One of them went and talked to Sam. If tents had doors that could be slammed, there would have been lots of
slamming going on, that was for sure. Hector chuckled, nothing more he could do than chuckle at the display of
temper, and he ducked into a storage tent and changed from his BDUs into a loose t shirt and a pair of cargo shorts,
hiding weapons and whatever else he might need. Then he slung a normal looking back pack over his shoulder,
containing more essentials to a man like him, and went back to the clinic tent, where things were already starting to
bustle around.
Andi was handing out breakfast. Bowls of porridge and she was sneaking some of the dried fruit her parents had sent
her into the children's dishes. She'd slept like one of the dead - which seemed to be the only way she remembered
how to sleep anymore and woken up in time to catch a quick, cold shower - a weakness the camp was kind enough to
indulge her in - and to hear the beginnings of a rather blustery storm coming from Sam's office. One of the voices
inside the tent went up a notch as she walked past on her way back and she decided 'blustery storm' was like calling
a hurricane a stiff breeze. She was going to hear it bearing down on her soon enough. But in the meantime she went
about her daily routine which at this point involved passing food around to all of the patients in her tent and checking
charts. Suzette had already had the children's cots moved back into place so at least there wasn't a lot to dodge in
the process. She was just handing Mark one of the bowls she was carrying when Hector came back in. Looking -
surprisingly civilian. And still tired.
"Good morning," she handed him one of the bowls with fruit in it. "Did you sleep at all last night?"
"I told you we could blend." He said, amused at her reaction to him in civvies. "I sleep when I'm tired, not quite there
yet." But he took the bowl, had to be better than rations. Then again, a lot of times sand was better than rations.
"Guess you heard the nice calm rational discussion in the head guy's office, huh?"
Thank god he hadn't been the bearer of that particular brand of bad news! "So we're all set here until the second
Clancy can be transported. Then we're out of your hair. And this is UN jurisdiction, so we can only fire when fired
upon, no worries there." For some odd reason he was driven to reassure this woman that really, his men and him
really weren't as big a threat as everyone thought and believed.
There was going to be a push to get Clancy moved quickly apparently. Most likely on both sides. Andi had already
read his chart though and she wasn't comfortable with immediately shunting him off. Not until he was stable and she
was sure infection wasn't going to become a problem.
Something else she'd no doubt hear from Sam about.
"I heard." She agreed to the comment about the shouting that could even faintly be heard inside the clinic. Not
looking forward to that at all. But she'd done the right thing. And keeping Clancy until she was satisfied was the right
thing as well.
Even if being surrounded by armed men trained disguised as Red Cross workers seemed to be a recipe for disaster.
She hoped they held to not shooting until someone shot at them first. And she hoped that meant there would be no
shooting at all. She certainly didn't want them taking fire anymore than she wanted them returning it.
"You're supposed to uncomplicate things. I remember." She nodded. Gave him a soft smile that was genuine despite
the edges of worry to it. The best laid plans of mice and men going oft astray...
She tapped Mark's shoulder without looking and reminded: "Pills. Two." Then she pointed toward the tent's entrance,
looking at Hector.
"Blue tent. Three rows in. Second cot on the left is mine. Don't let Mr. Snuffles intimidate you." She added. Not
mentioning that Mr. Snuffles was a stuffed, gaudy striped elephant doll that sat in the center of her bed to welcome
her home whenever she made it there. "When you do decide you're tired, you can use it. Someone really should."
She gave him a smile. "It's darker and quieter than the clinic during the day too." She did make it that far from time to
time herself but she didn't think their sleep schedules would make that a problem. It was a nicer bed than the cots in
here. And - she truly didn't think Sam would provide them housing in any way. Part of showing them they weren't
welcome. And Andi couldn't help feeling their staying was as much her fault as it was their own. She'd have to see
how many were going to stay and find places for them. But the man in front of her had already been here all day and
would need a bed before anyone else.
"I spent the last week sleeping behind a sand dune." When he managed to catch sleep that was. "Most anything is
better than that. But thanks. Might even take you up on it." He wasn't a fool, one should sleep while one was quiet. He
just had to get everyone situated.
He wasn't in charge, per se, but he had been the mobile, healthy one around here first, which meant he had to
explain the 'rules' to the rest of them of what he had seen of the Red Cross so far. And tell them to keep their eyes
forward and hands in their pockets. The french doc was already making moon eyes at poor Mark, who was easily
swayed by her as much as he believed women were easily by him.
He worried about the children blowing it for all of them, or their parents. But either way it was going to get out.
Whether he spoke to them or lurked in the darkness, they knew he was there. And their tongues were easy to buy,
promise of grain or water and the militia could know anything they wanted. It was far too precarious here, and he
wasn't able to fortify this place as much as he and the rest of the Deltas would have wanted to. That was a line that
they could not cross.
He just hoped, like her, that his sidearms and weapons stayed hidden on his person or in his bag. He decided not to
comment on Mr Snuffles, just hoped it wasn't a cat. Wasn't much fond of cats. Now a dog he could deal with...and he
must be tired with the tangential thinking.
"You know, got some new people here, and not just Deltas." He said with a grin, for a busload of new volunteers for
various capacities had come through. "Tell you what. Break for lunch with me and you tell me who the D-boys are."
After all, everyone but him (since he was already known) were considered in cover, not to reveal themselves. Would
be a challenge, since they didn't have the high tight haircuts known to military. Because they marked them as military,
which would defeat the purpose.
Andi thought about the offer. Not because she was worried about him but because she had a mental schedule a mile
long and needed to make sure she actually was going to have time for lunch today.
"All right." She agreed. "I'll meet you for lunch and see if I can spot your dopplegangers if you promise to get at least
two uninterrupted hours of sleep in an actual horizontal position sometime before that."
She had no idea how she'd do at spotting military. Usually, even in civilian clothes, they were easy to spot simply by
the way they stood and moved. But she was under the impression that a Delta squad was some kind of special forces
unit or something. A bit like the SAS perhaps? It would be educational at least and she'd rather know who was going
to be staying and who she shouldn't be distracting anyway.
Besides, even knowing better, she found Hector's company reassuring. For no reason that she could think of but
there it was. She offered her hand and asked innocently:
"Deal?"
"Deal." He said with a chuckle and shook her hand. "Might be able to manage two hours. Kinda quiet around here for
me though." Because back on base, there were always maneuvers, or people talking, or choppers lifting off.
Something. This place was peace and quiet compared to that. Kind of like the eye of the storm, he supposed.
Then he realized he was still shaking her hand and released it out of his bigger rougher one and put his hands in his
cargo pockets. "And no cheating, you can't put me on the list just so you know you get one right, got it?" He said with
a smile, just watching her. Even obviously tired, she was still quite something to look at.
"I won't cheat if you don't." She agreed with a surprising grin. He sounded awfully confident about it all. Win or lose, it
sounded like it would be a fun lunch break.
It would give her something to look forward too when Sam called for her head later in the morning.
The first trickle of patients started arriving then and Suzette called to her. Andi gave her a nod and gave Mark's
shoulder a pat.
"Since you're staying put - no hopping around on that today." She instructed, pointing to his leg. "And remember.
Two pills. Every meal. Until the bottle's empty." She gave Hector a bright smile then and reiterated: "Lunch time.
Come and find me?" And then Suzette was calling again and she was tossing off a wave as she hurried over to join
the other woman.
"Will do." Hector said with a chuckle, watching her go off. He talked with Cheever for a few, then headed to the blue
tent. Who the hell was he to turn down actual sleep, after all? "Second cot...good god." He said, confronted with Mr
Snuffles. "Weird, weird girl." That had to be the most hideous stuffed animal he had ever seen in his entire life,
including the handmade ones home ec students would make.
He gingerly lifted the animal, and put it at the edge of the foot of the bed, then sat on the cot and took his sneakers
off, emptied his pockets, untaped the things taped to his stomach and chest and shoved them all in his backpack,
which he then put on the bed next to him as he stretched out. Two hours, he could do two hours easily.
"What do think?"
Mike looked up from the Delta operator laying on the cot hooked up to IVs that ran drips like rain and noted the slim
woman standing over his shoulder.
"That you look like shit." He supplied. And got a fleeting smile in response.
"Flattery will get you nowhere" Andi told him, before lifting her chin to gesture to the man on the cot. "I meant Clancy."
Mike straightened up the rest of the way. Which still only brought him evenly level with the woman next to him and
rolled his neck sharply from side to side, joints making satisfactory popping noises. He picked up a nearby water
bottle and jerked his head to indicate they were going to have this conversation on the move.
"Spook ears all over the place now." He commented as she fell into step next to him. He stopped long enough to
secure another water bottle for her and palm it off before they both stepped outside the tent and into the sunshine.
He squinted against it.
"Good. Not so good." He shrugged. Mike had served in the American armed forces at some point but he never
mentioned where or when. He knew more about weapons and the wounds they caused than anyone else on the team
and that was when he was half asleep. He ran a hand across his jaw, and the day and a half stubble on it, now.
"First you pony up. Sam nailed you pretty hard, didn't he? Heard it all the way over - well, you could hear it when you
were standing right outside the door listening for it. Need a blood transfusion?"
"No." Andi managed to both sigh and roll her eyes at the same time before taking a drink of the water. "And I did
deserve it, Mike. My fault everything's gone mad."
"Bull shit." He supplied casually, taking his own swig. "Want to blame it on someone blame it on Delta for coming here
instead of taking the extra half hour and body loss and going home. Better yet, blame it on the local militia that
jumped them and shot them up in the first place. Or even more to the point, blame it on the people that taught the
local militia as children that killing each other through starvation was acceptable." He rubbed the side of his nose,
watching a new arrival working one of the water pumps. "I'm thinking of working this back to the first founding of
separate tribes so go ahead and interrupt me anytime you feel like it."
"I'm still the one that let the first of the encroaching army past the defenses to stay." Andi interrupted. Mike shrugged.
"You did what was right. Truth is, they are targets while they're with us and that's not just to the local warlords but to
any nut job with a home make knife that thinks they want revenge. Them being here makes us a bigger target than
the big red x we paint on everything already did. We're not supposed to say it - but the warlords are the bad guys.
They're starving out their own people for a scrap of dirt and the ability to be a big name in their little part of the world
and our boys are the ones that could be home with a nice cold beer and their family but are over here trying to do
things right for these people without stepping on any political toes or sneezing in the wrong direction. We're not
supposed to take sides, Andi, but we all know who's in the asshole."
"Says the jarhead." Andi smiled crookedly and Mike ran a hand through his shaggy hair.
"They wish."
Andi paused in their walking and looked around her. The mess tent was to the right. And to the left, through the tents
was the distant haze that represented the refugee camps that were springing up around them. People with no where
else to go. People who had walked for hundreds of miles. Just for the hope that their children wouldn't have to starve
for one more day. If she and the rest of this tent city left...
"Sam was right. We have to stay separate. But Hector was right too. Another half hour would have killed them."
"Give it a few days." Mike offered, taking another swallow of water. "Our D-boy'll be ready to ship. Then we'll just have
to see. All we can do."