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‘How was the drive out here?’ Fitz asked as the two officers slipped easily into conversation.
The convoy had left Razorwire earlier in the week before Fitz had even arrived. He would have preferred to have travelled with them, it was always good to get an idea of the ground, but he had been needed elsewhere.
‘Six hours. Not bad.’ Carl shrugged. ‘The route was long but that’s because we still have to go the long way round that valley, and you know what passes for roads around here.’
‘You’re lucky if they’re paved,’ Fitz acknowledged. ‘So what’s the issue you wanted me here to look at? You mentioned an aquifer.’
‘Your speciality. It runs directly beneath where we’re planning on putting the plant room for the generators. I had a couple of solutions, which I was going through with the medical liaison officer, but I’d like it if you could run over them, too.’
‘Okay, when did you schedule the briefing for me today?’
‘Zero-nine-hundred hours. Ninety minutes away.’
‘Understood. Then don’t let me hold you up, let’s go.’ He followed as Carl led the way around the hospital, mentally orientating himself as they progressed. ‘What’s the medical colonel running this hospital like? Colonel Duggan, isn’t it? I heard he had a good reputation as a surgeon, don’t tell me he’s making things difficult on our construction side?’
‘No, the Colonel is okay,’ Carl answered as they made their way through and around the part-damaged, part-derelict hospital. ‘He has got a good reputation apparently, and he mainly deals with teaching the local doctors. But one of the majors under his command, a Major Caplin, has experience both as a combat doctor and of building cottage hospitals back in the UK, so her CO has been happy to pass a lot of the liaison work on to her.’
‘Makes sense if she has that kind of experience and he doesn’t.’ Fitz nodded, thinking how he’d always found that one of the greatest strengths of the British army. ‘But not if she’s insisting the plant room go above the aquifer without considering the other options.’
As structured and hierarchical as it might appear to an outsider, in reality it was far more nuanced and elastic. A brigadier should be willing to take advice from a lieutenant, or even a sergeant, if that individual had specific expertise that everyone else lacked. For all intents and purposes, he could be answerable to this Major Caplin if her commanding officer Colonel Duggan had passed over administrative and operational command of the hospital rebuild to her. Usually, it worked well and was balanced. But if she was awkward and demanding the hospital be constructed in a way that wasn’t feasible then he was prepared to pull rank if required.
‘No, she isn’t insisting that. She’s tough and she knows what she wants, but she also has a good head on her shoulders and she isn’t difficult to work with. She’s clearly a skilled doctor, too.’
Fitz eyed his old friend shrewdly.
‘She’s also attractive, isn’t she?’ he noted wryly. ‘I’d forgotten you were one for th
e females.’
‘Only single commissioned females. Usually back home but certainly never in a combat zone,’ Carl pointed out with a sheepish grin. ‘I’m always discreet and I don’t contravene the rules. I never dip into the non-commissioned officers pool. I value my career, thanks. Besides, there’s no need for us all to be complete monks like you.’
He’d either forgotten about Janine, or deliberately wasn’t mentioning her. Janine’s father—back then a colonel, now a general—had no doubt made sure of that.
Lost in his own thoughts, Fitz was completely unprepared when he rounded the corner.
Just Elle?
Shock stole over him, taking his breath and leaving him feeling physically winded. She might as well have snatched that perfectly ordered deck of cards he’d imagined earlier out of his hands and hurled them high into the cloudless sky. Now some were fluttering in the breeze while others plummeted, ominously, to land face down in the dust.
Even putting one foot in front of the other suddenly seemed like a mammoth feat.
She couldn’t be out here. The woman, the one-night stand he was already struggling to put behind him. Surely it was impossible now?
And yet he had to put that night behind him. Especially now.
Oblivious, Carl stepped forward and made the formal introductions.
‘Colonel Fitzwilliam, this is the medical CO, Colonel Duggan. And one of the majors under his command, Major Caplin.’
‘Fitz,’ he clarified, holding his hand out to his counterpart, focussing on the older man. But the only person he could see, could focus on, was Elle.
‘Phil,’ Colonel Duggan responded immediately.
A solid handshake and warm greeting confirmed Carl’s assessment of the guy as a secure CO. It was all Fitz could do to keep his eyes from sliding to the side.
But even in his peripheral vision he could see how remarkably stiff Elle was, blood draining from her face to leave two pinched high spots. He got the sense that if she’d been allowed to salute in the field, she would have. Evidently she was as thrown as he was, yet Fitz was helpless against the inexplicable sense of anger welling inside him.
He prided himself on his focus, his drive, his steadiness. And Elle threatened all that. She made him feel unbalanced. He allowed her to unsettle him and he didn’t know who he was more furious with.
