“We had a deal,” she said, her voice hard.

“We still have a deal.”

“I want in.”

“You’ll get in. When I say so.” Conner paused, letting his words hang in the air.

Avery exhaled, broke eye contact with him, and slouched back against the desk.

“I want him well guarded,” Conner said. “As you know, he’s a very resourceful man.”

Chapter 103

Chapter 103

Elim opened the truck door. The driver yelled at him to stay inside, but Elim knew that what he was about to do was his only choice, perhaps his convoy’s only hope of surviving the ambush. Into his radio, he called for everyone to stay inside their vehicles. His white coat made him less likely to be gunned down than the rifle-carrying men in the canvas-backed trucks behind him.

He stepped down from the box truck’s cab, held his hands up, and marched forward. The troops exiting the armored personnel carriers came into focus. Elim exhaled when he saw their uniforms: Kenyan army. When he had seen the ambush, he had assumed the worst—that it was gang-related.

An officer strode forward. He was coughing. The lapels of his uniform were stained red, and his eyes were yellow and bloodshot.

His voice was much stronger than his appearance. “Who are you?”

“Dr. Elim Kibet. We’re survivors. And we’re here to help.”

Elim found the Kenyan Ministry of Health in shambles. The Emergency Operations Center wasn’t staffed, and the phones were ringing constantly.

To Dhamiria, he said, “Get people in here, have them start answering these phones. Tell callers that we will send help when we can and to do their best until we get there. They need to hear that.”

Kenyatta National Hospital was in even worse shape. Dead bodies lay on gurneys. People filled the waiting room. Blood covered the floor and walls. The staff had bags under their jaundiced eyes. Most were like walking zombies; they had been working so long they could hardly think. Elim insisted they take a break. He sent every one of the doctors and most of the nurses to the on-call rooms and a hotel nearby. They were too tired to argue with the newcomer.

Then he had his people set about cleaning up the hospital. Over the next four hours, Kenya’s oldest and largest hospital went from a bloody, disheveled mess to at least some semblance of a functioning trauma and referral hospital.