Free I Own the Dawn: The Night Stalkers by M. L. Buchman Page A

Mac coming out of the showers and dragged him to the med tent half dressed.
    ***
    It took Mac about thirty seconds. He pressed his fingers down on Dilya’s lower right abdomen.
    Dilya groaned.
    He released his fingers quickly and she cried out.
    “Appendicitis. Pretty advanced. Hid it like an animal might. Had a golden retriever named Jasper, never knew he was hurting until one day he just stopped running after tennis balls. He was dead two days later.”
    Kee grabbed the side of the gurney. “Dead?”
    “Yeah, cancer. Riddled with it. Nothing we could do.” He poked at Dilya’s abdomen while he talked, eliciting varying whimpers that cut at Kee until she wanted to scream for him to stop.
    “Loved that dog.” He said it as calmly as if he were talking about the last magazine he’d read.
    “I think it’s intact, but I need to do this right away. She’s hid her pain to this point, that’s a strong kid.” He stroked a hand over her hair as she lay there with her eyes closed, sweat running off her forehead.
    Big John came in. “How’s the kid? Hey, not looking so good there, short stuff.”
    “Appendicitis.”
    “You got it covered, Mac?”
    “Yeah, I think so. Haven’t ever done it on a kid, but I don’t like the idea of transporting her this far advanced.”
    “Good, ’cause we’re outta here. They moved the op up.”
    “Op?” This time Kee’s grip on the gurney wasn’t enough, and she sat abruptly on one of the nearby chairs. “Op?”
    She couldn’t fly. Not with Dilya in surgery. She had to—What? She couldn’t think.
    When she looked at Big John, he raised his hands palm out, no part of it.
    Archie had stood quietly in the background through all this. Now he looked at her. He kept his gaze on her when he finally spoke. “How long, Mac?”
    “Don’t know until I get in there. The surgery itself should be under an hour. I’ll roust Jeremy, knock out the girl. If all goes well, we could be done in three hours including pre- and post-op. Complications if the appendix bursts could get us to six.” He left the tent.
    Again that silent gaze of assessment, a question she couldn’t answer. She couldn’t leave, even if she had to.
    Archie nodded to her. “I’ll talk to the Majors and see if we can get cover personnel for this flight.”
    She nodded her head without speaking, it was all she could do. She tried to say “thank you.” Swallowed hard several times to clear her throat.
    By the time she managed, she sat alone with the little girl nearly lost in the great expanse of the gurney.

Chapter 9
    Dilya had come through clean in three hours flat and was resting well.
    Kee leaned back in a metal chair placed beside the cot in the recovery tent, close enough for Dilya to touch her if she woke. The chair dug at her back.
    She should have flown.
    She knew it.
    Archie knew it.
    Even John knew it.
    But she’d stayed.
    She’d stayed for Dilya, but Dilya wasn’t a Night Stalker. The girl needed her, but had she? Mac and Jeremy had prepped her for surgery while Kee held her hand.
    Once Dilya was out, there was nothing for Kee to do except feel guilty and worry. She didn’t even know who’d flown in her place. Or had the mission scrubbed? Probably not. No one had come in to check on her.
    “Smith!”
    She snapped her eyes open just in time to catch the yellow case with a large red cross on it that Mackenzie heaved in her direction. It thudded against her with a body blow almost knocking her backwards out of the chair.
    “Hustle!” With two more cases under one arm, he grabbed a fold-up stretcher under the other and was gone out the door.
    As she struggled to her feet, Kee glanced at Dilya. The child still slept.
    Kee ran after the medic.
    ***
    Mac didn’t react when Kee trotted up beside him. He simply stood on the landing field and watched the northern sky.
    It took a moment for her to place where they were. Exactly where she’d stood while facing down Major Henderson one week earlier.