A CHEER WENT up in the NICU when Anna plugged in the ECMO machine. She had two of the DMAT doctors and a few nurses helping her, and they’d set up a Skype connection with a neonatologist who actually knew how to work the machine. It had taken nearly the entire morning just to get the Skype working, but Anna needed the other doctor’s guidance. Everyone clapped as the machine came to life and Maria faded away from the crowd. She needed to get used to this. Hospital administrators were not heroes. It was about the doctors and nurses who saved lives, and Anna was one of them.
Luke Williams, the army guy who’d brought the machine, sat in the corner while a nurse tended to the scrapes on his head and arms. Maria walked over to him. Obviously it hadn’t been an easy pickup. She reintroduced herself and sat down beside him once the nurse was finished bandaging.
“You okay?”
“I’m made of titanium. This is nothing.”
“Did the machine come to life and do that?” She motioned to the gauze wrapping on his head.
He laughed. “No, that was a pair of fake security guards who greeted me at the landing zone.”
“What happened?”
He shrugged. “Just a few complications.”
So he was a tough guy. “Yeah, it can be hard making a deal in the Philippines. We get a lot of fantastic nursing staff from there, but every once in a while, you run into a scammer.”
Luke nodded and shifted in his chair. Maria could tell that he was uncomfortable and she made a mental note to have one of the doctors check him for internal injuries.
“The guards beat you up?”
He scoffed. “No, they tried to beat me up. They were a couple of thugs who wanted to steal the helicopter so they could sell it on the black market. I’ve seen urban combat in Iraq—these guys were nothing.”
“So you went into ninja mode and kicked their butts?”
He gave a half smile, the kind that would look smirky on most men, but somehow he pulled it off. Maybe it was the mischievous blue eyes.
“I’m surprised they handed you the machine without a bag full of cash.”
“Yeah, that’s where I got this.” He lifted his shirt just enough to reveal another bandage. “The skinny guy from the company wanted hard US cash.”
Maria had expected that. When she’d heard the whole plan to have Congresswoman Driscoll-Santiago sign a letter saying the US government would send money later, she’d tried to warn them that it wouldn’t work. Kat had no authority to commit funds like that. Granted, the Filipinos wouldn’t know that unless they were really savvy. The theory was that they would see a signature from someone in Congress and assume Kat had more power than she did. The Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response was working to get the money authorized for the machine and had promised to make it happen in a few days. Emma didn’t have that kind of time. Even an assistant secretary at Health and Human Services couldn’t get money to a foreign country that quickly. Maria understood how complicated it was to get their grant funding. It had taken upwards of seven months before they were able to draw down from the Treasury to build the hospital, and that was considered fast.
“So how did you convince him?”
“Well, the fake security thugs had a very nice Smith and Wesson that I threatened to use on a certain sensitive body part.” Maria could picture it. Luke’s sparkling blue eyes probably seemed very menacing when they were ice-cold and he was pointing a steel barrel.
“Well, whatever you had to do, it was worth it. You most likely saved that baby’s life.”
“No, Dr. Atao is saving that baby’s life. And none of this would be possible if Kat hadn’t put herself on the line by getting ASPR to commit the funds and sign that letter. She could get in a lot of hot water if word gets out that she did that.”
The admiration dripped from his voice, and Maria wondered whether Kat and Luke had been an item.
“So you and the congresswoman are close?”
He turned his attention back to Maria. “We have history.”
“Were you involved?”
It wasn’t any of her business, but she wanted to know if he was in love with a married woman. It seemed relevant to her current predicament.
“We met in Iraq, and I was interested. But it was obvious she was in love with the guy she was traveling with, Alex. He’s now her husband.”
“So how did you deal with her being in love with another man?”
“There was no point in putting my heart on the line when she’d given hers to someone else.”
It was like someone took a hammer and hit her right in the solar plexus, releasing every ounce of air she had in her chest.
“Listen, it’s okay, I’m over it. Kat and I are good friends now. I would much rather have genuine friendship from her than halfhearted affection.”
“How do you know it would’ve been halfhearted? She could have grown to love you.” Her voice was thick and the slight frown and warmth in Luke’s eyes told her he understood this was about more than just him. He turned to her, giving her his full attention.
“Love is a complicated thing, but it is a two-way street. Someone doesn’t love you with their whole heart, you let them go. My mother was the daughter of a general and she got set up with my father because he was going to be a future general. Now, most people would say we were a happy family—she cared for us, my father adored her. Picture-perfect army family. But let me tell you, I saw my mother wiping away tears when she thought no one was looking. She took pills that she hid on the high shelf in the medicine cabinet. When my father was deployed, there were nights when she left the house after she thought we’d fallen asleep and came back really early in the morning. My father was not the true love of her life, and she paid the price for it.”
“What happened to her?” She could barely sputter the words, her throat was so tight.
“She killed herself. I guess there came a day when she couldn’t take it anymore.” He stopped and Maria could tell there was more to the story, but she didn’t want to push him. Luke had shared more than any stranger deserved. And she didn’t want confirmation of what she already knew to be true.
“I had a girlfriend once, and I told her I had enough love in my heart for the both of us.” He hung his head and joined his hands, as if this conversation was as painful for him as it was for her. She waited, giving him the space to formulate the words.
“She told me that love doesn’t work that way. Said I’d be miserable if I didn’t have all her heart.”
The question of what had happened with his girlfriend was on her lips, but she held back. When he looked up, his blue eyes were shining. Mr. Tough Guy had been hurt, badly.
Nothing was more painful than heartbreak, and Maria was setting herself up for a monumental one.