Page 13 of Freedom Fighters
Chapter Three
When the message came through by text, late that night, Carmen untangled herself from Angelo’s arms, moving carefully so she didn’t wake him. She dressed, then went in search of Garrett. He wasn’t anywhere near the big fire, although it was close to midnight. He would be doing rounds in the hospital rooms inside, with the eternally patient Gracia by his side.
She stepped insideand felt the immediate difference in the surrounding air. She had been living outside for so long that anywhere inside felt muffled, too warm and the air too thick.
Gracia hovered by a sleeping patient, taking his blood pressure. She straightened when Carmen moved into the room and stripped the cuff from his arm. The man was sleeping or unconscious. He didn’t move.
“I’m looking for Garrett,”Carmen told Gracia. “I thought he would be with you.”
Gracia shook her head. The dark shadows under her eyes were still there. “It is quiet here tonight. No emergencies. I told Doctor Blackburn he should take the night off and get some sleep.”
“While you slave over the patients?”
“Someone must,” Gracia said. “I do not have two occupations to fill my hours as Doctor Blackburn does.”
Carmennodded. “Thanks. I’ll try his room.” She hesitated. “Can I ask you a question?”
Gracia nodded, winding her stethoscope into a neat coil.
“Does it bother you that Garrett spends his daylight hours killing Insurrectos, then comes here and does this?”
“Healing people?” Gracia clarified. “It is not my place to judge anyone.”
“I didn’t say judge. I asked if it bothered you. You’re a registerednurse, aren’t you?”
Again, Gracia nodded.
“Don’t you swear an oath to protect your patients?”
“Only doctors take the Hippocratic Oath,” Gracia said.
“Where they swear that first, they will do no harm,” Carmen replied.
Gracia pressed her lips together. “You should ask Garrett that.”
Carmen gave up. Gracia wouldn’t rat on Garrett no matter what she said to persuade her. The woman had all theethics Garrett didn’t.
She wended her way back through the monastery to the small room where Garrett hung out when he wasn’t doctoring or fighting. It had been given to Garrett as his office and sleeping quarters. The door was shut. It was always shut, so the closed door meant nothing.
Carmen rapped on the wood and got no answer. She pushed the door open a few inches. The chair behind the ricketydesk was empty. She pushed the door open even farther. The room was deserted. The door to the tiny bedroom was ajar and she could see the bed. It was made and undisturbed.
She shut the door again. Where was Garrett? The monastery was a big place, although the monks discouraged the fighters from stepping inside unless expressly invited by one of the brothers—a rare occasion. Did Garrett followthat custom, or had he found a room somewhere farther inside, where no one would find him?
Carmen was tempted to give up and go back to her sleeping bag and Angelo. Only, the news from Cristián was urgent. Instead, she blew out her breath, exhaling her frustration and went back outside. She circled the exterior of the main monastery building, checking behind out-buildings as she came to them.
She found Garrett on the far side of the monastery from everyone else. He had found himself a shallow trench on the lee side of a small shed. The shed was old and falling down. The stones that had once made up the walls were piled against the remnants of the wall itself. The trench wasn’t deep, yet sitting at the bottom would protect against the tiny breeze.
Garrett wasn’t in the trench, though.He sat on the pile of rubble that glowed a ghostly white in the light of the full moon. He was a black silhouette against the stones, his back against the section of wall that still stood.
“Are you hiding?” Carmen asked.
“‘parently, not well enough.” It was a low growl.
“We heard from Pascuallita,” Carmen told him. “They want to meet in two days, atValleLeñosa, that little village in thelowlands.”
“You couldn’t’ve told me this tomorrow?”
Carmen stared at him, even though she couldn’t see any details in the dark. “Are you drunk?” she asked at last. Something in the way he was talking…
