“Who is it?” asked the doorman.
“It’s me,” the woman said.
“Miss Miller? What brings you here in the middle of the night?”
It was late in the evening. The wind blew through the unfinished building, rustling the white plastic bags on the ground.
Maria frowned and said to the man, “I’ve shown you the plans, and I’m sure there’s nothing you can do here. My cousin and her husband are watching my every move, so I can’t do anything too obvious.”
The man was standing in the shadows. He had a cigarette in his hand, and the butt glowed red. Then he opened his mouth and uttered, “Do you think you’ll be able to stay in the Carousel Group after this?”
“What do you mean? What else do you want to do? Are you trying to put all the blames on me? Do you realize the gravity of the situation if someone dies here?” Panicked, Maria snapped.
“I wouldn’t have done it when no one was present if I wanted to frame you.”
The full moon was visible in the sky. Neither of these two realized that two other people had been lying on their backs behind the rubble pile eavesdropping on them.
***
At the Fleosil border medical station, Patrick was administering medications to the sick.
“Sorry. You can’t get in.” Suddenly, he heard someone outside arguing. Then Patrick cast a glance at the door. He told the patient to lie down and rest after quickly injecting him with medication.
At that point, several people from outside the door burst in. The man in front was a medic from the United States Medical Corps. He was dressed in an earthy camouflage military uniform and appeared oppressive. “What are you doing?” he asked, looking around vigilantly with his icy blue eyes.
Patrick shook his head and asked, “What do you think I’m doing? I’m keeping track of the patient’s vital signs. Do you want to take care of that as well? How about letting our medical team leave and leaving the place completely in your hands?”
Smith asked indifferently, “Are you collecting the patient’s information? I learned from a confidential source that you privately administered medications to patients. And we suspect that your country planned this epidemic.”
Frowning, Patrick said, “What? Do you have any evidence? Do you realize that if I report what you said to the media, it will cause serious diplomatic problems between three countries?”
“We’ll get the answer after we search the place. We’ll find out if the rumors are true.” With that, Smith waved a hand. Then his men held Patrick down.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”Struggling to break free, Patrick snarled.
“We’re going to search the place,” Smith said coldly. Several other men then started rummaging around the room.
“Hands off our instruments! All of them are super expensive! Don’t touch that! Keep your hands off them!”
“Shut the fuck up!” Annoyed, Smith aimed his gun at Patrick’s temple.
Feeling the coldness of the gun, Patrick was shocked, then he swallowed hard nervously.
“If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll shoot you in the head.” Glaring at Patrick, Smith threatened.
Patrick’s forehead was drenched in a cold sweat as he was frustrated as to whether Smith would lose it and shoot him in the head. At that precise moment, someone opened the door.
Hearing the sound, Smith turned around and looked at the door alertly, asking, “Who’s there? Leave the scene now or I’ll shoot!”
“Doctor Wright!” At the sight of Anna, Patrick said in surprise as if he had seen his life savior.
“Don’t go too far, Smith. Drop your gun NOW!” Not intimidated by Smith at all, Anna frowned and demanded firmly.
Smith sneered at Anna and gave her a contemptuous look. With a snort, he said, “Mrs. Wright, your student is doing something shady here. We now have every reason to believe that he is a spy!”
“Bullshit! I’m warning you; DROP THE GUN NOW!” Anna yelled.
Still, Smith remained motionless. After a brief moment of silence, Anna pulled a pistol from her pocket and pointed it at the back of Smith’s head, threatening, “You are free to shoot him. But I want to see who will react faster.”
Everyone in the room was shocked because no one expected Anna to have a gun. At that point, one of Smith’s men said, “We didn’t find anything, sir. There is only information about the patients here.”
Smith’s eyes widened in shock. He became increasingly agitated after he felt the cold metal on the back of his head. After a brief moment, he finally lowered the gun, turned around and said to Anna, “I was wrong about you, Mrs. Wright.”
“You should never underestimate me. Mr. Smith, I told you about that the first time we met.”
Smith took a look around and finally slid the pistol onto his belt. And he said, “You know what you’re doing, don’t you? You won’t be so fortunate every time. So, you’d better not let me find evidence of this, or you’ll pay the price.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about. We are simply doctors who want to help people. We never get involved in politics.”
“Let’s go,” Smith said with a sneer. They slammed the door shut as they left.
Instantly, Anna’s hand trembled as she gripped the gun tightly. She didn’t feel at ease until the Americans drove away.
“Are you okay, Dr. Wright?” Patrick asked her with concern.
“I’m fine,” Anna said, waving her hand.
“How come you have a gun?”
“Before I left…” Anna paused for a moment before deciding to keep her mouth shut. She then changed the topic abruptly, “That’s not the point. Did you give them the medicine?”
Patrick nodded. He then spread his palms carefully. He had just been clutching that syringe tightly and he knew he would have been in trouble if Smith had searched his body. With a smug, Patrick said, “He probably didn’t think I’d dare to keep this to myself.”
“We’ll have to be more cautious in the future. Smith is already suspicious of us.”
“Don’t worry. The patients are very cooperative with us. They’re not going to say anything. They all have faith in us. Also, what should we do if Smith comes back, Dr. Wright?” Patrick asked.
Anna exhaled deeply and replied, “I don’t know. I’ve submitted a request to the Foreign Ministry. I hope it will establish additional reinforcements to protect the medics.”
“Is that why Dr. Moore left?” Patrick asked.
“No, she went to attend to other matters,” Anna said thoughtfully.
Later, after leaving the room, Anna entered the lounge. She sat on the edge of the bed in the lounge, polishing the gun in her pocket.
Before she left Birmingham, Wayne had told her to see the captain first when she got off the plane without telling her what it was about. It wasn’t until she got the captain’s gun that she realized what he meant. Wayne agreed to let her volunteer, but he was still worried about her safety. The fact that he gave her the gun indicated that he knew the situation would be far worse than anyone had anticipated.
***
After getting off work, Ryan came straight home. He had just sat down when the maid handed him a hot tea.
Ryan said, “Thank you very much. You don’t have to clean up here, Mary. I need to speak with Wayne for a few minutes.”
Sitting opposite Ryan, Wayne sipped his whiskey. No one knew what he thought because his expression was calm.
Jennie invited him to return to the house after Anna had left. She claimed he wouldn’t be alone at home since the kids lived here. Wayne never said yes, but he always came there. Every day, as soon as the sun went down, he would arrive on time and invite Ryan to join him for a drink.
Crossing his arms, Ryan asked Wayne while frowning, “You didn’t bribe anyone in my office, did you? How do you know when I’ll get home from work?”
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.