Freedom Does Matter (Mercenaries Book 2) (14 page)

As she stepped again, the boy dropped the weapon and ran, back around the tent.

About to follow, Beckie heard Kevin’s whispered command.“Stop! We don’t know what he’s running to.”

“If it’s as well armed as he was…” she whispered back. She reached down and picked up the rifle to hand to Derek.

Derek took the weapon and checked it before slinging it over his shoulder. He quickly surveyed the area, confirming the layout. “I’ll ‘ead back that way,” he said, pointing down the alley between the two smaller tents beside them. “To check out what’s back there. ‘Old ‘ere.” With a shake of her head, Sue trailed him.

While Derek investigated, Beckie could hear voices from one of the tents farther ahead. “Sounds like someone’s not real happy,” she said to Kevin.

“Yeah. Be nice if we’d brought a translator.”

“Yeah—”

Derek appeared where the boy had disappeared. “No one’s out and about, now at least.”

Beckie followed him around the tent. A faint flickering haze of light showed on the wall as they passed.

“You guys stay here and keep watch for anyone coming up.” Beckie waved to the expanse of dark desert. “Sue, back me up. You have the med kit, right?” Sue nodded. Beckie worked her way toward the entry. She gave a look back to Kevin and Derek; Kevin was holding his flashlight. She nodded and dug in her pack for hers. After a quick test facing away from the tent, she studied the opening.

A slight breeze fluttered the flaps. That’s strange, she thought. I’d want them tight if only to keep the sand out. She took another second to consider the possibilities. Another quick glance, first at Sue and then the men, and she shuffed to the entryway.

With one hand, she pulled the outside flap back. With the other, she clicked the flashlight on. Behind her, Sue aimed her light over Beckie’s shoulder to splash over the tent’s interior.

There was no one in this space, only rugs and pillows, all pushed to the sides. Halfway back, a sheet of canvas divided the interior. Sue touched her shoulder and whispered “Guest space. The family lives…” She pointed at the division in the back wall. There was a slight rustle from beyond it.

Beckie waved Kevin and his weapon up between Sue and herself. She dropped to the canvas floor and pulled Kevin down beside her. He nodded his understanding and held the rifle ready. With hand motions, she directed Sue to step to the side so she could draw the flap back without exposing anyone. As she did, Kevin, weapon first, ducked under the fabric.

“It’s okay,” he called.

Beckie pushed herself off the floor and into the room, scanning the space.

A bundle of rugs and blankets lay on the floor to her right; the boy stood wide-eyed; a person knelt next to the bundle, and another huddled in the far corner.

Sue’s light flashed into the other corners of the room; nothing looked to be hiding except more blankets.

Off to the side, Kevin said, “That her?”

Beckie looked where he was pointing: at the bundle. As she dropped beside it, she recognized the kneeling woman as Saqira, Noorah’s English teacher from the resort. “Is this Noorah?” Without waiting for an answer, she began unwrapping the blankets as carefully as she could. Sue knelt at the other side to help.

They uncovered Noorah, clothed in an undergarment, lying unconscious. Sue quickly found a pulse, but she didn’t look happy about it. Beckie turned her attention to the girl’s arm. It had been pulled across her stomach and wrapped with a tight bandage, now soaked with blood. Not old blood, but fresh.

The girl’s face was ashen and her eyes were rolled back in her head. Sue cautiously moved the arm so she could place her ear to the chest, listen to the heartbeat. “Get the BP meter,” she said.

Kevin opened the kit and dug around before handing her a small instrument. She fit the sensor over one of Noorah’s fingers and waited.

“Damn low. Shock. Loss of blood. She’s still bleeding. Needs a transfusion and later, antibiotics.” She looked around, then focused on Beckie. “We can do the emergency stuff on the plane and keep her alive till we get to the Nest. I don’t know what would happen if we took her to a hospital here.”

“She will die,” Saqira whispered. “Her injury will be recognized as punishment of a traitor. She will die.” The woman rubbed her eye through her
niqab
.

“In that case,” Beckie said, “let’s saddle up and get out of here.”

“Where are the others of your tribe?” Kevin asked Saqira.

“They have…” She stopped. “You must take her, and her brother and sister. Go. They will return in three hours. Less. Be gone by then.” She patted Noorah’s cheek, then stood. “Come,” she said to the boy. As he moved, she made a sharp gesture to the person hunched in the corner. Maybe that’s the sister, Beckie thought as the figure straightened and moved to stand next to the boy. Beckie turned from Noorah to smile at the pair. Blinking in the direct light of the flashlight, both wore off-white trousers and tunics, soft sandals. They had dark complexions and black hair, the boy’s shorter than the girl’s.

 “Nasir and Tahirah,” Saqira introduced them. A spate of Arabic followed, which seemed to relax the boy more than the girl. “I tell them they must go with Noorah. With you. May Allah guide you.” She turned and walked out of the tent. Kevin followed in her footsteps.

“She’s okay,” Kevin said outside. He stuck his head back in. “How long till we can move her?”

“Sooner the better. Can Jean-Luc land here?”

Kevin came farther in to scrutinize the girl lying still. “Have to. We can’t carry her far enough to make a difference.”

Sue put a hand under the girl’s torso and tentatively lifted. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Well, call him up. We can hope the woman’s right and they aren’t waiting for us with SAMs.

“Gather your flock, Beckie. It’ll take a lot less time for Jean-Luc than it did for us.”

Beckie nodded and searched the tent for something she could put over their heads to protect them from the blowing sand.

In a few minutes, Kevin returned. With Sue’s help, he picked Noorah up from the floor. Beckie wrapped a blanket over the girl’s face. As he walked out, the sound of the helicopter approached. Sue took the boy’s hand and followed Kevin. Beckie adjusted a scarf over the girl’s head, and her own, and left the tent to the desert.

Jean-Luc touched the skids to the ground, but kept the rotor turning. Derek boarded first to assist Kevin in loading Noorah. Sue slid aboard after pushing the boy into the cabin. Beckie ran up when everyone else was aboard, struggling to lift the girl into Kevin’s waiting hands. Finally, she reached out and Derek pulled her aboard, almost throwing her out the far-side door in his effort to land her. She grinned as he caught her foot and her heart jumped back into place. “Whoa! Not ready to go back just yet.”

“Sorry,” he said as he helped her to a seat beside the girl.

Jean-Luc had only waited long enough for her to be dragged aboard; he was rapidly gaining height. Derek slid the door closed and Beckie began to pull the scarves off the kids’ heads.

“Might as well leave Noorah’s,” Sue said. “I’ve shot her full of all the antibiotics I have. Now she needs blood.”

“Use mine.”

“Not till I can type hers. I know yours, and all of ours, but not hers. It won’t take long, but I don’t have the kit in this pack. We’ll do it on the plane.”

“But you have mine, right? I’m one of those… I forget—”

“Universal donor? Or recipient? Makes a difference,” Sue said with a little smile.

“Yeah.”

Sue was already flipping through a little notebook. She stopped and peered at a page. “Well, Beckie, you can give. But you can’t give enough volume to keep her going till we get to the Nest.”

“Well, call the clinic for, plasma is it? For when we get to the plane. And start with me.”

“I’m not gonna connect you two, so come here. Sit on the deck beside me.” She turned toward the front seat. “Jean-Luc, I need to stick a needle in Beckie. A big one, so let’s try not to bounce for the next thirty seconds or so.”

“Oui, mademoiselle. Wait a moment.” The copter rose for several seconds. “Do it now.”

Beckie turned her head as Jean-Luc spoke, so she only felt the prick as the needle went in. She looked once, to see dark purple in the plastic tube. With a grimace on her lips, she turned away to face Kevin.

“Don’t have to like it, eh?” he said, a little smile on his lips.

She nodded, concentrating on Ian to keep the blood from her mind.

Sue tapped her arm gently. “Got it going now,” she said. “Derek, in your pack, you have any of those evacuation forms we had from Red Crescent? Remember those?”

He nodded and pulled the pack around, lifting it to his lap. Beckie gave a little snort and said, “Hey, Derek, what’s in there? Looks like, I don’ know, Pandora’s box or the mad wizard’s trunk.”

He glared back at her. “Just don’t be delving through ‘ere by yourself,” he replied.

“Yeah,” Sue said. “You don’t wanta know some of what—”

“Right, then,” Derek said, waving a sheaf of papers. “Got them ‘ere.”

“They’re in English, right?”

“Right. Well, except where it says authorization.”

“That’s excellent!” she said. “Make some marks that might be mistaken for her name and we’ll use those for any security people who want to know what we’re doing.”

“Fill out some more,” Kevin said. “One or two for the other two, too.”

“Good plan,” Beckie said. “Thanks, Sue.”

When blood had filled the plastic bag, Sue unplugged the tube and turned to Noorah. She’d already prepped the girl; in a moment the blood was flowing. After a quick check of other signs, she turned back to Beckie.

“We can probably take one more unit from you before you fall over,” she said as she plugged a new bag into the tube and opened the valve again. Beckie turned away. This time her gaze flitted by the window—dark as night out there—and landed on Noorah’s sister. She didn’t feel bright enough to begin the my name, your name exchange; she just studied the girl.

She was sitting, clutching her younger brother who was himself looking everywhere. Beckie stopped her contemplation to say, “Kev, we want to be careful about sidearms.” She tipped her head at the boy. “He might have a problem with a rifle, but…”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He rose and did a quick survey of the cabin after fastening the retainer on his own holster.

“About ten minutes, now,” Jean-Luc called over his shoulder. “I’m going to set down near the plane, so we can just walk over. I’ve already told them we have an injury and refugees, and where we’ll leave the copter.”

Beckie said, “Is everybody else already aboard?”

She couldn’t hear the reply, but Derek, wearing an intercom, nodded yes.

Beckie grinned thanks back to Derek and laid her head on the arm not attached to the blood bag. Kevin picked her head up and placed it on his leg. “Might be more comfortable,” he said.

She smiled up at him. “Make sure I don’ fall asleep, okay?”

“That won’t be a problem,” he said, as the helicopter began to descend.

They needed ten minutes to empty the copter and move to their 737. Beckie carried her bag while Sue shepherded the kids. Derek and Kevin manhandled Noorah as gently as they could, placing her on the gurney in the plane’s hospital.

Derek left the plane to meet the security guard. With his few words of broken Arabic—in a British accent—he waved the small sheaf of papers with the Red Crescent logo across the top. After a quick look, the guard decided there was no terrorism or grand theft going on and allowed Dan to close the door.

Four minutes later, Jean-Luc was at the end of 5R, engines at take-off thrust. He released the brakes. Beckie was lying on a cot next to Noorah; she gazed up and through the small window. “Bye, Egypt. We’ll meet again.”

As the plane leveled off, Beckie laid her head back once again, twisting to stare at Noorah, lying on the gurney beside her. “She gonna be okay, you think?”

“No idea, if I’m honest. But with your blood in her, her pressure’s rising. That’s good. Now, I’m gonna unplug you, so you should lie still, rest.” She went to work, removing first the blood-filled bag, then the tubing and the needle. With a smile, she slapped a bandage over the puncture wound, then studied the bag. “This should be enough,” she said. “At least, with this and the plasma Dan brought, lack of blood won’t kill her.” She hung the bag next to Noorah. “If the sat link is up, I’m gonna call Millie.”

“It’s up, Sue,” said Kevin. “Shen and I were just talking security. He’s getting Millie now.”

Beckie forced her eyes open and nodded.

“Lie back down and sleep,” Sue told her.

Beckie smiled a little at the officious note in Sue’s voice, but she lay back. Before succumbing to her weariness, she peered up at Kevin. With a wave in Noorah’s direction, she mumbled, “As if I didn’t have enough motivation to find… whatever his name is… Sedki…” She drifted into a haze.

Chapter Fifteen

Day Fifteen - London

BAKR AL-AZIZ DROPPED HIS phone in his pocket and stared out the window at the cloudy sky. He spent a moment trying to decide what the American evangelist
really
wanted, but gave it up. And the stupid name he affects. Pfaugh! Reverend Billy! Out of… But al-Aziz admitted he had no idea where the man might have found his inspiration.