"That was too close for comfort." Meyer said with an unusual flash of emotion in his eyes. They were all standing in the girl's bedroom, it had been almost an hour since the Taliban had left the hospital, but nerves were still frayed.
"I wouldn't be certain he believed everything I told him." Makul ran a hand over his face. "I'm sure they suspect we are hiding something."
"The man who was with Azin's father when he came in earlier." Nick spoke softly, his tone edged with caution. "He saw me, he heard my name, could it be a coincidence that their house was targeted?"
"I doubt it." Makul shook his head. "If they know you are here they could come back and search more thoroughly.."
"Any word from India?" Zoe asked.
"Not yet, there's a phone at the hospital in Asadabad, I could drive down there and put a call through, but you never know who might be listening on the line."
"Too risky." Nick assessed the situation quickly. "We don't want to loose any potential escape route."
"I agree." Meyer cast his eyes in a slow sweep around the gathered group. "We've waited this long, if there is any chance of a medivac flight, we can not jeopardise that." It was an impossible situation. "We should get some rest and wait to see what tomorrow brings."
"Azin should go back up to the ward." Meyer said softly. "She's stable again and the night staff can keep watch over her." He offered a grim smile. "They'll bury her father tomorrow, we don't know if the locals will come to visit her, they may well want to, and we don't want hoards of people tramping down here, the fewer people know about this place, the better."
"I'm going to have to tell her about her father first thing." Nick said with a heavy heart. "No need for her to worry overnight."
"It's best that she knows." Zoe agreed.
"I just wish she was a bit stronger."
"A good night's sleep will do her and us the world of good." Meyer said firmly.
.
Six hours later Nick had hardly had any sleep. He lay on his back on the camp bed, hands behind his head, eyes closed, ears alert, his mind spinning through all the possibilities of how they could escape this valley. Dawn would be breaking soon and he would have to tell Azin the awful news, it was bad enough that she had already lost one parent, but to loose her father too. Nick was dreading her reaction.
A few minutes later the sound of footsteps in the ward above alerted him that dawn had now broken, without a sound he slipped out of bed and stuck his boots on his feet, pausing only to tuck the loose ends of the laces inside, not bothering to fasten them. He was about to head out of the room when the most dreadful wailing sound began in the ward above. Nick stood motionless, listening intently, trying to decipher the situation. His doctor's instinct to offer help battled with common sense which instructed him to remain concealed.
"What's going on?" Meyer whispered as he stepped up to Nick's side, receiving only a shrug in reply. The wailing stopped as suddenly as it began, being replaced by the sound of a child crying
