The gun’s barrel was hot against Ken’s temple. It had been used a lot that evening and Ken had seen most of it happen. “Ok I will do whatever you want! Just don’t hurt me!” his voice was shaking. He thought of Sarah.
…
“So Sarah, whatcha up to tonight?” Ken wasn’t one to pry, but this seemed bound to happen.
“Dr. Harper…What would I be doing here on the only island that I have ever been on that wasn’t a tropical paradise?” Ken’s surgical nurse had an awkward sense of flirting that drove him crazy.
“Yeah that did confuse me too when Without Boarders sent me a picture with palm trees…come to think of it I haven’t seen a palm tree yet, nor a pineapple!”
“What does a pineapple have to do with palm trees, Doc?”
“Uhh…”
“And to answer your question I am not doing anything tonight. Just a glass of wine then bed.”
“How ‘bout we share that glass of wine?”
“Doc! Are you coming onto me?” Her smile was inviting while her tone wasn’t. Ken was perplexed as to how women could do that.
“Well…I uh…I was just suggesting that we share a friendly drink after work tonight.” Ken couldn’t look at her in the eyes; he would have blushed far too much for a cardiac surgeon.
“Ok Doc, but your buying!” Sarah said as she walked down the dirty hallway of the third-world emergency clinic in Bahrain.
“And oh yeah Sarah, you make this shit hole bearable…” he said softly under his breath. Turning to the main entrance of the emergency room Ken was surprised to see an army man standing there staring at him. “Can I help you?” His eyes were drawn to the large gun hanging off his shoulder.
“Sah duni…sah duni…Detabeeb sah duni” The man looked faint, and Ken couldn’t understand anything he was saying. He had been on this island for less then a month and hadn’t picked up any Arabic.
“Ok…”he mumbled to himself. “Are you hurt?” Turning he looked for a translator and he saw Elaine standing there wide eyed and white in the face. “Elaine! What is he saying?”
“He wants you to help him…but Doctor Harper…Don’t.” Elaine turned and quickly walked the other way.
Ken turned and saw the man fall to his knees. That’s when he saw the pool of blood that was where his left food had been planted. “Shit! Nurse a stretcher!” He shouted as he ran and caught the man before he fell flat on his face. He turned the man so that he was on his back on the blue tile floor.
“Sah duni…detabeeb…” The man’s face was scared and far more pale then it should have been. He had lost a lot of blood. But where was his wound?
The short nurse with black hair rushed forward with a stretcher and helped Ken pull the man onto it. A few other doctors had arrived and helped lift the injured man and carry him to a room.
“Ken…this is one of the Al Khalifa guards. He shouldn’t be here!”
Ken turned to look Dan in the eyes. His heart was suddenly racing faster. “Why the hell is he in THIS hospital then? Didn’t you say the guards would be killed for associating with westerners?” Ken got his answer from Dan’s scared eyes. “Close the curtain! Shit…shit…shit! Ok we help him then get him out fast!”
“We can’t let him know that we have the rebel leader in this building! We’d all be killed! They hate us enough with out them knowing that we help the rebels. Damnit Ken! We have to get ride of him!”
“Dan get out! I can’t have you in here telling me to off this guy! I can’t do that! I am going to help him.” Ken turned to see that no one was doing anything to help the guard. “Get his clothes off of him! What the hell are you all waiting for! Where is he bleeding from Sarah?” She was just reaching for the scissors to cut off the uniform.
“It looks like its coming from his left Coxal region. Yup…it looks like a…Ken…he was stabbed!” Her eyes met his and he knew something was wrong. “I don’t like this…why wasn’t he shot?”
“I don’t know, just stop the bleeding and we can figure it out.” Ken put on his gloves. “Is it a clean cut?”
“No, it’s a long jagged one. Its mostly superficial but it could have nicked the femoral artery or vein. How did he make it here?”
“He would had to have been close.” He placed his hands on hers taking over to stop the bleeding. “Go hid him.”
“You don’t think?”
“Yes…Sarah…you have to get him out of here.”
“Ken…I really wanted that wine tonight!” For a split second they kept froze in a stare. Then Ken looked down at his patient.
“We’ll still have it…don’t worry.” He looked back up as she left the room running to the room where the Rebel leader was being attended. He returned to his patient. “Lets get some antibiotic in him just incase. Also, a unit of O neg. let’s get some more blood into this poor guy.” Ken could easily stop the bleeding because the wound was mostly superficial like Sarah had said. Then something caught Ken’s eye, the native nurse had pulled the man’s pants further down and he saw a huge bruise on the anterior femoral and inguinal area. He hadn’t been stabbed at all. “A hit and run?” He mumbled softly.
“What?” Dan hadn’t left. “He was run down?”
“They must’ve hit him with their car and kept driving. Something caught his thigh and had cut him. A hit and run, I have seen these kinds of injuries before in LA. Always a type of gang hit.”
“So they were trying to kill him?”
“But why not use a gun?” Ken was confused. He didn’t understand why a guard would be run down and more confusing was why he would come to this hospital. “Dan you need to call the embassy now. Something is about to happen…something that this guy wanted to stop.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Dan’s hands shook.
“They didn’t use their ammunition because they were going to need it. They wanted to silence him, but they ultimately didn’t care whether or not it would really work. Don’t you see! The guards are coming here!” Ken finished bandaging up the guard who had come to warn them. “They must have gone somewhere else first.”
Just then Elaine burst through the doors. “They shot up the clinic on the south side of town! They killed everyone! Oh my God! They are going to kill us all!”
Dan was on her in a second, “What happened? Calm down! What the hell is happening?”
“My sister lives next door to the clinic. She just called me! She says they’re coming here!” she couldn’t control her shaking knees and her whole body convulsed in fear.
“Why?” Ken asked.
“Because they’re going to make a move…” Dan whispered.
Then Ken understood. They were helping the rebels and they had been keeping them alive to continue their work. It only made sense to get ride of them the doctors.
“Who do you get rid of first if you don’t want anyone else to survive?” Dan said aloud.
“The one’s who keep everyone else alive…us.” Ken’s hands began to shake. Then he heard it happen.
Pop pop pop!! Then screaming. Men yelled in a language he didn’t understand. He hit the ground as someone kicked in the door and started shooting blindly. He saw Dan get hit in the chest. He cried out as he fell to the ground. Elaine’s black hair flew up as bullets passed through it. She fell to her knees before crumbling to a bloody ball on the floor. One man emptied his whole clip into the injured guard that Ken had been helping. Ken watched as he reloaded his handgun with a new clip. Then the man looked down at Ken. “Doctor, stand up.” His English was better then it should have been.
Ken stood slowly with his hands held up above his head. The gun’s barrel was hot against Ken’s temple. It had been used a lot that evening and Ken had seen most of it happen. “Ok I will do whatever you want! Just don’t hurt me!” his voice was shaking. He thought of Sarah.
“I am not allowed to kill you Doctor Harper. You are lucky tonight.”
“What do you want with me? How do you know my name?”
The man’s hand was strong on Ken’s shoulder. “You don’t ask questions to me doctor. I ask you questions. And don’t fear I will get my answers.” Ken could hear the man smiling. Then he felt cold steel on his head, and everything went black.
…
Cold water on his face brought him back to consciousness. He coughed and tried to open his eyes, but when he did he still couldn’t see anything. There was a heavy clothe on his face. His breathing was chaotic. His mind raced. He was tied down. He felt a strap on his forehead, chest, wrists, thighs and ankles. His whole body was seizing with the horrid and very rational fear of what was about to happen.
“Where is he Doctor Harper?” it was the same man who had hit him.
“I…what? I don’t know what is happening!”
Water poured directly on his open mouth and he was drowning. He could not help the panic that rushed through his body. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t breath. He was drowning and there was no escape. He prayed that someone would save him.
Then the water stopped. “I am…” He coughed heavily “…just a doctor!”
“Then where is your patient?”
“You killed him!”
Water and panic. His chest was on fire and he felt like there was a whole ocean that was pouring on his face. Death and blackness seemed the only relief.
“He’s gone!” He coughed.
“Then you know who I am talking about?”
“He came in this morning.” Ken would say anything to not have the water again. “But he’s gone! I swear!” he sobbed.
More water. More hopeless fear and chaos ran through his head. Somewhere in his incoherent thoughts he heard gunshots. The water stopped for a split second. Sweet air filled his lungs. Then more chaos filled him as the water began to pour. It kept coming and he couldn’t turn away. His chest was exploding. He was dying. His mind was going black.
Light. Bright lights from above him blinded him as he coughed up water. He could breath. Then he saw his savior. Someone was there but they were blurry from the water in his eyes. He blinked the blur away. Sarah. She had a gun. “What is…”
“Shh…we have to get out of here Ken. You have to trust me now.” She seemed different. She finished untying him and helped him to his feet.
“Who are you? Did you kill them?”
“I hope they’re dead! Or this is going to be tricky.” She smiled. How could she be smiling? He had just about died.
“You saved me?” Ken followed her out of the room. Her gun was held expertly out in front of her. He had only seen someone hold a gun like that in the movies.
“I have a car out ba…” she shot two quick rounds and he saw two men fall to the ground. “…out back. We can make it to the embassy before the helicopter leaves. The war’s started.”
“War? Car? Who are you?”
“I’m your best bet at staying alive right now. And that’s all you need to know. Just follow me.”
They crossed over so many bodies that Ken didn’t even try to count. It was as if they were the only two who were not dead in the whole hospital. It was a massacre. Ken hadn’t ever seen that much blood in his whole life. He couldn’t think. Who was Sarah?
Outside he ducked into the passenger seat of her car. She jumped in and threw it into first and they leaped to a start. She drove fast and dodged people running in the streets. He looked out his window and saw a war zone. Fire, blood, guns, chaos. He couldn’t compute it. Nothing made sense.
As if reading his mind Sarah said, “The Al Khalifa family has finally made their move. We didn’t think they would find our command center so quickly, but they did. We have to pull out.”
“Command center? Pull out? What the hell is happening, Sarah?” his hands still shook.
“Ken, I’m CIA and I have been stationed here at the hospital because we have been funding the rebels. I was a liaison of sorts. But we have been ordered to pull out. No one can know that the US has been supporting the rebels. I was never here. They’re going to say it was an unexpected attack on a hospital when in fact it was a smart fucking move! I can’t believe I didn’t see this one coming. They just took out the main command center for the rebels and now we have to get out of here, within 2 hours this whole island will be in total chaos.”
“And your just going to let it happen? We have to help these people! Most of them aren’t even involved in this stupid fight.”
“Ken, orders are orders. We have to leave.” She looked at him gently not wanting to hurt him any further then he had already been hurt. “No one can know that the US was involved. Ken…this is how we work. We cause fighting so that our interest are furthered. Now we can come swooping in and save the day.” She looked down at the steering wheel.
“That’s not right! This is not right! How can we just do that!”
“International politics, babe, welcome to the game.” Her voice was sarcastic and Ken knew she liked what was happening just about as much as he liked the torture he had endured.
“Holy shit.”
“Well at least we can still have that wine. I’m glad I found you before they finished you off.” Ken looked out the window and saw fires in the distance. Too many fires.
