Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Isaac Warner looked at the American woman in front of him, seeing the moment when she donned the necessary armor to handle whatever injuries she was about to be faced with.
He’d seen her around the small Guatemalan town he’d been staying in for the last three months after moving from Alaska.
Eventually the cold had gotten to him and he’d needed a change.
This was another place where he became someone other than himself.
Now he was Samuel Rodrigo and he lived in San Carlion, Isaac lived nowhere.
At this rate he had no idea who Isaac Warner was anymore.
It had been so long since he’d been his real self.
All he had to do was hang on for a few more months, and then when enough time had passed, he could reclaim his life back in the United States. Although, what that life looked like was anyone’s guess. He wasn’t going to go back to the DEA, that was for sure.
That was the least of his concerns right now. He may not be able to provide the kind of care that Marie had been trained for, but he could stitch up minor cuts and bandage injured limbs. He could give her another set of hands in what was going to be a chaotic few hours.
“You ready to go?” he asked, as Marie added a couple more packets of bandages to the pile in the basket.
They were dusty, and he could see that a couple of the protective wrappers had slight tears, but considering that there weren’t many options, not to mention resources, she would have to use everything available to them.
“Yes. Let’s go.” Her voice was strong, but there was no hiding the way her hands were shaking a little.
He shouldn’t touch her. Shouldn’t pull her into his arms again, but that was exactly what he did. He shifted the basket and gave her a one arm hug. And just like the first time when he’d held her during the aftershock, a spark of awareness filtered through his bloodstream, warming it.
Isaac ignored the feeling, he had no time or mental space, to explore the feeling—even if he yearned for a connection to someone. “Whatever you need. Whatever is beyond that door, we’ll do it together.” He would do whatever was needed to help Marie through this.
“Thank you. I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn't been here. I…” she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. We’ve been gone long enough.”
Only a few minutes had passed since the aftershock ended, but even for Isaac, it felt like it had been hours.
Isaac followed Marie out, wincing when he saw the amount of damage and the way the fluorescent lights hung down, sparks flying in the air. “Be careful, there are live wires.”
“I see them. They weren’t there after the initial quake.”
Isaac was prepared to grab her should he need to, but she carefully avoided them.
Looking around him, seeing the way that some walls had huge cracks in them, he worried that the building wouldn’t hold up if there was another aftershock. “We need to find somewhere safer to deal with the injured.”
Marie looked over her shoulder as she entered the stairwell, at least this area looked stable. “I don’t know if there is anywhere safer. From what I saw through the gaping hole in the wall, there aren’t a lot of places we could go to.”
Isaac hated to admit that what she was saying was true, but hopefully the authorities would recognize the importance of having an area where the injured could go and get treated safely, and this little hospital wasn’t the place—unfortunately.
They made their way to the next level, and when they walked out he cursed quietly. This floor hadn’t fared any better than the one they’d been on.
“Oh my god, Ophelia!” Marie raced away from him, and he rushed after her, wanting to make sure that she didn’t get hurt.
He reached her side as she collapsed to the ground beside a prone figure, blood seeping from a wound on her head.
Immediately, he reached into the basket and pulled out a packet of gauze, ripping it open and pressing it against the wound.
He should have gloves on, but that was the least of his worries at the moment.
His concern was for the woman lying on the ground and the one beside her.
“What do you need?” he asked, not knowing if this Ophelia woman was alive or dead.
“Keep doing what you’re doing. She’s breathing, and it doesn’t feel like anything is broken. But I can’t be sure without x-rays and ultrasounds to see if she has any internal bleeding. Dammit, I was counting on her to help me,” she finished quietly.
There may have been an x-ray machine in the small hospital, but he doubted they ever received the necessary funds to have an ultrasound machine. “I don’t have a medical background, but I have basic first aid experience. You tell me what needs to be done and I’ll help you.”
Marie nodded and continued with her examination of her colleague. Around them the building creaked, and he glanced up to make sure that the floor above wasn’t going to collapse on them. It looked okay, for the moment, but anything was possible.
A moan sounded from the woman, and Marie’s shoulders relaxed a fraction.
Even he knew that even the slightest noise was a good sign.
Marie nudged his hand that was pressing on Ophelia’s wound.
He lifted it and watched as she quickly cleaned it.
With all the blood wiped away, the injury wasn’t as bad as he first thought.
It didn’t even look like she needed stitches, but the blow had been sufficient enough for the woman to lose consciousness.
“Stay still Ophelia, let me finish dressing your wound,” Marie cautioned as she took the bandage from Isaac’s hand. “Can you tell me what day it is?”
“Tuesday.”
“Where are you?”
“At the hospital. Lying on the ground after an earthquake and aftershock.”
Marie smiled in relief, and Isaac was aware she didn’t need his help at the moment, so he gave her shoulder a squeeze, ignoring the warmth the simple touch gave him. She looked at him, questions in her gaze, and he pointed in the direction of the hallway. She gave a quick nod and he left.
He had to climb over the rubble, but he poked his head into the first room he came upon, noting that it was empty, but it looked like another storage closet—one that appeared to be in a little better condition than the hallway, and it was stocked with medical supplies that would be needed.
He’d let Marie know about it, then again she probably already knew considering this was where she worked.
Isaac continued on his way, grimacing when he walked into another room and saw that the occupants hadn’t been so lucky. He imagined this wouldn’t be the only fatalities he’d find. He quickly went over to them to confirm that they hadn’t fared well and covered them with their bed sheets.
By the time he returned to where Marie had been, he had a better idea of who needed help and those who didn’t on this floor.
Ophelia was propped up against an undamaged portion of the wall while Marie was tending to another person.
As if she heard his arrival, she looked over her shoulder, raising her eyebrow in query.
He indicated for her to join him, and she murmured to the man she was attending to and came to where he stood.
“Must be bad if you’ve called me over.” She kept her voice low so as not to distress the other occupants, even knowing that eventually they’d find out.
“Five fatalities and six injured on this floor.” He was ready for however she reacted. If she needed a hug he’d give it to her, but Marie was strong, and she gave a short nod, her spine straight.
Was she bottling everything down to deal with later?
More than likely that was exactly what she was doing, and if she’d let him, he would be there when she did deal with it.
He didn’t know these people, Marie did. She’d probably treated most of them.
Had built something of a relationship with them.
Any death would hit her hard, but deaths caused by a natural disaster would hit harder.
“How critical are the injured?”
“I’d say two. Three are serious and one seems to have suffered the same fate as Ophelia; got a knock on the head from falling debris.
The cut didn’t look deep, and I gave them a bandage, told them to keep pressure on the wound and help would be there soon.
” Even with his limited medical knowledge, the patients he thought were critical may not be as bad as they seemed.
And the one with the minor injury could be the one who was hurt the worst.
“Right. Okay,” she said, but Isaac wasn’t sure she was aware of what she was saying as she seemed to be mentally cataloguing what he’d told her. “Thanks.” She touched his arm briefly before going back to Ophelia and the other man, talking earnestly to them.
Her cool demeanor under the immense pressure of dealing with a building crumbling around them, impressed the hell out of Isaac. He’d seen seasoned agents puke at the merest sight of blood and then be hopeless in helping people who’d been injured.
“Samuel!” Marie’s voice pulled him from his thoughts.
How long had she been calling his name? He’d been using the name Samuel for months now. He was used to answering to it whenever he came to town and spoke to the locals.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about the storeroom on this floor and how much I should get from there for you.” As far as excuses went, it was a valid and reasonable one.
“Ophelia will handle that. She’s also going to go check out the patients on this floor.
” She paused, swallowing as if what she was about to say next was going to be hard.
Harder than anything she’d already seen.
He moved toward her. If she needed him he would be there for her.
“Will you come with me to check the next floor?”
“Of course, anything you need, all you have to do is ask.” His response was immediate and truthful.
He may have only met her but she called to him in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time.
His last long-term relationship was over a decade ago.
Before he’d taken on a role that left him tainted and with more blood on his hands than his job as a DEA agent should ever have had.
“Thank you. There are eight patients on the third floor. The first floor is where we see anyone who comes in to seek treatment. Fortunately, Ophelia had seen the last patient about fifteen minutes before the earthquake hit. I was the only one there getting ready to meet my colleagues on the second floor for rounds.”
Isaac let Marie ramble on as they made their way up the stairs. He had no idea what they were going to be greeted with when they mounted the last step. The top floor could still be in good shape, or it could be worse with the roof having collapsed on everyone.
He wasn’t a person who normally prayed, but he sent a short one upwards so the damage and injuries were minimal. Marie’s gasp told him his thoughts were a little late.
“Oh no!” Her cry reached into his soul, and he took the last two steps in one stride so that he was beside her.
The scene set out in front of them was something out of a Hollywood disaster movie. Part of the roof had collapsed, causing the walls to cave in. As bad as the floor below had been, at least they’d been able to see the general layout. This floor was a mass of rubble and roof beams.
If anyone survived up here it would be a total miracle. But stranger things had happened. As bad as it looked right this second, there could be little pockets of spaces amongst the rubble where people survived.
Beside him Marie shook off her shock and despair and faced him, a determined glint shining in her blue eyes. “You ready?”
“Always.” And for her he would be. He vowed for the rest of the time he would be in Guatemala, he’d make sure he spent it with her—if she let him.
But you’re not Samuel, local townsperson, and you don’t know how long you’ll be here.
Mentally Isaac cursed his conscience, because it was right.
He may want to get to know Marie better, but danger still hung around him, and until it was safe for him to return to his home—wherever that was–he couldn’t start something with this strong woman in front of him. No matter how much he may want to.