“God,” she prayed, hands on the sides of her head, “I feel more out of control than I did seven months ago. Please, please help me. I feel so angry right now, and I don’t want to be. These men don’t deserve angry Cynthia. I like them too much.”

Hoping to leave her anger behind in the empty hut, she left the building and crossed the street into the clinic, ignoring the hubbub of activity around the pickup truck.

Ayo was filling a box with prenatal vitamins. Tears streaked down her face. She and Tadeas had spread the word to evacuate the village.

Cynthia walked up to her and put a hand on her back. “Are you okay?”

Ayo looked at her, her dark eyes swimming with tears. “They’ll burn it all down.”

“It won’t be the first time. Maybe it will be the last, though.” The two women hugged. “I feel like this is somehow my fault.”

“They would have killed us all when they came with the dead man. You don’t know what they’re like. The American soldiers out there, they’ve brought more peace to the lives of villagers for hundreds of miles than we’ve had for a long time.”

It felt odd that Ayo talked about the men who had killed people in front of her as bringers of peace. “I think we have different definitions of the word ‘peace,’” Cynthia said.

Ayo raised an eyebrow. “I think we have different lots of things, Doctor. Chukuwereije is not the first warlord to terrorize our nation. He is just the most recent. Those men he has? They were once little boys who were taken and forced to kill until they were molded in his image. If your Western soldiers can help our true government gain control of this jungle, then mothers can stop living in fear of the day their village is overrun and their boys are snatched from their arms.” She put the lid on the box and picked it up. “Do you know why the entire village is getting into boats and heading down the river? Because no one needs to convince them what Chukuwereije’s men will do when they arrive. They know it because they’ve all lived through it.”

Contrite, Cynthia followed her assistant out of the building. A teenager took the box from Ayo and ran it down to the river. The women hugged once more.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Cynthia said.

“I look forward to that day,” Ayo said. She sauntered over to Tadeas. “I have everything.”

He glanced her way and nodded, then tapped the map and straightened. “Are you good?” he asked Captain Norton.

He nodded. “I could use your knowledge and experience.”

Tadeas shrugged. “I have to get Ayo and her family to safety.”

“I respect that.”