Doug felt like a damned fool for not having already taken care of that. He ran with the two women and began herding everyone toward the far side of the roof, cautioning them in a loud voice to
They were barely in time. A big troop transport chopper lowered itself to the roof. Two crewmen jumped out, ducking low, and motioned for the loading to begin. Doug was nearly overrun by the civilians before June and Amelia got them under control, then they came near to panicking again as the explosive noise of a machine gun in the chopper cut loose, returning fire from the ground.
The two crewmen were counting. When the helicopter reached its limit, they both shouted “No more!
No more! We’ve got another one on the way!”
Doug used his body and his voice added to those of the crewmen to help stop the bodies pressing forward. He turned his rifle sideways to help push them back. At the same time, he heard shooting from below the stairwell.
As soon as the two crewmen were aboard, the helicopter rose and swept off to the west, punctuating its departure with another round of machine gun fire and a cloud of debris blown about by its blades.
“Get back! Give the next one room to land!” Doug shouted as the remaining medical staff began pressing forward again. His voice was getting hoarse from trying to be heard over all the noise. More shots came from below.
“Hold them back!” He yelled at Amelia and June, and ran to the stairwell hatch. He was just in time to help Martha up the last steps before she collapsed in his arms. There was a bloody spot on her left side, just below where her armored vest ended; one arm dangled useless from a wound that had broken the bones of her forearm. It was bleeding copiously.
“June!” Doug called, but she had seen what was happening and she and Amelia were already there. They took Martha from him just as Buddy backed out, firing spaced shots at something below. He was unwounded but his face was nearly white despite the normal darkness of his skin. He kneeled down and flipped the stairwell cover closed and shot the bolt that held it in place.
“Where’s the others?” Doug asked, already knowing what the answer must be.
“Dead. Just like we’re going to be if we don’t get out of here soon. Goddamn bastards.”
The other chopper came in, hovered, then moved sideways to the landing pad. As before, two crewmen jumped out, already waving frantically for the people to hurry and get aboard.
Doug felt numb. Almost his whole squad, gone. He swept his gaze in a half circle as he backed toward the hovering chopper, holding his rifle ready. He fired two bursts at the stairwell hatch when a cascade of automatic rifle fire burst the lock and it started to open. A head that had showed momentarily disappeared in a spray of blood. When he heard the almost hysterical voice of the crewman yelling at him again to hurry, he turned and ran. June was just being hauled into the opening; she had waited until all her people were inside before leaving. He passed the crewman and rushed to the hands waiting to haul him inside. The crewman was hot on his heels. He barely made it before they were in the air, then almost fell out before another of the crew could get the door closed and latched.
Seconds later they were out of range, but not before several rifle rounds punctured the side paneling. It wasn’t until a sudden, relative quiet fell despite the noise of the rotor blades that he realized the chopper’s machine gun had been firing almost steadily the whole time they were on the roof and as they departed.
When he had time to look around he saw that Martha, Buddy, Guiterrez and one other man were all that was left of his squad.
There was a three day wait on the carrier, endurable only because Doug was able to enjoy a few intervals in the company of June despite the hours she was working and despite the grief he felt over the loss of so many from his squad. It was also tempered when word came from sick bay that Martha was going to recover from her wounds. Otherwise, he had little to do but wait, and avoid the embassy personnel when they arrived, still mad over playing second fiddle during the helicopter pickups. Other expatriates were brought aboard in a steady stream by helicopters, picking them up wherever they were in the most peril. Even communications with the CDC command structure was out of his hands. His phone was dead and he hadn’t been able to find a replacement battery aboard ship. Amelia did keep him informed, though.
The second day out was the first time June was able to take a break and ask Doug to meet her in the recreation room of women’s quarters. It was only about a quarter occupied and those who were there looked weary from overwork.
“You look sleepy,” was the first thing he said to her.
She straightened up from where she had been slumped in a chair, trying to finish a cup of coffee. She smiled wanly. “I am. I just wanted to see you a few minutes before going for a shower and a little sleep. I wanted to apologize for questioning you back there on the roof of the hospital. My only excuse for not doing it sooner is that I’ve been working so much. I’m dead on my feet.”
“Thanks, but I didn’t take it amiss. Are there that many ill among the refugees?”
“There’s enough to overwhelm the carrier’s sickbay, so when we offered, they put us to work. It’s mostly children with the usual things they come down with and black expatriates and embassy personnel who have contracted the disease here. Plus some wounded marines are beginning to come in, too.”
“You said they contracted the disease here. Do you mean you’ve discovered the vector?” Doug pulled out a chair and sat down with the cup of strong black coffee he had drawn.
“Oh no, sorry. I phrased that wrong. They got it because they’re black or dark brown, not necessarily from being here. I understand from the news back home that we’re beginning to see a pattern of how it spread from Nigeria, but it’s not following a traditional vector pattern.”
“How so?”
“Well, look—we have one member of a family that comes down with it and not another. We may have roommates where one is ill and the next perfectly healthy. So far, at least.”
“No pattern, huh?”
“Oh, I’m sure there is one. We’ll find it soon, simply from letting the computers crunch the numbers and data. That wasn’t really what I wanted to talk to you about, though. Besides apologizing.”
“An apology wasn’t necessary, June. Really. And I’m open for whatever else you need to say. Go ahead.”
“Doug—I’m sorry you lost so many of your crew. I know it must be hard on you. And I wanted to thank you.”
“Thank me? For what?”
“For saving all our lives. The hospital was overrun and looted right after we got away. The poor patients were slaughtered.” She dropped her gaze as if not wanting to think about what the scenes must have been like. Doug had heard about it, too.
“June, we were just doing what we signed up for. But why did the mob kill the patients? Weren’t there a lot of sick ones among them, trying to get admitted.”
June shrugged and stood up, abandoning her coffee with half of it left. “Lord knows. Probably a rumor got started that the way only way to stop it was to kill everyone showing symptoms.” She shuddered.
“People can be so cruel and unreasonable sometimes.”
Doug nodded. “As I said on the roof, they get scared and then irrational. And I know you must have been frightened back there on that roof. Hell, I was, too, and believe me, an apology wasn’t necessary.”
He saw that June was getting ready to go. “Are you leaving already?”
She covered a yawn with her hand. “I have to or I’ll fall asleep in my chair. I’ll try to get away and see you the same time tomorrow, okay? Maybe I’ll be a little fresher then.” She ran her hands through her hair, hanging in pale greasy tresses but still wavy. “And maybe this will look a little better after it’s washed.”
Doug wouldn’t have minded and said so. Even like this he found her attractive. Her figure beneath the thin material of her tropical uniform more than compensated for the battlefield grunge. He told her so, indirectly. June kissed him on the cheek with a tiny humorous twitch that displayed her amusement at the way males think, then left him there. He would have been surprised had he known how many questions she had asked Amelia about him after their rescue.
