Page 78 of Soul on Fire
“Two black guys are the heroes, huh?” He laughed, a single chuckle that turned into a deep, wet cough, but he kept smiling even as Ramirez helped him sit up and pounded his back.
When he looked at his hand, he expected to see blood. This was the end, certainly.
All he saw was watery phlegm. “Am I sick?”
“Youweresick,” Ramirez corrected. “It was touch and go there for a while. The vaccine was administered too late to do any good, but we were able to bring donated antibodies from other Ebola survivors in for both of you.”
Elliot’s breath caught. His gaze flicked from Ramirez to Mallory. “Both?”
Mallory reached behind her and drew back a curtain, revealing another hospital bed and another patient: Ikolo.
Elliot’s heart seized, and damn his exhaustion, he was going to Ikolo, he was going to crawl into bed with him, touch him with his own hands, feel his skin, shake him and shake him until he was awake again—
Mallory caught him before he fell out of his bed. “Stand fast, Lieutenant,” she said softly. “Stay in bed.”
But Ikolo was flat on his back with IV lines in the back of both hands and his arm in a sling. Why wasn’t he moving? What was wrong—
“He wanted to be awake when you came out of your coma, but he couldn’t hold on. You took your time swimming back to consciousness. Doctor Ngondu is still recovering and is exhausted most of the time, as you will be, too. It will take a while for both of you to be back to normal,” Dr. Ramirez said.
“He asked me to give you this.” Mallory passed Elliot a folded piece of paper.
Inside, Ikolo had sketched a beach, a wide, empty cove with perfect sand and waves lapping up a gentle expanse toward two figures sitting side by side and staring at the sea.Together, he’d written.We promised each other together.
* * *
Kline visitedhim the next day, wearing the same protective gear Ramirez and Mallory had. “They say this is just for caution,” Kline said, snapping at his mask. “That we don’t even really need these damn things.”
“Are you going to take it off, Admiral? Break a rule?”
“Well, I might have been inspired to break one or two by a certain someone in my command.” Kline was the only person on the planet who could look both pissed off and amused at the same time. Elliot grinned.
“The world is getting back to normal out there. Or, better than normal. Syria has requested international aid and has accepted a full cease-fire while UN troops and the WHO come in and treat their epidemic. The African Union is working with both the United States and China on Operation Golden Shield. We’re overwhelming the rebels in the Congo and breaking them. And, we’re building three emergency field hospitals in the eastern provinces, which will turn into freestanding hospitals after the epidemic. The USNSComfortis heading for Kinshasa now to take on additional patients. China is donating the medical supplies to the hospitals. Five thousand patient beds and a billion dollars in vaccines, antibiotics and durable supplies. China has also agreed to produce a million doses of the Ebola vaccine we used on you two for exclusive use in Africa. We’re going to be distributing the vaccine through the WHO to Syria.”
“Holy shit,” Elliot breathed. “How the hell…”
“Someone once told me,” Kline said, a smile in his voice, “that neutrality becomes complicity. That remaining uninvolved carried the same guilt and shame as actively assisting in perpetuating harm. I shared these thoughts with the president. She agreed.”
Nodding, Elliot held out his fist for Kline. They weren’t supposed to touch anyone, not yet. Not for another week. They were cured, Ramirez said, with no Ebola virus left in their blood samples, but under an abundance of caution, they were still under hospital confinement. Which was fine by Elliot, ‘cause holding out his fist for Kline was taking all of his strength.
Kline made a fist and bumped Elliot’s gently.
“Your friend, Assistant Minister Bai Ji, has been a big help. He got the ball rolling on some backdoor diplomacy between Beijing and Washington, and they’ve agreed to pass on any intel on Rhee Dae-Sung. We’ll get him soon. And, he was a big help in negotiating the humanitarian aid operation. He said something about China wanting to do their part to return sustainability and long-term investments to the Congo to help her people.”
“Ikolo will be glad to hear that. I hope they keep their word.”
“Speaking of Ikolo…” Kline raised a single eyebrow, staring at Elliot.
He stared right back, not saying a word.
Kline’s eyes crinkled in a smile. He squeezed Elliot’s shoulder. “Doctor Ngondu still has children waiting for him on my ship. Is he taking them home to the Congo?”
“Yeah.” Elliot nodded. “Actually…” He grinned. “I thinkwe’regoing to take them home.”
* * *
Chapter Thirty
Six MonthsLater
