Broken Road
by Rusty Nail

Chapter Five
Taken

He had been taken. The Adem had snatched him out of the clinic as a replacement for their dead medic. Sean's vision pitched and tossed as he started to come round. The metal plating of the truck he was lying on dug into his side. He could remember hearing Audrey shouting for them to stop; he hadn't been strong enough to fight them off. She was probably worried sick.

He tried to sit up, it was still dark and he couldn't see anything beyond the small square of space the men had shoved him into. One of them noticed his movement and started yelling in French. Sean was too dazed to understand any of it, a moment later it didn't matter anyway; the butt of a rifle connected with his temple and the world went black again.

48 Hours Later

"I'm just saying that Gillian might expect you to call…" John was saying. Luka pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut as he did so. He liked Gillian, she was intelligent and pretty and she was compassionate but as much as he knew he liked her as a person he didn't know how he felt about her in a more romantic sense. John's pushing wasn't helping either.

"I'm only going to say this one more time; I don't know where to call. It's not like I can just call her up on her cell. For all I know she isn't even in Kinshasa anymore, she was expecting to be moved to Kisangani…"

Carter shrugged and shook his head slightly, "Fine, forget I said anything"

There was a long silence; the Hospital in Mbandza, which really wasn't a Hospital at all, was quiet in the late evening. There was no wind, no rain, just heat and moisture in the air. They had a full ward bar two beds where they had discharged patients only minutes before, and were just settling down for what would hopefully be a peaceful evening in the waiting room before they went to get some sleep. Both cradled beer bottles and sat silently for at least ten minutes.

"I wonder how Sean and Audrey are doing." Carter mused aloud, taking a sip of warm beer from his bottle.

"I'm sure they're forging on..." Kovac smiled slightly, "If any two people can get a village back on its feet, it's those two." He let his head rock back against the wall, thinking back on the week they had spent there. He was tired from it, tired to his bones but it was a good kind of tired; a satisfied one. He hoped Carter felt it too.

"Audrey seemed sad to see us go."

"Hunh."

"I mean, I'm sure she and Sean are happy for some alone time..." John commented, noticeably raising his eyebrows at Sean's name.

Kovac snorted, "So that's what this is about? You're still sore that Audrey isn't free and clear for you to date."

"I wasn't sore to begin with," He paused and looked across at Luka who was squinting at him, with his head still resting back against the wall behind his chair, John nodded his head, "alright so I was a little sore."

Luka drank form his beer bottle, "Yeah. I thought as much."

"None of this explains why you won't call Gillian-"

"Carter-"

"-I mean you can find out where she's moved onto for her next post if nothing else," John continued on oblivious to Luka's attempt to interrupt him, "don't look a gift horse in the mouth, you know?"

"Horse?"

"Gift ho- never mind, it's an expression. Don't take a good thing for granted."

Luka rolled his eyes and went back to his semi-conscious state with his eyes closed. Don't take a good thing for granted, John definitely had a point about that, he didn't think he was taking anything for granted with Gillian. He was doing the honourable thing, right? Not getting too involved with her until he knew the strength of his own feelings at least.

Don't take a good thing for granted, he thought solemnly.

Things were going from bad to worse. They were bad to begin with so the getting worse thing was definitely a problem. Sean felt his belly again; it was rigid, just like Audrey had said as she had checked him out before the madness had stared. He'd thrown up since; he'd thrown up everything his captors tried make him eat. The PRF had taken offence at this and beaten him about for it. His face was welted and bruised; blood was smeared across his clothes and hands.

He had dysentery. It was hardly a difficult diagnosis. He was getting steadily weaker and less orientated with the world around him, and his captors took that as an offence too.

"I...need a doctor..." he croaked at them as the van moved slowly along the bumpy road.

One of the Green Beret's leaned down to him, "You are the doctor." He said in slick French. Sean blinked dully up at him. He was so hot; sweat ran into his brown eyes as he tried to focus on his captor. If he didn't get medical treatment himself he'd die, as it was the dysentery was progressing at an alarming rate.

"No." Sean insisted, "I need a doctor... I'm sick... you understand? Sick."

"You are the doctor."

"Please you don't-" the Green Beret threw water in his face and Sean coughed as it shot up his nose and into his sinuses, impairing his already erratic breathing.

"Cessez de parler! Stop Talking!"

Sean knew better than to argue, but things were going from bad to worse and he also knew that all he needed was metronidazole to clear this thing up. If he didn't get it then he could go into sepsis; and once that happened his odds of survival plummeted severely.

John set his empty beer bottle down on the table next to him. He rubbed his face, scratching his fingers through his stubble lightly. He yawned and glanced at Luka directly opposite him. His colleague had fallen asleep in the warmth of the small waiting room combined with the alcohol; it was all very comfortable. He heaved himself out of his seat, the buzz of beer making his head swim a little bit. He crossed out of the room, narrowly dodging Luka's outstretched feet; he didn't want to wake the Croat up.

In comparison to the air within the Hospital the air outside carried a 'breeze' that brought welcome relief and started to clear John's head out a little bit. The past two days had been just as busy as the previous week in Dabana. The Hospital they were now part of doubled as a supply centre for the region, distributing aid when they had aid to give. John was musing on the problems they would have when the sound of a revving engine turned his head.

He caught sight of tail lights swinging in the darkness and frowned. For a moment he stood in quiet confusion until he noticed the prone form of a person lying in the dirt, right on the edge of the pool of light cast by the Hospital. He sobered instantly, the buzz of alcohol replaced by the rush of adrenaline through his veins as he skidded through the dirt to the person's side.

Moving was impossible. Every twitch of a muscle caused a flare of pain through his abdomen; he lay on his side, sweat pouring from his skin, salty and blinding. Blood stained his hands and clothes; he could taste it in his mouth and smell it with every shaky intake of breath; mixed with the stench of faeces. There was low speaking around him, voices in French, angry and quiet. His muscles tensed, not of his own volition. He felt an agonising wave of spasms ripple through his body, causing him to cry out. Blackness overwhelmed his senses.

When he awoke he was no longer in the truck, dust burnt the back of his throat, he was lying face down, in a last ditch effort, mustering all his remaining strength he shoved himself onto his back. The stars accented the velvet sky above his head though tears clouded his vision.

"Sean?" the voice was American, "Oh Jesus. Sean!"

Someone knelt at his side; they touched his skin, felt for a pulse, and moved his drenched hair from his forehead. Sean turned to look slowly, his insides were burning, his skin crawled and he retched, tasting bile. It was John Carter, looking down at him. There was shouting again, all he could think about was Audrey, how worried she would be. Her face was the last thing he saw as he closed his eyes again.

"Sean...? Sean!" John took his pulse and found it erratic, his blood pressure was low and the smell of blood and faeces turned his stomach. He was out cold too; John had to get him inside the Hospital.

"Luka!" he yelled, "LUKA!"

Movement to his left, in the darkness made him stop. Two men dressed in black and green army fatigues rushed out of the shadows straight towards him. John had barely a moment to register their movement before one of them had his gun raised at him; the other took his arms fiercely. He could hear Luka running up behind him and the truck returning from the night. It parked up and a third man sprang out of the driver's seat. Light, sounds, dirt and darkness blended together in a daze, they dragged him to his feet and over Sean who remained motionless save for the soft rise and fall of his chest. The barrel of a gun was digging into John's jugular and he was now held by two of the men, stiffly, facing the 'hospital'. Luka stood in wide eyed terror, staring.

No one spoke. What words were needed? The man with the gun at Carter's neck gestured towards the low white building behind Kovac and the other two darted off instantly, going towards the doorway. John swallowed hard, what the hell was going on? How had Sean gotten there in such bad shape? The minutes ticked by. A few shrill cries split the darkness and the two men re-emerged from the building, this time with their arms, and the arms to two nurses, full of medication.

Kovac watched, incredulous, as the nurses were held at gun point and the medicine was loaded in the back of the truck. The men waved the nurses away and they stumbled in behind Kovac who was staring at John. He was sweating copiously, tears shone in his eyes and Kovac knew there wasn't a damned thing he could do. The man holding him smiled sickly and took Carter's hair in his free hand. He manoeuvred him to the truck, the others keeping their guns trained on Kovac and the nurses.

They piled into the truck and gunned the engine, taking off into the darkness. The instant they were out of sight the nurses and Luka descended on Sean. Luka's eyes widened as soon as he realised who it was he was looking down at.

"Sean, can you hear me?" he said, a quiver in his voice.

Sean didn't respond and with the help of the two nurses, they hoisted him up and spread the weight of him between them, they lumbered him into the hospital through the waiting room and into a bed. The smell coming off him was rancid and his clothes were splattered with blood, most likely his own.

"Mettez en marche un IV, start an IV of Saline," he commanded the nurses, "and clean him up..."

That short command was all he had time for. He made his way directly to the office, behind the makeshift reception desk and over to the radio. He had to report this immediately, the embassy had to know, and Alliance de Medecines had to know if they had any chance of getting Carter back. The conversations were short and clipped, Luka was numb, sweating, and he didn't have the capacity to fully digest this yet.

The next call was the hardest to make.

A deep voice answered the radio, "This is Kasim."

"Kasim. It's Dr. Kovac. Where is Audrey?"

There was white noise for a moment.

"I will get her."

Kovac tapped his fingers on the table angrily. His dark hair flopped into his eyes but he ignored it. What was he going to say? How was he going to approach this? Time slowed and what was only a couple of minutes of silence, waiting for Audrey, felt closer to twenty.

"Luka?" her voice was small and quiet. Kovac felt his heart twist.

"Audrey. Sean is here. He's safe."

Silence again.

"Oh God. Oh my God... Luka, thank you." Came Audrey's choked sob, he could hear Kasim cheering in the background.

"Audrey, what happened? He was dumped up here by a group of men. They took... they took Carter."

The tearful elation of hearing that Sean was alive and well faded from her voice with her reply, "John? Oh Jesus... when?"

"Just now, they left Sean and took John instead." When there was no response he forged onwards, "Audrey, Sean's very ill, I think its dysentery, but he's septic and I don't have any medication, the Adem took it all..."

"Wh-what?"

Luka, made a fist against the table, "I don't have the medication I need to help him."

There was static, then the sound of voices in the background, Audrey clearly had the button pressed down, but was talking to Kasim in French, there was desperation in her voice, when she came back to the radio conversation however she sounded calm and determined and spoke the words that Luka had already expected to hear.

"I'm coming with the medication," She deadpanned, "tell him I'm coming, Luka."

To Be Continued