The Doctor's Lost-and-Found Heart. Dianne Drake

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ

      “Which means everything’s turning up negative?”

      “No positive test results for anything we’ve cultured. We’re set up to treat patients, and our lab, well … Let’s just say you’re not going to be impressed with it. So let’s just get this tour over with so you can figure out what to do with what we’ve got.”

      “You mean Ezequiel’s tour wasn’t a real tour?” Jack asked, smiling. “Great kid, by the way. Smart.”

      “We’re fond of him.”

      “It’s good you let him hang around. Gives him a purpose.”

      “And a home,” Ben commented.

      “He lives here?”

      “For a little over a year now. His mom brought him with her when she came for treatment, but she died from cancer, and we couldn’t find anybody who knew Ezequiel, let alone wanted him. No relatives, no family friends. So we set up a room for him … turned a large storage closet into a room, actually, and we all keep an eye on him. Make sure he’s fed, clothed.”

      “Then he’s one of the lucky ones,” Jack said, thinking about Amanda, who’d also been one of the lucky ones. Thinking about Rosa, who hadn’t been.

      “Lucky maybe, but he’s not getting a proper education, which is a problem. We’re each taking turns teaching him, but there’s no consistency to it. And he’s not with a family, not getting that kind of nurturing, which is an even bigger problem, because all kids need that. Yet if we turn him in to the authorities we might as well give him up for good. He’s too old to be adopted, probably wouldn’t do well in an institutional situation, which is where he’d end up if he didn’t run off. So we just …”

      “Look the other way and hope for the best.”

      Ben cringed. “When you put it that way, it sounds bad, doesn’t it?”

      “No. Not really. I’ve worked in a lot of difficult situations and seen these lost children everywhere. Ezequiel’s sharp. A real survivor. You’re giving him more than he would have any other way, and he’ll make it through.”

      “Let’s hope so, but he deserves better. Anyway, welcome to our lab,” Ben said, pushing open a door to reveal a closet-size space, set up with a table and two antiquated microscopes. “Like I said, don’t expect much. I found these in storage in a public hospital in Buenos Aries. They’d upgraded, and told me to help myself. So I filled our communal Jeep with everything I thought we might be able to use, which makes us, officially, a hand-me-down hospital.” Said with a big smile.

      “I think the term today is repurposed.” Jack stepped in, took a quick look, and decided it would work. Not well, but well enough for some basic cultures. “So, Amanda said I have free rein, which means I’d like to start by examining the ward where the kids have been infected.”

      “Well, since pediatrics is Amanda’s specialty, she’s going to assist you once she’s done with Maritza. Oh, and while you’re here, I’ve taken the liberty of adding you to our clinic schedule, if that’s okay with you.”

      “You’re good, slipping that in there when you think I’m focusing on something else,” Jack said, laughing.

      “We take our advantages where we can.” He patted Jack on the back. “Anyway, I’m glad you’re here, and until I hear otherwise, I’m going to consider you on call for general duty, starting tonight.” Ben pointed to the door at the opposite end of the hall. “My sister’s out there, when you’re ready for her.”

      Jack didn’t respond. Could anyone every really be ready for Amanda?

      Slipping into a pair of plum-colored scrub pants, Amanda cinched the drawstring at the waist and headed for the pediatric ward. Actually, it wasn’t a ward so much as one large room, sparse with equipment and other medical accoutrements. But there were beds, and sick children, and a growing problem that worried her.

      Funny how Jack’s mere presence brought with it peace of mind. She couldn’t deny it, particularly since some of that peace was oozing into her. Peace in her medical life and, oddly, peace in her personal life. It was better knowing she might be Mapuche, she’d decided. Painful because that knowledge caused uncomfortable questions, but better. Although she owed him an apology because clearly he hadn’t wanted to be involved in the disarray she called her personal life. Yet he’d allowed himself to be dragged in, which wasn’t at all what she’d expected from him.

      Something had changed him, though. She’d seen it happen. Seen the incredible struggle when it had flashed over him. But he had been so quick to grab it back, put it away. Leaving her wondering about the person he’d loved. Someone Mapuche. Perhaps a woman? The love of his life?

      It occurred to her Jack may have returned to Argentina bearing some kind of pain, simply because she’d asked. “Who are you, Jack?” she asked, as her scrub top slid into place. “What kind of man are you?”

      The kind who would fight to keep her from figuring him out. That was the answer that came to her on her way to meet him in Pediatrics. He wanted his distance, and she wanted … Well, she wasn’t sure about that. Maybe all she wanted was to understand him. After all, their worlds did intersect in more than one place, so why wouldn’t she want to understand someone who threaded in and out? Yes, that was it. A perfectly good reason for having Jack on her mind almost constantly. Which had turned into the case.

      All thoughts led to Jack, but that was okay, because all she wanted was to understand. That was some mighty fine logical reasoning leading up to a half-believed conclusion. Who was she kidding, though? Because peel back all that logic and she just plain liked his gruff exterior, even his distance. That was what Argentina did for her, gave her different freedom than she was used to. Changed her perspective. It happened every time she was here, maybe because deep down she’d always felt the innateness of who she was. Or wanted to be.

      “Anything going on other than what’s being recorded in the charts?” Jack asked from his casual seat behind the old wooden desk that sufficed as the hub of the ward. One desk, one swivel chair, a rusty file cabinet, all of it tucked into the corner, out of the way. And Jack’s size overwhelmed everything. An immense man in a small space made the man look even more immense.

      Amanda noticed that, fought to keep her gaze steady. “Not really. Symptoms are mild, nothing you wouldn’t expect. No one critical or even in danger.”

      “And you don’t think that this might be some run-of-the-mill hospital infection, one that’s not going to cause any real trouble.” It was a statement, not a question. “Ben’s downplaying it, so he’s not the best one to go to for an objective answer. You, though, got me here, which means you’re worried. So what’s your assessment?”

      “That’s just it, Jack,” she said, perching herself on the edge of the desk. “I don’t know. Ben’s been fighting this HAI for a few weeks now, it’s isolated, but it’s not going away. Not getting better or worse, either. With the way things mutate … and I’m not the expert on this, so bear with me. But you read how these various strains, bacterial and viral, mutate, and how so much of what we thought would stop the spread is rendered ineffective very quickly. My brother is smart, and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect the hospital. Me too, because I’m also involved in this, and I believe you’re what it takes or else I wouldn’t have asked for your help.”

      “Well, for what СКАЧАТЬ