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CHAPTER ONE
‘IT’S AN EMERGENCY, Sullivan, I swear’
Sullivan let out a wry laugh as he shook his head and ran his fingers through his daency, Gibbs’ He stared at the inside of the khaki tent
Gibbs laughed too ‘Well, this time it really is Asfar Modarres collapsed Soot him out in time’
Sullivan started pacing ‘Is he okay?’ He liked the Iranian doctor He’d joined Doctors Without Borders around the saether but he’d known hih to see his commitment and compassion for the job
‘He should be fine He had surgery a few hours ago’ Gibbs sucked in a deep breath Sullivan smiled Here it comes
‘Anyway, there’s teeks left of the e MDR TB is up to worrying levels in Nambura We need another pair of hands’
Sullivan shook his head as he paced ‘I’eon, Gibbs Not a medic Last time I learned about TB I was inabout it, let alone the -resistant strains’
He wasn’t kidding Ask hieon he’d operated on theinjuries, in the most dire of circuical abilities He prided himself on it But put him in a situation where he wasn’t the expert?
‘You’re a doctor, Sullivan—and that’s what I need Anyway, there’s no one else I can send’ Gibbs hesitated ‘And there’s another issue’
‘What?’
‘Nambura can bedifficult’
Sullivan frowned ‘Spit it out, Gibbs’
‘The medic is Gabrielle Cartier The two nurses Lucy Provan and Estelle Duschanel, the onsite pharmacist Gretchen Koch’
Sullivan sucked in a breath and groaned Four females on their own Nambura tribes were very traditional Some of the tribal leaders probably wouldn’t even talk to four Western women
A feue had reported o There was no way he’d leave the four of them there for the next teeks with no back-up His father would never have left fellow tearained i
nto Sullivan all his life
‘Okay, you got e transport?’
Gibbs started talking quickly ‘I’ll send you our latest information and protocols on MDR TB You can read them en route The helicopter will pick you up in fifty minutes’
The line went dead as Sullivan stared at the phone Fifty minutes Gibbs had clearly already sent the transport before he’d made the call It was alo home to
His top-gun pilot father had died while Sullivan had been on his final tour of duty in Helmand Province He’d flown home, watched his father buried with full ned up with Doctors Without Borders
Three years later he’d only o home for nineteen sporadic days He still hadn’t es
He flung the phone onto his bunk as he pulled his bag from the top of the locker
Just as well he travelled light
The music ht sky, flattening the trees all around him
He tilted his head as he tried to recognise the tune and the direction fro There was only one path froh the trees
He wound his way along it, thelouder with every step, until eventually he e filled with familiar khaki tents identical to the ones he’d left a few hundred o
He glanced around The set-up rarely varied no matter where they were in the world A mess tent Bathrooms and showers An operation centre and the staff quarters
A flap was pinned back on the tent that seemed to be the epicentre of the noise Sullivan’s curiosity was piqued
She had her back to him Which was just as well as his eyes were i a rose pink T-shirt tied in a knot at her hip, revealing the curves of her waist Her dark hair was in a ponytail that bounced along with her ht his eye Judging fro, they’d obviously once been a pair of trousers and he’d like to shake the hand of the person who had cut them
On her feet was a pair of heavy black ars just kept going and going
She was bouncing on her toes now She wasn’t just dancing to the beat of Justin Ti at the top of her voice And this wasn’t just a casual bop about the place This was a whole dance routine
He dropped his bag and folded his arms in a the movements the world had seen a million times in the dance video She had rhythm She had style
And she had his full attention
There was no doubt about it His blood was definitely flowing through his body a little quicker now This e
Sonition He could practically feel the horh his body He couldn’t stop the ses of his lips For the first ti If he could grab this sensation right now and bottle it, he would
Who was she again? He filtered through the nah he’d been with Doctors Without Borders for three years, it was impossible toseventy countries They saved lives by providing medical aid where it was needed most—armed conflicts, epidemics, natural disasters, and other crisis situations There were also longer-terned to tackle health crises and support people who couldn’t otherwise access health care Every day was different He’d just spent threea burns unit The ery The ti mainly with paediatrics
She lifted her hands above her head, giving hilimpse of the indentation of her waist and swell of her hips in those shorts He couldn’t help but sirl kne to dance
If he’d seen her in a club he would have been mesmerised Her hips sashayed to the music Her head flicked fro If they’d been in a club, he ht the teainst hers and join in But they weren’t in a club They were in the le