Three Courageous Words

“In the meantime,” Diesel tossed over his shoulder, “any suggestions on a place around here to hide a van and eight people?”

Angela thought hard. For the most part, she’d been confined to the hospital tent, working nonstop with masses of people living in the terrible conditions of the refugee camp. But there was one time she and Brenda had been asked to help a village elder in another small town nearby. She glanced out the window. They were headed that direction. “I know of a place.”

Leaning through the gap between the two front seats, she watched the road ahead, trying to remember where they’d turned to get to the village.

Brenda squeezed in next to her. “Are you taking them to Abu Hanafi’s village?”

She nodded. “The turnoff to the village should be coming up soon.”

“Remember, it was where the abandoned tank tracks were,” Brenda said.

“Right.” Angela turned to Diesel. “There should be some buildings coming up soon and a field beside the road with what looks like a pile of junk metal. It’s actually the tracks from an army tank.”

Diesel nodded. “I’ll be on the lookout.”

Angela glanced back through the van’s rear window, her pulse pounding. As she turned back to the front, her gaze skimmed across Buck. Her heart did a backflip. When she’d first realized who’d plucked her out of the middle of the protest, she’d been too angry to fully appreciate what had happened.

In this totally different part of the world, why had fate brought Graham back to her? At that very moment?

He was the same Graham she’d known and loved in medical school, yet different.

His body was honed, his muscles tight and strong, and his eyes...those gorgeous blue eyes she’d fallen into on their first group project were somehow different. Although still the same blue, they appeared to see more and have more depth than before. The lines around the corners of his eyes added character, and the scar on his chin made her want to reach out and touch it.

As quickly as the thought sprang into her mind, she pushed it away and returned her attention to the road in front of the van.

Ahead, on the left, was a field of long grass with a patch of dirt next to the road. Rusted metal lay in a heap in the middle of the dirt.

“There!” Angela pointed to the dirt road past the tank track. “Turn there.”

Diesel only slowed enough to negotiate the turn and then sped along the bumpy road, barely more than a rutted track.

Big Jake’s brow crinkled as he glanced her way. “Are you sure this is the way?”

“Positive.” She nodded toward a blue tin shack. “I remember that blue building.”

“And the one with the orange roof,” Brenda added, pointing to the structure.

“The village is another mile or more along this road, and it’s tucked into the side of a hill.”

“As long as the dust settles before the rebel attackers get to where we turned off, they won’t have a clue we came this way.”

“If the dust settles,” T-Mac said.

Angela glanced back at the cloud of dust rising up behind them.

Buck touched her arm. “It’ll settle.”

She gave him a hint of a smile and turned away. So many forgotten emotions welled up inside her. Why did he have to come back into her life? Why now? But if he hadn’t, she might be dead. The protest she’d staged against the local government could have ended a lot worse. She prayed the women who’d gone along with her had made it back to safety.

Leaving behind the refugees she’d grown to care for was killing her. But like Brenda had said, she couldn’t help people if she was dead.

Soon, they came to the little village tucked into the side of a hill. Shacks and huts lined the road, with barely clothed children playing outside.

“Let me out,” Angela said. “I’ll speak to Abu Hanafi. He might not want us in his village if we bring trouble with us.”

“Tell him we won’t stay any longer than it takes to get airlifted out,” Big Jake said. “And we’ll arrange pickup away from his village so as not to draw too much attention to it.”

Angela nodded and hopped out of the van. Buck followed.

“It might be better if I go alone,” Angela said.

“Not happening.” He gripped her elbow and marched forward.

Angela shrugged free of his hand. Every time he touched her, that same jolt, like an electrical current, ran through her, reminding her of the connection they’d had when they were much younger.

She tightened her jaw. That was the past. “I got along fine without you for six months in this country. I can do this on my own.”

“Then do it on your own, just with me. I won’t say a word. You’ll barely know I’m there.”

She snorted. “You’re over six feet tall. Much taller than many of the people in this village. I think I’ll notice you. And I won’t be the only one.” As much as she protested, she did feel protected when he was around.

Angela led the way to the mud-and-stick building at the center of the little village. A woman wearing a faded red-and-gold dress with a red scarf draped over her head and shoulders stood in the doorway with a toddler on her hip.

With a smile, Angela addressed the daughter of the village elder. “Uluru, how are you and your children?”

She knew from the last time she’d been here that Uluru spoke perfect English she’d learned at a missionary school when she was much younger. At twenty-one years old, she had three children, the youngest of which she was holding.

“They are well. I am teaching Kamal his letters. He will go to school one day.”

Angela nodded. “Your children will be smart as well as beautiful, like their mother.”

She snorted softly. “If they live that long and are not stolen away by Koku’s army.” Uluru moved out of the doorway. “You are here to see my father?”

“Yes,” Angela said.

“And this man with you, who dresses like one of our men?”

“He is my...” Angela almost said boyfriend, but that was so many years ago.

“I’m her fiancé,” Buck said and cupped Angela’s elbow. “We are to be married soon.”

Angela swallowed hard to keep from disagreeing out loud. Now that he’d said it, she couldn’t deny it without appearing wishy-washy in front of Uluru and her father.

Uluru’s gaze swept over Buck from head to toe before she nodded. “As the doctor’s betrothed, you are welcome in our home.”

Inside, the structure was cast in shadow, with no electrical lighting in use.

Uluru passed through the house and out into a small courtyard where an old man, dressed all in white much like Buck, sat cross-legged on the ground in the shade of a tree.