It was another fourteen hours before the last of the gas victims were loaded onto ambulances and sent behind lines. Korsak and Gwynn had taken advantage of the lull to go snatch a few hours sleep, leaving Maura to run the station. By sunset the amount of wounded had slowed enough for her to send Eliza and Beth back to the schoolhouse with half of the new nurses.
That left five with her including the tall Boston nurse whose name, by then, she knew to be Jane Rizzoli – a debutante who had dropped out of her first year at Radcliffe much to her mother's chagrin when America declared war in April.
Unfortunately, Maura discovered that Jane's rebellious streak had followed her to Belgium. In just a few short hours Maura caught Jane flirting with the medics, telling fantastical lies to scare the younger nurses, smoking when Maura had asked her to wash bandages, and painting "USA" on the side of a British field ambulance. Each time Jane was caught Maura's reprimands fell on deaf ears. The young woman just laughed them off.
By nightfall Maura was sick of it. After she caught Jane smoking for the umpteenth time Maura went in search of Badr.
She found the Frenchman playing two-up with a bunch of other medics, trading the cheap British cigarettes soldiers affectionately called 'coffin nails'. Badr didn't smoke - any cigarettes he won he gave to the wounded men he transported in his ambulance – he just enjoyed the camaraderie and the chance to practise his English. He had dreams of visiting England one day.
"Maura!" he called when he saw her approaching. His handsome face softened into a wide smile, the white of his teeth made even brighter by the contrast with his dark skin. Maura smiled back.
"Badr, are you winning?" she asked.
Badr's smile changed to a rueful grin. "I am not," he replied. "There will be few cigarettes to hand out tonight."
Maura took a seat on the dusty earth and watched the men flip coins for a while. The sun had finally set and the heat of the day was slowly receding. A breeze sprang up and cooled the sweat on the back of Maura's neck. Unfortunately it came from the Front, bringing with it the pervasive stench of death and cordite.
After a few minutes of silence Maura decided to broach her idea with Badr.
"Badr, do you need another partner?" she asked, trying to be as sensitive as possible. She knew the death of George was still a raw wound.
"I do," he replied, tossing a few more cigarettes into the middle of the game.
"I have a proposition for you, then."
"Prop-osition?" Badr repeated the word slowly.
"A … an idea," Maura said, trying to explain so that he'd understand.
"Oh, yes?"
"There is a new nurse at the station. She's causing trouble and I think if she had more to do she might be better off."
"Can she drive?" Badr asked.
"If she can't she will learn," Maura commented. They both laughed.
"Yes, sure. I can take her with me," Badr said, cussing softly in French when he lost the next flip of the coins.
"Great," Maura grinned. "She's been working all day, so I'll send her to get a few hours sleep and she can join you at midnight."
"I'll pick her up from the tent."
"Perfect. Thankyou, Badr," Maura said, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek. A few of the other soldiers whistled, but they all respected Maura so she knew the catcalls were in jest.
Maura returned to the station and sent Jane to the schoolhouse under the guise of swapping her for Gwynn, who had been sleeping longer than the others. She herself had only slept for six hours in the last two days. Her head felt light but she kept moving, thankful that she knew her job so well and could operate more or less on autopilot. The younger nurses looked to be having a tough time of it. As the night wore on they made countless mistakes and kept Maura on her toes.
By midnight her head was throbbing. She felt like collapsing as she tended to a man with burns from a malfunctioned Very light, and nearly cried with relief when Eliza and Beth entered the tent with the others.
"We'll finish 'ere, Maura," Beth said, gently detaching Maura's hands from the bandage she was rerolling. Maura nodded gratefully.
"Where's Jane?" she asked, looking around for the woman. She didn't know whether it was her tired eyes or what, but she couldn't see the leggy debutante anywhere.
"We don't know," Eliza said, whisking by with an armful of used gauze.
Maura paused. "You … don't know?" Eliza nodded, dumping the gauze into a bucket of water for cleaning.
"She showed up at the schoolhouse for Gwynn. I was the only one awake when she arrived, but I fell back asleep. By the time I woke up again she wasn't there."
"Hell!" Maura growled, ripping her apron off and storming from the tent. It was pitch out. The brightest lights came from the shells exploding at the front. A few lanterns on poles stuck into the ground marked the road. Some of the artillery limbers also carried lanterns, but the ambulances bouncing off the track from the frontline did not - to avoid attracting enemy attention.
Maura hurried into the blackness and let her eyes adjust to the dark. Thankfully she knew the way to the schoolhouse like the back of her hand and easily navigated the roads. The occasional cigarette light bounced by, pressed between the lips of soldiers, as Maura broke into a run.
She thundered up the steps and burst through the door of the schoolhouse. The beds stood in their neat rows, illuminated by a solitary, dim lamp. Maura didn't know which one was Jane's and it didn't matter – the room was empty. She checked the bathroom and the small closet at the back where they sometimes changed clothes, but there was no sign of the tall nurse.
Back on the roads she rushed to the mess hall, then to clearing station four. She asked men she passed if they had seen her but none had. Frustrated Maura returned to the schoolhouse just to make sure Jane wasn't there, then made her way back to the station.
"Well, I couldn't find the bit – oh."
Maura halted. Jane was in the tent, chatting away happily with Beth. Beth caught Maura's murderous glare and paused, then turned abruptly on her heel and strode away. Jane looked confused for a second, until Maura grabbed her by the sleeve and tugged her viciously around.
"Ow! What th -"
"Where the hell have you been?!" Maura raged.
"I went to -" Jane began.
"Actually, I don't give a fuck," Maura interrupted. "All I care about is the fact you should have been here when you were fucking well told to be!" Jane looked taken aback at the coarse language but Maura, who had been exposed to trench talk for the past three years, didn't hesitate. "I don't know how the hell the US Army runs things, but over here every goddamn minute is crucial. You could have cost a man his life. You could have gotten me or one of the other nurses killed out looking for you. When you're told to be somewhere at a specific time you fucking well show up!"
Jane stared at her wide-eyed. Maura paused for breath, but before she could continue her tirade Badr walked in.
"Maura, what is wrong?" he asked in English, somewhat alarmed by her red face.
"Nothing," Maura muttered, swallowing her lecture. She thrust Jane roughly towards him. "Badr, this is Jane. Jane, Badr. You two will be operating a field ambulance together."
"A field ambulance?" Jane bristled. "I'm a nurse, not a driver!"
"Well your performance today begs to differ," Maura countered snarkily. "Now get out of my sight."
Jane opened her mouth to argue, but Badr wisely whisked her out the tent flap, loudly asking her if she'd ever driven before.
"Well, yes. Of course," Jane replied. "My father has a Roadster ..." Their voices faded quickly.
Maura's rage ebbed quickly once Jane was gone, relief washing over her. She felt her knees go weak and knew she wouldn't make it to the schoolhouse and her bed. Instead she retreated to a stretcher in the quietest, darkest corner of the tent and curled up on it fully clothed. Within seconds she was asleep.