Chapter 6 The Missing Colleague

• For the next three hours, she bustled around the clinic, doing everything from stitching up patients to changing bedpans. Her white coat might label her a doctor, but the clinic was so understaffed that the responsibility lines blurred significantly, and Thalia often found herself being not just a doctor, but also a nurse, a surgeon, a janitor, a cook, and a babysitter .
• So it's not surprising that when eight o'clock in the evening came, she was about to pass out. And because her shift is in the evening, she can't keep up with her colleagues at dinner. During break time, she always eats a can of pork and beans. So with her eating routine, there is no chance that she will gain weight.
• The MD International lived in heavy canvas tents behind the building. They have four big tents, two for the men, and those two tents are for the women. They also have six small tents for people with special circumstances; such as Nadine, and the others are for their staff who are a couple.
• She went to the tent she shared with Liza, and two other nurses, Kelsey who was American, and Iris who was French.
• As tired as she was, she wanted to take a cold shower first so she could get rid of the sticky feeling due to the heat of the sun. Their only bathroom was behind the tents, which they shared with the men. It is no longer important that they share a bathroom in their situation, but of course there is still respect for each other which is why they actually have a scheduled shower time. But when Thalia is really tired, she doesn't care if anyone sees her taking a bath naked.
• She stood up with her toiletries in hand, then froze when the handheld radio on the night stand began to crackle. Shooting a quick look at Kelsey, she grabbed the handheld radio and hurried out of the tent.
• Once outside, in a small abandoned recreation area, she approached the picnic-style tables where they were eating their meal.
• "Th-Thalia...c-can...you...h-hear me?"
• She could barely recognize the tiny voice from the speaker, but it sounded like Doc Kelvin's. She frowned when she immediately realized that Doc Kelvin had not returned to their clinic.
• As more static hissed out of the handheld radio, she clicked the button and said, "Doc Kelvin, is that you?"
• "Th-Thalia..."
• She could hear it more clearly now. So she breathed a sigh of relief. All right, at least she was still in one piece. Maybe he was just delaying in returning home and the village doesn't have much signal.
• "Doc Kelvin, do you hear me? Where are you now?"
• "I'm in village...Esmeralda..."
• Thalia frowned. "Esmeralda? Why did you go so far north?"
• More static, followed by what sounded like a round of heavy coughing. "Things here...are...bad."
• For the first time since she'd heard her colleague's voice, a real pang of concern tugged at her gut. "Doc Kelvin, what's going on there?"
• "I...t-treatment...don't know...never seen it before."
• She didn't really understand her strange feelings and that made her sweat all over.
• "The water...maybe...don't know." Kelvin sounded more anguished, and his British accent grew more pronounced, the way he always did when he was upset. "Very bad, Doc Thalia...Don't know wh-what's wrong with me...stay away."
• The last two words made her shiver.
• "Y-you hear me, Doc Thalia? D-don't come here." He repeated himself, more desperate now. "Don't...come...here."
• Until suddenly the other line was cut off.
• -----
• "You're in church? You're just kidding, aren't you?" Second Lieutenant Pierre Paredes said in disbelief while Dean was talking to him on the satellite phone.
• Chuckling, Dean swept his gaze over the single-story brick building a hundred yards away. Two simple wooden crosses were the only hints that it was a church, one at the door, the other is on the roof. The yellow light he could see on the other side of the structure indicated that the old priest was still awake.
• "I'm not kidding," Dean replied. "Though technically, I'm just in a barn."
• He glanced behind him at the darkened entrance of the little barn he'd be spending the night in. He had checked the place thoroughly to make sure it was safe, and all he had to do was sleep despite the noise created by the two horses.
• "So you ran out of gas, and instead of walking to the nearest gas station, you decided to just stay there in San Jose?" Pierre seems to be getting more and more confused. "And since when do you not carry an extra fuel on your walks? Out of the three of us, you're the boy scout."
• "Yes, I even have extra fuel," he said. "But it was stolen. It looks like one of the patients at the clinic stole it."
• And if he wasn't just distracted by the beautiful doctor, maybe he immediately noticed that his extra can of gasoline was gone before he left the clinic.
• Fortunately, once the Jeep could no longer run on fumes, at least it had the decency to break down near this church.
• "Fine. That's why you didn't even bother going to the gasoline station."
• Dean just sighed. He didn't want to explain anymore. It's also pointless if they dig around to find out where his extra fuel is. The only important thing on his mind is who really wants to kill him, and in order to find out the answers, he needs to learn everything he can about Project Taurus and the mysterious virus that is nested by doctor Roger Edison in such villagers.
• But this was the first time in a long time that he was alone again. Without Tatum and Pierre lurking around, without that feeling of urgency weighing down at him. He doesn't know, but he really misses them.
• There is also a part of his brain that says he wishes he had run out of gas at Valera, so that he could talk to the beautiful doctor for a longer time.
• Damn, he can't sleep thinking about the woman. He thought Ina Reyes was the only beautiful woman he could see. But here, a good doctor immediately got his attention.
• He sighed. It was probably a good thing he hadn't stuck around. Because at the moment, he couldn't afford any distractions.
• "I'll catch a boat tomorrow morning," he said to Pierre. "There's no reason for me to rush. This thing about cholera is just a false alarm."
• "That will also help us to know the symptoms we are looking for. We don't know a damn thing about the virus that killed those people in Catalina." Pierre grumbled in aggravation. "Are you sure Ortez didn't offer any other details about the status of those dead bodies?"
• "I think you've asked that question several times, Paredes, but the answer still hasn't changed. Ortez said that the only visible signs of that disease are diarrhea and vomiting. That's all."
• ******