All's Fair in Love and War: A story of love and betrayal

by J Theron

  “What the fuck are you talking about? I never cheated on you!”

  She stepped closer and jabbed her index finger on his chest repeatedly as she hissed, “I saw you, you bastard! It’s seared into my brain.”

  He gaped at her open mouthed. “It must be a mistake.”

  “It’s no mistake. I saw you.”

  “Maybe it was someone who looked like me?”

  “What the hell, Ryan! I looked right into your face! She was on top of you!”

  “Who was?”

  “Jennifer,” she said in exasperation.

  “The nurse?”

  “Yes!”

  He looked utterly perplexed. “I didn’t even know her. We must have spoken maybe two sentences in six months.”

  “Will the two of you shut the fuck up? You’ll be responsible if my head explodes!”

  Ryan and Gabrielle turned in unison to stare at Carlos who sat with his head in his hands. Gabrielle rushed to his side and sat on her heels next to him. “How are you feeling?”

  “Just dandy, love,” Carlos replied.

  “Let me take a look at you,” Gabrielle said as she examined him. “What do you remember?”

  “I remember that bastard killing my sister. And then nothing,” he murmured. “You left her behind, didn’t you?”

  Gabrielle placed her hand on his thigh. “I’m so sorry. We had no choice.”

  “No, Gabrielle. There’s always a choice and you chose the easy way out. You knew how much I loved my sister and you left her anyway.”

  Ryan stepped closer and the light from the fire illuminated his drawn features. “I made that choice. Not Gabrielle. I hit you over the head with my gun and I was the one who forced Gabrielle to carry the packs while I carried you. If you want to blame someone, blame me.”

  Carlos raised his eyes and looked at Ryan. “I know you saved my life when my cousin was going to kill me. It’s the only reason you don’t have a bullet between your eyes.”

  Gabrielle gasped when she looked down and saw the Glock in Carlos’s hand, pointing at Ryan’s head. “Put the gun down, Carlos,” she said softly. “This is not the solution and you know it.”

  “It seems like the perfect solution to me,” he replied.

  “Carlos, please,” she whispered.

  Carlos and Ryan stared at each other, neither one backing down. The tension in the air was stifling and Gabrielle held her breath as she looked at Carlos then Ryan. Carlos lowered the gun before lying back down. He closed his eyes and turned away from Gabrielle. “Leave me alone.”

  Gabrielle stared at Carlos’s back and wondered if this was the end of it. Something told her it was not.

  CHAPTER 13

  Afghanistan, 3 year ago.

  Ryan did not want to wake Gabrielle. He was lying next to her, contemplating whether he should return to his quarters. She was sleeping soundly and she needed the rest. One of the units was involved in heavy fire a few miles from the camp and casualties were coming in fast. His leg was healing well and he expected to join his unit soon. He was going stir crazy and the only thing keeping him sane was the time he spent with Gabrielle.

  He was still watching her when she opened her eyes and said, “Hey, handsome. I’m glad you’re still here.”

  He leaned forward and kissed her. “I cannot think of a place I’d rather be than here with you.”

  She smiled. “Even if we’re stuck in the desert, surrounded by extremists, plotting our demise as we speak?”

  “Even then.”

  “I have to go back to the hospital, but I’m not in the mood for James.”

  Ryan sat up and looked at her intently. “Has he tried anything, because if he has, I’m going to rearrange his face.”

  “He hasn’t, but ever since the inquiry he’s been acting strangely. He’s been excessively cordial, but I don’t think it’s because he’s on probation. Something else is going on.”

  “They should have dropped him in the middle of the desert without food and water. Why did the committee only place him on probation?”

  “It was his word against mine and he’s the most experienced surgeon here. We need him. Unfortunately.”

  “That’s bullshit!”

  “Ryan Stephen Evans, we can’t do anything about it. Let it go.” She pushed him back and kissed him.

  Ryan allowed himself to be distracted, but not before he made a mental note to have a friendly chat with Idiot Smith.

  It was three days later when the opportunity to chat with Smith presented itself. Ryan was in his quarters, checking aerial photographs that were taken by one of the drones that have not been destroyed by enemy fire. He was completely taken aback when he looked up and saw Smith standing in the entrance to his tent.

  “Good afternoon, Captain Evans. May I come in?”

  Ryan rose from his desk and nodded his head. “You may come in, Captain Smith.”

  Smith approached Ryan and came to a stop in front of Ryan’s desk. “I’m sorry to come to your quarters unannounced, but we need to speak about something and it can’t wait.”

  Ryan indicated the chair in front of the desk. “Please take a seat, Captain Smith.”

  “Thank you, Captain Evans.”

  “I’m listening,” Ryan replied as he sat down as well.

  Smith cleared his throat and seemed to contemplate his next words carefully. “This was supposed to be a temporary base and we’ve been stuck here for almost six months. Apart from Major Adams, you are the highest ranking officer not in the medical corps.”

  “What’s your point, Captain Smith?”

  “I want to lay a formal complaint against Captain Gabrielle Durand,” he said.

  Ryan studied him closely. Smith seemed ill at ease and Ryan decided to humor him and see where the conversation was going. “What’s the basis of your complaint?”

  “I suspect she’s having an inappropriate relationship with one of her patients.”

  Ryan sat forward and narrowed his eyes. “Do you know the identity of this supposed patient?”

  “I do.”

  “Are you going to tell me?”

  Smith smiled and Ryan realized he had the expressionless eyes of a corpse. “You.”

  Ryan sat back in his chair and started studying the photos again. He replied without looking up, “This conversation is over. I’m busy.”

  Smith slapped on the desk with such force that the photos skid over the table. “You will not dismiss me. I have a legitimate grievance. She dragged me in front of a committee and that report will stay on my record!”

  Ryan looked up and he had to breathe deeply not to yank Smith across the desk and punch him in the mouth. “Our personal relationship is none of your business. I can however assure you that nothing inappropriate has transpired between us and that it all falls within the regulations of the US Army.”

  “She fucked her patient. It’s the most unethical thing to do!”

  Ryan jumped up and pushed the desk aside in anger. He was in front of Smith in a split second and towered over his slight frame. He could feel the explosive anger rising within and it seemed to be oozing from every pore. He knew he had to control himself, but it took every ounce of willpower he could muster not to grab Smith and pummel him into the ground.

  “I want you to listen very carefully, Captain Smith. I know why you’re here. You had hoped to goad me into doing something irrational. You know you should not come to me with this. It’s not the appropriate protocol. If you want to make a formal complaint, follow the correct channels.”

  Smith backed away and for the first time he looked uncertain. “I will do what I must. Good day, Captain Evans.”

  Ryan did not respond. He stood rooted to the spot as Smith spun around and marched out of his tent. He turned to his desk and righted the photos and papers that were spilled over the surface and the floor.

  When he sat down, he placed his face in his hands. He was not afraid of Smith, but he recognized a rabid dog when he saw it, and the bite
from even the scrawniest dog became fatal in such circumstances.

  CHAPTER 14

  Colombia, present day.

  Gabrielle rose from her crouched position next to Carlos and turned to Ryan. She sighed and pressed her thumb and her forefinger on her eyes.

  “What’s wrong, Gabrielle?” Ryan asked.

  “I need your help in reducing Valentina’s dislocated shoulder. It’s going to be very painful and I need you to hold her still in case she moves.”

  Ryan nodded. “Tell me what to do.”

  Gabrielle sat on her knees next to Valentina who was lying on the canvas a few feet from Carlos. She was still unconscious, but she was restless and Gabrielle suspected she might regain consciousness soon.

  “She has an anterior dislocation and I prefer to do external rotation to pop it back,” she murmured as she examined Valentina’s shoulder

  “You know I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ryan quipped.

  Gabrielle looked up. “I like talking to myself when I work. Ignore me. Sit above Valentina’s head and stabilize her upper body.”

  “Yes Doctor!”

  She gave him a dirty look but did not say anything when she proceeded with the reduction. She was a bit worried because she had not reduced a dislocated shoulder in a long time and sometimes it did not want to go back. She adducted Valentina’s arm with one hand and flexed her elbow to ninety degrees with the other hand. She proceeded to rotate the upper arm externally, but Valentina started to moan and tried to pull her hand away.

  “It’s becoming painful. Please hold her still. I’m almost there.”

  Gabrielle gave a sigh of relief when the shoulder popped in. She could feel it go in and the movement of the shoulder joint returned to normal. Valentina stopped moaning and Gabrielle knew it was because the pain was gone.

  Ryan sat back and he smiled at Gabrielle. “Well done. You’re amazing, do you know that?”

  Gabrielle checked Valentina’s pulses and then strapped her arm to her body with pieces of the shirt she had used to stabilize her arm before. She smiled but did not look up. “Thanks. I know.”

  He grinned. “I forgot to mention very modest.”

  She shrugged then smiled. “I’m the shit.”

  Ryan chuckled. “Anyway, I need to go back to the plane and see if I can get the radio to work. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Will you be alright here by yourself?”

  “I will. Please be careful,” she said.

  He nodded. “I promise. I told your father I’ll get you out of here, and I never break a promise.”

  He got up, rummaged in his pack for his flashlight, and walked away without a backward glance.

  Gabrielle thought about the promise she made to never stop loving him. “Neither do I,” she whispered when he was out of earshot.

  She watched as he disappeared into the darkness beyond the light cast by the fire. She could hear the twigs and branches snap as he moved away from their little camp and could not suppress the feeling of apprehension creeping up on her when she thought about the dangers of the jungle. He’s a CIA agent. He’ll be okay, she kept telling herself.

  Gabrielle rose from the canvas and put some more wood on the fire. She busied herself with the sorting of the medical supplies and food and when she looked at her watch became conscious of the fact that Ryan had been away for more than two hours.

  She sat down on the edge of the canvas, placing some distance between herself and the sleeping forms of Carlos and Valentina. She tried to make sense of the last few days and Ryan’s words played over and over in her head. He was completely taken aback when she accused him of cheating, and she could no longer deny that.

  She thought back to the time when she fled Afghanistan to get away from Ryan. She was crushed when she saw him in bed with Jennifer and she was not thinking clearly when she contacted her father to pull some strings to organize her immediate transfer, which was made possible by the fact that their unit was no longer in enemy territory. She did not say why she wanted to leave so suddenly and her father knew better than to ask her why.

  After months of resisting her father’s subtle interrogation techniques, she eventually capitulated and told her father that she became involved with a former patient and that it did not work out. She told him she could not face being in close proximity to him any longer because she found it too painful. She admitted to being in love with Ryan, but never told her father about the cheating. Now she was strangely glad, because her father was even less forgiving than her and he would have never sent Ryan to rescue her if he believed Ryan to be duplicitous. It was almost as if fate had intervened and given them a second chance.

  Gabrielle knew she could no longer live with the uncertainty and that she had to know, one way or the other. She was still desperately in love with Ryan and for a time she managed to deny it to herself, but the time had come to admit that she would never get over him.

  Carlos and Valentina were still sleeping and Gabrielle decided to stay awake until Ryan returned. It was still a few hours from dawn and she had no idea how she was going to cope with so little sleep.

  She was close to hysterical with worry when Ryan finally stepped into the small clearing. She jumped up from her seated position next to the fire and threw her arms around him in a hug.

  “Whoa, what’s this?” he murmured, but placed his arms around her waist and hugged her tight.

  “I was worried,” she replied, her voice muffled because her face was in his neck.

  He pushed her back and looked at her worried face. “I’m surprised.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t want us to fight anymore,” she said.

  “I would like that.”

  Gabrielle extricated herself from his grasp. “Did you have any luck?”

  Ryan shook his head. “I went back to the plane and tried for almost an hour to get the radio going, but it was as dead as the proverbial doornail. I then backtracked half a mile in both directions perpendicular to our flightpath, trying to find the road, but all I found was a steep ravine with a river to the east and nothing but jungle to the west. I didn’t want to walk too far because walking in the dark in the jungle isn’t my favourite pastime.”

  She sat down and looked at him with a forlorn expression on her face. “So basically we’re screwed. We have two injured people with us and we’re stuck in the middle of the Colombian rainforest with no idea where we are or how we’re going to get out of here.”

  He sat next to her. “It could have been worse.”

  “How could it possibly be worse?” she asked, lifting her hands in the air in an agitated gesture.

  “We could be dead. I would say that’s pretty bad. Or I could have survived the crash and you didn’t. That for me is the worst possible scenario.”

  She turned her head and looked at him. She could see the sincerity in his expression and in that moment she knew he would never knowingly deceive her. She also understood why she was never able to stop loving him. Somewhere in the back of her mind she could never believe that he really cheated on her, even though she saw it with her own eyes.

  She could not tear her gaze away and sat frozen as he leaned forward and placed his hand behind her head to pull her towards him. Time stood completely still as his lips touched hers. Suddenly she could not sit still and she surged against him, her arms going around his neck, pulling him closer.

  He moaned and lifted her up and onto his lap, wrapping her legs around his hips. She opened her mouth and a thousand sensations shot through her as he deepened the kiss. The familiar feel of his embrace swept her away on a tidal wave and it took an enormous effort of will to pull back. “What are we doing?” she whispered.

  Ryan placed his forehead against hers. “What we should have done a long time ago.”

  Gabrielle did not want to think any longer. She grabbed his hair and kissed him as if this was her last kiss. His hands travelled over her back and skimmed around her lower ribs before travelling up and cupping both brea
sts. His thumbs teased her nipples through the fabric of her shirt and bra and she could feel her nipples hardening with his touch.

  He continued to caress her as he kissed the skin along her jaw, trailing a path to her ear. His hands went around her back and he hugged her as he whispered in her ear, “This is probably not the best time or place for this, even though I would give up my left eye to make love to you right now.”

  She laughed. “I’m flattered, but don’t give up any eyes yet. You’re right.”

  She leaned back with her arms around his neck and she watched his face as the firelight cast dancing shadows over the features she knew so well. She lifted her hand and placed in on his cheek, touching his lips with her thumb.

  “What happened in Afghanistan? I’ve always believed that you cheated on me, but now I think something else happened. You may be an agent for the CIA, but I know you. I could always tell when you were hiding something and I’m a hundred percent sure you’re being truthful when you say you didn’t sleep with Jennifer.”

  Ryan took her hand in his and kissed her palm. “Tell me what you saw.”

  She sighed. “I came to your quarters to see you. I was supposed to be on duty, but James told me to go to bed because it was quiet. I thought I’d surprise you. When I walked into your tent, I saw a naked woman straddling you. You were naked as well and she was leaning forward, kissing your chest. Your hands were on her hips and it looked as if you were having sex, although I’m not sure. She must have heard me because she turned her head to look at me. It was Jennifer.”

  “Are you sure it was me?”

  She nodded. “Positive.”

  He frowned. “I injured my leg during a training session the day before and Smith gave me some painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs as well as a muscle relaxant that had to be taken at night. I went to bed and woke up the next morning feeling very groggy. I went to look for you and Smith told me you were transferred to another unit who needed a surgeon and that you had left that morning before dawn with a special convoy. He said that because the region was finally secure, there was no need to keep you at the base and that you had actually requested an immediate transfer. I never knew how you managed to arrange it so quickly.”