Finding Dani (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 3) (14 page)

“Ma’am.”

Dani lifted her head and found her guard at the opened door. “What happened?”

“I need to move you to a different location.”

She got to her feet instantly. “Where are we going?”

“You’re going to the infirmary, Ma’am.” Then he fell in behind her as she moved out of her tent and headed in the direction he wanted.

She wasn’t sure why the change, but she’d be a damn sight more useful helping out somewhere else, rather than being cooped up alone in her tent. “Just Dani is fine with me.”

He didn’t answer, but she was already distracted by Martin, who was not complying with his own guard. “I demand to be taken to the commanding officer right this instant.”

“Save it, Doc. He’s got bigger things to deal with than whatever crawled up your narrow ass.”

Dani couldn’t hear anymore gunfire, but that didn’t mean it was over. “Just go inside, Martin.”

“I’m a respected doctor—”

She sighed and grabbed his elbow, cutting him off before he could really get going. “I know, but there’s something bigger going on here than your ego, so can you put it away for a moment and just cooperate, please?”

Dani dragged Martin inside the infirmary. This was the non-quarantined tent, and was almost completely empty except for a small group in the corner. “Travis,” she called out. “Where have you been?”

He looked up at her in surprise, but then his faced closed down. “I went looking for Anuma.”

Dani and Martin moved closer, one guard staying just inside the tent and another standing outside. When Travis stood, she had a clear view of Anuma. He was lying prone on a cot. His breathing was shallow and his face was so badly bruised that his eyes were swollen shut.

“My God. What happened?” she asked, as she rushed over to check out his injuries. Martin was uncharacteristically silent as he took up position on the opposite side.

Even though they were often at odds, Martin was a consummate professional when it came to medicine and he began assessing injuries, calling out softly what he found, just as Dani was. Then he moved away to get some supplies. Besides the numerous contusions over his body, Anuma had several broken ribs, which was causing the difficulty breathing. Travis had moved over to a corner, out of the way. Only a couple of other patients were occupying the tent, but they stayed silent.

Dani was about to begin removing Anuma’s dirty and torn clothing so they could clean him up when a small head and huge eyes peeked up at her from somewhere under the cot. The eyes were near Anuma’s head, but she couldn’t see the rest of the child’s body.

She lowered her voice, “Hello, there.”

“Hello.” His little voice was heavily accented.

“Are you Anuma’s friend?” Dani knelt down to get on eye level, but didn’t move closer. It was obvious the little guy was scared, but he gave her a tentative smile, showcasing a couple of missing teeth. When he nodded, Dani smiled. “He’s my friend too.”

“Doctor?”

“Yes. I want to help your friend. Would you like to help me?”

The smile widened and the child scooted out front under the cot, standing up, but still keeping a little distance between himself and everyone else. He was about seven or eight years old, his head was shaved, and his clothing was too big for his little frame.

What a cutie
, she thought. “What’s your name?”

He shot a quick look at Travis before answering. “Frankie.”

That caught her off-guard, since it was a fairly unusual name and not in the least tribal. But she rolled with it. “Can you do me a favor, Frankie?”

He nodded solemnly.

“I need you to hold Anuma’s hand for me while we clean him up and put some bandages on him. It’s going to hurt, and I think he’d feel better if you were holding onto him. Can you do that?”

He nodded again and stepped forward to Dani’s side. She moved out of the way to let him close to the cot. “Thank you, Frankie.”

“Travis? Martin and I could use your help here,” Dani said, as she prepared to take off Anuma’s shirt.

When he didn’t move, she glanced up at him to see him staring at the boy. He had the most peculiar look on his face before he shrugged and moved to help. With his help, they were able to strip the tattered, dirty shirt off. Then they worked on the pants. Once Anuma was cleaned up, Dani began assessing the injuries.

“Looks like the worst of it is the broken ribs. The rest are bruises and minor cuts.” Martin kept quiet while he worked and Travis was unusually silent as well. “What happened to him?”

“Yes, Travis, why don’t you enlighten all of us,” Damon’s voice cut across the tent.

Dani couldn’t help the feeling of safety and comfort that wrapped around her at his presence. She shook her head. This was pathetic, but she didn’t care. He made her happy in a way that couldn’t be stopped. Not even during some kind of threat hanging over them outside, as well as the Ebola threat inside the camp.

Travis glanced at the boy again. The child was sitting quietly next to the cot at Dani’s feet, holding onto Anuma’s hand. His face was solemn, and unlike Travis, his face gave nothing away.

“I don’t see how it’s any of your business,” Travis said. His tone was quiet but belligerent.

Damon stalked forward. His shirt and knees were covered in dirt and Dani guessed that he’d been lying on his stomach on the hill, covering the front of the camp with his rifle. His face was set and grim, and even though he barely glanced at her, she felt the brief look all the way down to her toes.

“It’s my business because the rebel leader outside is demanding we give you to them for quote, ‘crimes against their tribe.’ So, you’d better say something before I drag your ass to the commander to let him decide what to do with you.” Damon was close enough to grab Travis, and Dani could see he was fighting the urge to step back, away from the obvious threat.

Travis puffed up, “I’m an American citizen, and a doctor, and you can’t just hand me over to them.”

“So am I, and I’d like to know why I’m in danger because of you.” That came from Martin and it surprised Dani because he said it quietly, without all the pomp he would normally infuse his voice with. That, more than anything, told her that he was very worried.

“Tell them.”

Dani spun back to Anuma when he spoke. It was barely a whisper, but in the sudden silence it was heard clearly. Anuma was awake and staring at Travis with his right eye, the one not swollen shut and turning purple.

“Tell them,” he repeated through cracked and bloody lips. When he attempted to sit up, Dani touched his shoulder and firmly kept him on his back.

“You have several broken ribs. You need to keep still,” she said. Then she focused on the man everyone else was staring at. “And you need to tell us what’s going on. Now.”

His eyes pleaded with her, but whatever his secret was, it was putting them all in danger. Then, he dragged in a ragged breath and moved closer to Anuma. Whatever he saw in the other man’s battered face must have convinced him to talk.

“Frankie is my son,” Travis said.

Dani wasn’t sure what she expected, but it wasn’t even close to that statement. She looked down at Frankie. How had this happened and how had no one on the team known? One look at Martin’s face showed the same kind of shock she was feeling.

“How is did this even happen? You know we’re prohibited from being involved with the villagers in that way,” Dani said. She looked down at the child. “Frankie, how old are you?”

“Eight summers.”

Dani smiled at the boy before swinging incredulous eyes toward her contact tracer. Clearly, he’d been doing more than tracking down families infected with Ebola. He hung his head and his shoulders dropped. Stepping back and away from Damon, Travis sat down on a nearby cot, as if the burden of this was too much to bear.

She’d only been working with Travis for the last five years, and before that he’d been with Doctors Without Borders. Frankie obviously took after his mother, because she couldn’t see any of Travis in his little face. And while he seemed to accept and understand what Travis said, he was clinging to Anuma, not his father. “What happened?”

Damon had moved away to speak with the guard stationed inside the tent, and while she was aware of him on a deeper level, she was focused on the man before her. The one who suddenly looked a lot older than his twenty-eight years.

“I was young, dumb, and infatuated with being a savior.” He scraped a hand down his face, smearing dirt and wiping some off. “The chief’s daughter was already a widow, and when she snuck into my tent the first time, I thought she was just looking for a little fun. It was forbidden, for both of us, and maybe that’s what made it seem so exciting. So taboo. I don’t have any excuses and it was my fault. I should have sent her away and saved us both.”

“But you got her pregnant instead,” Martin said it, heavy censure hanging in the air between them all.

Dani agreed, but didn’t want to say it in front of the boy. Frankie was a quiet kid, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t sensitive.

Travis nodded. “I didn’t even know about it. By the time I found out, she’d died in childbirth and Anuma was sent to find me.”

Dani was confused. “How is Anuma involved in this?”

But it was the battered man on the cot that answered her. “The girl was my sister.”

“What do the men outside this camp want with you, Travis?” Damon asked.

For a moment, it didn’t look like Travis would answer. He stared at Dani, his look apologetic. “The leader of that group is Anuma’s father. He found out that I was back and he wants me dead, even though I’ve been sending money for the care of Frankie and their village. He still blames me for the death of his daughter. Anuma was taking the boy away from the old man, because he’d begun to be abusive to him. Because of me.”

Dani gasped. “Is he the one responsible for this?” she asked, pointing toward all the bruises and swelling covering Anuma’s body. When Travis nodded, Dani could only shake her head. Then she turned to Anuma. “Why did you set that village on fire?”

Anuma coughed, the movement painful and causing his face to twist. When his breathing returned to what it was, he answered. “My father punished that village by contaminating it with poison. I’ve seen it before. I could not allow them to return, only to have more die. Better they lose everything and rebuild.”

“But he saved something for you, Dani,” Travis said. “It’s inside the truck. Maybe you can have your watchdog get it for you.”

Dani ignored the bitterness. Damon didn’t care what Travis said, but she wanted to know what Anuma had, and she felt such relief that he’d set that fire to help those people, not cause them further harm. Because he was right, losing valuables and housing was better than death.

“What is it?”

“It’s all of your samples from the village. He pulled it out of your tent before he set the fire and hid it in the jungle in case his father’s rebels caught him. Which they did.”

Damon spoke up from beside her. She hadn’t even heard him move. He stroked a finger down her back in a small caress that everyone saw, but she didn’t care. “I’ll get the case, Dani. But first, Travis needs to have a little chat with the CO.”

“He won’t really be turned over to them, will he?” Dani didn’t want Travis dead. Seriously reprimanded—sure—but not physically in danger.

“No, he’s an American, and we don’t deal with terrorists. Ever.”

Travis wouldn’t make eye contact with her as Damon escorted him out of the tent, and that was fine with her. He’d violated ethical rules that she held sacred, while hiding a love child and paying money to him, but not stepping up and really caring for him the way a father should. Dani had lost all respect for the man she thought was a friend and a decent human being, especially since Frankie had been suffering abuse because of who his father was.

The child was sound asleep on the floor under Anuma’s cot. He was curled up, knees tucked into his chest, his sweet round face slack with exhaustion.

Dani ran her hands through her hair and looked up to find Martin staring at her. “You don’t have any secrets you’ve kept from everyone, do you?” Her voice was hard, but she was only kidding.

His half smile looked mocking. “Actually, I do.”

And that’s when the world exploded.

Chapter 14

Between the screaming and the gunfire, Damon could barely hear himself breathe. He and Travis were thrown to the ground after several rounds landed. The rebels had been hiding more than themselves in the trees. They’d been hiding a couple of damn rocket launchers. The really old kind, probably sold off when the newer more advanced models became available. That chief wanted Travis dead, and he obviously didn’t care if he took everyone else with him, including his grandson.

They managed to hit both the medical tents and one of the personnel tents in the center of camp. The screaming was coming from the quarantined area, where the Ebola patients were being treated. Marine personnel were running in that direction.

“What was that?” Travis choked out.

“SMAW.” Damon was up on his feet, already focused on the collapsed tent that was smoking. The tent he had just been inside with Dani. He reached down and jerked Travis to his feet.