Page 26 (1/2)

He grasped her shoulders when she made to turn away “I take all the responsibility for whatever happened between us And you wanted to join thisit even if I have to haul you there and keep you under lock and key”

He let her go as if her flesh burned him, stalked to the door

Before he closed it behind him he rasped over his shoulder, “And, Janaan, don’t worry The three-feet rule is over During the co two months, I promise to keep my distance”

CHAPTER TEN

MALEK KEPT HIS promise For teeks so far They’d felt like two bleak—if madly busy—years

Jay didn’t knohat she would have done without Hessuh and Saeed’s companionship They’d made it possible to bear Malek’s alienation, and had also beco with its people

They’d embarked on their ery unit, ob/gyn, dentistry, internal y units, twenty accommodation trailers, six Jeeps and two a the resources Malek hadthirty volunteers, including her And knowing that Malek couldn’t spare enough isticians, health educators and cultural experts who ood percentage of the thirty were doctors She was the only eht along the sa his aides and core team from the relief efforts As far as humanitarian missions other than in time of disaster went, this one was a whopper

They’d traveled south through Damhoor, bypassed all reasonably self-sufficient towns and villages, made their stops at corounds along the borders

The third tribe they ith, Bani Hajjar, was like the other two before it, leading their lives according to custoed in millennia But while that was efficient for the ood

In the desert you survived if you were born robust and stayed that way Acute illnesses and injuries were usually fatal, and chronic diseases thatsince found cures for or controlled were treated with tribal remedies, but it was accepted that the afflicted would be aleel, sickly, and remain so until they withered and died

They still had athe tribe to accept what modern medicine had to offer them When they succuanized both teaave her the leader’s position within GAO’sthe deyn unit with Hessuh, her trailer-ether they’d taken care of hundreds of women, in an incredible variation of conditions More incredible hat these women put up with health-wise, and still functioned well, practically supporting the whole tribe’s way of life