salt of the ocean in the air and feel a breeze against my face, and I let myself keep sinking and sinking slowly back into the warm sand of the beach until I reach a place where the calmness of my thoughts starts to make me feel safe, and there I stay.

  Chapter Nine

  Nate

  “Nate” I heard Jax call out. When I turned around and looked in the direction that he was looking a dirty white van was heading along the dirt road towards us at full speed. Running into the house I grabbed Casey and, ignoring her questions and resistance, I pulled her outside and got her into the back of the supply truck pushing her towards the back of the truck and under a pile of some empty feed sacks. There was no time to explain, I just hoped that she trusted me. As I closed the doors behind me I got a brief glimpse of her haunted face as she buried it under the bags and I saw fear in those blue eyes of hers. Shaking away the image and jumping down to the ground, I shut both doors and bolted them, leaning against the corner of the truck just as the white van skidded to a halt in front of me.

  The door of the van slid open and several casually dressed men jumped out. They would have looked like a group of tourists if it wasn’t for the AK47 rifles they were carrying. One of the men started shouting as he came right into my face and shoved the rifle against my chest. In broken English, he yelled, “Where is the white woman?” With eyes locked on his, I calmly spoke: “There is no woman here.” “You lie” he spat back at me. “No, No woman here, only what you see,” I said spreading out my arms motioning to the others around me. “You dog, you lie, where is the white woman with white hair?” His words came out slow between gritted teeth, I inhaled deeply to calm myself and keep hold of my anger, because having this guy yelling and spitting into my face was starting to piss me off so much I thought the muscle that was twitching against my jaw bone was going to snap like a rubber band any minute. “There is no white woman here, we have a white man with white hair,” I said pointing over to where Mike sat in the SUV. “Maybe you saw him.” There was a long pause as we both looked at each other- neither one backing down. The other men took off in different directions and scouted around the house and inside. After what felt like hours of standing face to face with this asshole invading my space the others came back to stand behind him and one whispered something into his ear and then he finally broke his gaze and pointed a finger into my face. “It may not be today but we will have her, she was promised.” I took a step back putting my hands up in front of my chest. “Look, we don't want any trouble, we are only here to give medical help and deliver supplies.” He narrowed his eyes at me then spat on the floor near my feet turned, then motioned to the other men to get back into the van. Letting out a relieved breath, I watched as the van took off leaving behind a cloud of dust.

  “Ok let's move it out” One of the MP's shouted as he jumped into the truck and motioned for the driver to go. Jax and I jumped into the SUV with Mike in the back seat and followed the truck back along the dirt road. Hitting the steering wheel with the palms of my hands I shook my head “What's going on Nate? How the hell did they know we were here? And what the fuck did that mean, she was promised?” Jax asked. I changed gear and looked at him “I don't know, but I intend on finding out. I'll get onto Paxton as soon as we're back on base and see what he can get out of Peterson. What I do know” I said, “is that she is not safe, and we need to get her out ASAP.” Jax said nothing just nodded in agreement.

  After the initial search at the base gates by MP's, once we were back inside, I jumped out of the SUV and motioned with my hands for the truck to pull up behind the shower block and quickly jumped up onto the back of the truck and unlatched the bolt, swinging the heavy doors open with a loud bang. In two strides I was in the back pulling at the sacks. “Doc,” I called out to her, but there was nothing. Pulling back the last feed sack, I saw her laying curled up into a tight ball, her hands covering her face. “Shit” Crouching down next to her I let my fingers stroke her dusty sweat-soaked hair away from her face and gently moved away her hands. Her eyes were closed and she lay completely still. Softly I stroked the back of my knuckle down her cheek. “Doc,” I said, speaking more softly now. Her eyes flew open and she sat up quickly pulling her knees up to her chest “It's ok, we’re back at the base.” She looked
terrified. I spoke soothingly and stroked a hand up and down her arm, gently I took both her arms and pulled her into a standing position. Pushing her hair away from her face and placing a finger under her chin, I lifted her face to look at me and with my eyes searching hers I reassured her “Hey you’re ok.” I watched as her eyes flitted around the inside of the truck looking disorientated until they finally focused on mine and she nodded. “Come on let's get you out of here and cool you down.” Guiding her to the edge of the truck then jumping down I lifted my hands up and gripped her waist, lifting her down to stand on shaky legs on the ground in front of me Jax pushed an opened bottle of water into my hand and I lifted it to her dry lips. “Take a drink” I urged. Slowly she put her mouth to the opening of the bottle and drank until it was empty. Leading her back to her room, I sat her down on the edge of the bed “Are you ok?.” Crouching down in front of her so I could see her face she nodded. “You need to drink some more water then take a shower, you need to cool your body down, ok?” She just nodded. “Just rehydrate, relax and we'll talk after.” Placing two more bottles of water on her desk I turned to leave when she said “Nate?” I turned to look at her “Thanks,” Giving her a quick nod I left and went straight to the glove box of the SUV, pulling out the satellite phone I punched in Paxton's number and waited for it to connect.

  After several rings, Paxton answered, “Nate, How is it going?.”

  “Not good Paxton I’m going to need you to do some digging for me.”

  “Digging? What kind?” Paxton questioned.

  “There’s something deeper going on here and I can't put my finger on it but after what happened today...”

  “What happened? Is everything alright?” He fired out.

  “Grab a pen and paper I need you to write this stuff down.” I proceeded to tell him everything that had happened including everything that was said. There was a pause on the line then Paxton spoke.

  “Ok, got it all I’ll see what I can find out.” He said.

  “Oh, and Paxton, I need you to get me what you can on a Doctor Casey Tyler, I’ll email through what I know but whatever you can get, including any phone records from before she left Sydney Australia including any calls or emails while she's been here.”

  “Yep, got it, I'll get onto it and get back to you as soon as I have anything.”

  “Thanks, Paxton.”

  “Just be careful Nate,” he said in a serious tone.

  “I always am little brother”. Just as I ended the call to Paxton, Jax walked over to where I was leaning against the SUV still holding the phone in my hand.

  “What are you thinking boss?” he asks, pushing the phone back into the glove box I scrub at the back of my neck in thought and let out a deep breath.

  “Not sure yet, Paxton is going to see what he can dig up. What about you? You’ve talked to her more than me, what do you know?”

  “Shit, man not that much.”

  “Ok, so what do you talk about?” I ask.

  Jax leaned against the SUV and ran his fingers across his chin in thought before he said. “Not much, music, what down under is like, shit like that, nothing overly important, just general conversation.”

  “What about when she uses the base phone at the contact center? Any idea who she's calling?” Jax's eyes dart back and forth as he scans his memory.

  “She never said anything to me, but when I was near her the other day she was talking to someone and I think she said the name, Flynn.”

  “Flynn? a guy?” I let out sharply, my body instantly stiffening.

  “Well yeah, I guess so it doesn’t really sound like a chick’s name to me.”

  “What, a boyfriend?” I asked him and he lets out a weary sigh.

  “Not sure. She's never mentioned anyone and she's working here so I presumed she was single, dang it, don't tell me I've been hitting on a taken woman man.” Jax said wearily.

  Looking straight at him I asked angrily “What?” he flinched at my tone, then gave me a playful man- slap on the back.

  “Just kidding boss, just having some fun at your expense” he chuckled.

  “Do I fucking look amused?” I say tightly.

  “Not too much. Why don't you just go talk to her yourself ?” Just as Jax spoke the words we both turned at the slam of a door and watched as Casey, dressed in cargo shorts and a green scrub shirt, take off towards the medical building “Here's your chance” Jax nodded towards her.

  “Maybe later. I wanna do some research for myself in the computer lounge.”

  “Then I guess I'll be staying right here and keeping my eye on the little lady” Jax smiled then winked at me…….. the asshole.

  Chapter Ten

  Casey

  Looking down at the second's hand on my watch I counted the steady pulse of the young soldier who I had performed an appendectomy on last night. All his vitals were stable and the wound looked clean. The wound getting infected had been a worry. As hard as they try with infection control out here, there was still a much higher chance of any wounds getting infected compared to any other modern facilities. Grabbing the soldiers file and a hot cup of coffee, I sat down to do some documentation, taking a sip of the coffee, it's bitter taste running into my mouth. I swallowed begrudgingly and tipped it out into the sink. “Yuck” There is no way I am ever going to get used to drinking that crap unless I find some milk and sugar to go into it, then it may improve. Finishing off the notes and leaning back in the chair I pulled out my iPod, pushing the tiny buds into both ears. I slid through the music playlist until I hit the song “Glitter in the air” by Pink. Closing my eyes and relaxing deep into the chair I let her soothing voice sweep into my ears and take me into a relaxing music coma. This was somewhere I often visited to distribute the stress from my overloaded brain. Flynn was the one who called it my “music coma” but it worked, and that's why I had made sure that I had filled up the iPod with as much music as would fit onto it and after today I really needed it.

  Looking back on the day's events made me grimace. I must have looked like a total idiot, like some pathetic weakling, the way I had reacted to being hidden in the back of that truck. But the confinement just sparked something I hadn't had to deal with for so long and my body just froze with the familiarity of having to be hidden like that.

  Just breathe and let it go, I tell myself, you made the decision years ago that what happened in the past, stayed in the past and there was no way I was going to let it have any effect on me now. "It's gone, let it go" I whispered to myself- well I thought it was to myself -until I felt a light tap on my arm. With a jump, I open my eyes and look into the dark hooded eyes of Nate. Flipping out one of my earbuds he asked: “What's going on Doc?”.

  Bowing my head I shake it slightly “nothing” I whisper. He sits down on the coffee table in front of me, leaning his elbows on his jeans-clad knees and looking at me as I flip the other earbud out and turn off the iPod. Raising my head to look at his dark eyes searching mine, his strong jaw with its little muscle twitch and dark stubble, and his tousled black hair, he is quite a spectacular specimen. He breaks into my carnal thoughts with the low rumble of his voice.

  “We need to talk.”

  “OK, what's up?” I ask.

  “Today was pretty intense” he started slowly “Are you ok?”

  “Yes, I'm fine” I swallow hard.

  “You see, now that right there,” he said pointing to my throat “That tells me that you're not.”

  Feeling a little nervous I ran my tongue across my bottom lip and gave it a slight bite. “No I'm good, it was, like you said- intense”.

  Nate looks up at the ceiling and lets out a long exhale. “Intense is an understatement Doc. You see I think there's more going on here than meets the eye” he continues. Looking at him I try to figure out where he’s going with that statement.

  “What do you mean ?” I ask. And he seems to take a thoughtful moment before he continues, in fact he actually looks pretty angry but with whom? Himself? Me?
“Are you going to continue or do you want me to guess what you're talking about?” I ask with a slight bite to my tone, and that was enough to make his head whip up so fast I thought he might actually hurt himself.

  “What happened out there today was not just some bored guys out looking for trouble, they had an agenda, they were there for a specific reason, they were there looking for something in particular and I’m pretty sure they were looking for you.”

  “What? Why would they be looking for me?” I ask him perplexed.

  “I don't know I was hoping maybe you could tell me the answer to that.” For a moment I just stared at him, before standing and pushing my iPod into the pocket of my pants “Why the hell do you think I would know?” I asked him. Shrugging his shoulders he continues. “I guess that's the big question here” He was standing in front of me now, his huge solid body towered above me, his hands pushed into his jeans pockets.

  “Look I have no idea what's going on here and I have no idea what's going on in that pea- sized brain of yours. Have you ever thought that you’re just too suspicious of people?” he peered at me through a narrowed pair of infuriated eyes and said, “I am always suspicious of everyone Doc.”

  “Then maybe you have a problem,” I said and picked up my paperwork heading for the door.

  “Hey” he called out after me “I haven't finished talking here.”

  The look I threw at him right at that moment could have sliced through steel. “Fuck you” I hissed through gritted teeth as I opened the door to the outside “What a fucking arsehole.” I cursed just loud enough for him to hear.

  “I’ve been called much worse than that sweetheart” I heard him say behind me.

  “I just bet you have” I threw back the words at him and started walking back to my room but I could hear his heavy boot steps behind me so I just picked up my pace until I felt his strong large hand grab onto my wrist and spin me around to face him. “I said we're not finished talking,” He said slowly.