Chapter 23
TWENTY-THREE
EIRA’S ROOM
Outside the clinic, engines and voices moved in bursts as the newly arrived personnel spread around the building. Equipment rolled across tile floors. Radios crackled faintly down the hallway.
But inside the room, the only steady sound was the monitor beside the bed. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Hunter Montgomery sat in the chair beside her, mask in place, sleeves rolled up. He placed his stethoscope on the small table nearby and watched the temperature monitor as the number crept upward again. 103.9.
Eira noticed. “You’re making that face again.”
Hunter looked up. “What face?”
“The one where you pretend to be calm.”
“I am calm.”
“Hunter.”
He sighed. “Your fever’s climbing.”
“I know.”
“You’re not supposed to say that so casually.”
Eira shifted slightly under the blanket. The movement took more effort than she expected. Her muscles ached like she ran miles in the heat. “It’s influenza. Fever happens.”
“Yes,” Hunter said. “But not when you’re this exhausted.”
She watched him for a little while. “You flew halfway across the world.”
“You’re my sister.”
“You brought a small army.”
“That part was Cox and Tate.”
A faint smile touched her lips. “Of course it was.”
Hunter leaned forward slightly and placed the back of his hand against her forehead again as if he didn’t trust the monitor. “How long have you been pushing yourself like this?”
Eira didn’t answer right away, but Hunter waited.
“Since the first patient I saw on Tevenne with the flu.”
“That was a week ago.” He exhaled slowly. “You should have stopped.”
She looked at him. “You know I couldn’t.”
Hunter didn’t argue. Instead, he glanced toward the chart at the end of the bed. “Any breathing difficulty?”
“No.”
“Chest tightness?”
“No.”
“Cough?”
“Some.” She paused. “Hunter?”
“Yes.”
“You’re doing the doctor thing.”
“I am a doctor.”
“You’re doing the big brother doctor thing.”
Hunter leaned back slightly. “That’s worse?”
“Yes.” She reached out slowly and touched his wrist. “I’m okay.”
Hunter met her eyes. “You’re not okay.”
“I’m sick.” She watched him carefully. “You’ve seen worse.”
“Yes. But not you.”
That made her quiet. “You look the same.”
Silence stretched between them again. It was not empty. It simply waited.
Eira looked down at her hands and then back at him. “I heard about Maria.”
Hunt nodded. “Right place, right time. Baby is tiny.”
Eira closed her eyes. “You saved them both.”
Hunt’s expression did not change. He shrugged.
She drew in a slow breath and held it before letting it go. “I need to tell you why I left.”
Hunter simply listened.
“Heat,” she said softly. “Dust. Metal twisted by fire.” Her eyes lost focus for a few seconds, but she did not look away. “The silence after the blast before the screaming begins.”
Her fingers tightened in the sheet. “We were a three-truck medical convoy delivering vaccines. Nothing urgent. Nothing flagged.” A faint breath escaped her. “Nothing is routine.”
Hunt stayed still. Present.
“The IED detonated under the lead vehicle,” she continued. “I remember the ringing in my ears. The taste of blood. My hands moved before I could think. Airway. Pressure. Stabilize.”
Her voice steadied as she spoke. “I was in the third truck.”
She paused. “There was a doctor in the second. Jonah.” Her throat tightened. “He kissed me the first time in a canvas tent during a sandstorm and told me one day we would do something ordinary. Something boring and safe.” A small breath followed. “I believed him. I was in love.”
Hunt still listened.
“I found him under the wreckage—too late.” A long pause followed. “The soldiers said it was quick.” Her eyes met Hunt’s. “I saw the blood pattern. The angle.” Her voice tightened. “I lost time getting to him.”
She coughed, then continued, “I kept working. I stayed two more weeks, like that was normal.” Her hands loosened slightly. “When I stopped, I didn’t know how to go home.”
She shook her head once. “I couldn’t walk into a hospital and pretend I was still steady. I was walking into walls. You’d offered me a position, but I was an embarrassment.” Her voice softened. “I didn’t call you.”
There it was. The center of it.
“I couldn’t,” she added.
Hunt simply asked, “Why?”
Eira looked at him. “Because you don’t fall apart. And I already had. I wasn’t fit to practice with you.”
Hunt pushed his chair closer, not crowding her, just moving close enough so she could see him clearly. “Where did you go?”
“Chase was in charge of the NGO. Ian sent a plane, but I bailed at the transfer. I ran,” she said, pushing forward. “Mumbai. I became Dr. Eira. I ditched electronics. I stopped being your sister.”
Hunt absorbed that without reacting.
“Until Ian found me. He didn’t ask me to be fixed. He gave me something to build.”
She looked around the room. “This was supposed to be enough. A place where I could save people without losing myself again.”
Her eyes returned to him. “And then Tevenne happened.”
Hunt blew out a harsh breath. “You think you’re the only one to fall apart, to lose someone you loved?”
Eira’s expression tightened.
“Pam was killed in an accident. I was floundering. Ian sent me to New Orleans so I could regain control. I almost lost it again when Pam’s death turned out to be murder.
And that preemie I delivered today, she was a bit bigger than your niece when she was born.
Flynn Marsh saved her before he almost died.
Her mom was sick with a man-made virus. I almost lost both of them.
And a few weeks later, I almost lost Ian.
“And then there are the patient losses. I can close my eyes and see every one. Eira, no one is immune to loss.”
She shook her head.
“You did not fail him,” he said.
Eira’s breath caught. “Jonah died.”
“You did not fail him,” he repeated.
“You’re saying that like it helps.”
“I am saying it because it’s true.” He sat beside her. “You did everything you could.”
Eira’s eyes filled. “That wasn’t enough.”
“It has to be.”
She looked down and then back at him. “I didn’t think I deserved to come back.”
Hunt’s expression shifted slightly. “That was never your call.”
A long silence followed, then Eira exhaled slowly. “I don’t know how to be who I was.”
“You aren’t that woman anymore,” Hunt answered.
She looked at him. “Then who am I?”
Hunt didn’t hesitate. “You are the one who stayed here to create this clinic. You are the one mothering an orphanage filled with children knowing exactly what it will cost.” He interlaced her fingers with his.
“You are a doctor who worked herself into the ground. And you are my sister. That is who you are.”
Something in her broke then. She looked away and then back at him. “I should’ve called you.”
Hunt nodded. “You should have.” There was no anger, only truth.
Eira tightened her grip. She did not let go. “We’re here now.”
Hunt nodded. “I know.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her head through his mask.
Outside, a vehicle engine roared briefly and faded down the road. Hunter looked toward the door. “A boat from Tevenne landed at the harbor. Cox went with security to meet it.”
Eira nodded weakly. “Of course he did.”
“You trust him?”
She gave a teary smile. “With my life.”
“Do you love him?”
“I do.”
Hunter’s brow rose as he leaned back in the chair again. “You know, Tate wanted to ground him.”
“Pete probably tried.”
“He did.”
Eira chuckled softly, then winced and coughed. “Don’t make me laugh. Ian flew him here. He asked me to keep him breathing, to help him remember how to be human again.”
“Ian.” Hunter adjusted the IV flow slightly. The fever monitor ticked up again. 104.1.
He frowned. “Alright, that’s enough.”
Eira raised an eyebrow. “Enough what?”
“Enough talking.”
She gave him a tired look. “You flew twelve hours to tell me to go to sleep?”
“Yes.”
“That’s rude.”
Hunter pulled the blanket up slightly around her shoulders and replaced the cool cloth on her forehead. “Sleep. I’m not going anywhere. We’ll talk more later.”
Eira closed her eyes, but before she drifted off, she murmured, “Hunter?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t let the staff or the kids panic.”
“They won’t. I promise.”
“And Ford…”
“I know Ford.”
Her voice softened. “He’ll run himself into the ground.”
Hunter squeezed her hand tighter. “I’ve noticed.”
Eira finally relaxed back into the pillow, and Hunter sat beside the bed, watching the monitor as the fever continued its slow climb. He applied nasal oxygen. “I’ll watch him.”
“Thanks.” Within minutes, her breathing slowed.
KASAVOA DOCKS
The road down to the harbor wound through thick jungle before opening suddenly onto the full island dock. Two island patrol trucks blocked the entrance. Their lights flashed silently in the burgeoning dusk.
The Defender rolled to a stop beside them.
Behind him, another vehicle carrying Eagle’s Talon operators pulled in and parked.
Ford secured his respirator and stepped out first, gloves already on.
Flynn Marsh climbed out on the passenger side, pulling on fresh gloves.
Behind him, Dr. Nadia Rios stepped down with a medical case.
Adrian Rourke stepped out of the second vehicle, followed by six members of Alpha squad. Their masks were already sealed and tactical lights hung ready at their shoulders.
At the edge of the dock, three island patrol officers waited. One of them walked quickly toward Ford. “You Cox?”
“Yes.”
The officer pointed toward the water. “That’s them.” A small motor vessel floated twenty yards from the dock, held in place by two patrol boats. The engine was off, and the vessel rocked gently against the tide. Shapes moved on the deck.
Ford stepped closer to the edge. “How many on board?”
“Crew of four,” the patrol officer said. “Plus four passengers.” He paused. “And the babies.”
Ford nodded. “Anyone try to disembark?”
“No.”
“Anyone sick?”
The officer shook his head. “Hard to tell. Once they saw our guns, they’ve mostly stayed back.”
Ford looked toward the boat again. “Everyone masked?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Rourke stepped beside him. “Alpha squad ready.”
Ford nodded. “We keep this controlled.”