exactly the Hilton, is it?’
‘Oh, I don’t know. It has a certain exotic charm,’ Kasey replied in response to June’s quip.
They’d just arrived at the hostel where they would be living during their stay in Mwuranda after a long and tiring journey. Their plane had turned out to be an old cargo aircraft, chartered by the Red Cross to deliver a consignment of food and clothing to the country. Make-shift seats had been squeezed into the hold between the packing cases so the noise of the engines had been deafening. After all those hours spent in such noisy and cramped surroundings anywhere looked good.
‘Exotic is right.’ June swatted a massive cockroach off the chest of drawers and shuddered. ‘You don’t get wildlife this big in Surbiton!’
‘Look on the bright side,’ Kasey said, chuckling. ‘Once you’ve dealt with one of these little suckers, your average British beetle is child’s play!’
She looked round when Lorraine and Mary suddenly appeared. There were four beds in the room and they’d obviously decided to join them. ‘Welcome to the bridal suite,’ she declared in her most unctuous tone. ‘We hope your stay here will be everything you expect it to be.’
‘Sadly, that will probably turn out to be the case,’ Lorraine said pithily, looking round. ‘What a dump. It’s a good job my Tim didn’t book us into somewhere like this for our honeymoon or it would have been the shortest marriage on record!’
‘You mean you don’t like it?’ Kasey looked affronted as she swept the cover off one of the narrow single beds. ‘No expense has been spared to provide us with the ultimate in comfort. I mean, just inhale that aroma. Eau de mildew if I’m not mistaken.’
‘You were warned about the conditions before you came, Dr Harris, so I hope you aren’t going to bombard us with an on-going litany of complaints.’
Kasey swung round when she heard Adam’s voice coming from the doorway. She hadn’t spoken to him to since he’d walked out of the office the previous night. He’d been sitting near the front of the plane when she’d boarded it so she’d deliberately chosen a seat at the rear to avoid him. However, his attitude towards her obviously hadn’t softened during the journey, she realised when she saw the chill in his eyes.
‘I wasn’t complaining, Dr Chandler. I was merely making an observation. I assume it isn’t against the rules to voice an opinion?’
‘Not so long as it doesn’t create unrest within the team.’ He stared back at her, unwilling to give an inch let alone concede that he might possibly be over-reacting. ‘Team harmony is essential and I shall come down extremely hard on anyone who undermines it.’
He didn’t add anything else before he went on his way but he’d said more than enough by that point. June grimaced.
‘Someone seems to have left his sense of humour at home. Try not to let it get to you, Kasey. His bark really is worse than his bite.’
‘I’m not sure if I want to test out that theory,’ she replied lightly, not wanting the others to know how much it had hurt to be spoken to in that fashion. The fact that it had been so unjust to reprimand her was what really rankled but there was little she could do about it. If she caused a fuss then Adam would accuse her of disrupting the team and use it as an excuse to send her back to England.
Well, if that was what he was hoping for, he was going to be disappointed, she decided, stiffening her spine. She could put up with anything he cared to dish out!
They unpacked their bags then June checked her watch. ‘It’s only four o’clock so how about a tour of the building before dinner to get our bearings?’
‘Good idea,’ Kasey agreed immediately although the other two shook their heads.
‘I’m bushed,’ Mary exclaimed, sinking down onto one of the beds. ‘I need a bit of shut-eye if I’m to be the life and soul of the party this evening.’
‘What party?’ Kasey asked in surprise.
‘Oh, it’s a bit of a tradition with Adam. He always has a get-together on our first night,’ Lorraine explained. ‘He sees it as a way for us all to bond. Anyhow, I think I’ll follow Mary’s example and test out the bed springs while you two intrepid souls go exploring. Have fun.’
‘We’ll do our best,’ Kasey replied, following June out of the room.
They made their way along the corridor, peering into the rooms they passed. They’d been told that the hostel had been used by students from the local college before the rebel uprising and the facilities were very basic. All the bedrooms were fitted out exactly like their room with four single beds and a chest of drawers. There was no carpet on any of the floors but the worn brown linoleum had been swept clean. There was also a small bathroom at the end of the corridor with a lavatory next to it and she heaved a sigh of relief.
‘At least we have indoor plumbing. I had visions of having to creep out of the building in the middle of the night to go to the loo.’
‘All mod cons by the look of it,’ June declared, flushing the toilet.
They made their way up the stairs to the floor above which was exactly the same: bedrooms with a bathroom and a lavatory at the end of the corridor. Although everywhere smelled a little musty, it was obvious that attempts had been made to clean the place in readiness for their arrival.
‘It’s better than I expected,’ Kasey admitted as they went down to the ground floor where a large square entrance hall led to a sitting room on one side and a dining room on the other with the kitchen and storerooms beyond that.
‘It is. I had no idea what to expect when Adam told me where we would be staying.’ June shrugged when she looked at her in surprise. ‘Although I’ve been on a lot of missions, I’ve never been to an area like this before where they’ve only recently stopped fighting so I wasn’t sure how bad the facilities would be.’
‘I see. That makes me feel a bit better. I thought I was the only one who didn’t have any experience and you were all old hands at this game,’ she confessed wryly.
‘Not at all. OK, so most of us have worked overseas and you haven’t but working in a war zone will be a whole new experience for all of us except Adam, of course. He’s already done a stint here.’
‘Really?’ Kasey stopped and stared at her. ‘Adam’s worked here before?’
‘Yes. Didn’t you know? He spent a year in Mwuranda with a French aid team but they pulled out when the fighting started. Adam decided to stay on and he only came back to England because he was injured, quite badly, too, I believe, although he never talks about it.’ June sighed. ‘I always thought there was more to it than just a desire to help which kept him here. It was almost as though he didn’t care about his own safety.’
‘When did this all happen?’ she asked slowly, feeling a cold chill envelop her.
‘I’m not sure…four, five years ago. Something like that.’
Which would be shortly after she’d told him how she’d tricked him, she realised sickly. Had that been the reason why Adam had shown such disregard for his own safety..because he’d been so upset by what she’d done that he’d no longer cared what had happened
