Hummingbird Lake Page 0,58
Ice. Cold. Death.
She stood motionless for a minute—or an hour, she didn’t know—her gaze locked on the icicles, her thoughts on a hot, dusty day years ago. She didn’t hear Colt approach or notice that he’d taken a position beside her until he said, “Isn’t that beautiful? Look at how the sun glistens off the icicles. It’s so bright and sparkling—like a river of diamonds, don’t you think?”
She hadn’t noticed.
“How cold do you think it is right now? I’m guessing around twenty degrees. The sunshine works its magic, though. See?” He pointed toward the upper section of Heartache Falls. “The icicles in the sunshine are melting. Just a little, but they’re definitely melting.”
Sage stared. Sparkling sunshine and … yes. Water. Not ice, but a drop of water, sliding down the length of the icicle and falling free.
Liquid. Not frozen. Warmed by the sunshine and released.
Sage let out a shuddering breath and the words tumbled out. “I volunteered with Doctors Without Borders. In the Central African Republic.”
He turned his head. His brows were arched in surprise, but he didn’t speak. His silence encouraged her to continue.
“It was a lawless place. Dangerous. But Doctors Without Borders treats everyone. That’s their mission. Doesn’t matter what side of a conflict you are on. That’s why they’re allowed access. In CAR, our organization broadcast the mission far and wide, so the bad guys left us alone.”
Colt listened, his expression interested but not judgmental, not the way her father’s expression had been when she’d first told him she’d signed up to volunteer.
“I loved the work. These people had nothing, Colt, and what we gave made such a huge difference. It was so rewarding.”
She couldn’t bring herself to tell him about that day, the worst day, but she was able to tell him of the beginning of the end. “We were manning a medical clinic in a remote village. It was a beautiful morning. The heat in the afternoons was a killer, but that particular morning, the weather was lovely and people were happy. I’ll never forget this set of twin boys. They were probably two and a half years old and their mother brought them for immunizations. They started playing a game of peek-a-boo with each other and they got to giggling. Soon they had everyone else in the room laughing.”
She told him how in midafternoon, the Zaraguinas rode in looking for her. She told him about Peter and how he’d attempted to protect her and how they’d shot him.
“Your fiancé,” he repeated, the rounding of his eyes betraying his surprise at that bit of news. “They killed him?”
“No.” She shook her head. Not that day. “He recovered, but he couldn’t stop them from taking me that day.” And I couldn’t save him later.
She remembered Peter, tall and lean and blond. So smart, so dedicated. Such passion for the mission. And for her.
She closed her eyes and when Colt moved behind her, wrapped his arms around her in a comforting embrace, she found the strength to continue. “They took me to another village, their stronghold. My reputation had preceded me because their leader, Colonel Ban Ntaganda, wanted me.”
His voice tight and pained, Colt said, “Aw, Sage.”
She realized then that he hadn’t believed her before. Typical male. Although that wasn’t fair. Peter had thought the same thing because, after all, they’d been living in the rape capital of the world. “Not rape. That’s not what he wanted. They were kidnappers and—”
“You were a hostage? Held for ransom?”
“Not me.” She shook her head. “The children. See, the people in the area were nomads, cattle keepers, and the bandits targeted their children because parents could sell their livestock to raise ransom money.”
“That’s evil.” Colt’s eyes glittered with anger and disgust. “Those poor kids.”
“What happened that time was that a father had already sold his cows when Ntaganda kidnapped his children. The poor man had no way to pay the ransom and Ntaganda killed the kids. Right in front of their father.”
Colt blew out a heavy, heavy sigh. “You saw this?”
“No. But it affected me. You see, the father went crazy. He somehow managed to get hold of a gun and he shot Ntaganda.”
“And you were a surgeon,” Colt said, finally getting it right.
She turned in his arms. Staring up at him, she confessed her horror. “I saved his life, Colt. He was an evil, evil man. I saved him. I never thought twice about it. I didn’t think about those children or their father. I operated on the man,