let me out at the next corner,” Angela said. “I’ll get to the camp by myself.”
Graham shook his head. “Not happening.”
“What were you doing leading a protest against Koku?” the big guy in the front said. “Oh, and by the way, I’m Big Jake. Diesel’s the one driving.” He then pointed to a man with close-cropped brown hair leaning against the wall of the van. “That’s Pitbull, and the one beside him is Harm.” Harm had black hair and dark eyes. Big Jake nodded to the man in the very back with auburn hair and green eyes. “That’s T-Mac. And I guess you met Buck.”
“Buck?” She frowned at Graham.
Graham shrugged. “Short for Buckner.”
“Do any of you have real names?” she asked.
“When we need them,” Pitbull said.
T-Mac grinned. “On our paychecks.”
“Well, Big Mac,” Angela said. “I need to get back to the camp outside town, as soon as possible.”
The men laughed.
“No can do,” the man in the passenger seat said. “And it’s Big Jake.”
“Seriously, I have to go back. My nurse is there. If the raiders who attacked the government office make it out to the refugee camp, they might take her. So, if you’re not taking me there, at least let me out and I’ll walk.” She moved toward the door and placed her fingers on the handle.
“Hey.” Graham reached out with his injured arm and winced but grabbed her wrist anyway. “You can’t jump out of a moving vehicle.”
“If that’s the only way to get back to the refugee camp, I’ll do it. I won’t leave my nurse to be terrorized, killed or sold into slavery.” She spoke louder. “So if you don’t stop this vehicle now, I’m going to jump.”
“Hold your horses. We’ll take you to the camp,” Diesel said. “Just let me get us far enough away from what’s going on downtown.”
“Jump from a moving vehicle?” Buck chuckled, then stopped when he realized Angela hadn’t been kidding. He shook his head. “You’re as stubborn as you always were.”
Angela lifted her chin. “It’s what keeps me going here. My stubbornness got me through medical school and my internship.”
She didn’t say it, but Buck could hear the comment she didn’t make: Unlike you.
Buck felt the cut like a knife to his gut. “I had my reasons for leaving,” he said and ended it there.
“Where’s the refugee camp?” Diesel asked.
Angela turned away from Buck and focused her attention on Diesel. “Southwest of town.”
Using less-traveled streets, Diesel drove the van to the edge of town. Before they left the cover of the buildings for the open landscape, Big Jake glanced back.
“No one behind us for now,” T-Mac confirmed.
Diesel shot out of Bentiu and into the open.
Not far from the town was the beginning of a city of tents and poorly erected shelters made of scrap plywood and tin.
“We can’t drive right into camp,” Big Jake said. “Remember, we’re not supposed to be in this country.”
Angela nodded. “Our tent is on the back side of the camp. There are some buildings past that where you can hide the van and let me off.” She directed Diesel past the camp and a little farther, to where a stand of shanties stood.
Diesel parked behind one that appeared abandoned.
When Angela reached for the door, Buck gripped her wrist. “I’m going with you.”
“There’s no need,” Angela said with her fingers curling around the handle. “I’m not coming back.”
“The hell you aren’t,” Buck said.
“I’m not here to argue. I have to check on my nurse.” She shoved the sliding door open and dropped to the ground. Without waiting, she took off toward the camp at a slow jog.
Buck shot a glance at Big Jake. “I can’t let her go it alone.”
Big Jake jerked his head toward Angela’s departing figure. “Then go. We’ll wait here as long as we’re not discovered.” He tapped the earbud headset. “Stay in touch. I’ll send a couple men out to keep watch for bad guys.”
“I’ll keep you informed.” Buck jumped out of the van and ran to catch up with Angela.
She didn’t slow for him but kept jogging toward her destination. “You didn’t have to follow me,” she said. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Humor me.” He raised a hand to the makeshift bandage on his arm. “Besides, I need you to patch me up better.”
“How do you know I didn’t do a good job?”
“I’m the corpsman, the medic for the team. It’s my professional opinion that you need to clean the wound and apply a fresh bandage to keep it from becoming infected.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Right. You’re a medic. Do it yourself.”
“I can’t perform surgery on myself, now can I?”
She sighed and kept moving. “Fine. It wouldn’t hurt to clean the wound and apply sterile bandages.”
Buck suppressed the smile threatening to spread across his face. He’d scored a very minor victory, but one that would give him a little more time to convince her to leave an extremely volatile area.
As they approached the sprawling camp, they circled around a large white tent to the entry at the front where a canvas sign was tied over the door. The red, white and black lettering stated Médecins Sans Frontières, which translated to Doctors Without Borders.
Buck knew all about this international nongovernmental organization known for humanitarian relief in war-torn or developing countries with little or no medical services available to the general population. He’d hoped one day to be one of the doctors to volunteer his time to help others less fortunate. He’d had lots of dreams when he’d started medical school.
A woman with graying blond hair stepped out of the tent and frowned when she saw Angela and Buck. “I heard an explosion in town. That wasn’t anywhere close to your demonstration, was it?”
Angela’s lips pressed together. “Brenda, we need to prep for stitches. I’ll fill you in on what happened while we’re sewing up this man.”
Brenda smiled at Buck. “Hi, I’m Brenda Sites. And you are?”
“Graham Buckner,
