Page 47 of Indirect Attack
I mulled over the information, finding it the salve I needed to finally relax and feel that the worst was behind us.
Thanking the UN rep a final time, I left to check on Jasmine, feeling lighter than I had in days.
JASMINE WAS AWAKE ANDeating when I got to the hospital, but I was surprised to find someone else in the room with her. Stiffening, I relaxed when he looked back over his shoulder, and I realized it was the same archaeologist from the other day who had given Greg the dressing down.
Jasmine glanced around him toward me. Underneath the nasty bruise, her face was still swollen and puffy, but it had gone down, and her smile didn’t look so painful or stifled as I walked in.
“Ben.”
The other archaeologist turned at Jasmine’s use of my name and her expression, his eyes widening in recognition for a moment.
I nodded a hello, and he nodded back. “You’re the Marine from the other day, right? In the medical tent?”
The one who interrogated Greg, his unspoken words said.
I bobbed my head in an affirmative.
“Josh, this is Sergeant Benjamin Rusev. Ben, this is Josh Marshall. He’s one of the dig supervisors. He came to see how I was doing.”
At Jasmine’s beckon, I moved farther into the room, and Josh offered a firm handshake. “I understand you’re also the one who brought our Jasmine back to us. We’re all grateful to you—she’s an asset to the team.”
The man still had a baseball cap in his off hand, his hair slightly matted around his forehead and ears like it was a constant adornment.
“Just doing my job,” I replied quietly.
But Jasmine was beaming up at me. “He’s modest. I wouldn’t be here without him. Ben and I grew up together, actually.”
“Yeah?” Josh looked between us. “Well, that’s lucky. Good thing he was stationed here.”
Jasmine’s eyes met mine for a long moment, and Josh seemed to sense whatever passed between us because he began backing toward the door.
“Well, I’m going to get going. Jasmine, take off as long as you need, okay?”
She nodded, and I could see her spark had nearly returned. It had been missing the day before, which had worried me. She wouldn’t have been the first person to lose themselves after such a terrible ordeal.
Josh left after thanking me again, and another handshake, and I settled in the now-familiar chair beside the bed.
“So how are you?”
“Still sore, still need meds for the pain, but better.” As if to illustrate, she raised her arm slightly on the side with the bruised ribs, then winced and dropped it again.
I chuckled, shaking my head. “Do you know if you’re getting out today?”
“You don’t have to make it sound like I’m in jail.” Jasmine laughed, then took a bite of one of the two pieces of brown bread on the food tray in front of her. I swiped the other piece and tore off a bite—I’d skipped lunch to come here.
“The doctor said probably today. He just wants to make sure everything looks good, and then I can go back to the hotel. You heard Josh—I can take as long as I need to rest.”
“He seems like a nice guy.” It was part statement, part probing question.
“Josh? Yeah, he’s great. He’d become kind of a mentor to me. I think he was here trying to figure out whether I was returning to the dig or going home immediately. I know they’d like me to come back.”
“And are you?” I said the words on the edge of a breath, waiting for her response.
Jasmine looked down at the bread, picking small bits off with her fingernails. “Yes, I am. But not long-term. I want to see this out, to figure out what’s down there. Even more than just having this on my resumé, I want to make this discovery—I’ll be one of the first to witness something no one has seen in millennia. But I’m not going to stay for the years it will require to unearth it fully. Like I said yesterday, I’m going to leave the war-torn areas to someone else.”
I let the breath I’d been holding out—Jasmine hadn’t changed her mind.
“Great.” Her eyes flicked up to mine at the sound of relief in my tone, curious, confused, but she didn’t ask. “When the doctor releases you, I’ll take you back to the hotel. I’m off duty tonight.”
