CHAPTER 29

BLOWING THROUGH SMALL VILLAGES and towns with Solomon slowly bleeding out in the back of the Land Cruiser, Reece did his best to avoid major bumps that would cause his wounded teammate any additional suffering, but he was also more than aware of the “golden hour” and that time waits for no one, least of all someone with a gunshot wound to the chest.

Reece sped around women carrying goods on their heads, boys in donkey carts made from old cars and pickup trucks, and the occasional automobile. He certainly wasn’t winning any hearts and minds. He didn’t dwell on the men he’d just killed in the African bush. He was back in operator mode, doing what he did best. He was protecting his team, and to Reece, that was as natural as breathing.

No more than a gas station with a few small stores, the tiny enclave of Montepuez was also home to a small medical clinic. It was located adjacent to an old Portuguese mission, the stone walls still dotted with bullet strikes from the civil war decades earlier.

Reece pulled the Cruiser to a stop in front of the building and sprinted through the front doors. A queue of locals, mostly elderly men and women and mothers holding their children, waited in the room that served as the lobby. Rushing past the line and ignoring the young female aid worker who tried to block his path, he ran through a hallway that opened into a large room filled with two dozen mosquito-netted cots where a tall white man in scrubs with a stethoscope was attending to a patient.

“Are you the doctor? I need your help right now. ”

The man turned and faced him, unfazed by his sense of urgency.

“You’ll have to wait your turn, sir, ” he said with an obvious British accent. “There are a great number of people here that need our help. ”

“I have a critical patient. Gunshot wound to the chest, he’s bleeding out in the back of my truck! ”

The doctor’s demeanor shifted instantly. “Drop everything and let’s get this man in here right now, ” he ordered his staffers.

Reece led the way back out front as the doctor and four other individuals in scrubs followed him carrying an old-fashioned canvas stretcher. They placed the stretcher on the open tailgate and eased Solomon onto it, Gona looking over their shoulders like a worried father.

Reece kept pace with the physician as they made their way back inside.

“He’s got a 7. 62 round through the chest that exited and a second round to the abdomen that’s still in there. I put an Asherman on his chest and dressed the abdominal wound. The bowel was herniated, so I tucked it back in. He hasn’t had any fluids. ”

“How long ago was he shot? ”

Reece glanced at the watch on his wrist. “Just over two hours ago. ”

“You’ve done well. Now I need you to step aside while we get him ready for surgery. ”

The medical team carried Solomon into a smaller room, where they placed him on a table and began to examine him. Someone closed a curtain to block Reece’s view, signaling it was time to let the professionals take over.

Leaving the clinic, Reece looked up at Gona staring down at him from the truck’s bed. “I think he’s going to make it. We got him here in time. ”

Gona nodded and sat down on the tailgate. Reece sat next to him, waiting in silence.

• • •

Reece was asleep in the bed of the truck, his legs dangling from the tailgate, when he felt someone grab his leg.

“Sir, excuse me, sir. Your friend, your friend is going to survive. ”

“Huh? ” Reece bolted upright and found the British physician standing by the truck.

“Your friend’s doing better. He’s stable, and the prognosis is optimistic. Barring any infection, he will be ready to move tomorrow. We should arrange to get him to a hospital, where he can receive more advanced care. ”

“Great. Can I see him? ”

“Certainly. He will be groggy from the anesthesia, but you can visit with him. ”

“Thank you so much, Doctor. I can’t thank you enough for saving his life. ” Reece shook the physician’s hand.

“You saved his life, Mr. ———”

“Bucklew, Phil Bucklew, ” Reece said, conjuring up a name from the past. He trusted the team at Hastings’s concession but not an unfamiliar European working in a medical clinic.

“Where did you receive your training, Mr. Bucklew? Clearly this isn’t your first time treating a gunshot wound. ”

“I was a medic in the army. ”

“The U. S. Army? ”

“Canadian. ”

“Ah, I see. Well, you may see your mate now. ”

Reece headed for the door and looked back at Gona, who sat timidly on the truck’s roof. He waved for Gona to follow him and went inside.

Solomon was lying on a cot on top of a metal table, his chest and abdomen wrapped in bandages. An IV ran to his arm and an oxygen line wrapped below his nostrils. His face had a grayish hue and his ordinarily fit body hung limp. Reece stood by his side and put his hand on the man’s forearm. Gona entered the room slowly and stood in the corner, clearly uncomfortable.

“It’s okay, Gona, doctor says he’ll make it. We’ll get him moved to a hospital and he’ll be back on his feet in no time. ”

Gona nodded, concerned for his close friend, but reassured by Reece’s words.

Reece didn’t want Solomon to wake up alone, but he also knew that he needed to coordinate his transfer to a more advanced medical facility. They were out of radio range, so he decided it was best to head back to camp to get the ball rolling on the medevac. He took the cap from his head and placed it on the cot next to his tracker. Patting him on the arm, Reece headed out the door. Gona leaned close to Solomon’s ear and spoke to him in Shona before following.

Reece found the doctor attending to a baby in her mother’s arms.

“Hey, Doc, we’re going to head back to Rich Hastings’s camp and arrange to have him transported to a hospital. Where does he need to go? ”

“Well, if you have the funds, I would highly recommend getting him to Johannesburg or the private clinic in Pemba. There’s an airstrip three kilometers from here; we have an ambulance that can transport him there for the flight. The nurse in the lobby can give you a card with our phone number and you can call us from the camp to coordinate. ”

“Thanks, Doc. ”

“There’s one more thing, Mr. Bucklew, is it? ”

“What’s that? ”

“We run on a shoestring budget here, Mr. Bucklew. We are happy to help your friend, but we are perilously low on resources. A donation would be quite helpful. ”

“Understood. I’ll talk to Mr. Hastings about it. ”

“Very kind of you, Mr. Bucklew. ”

• • •

The camp had received a broken transmission from Reece just after Solomon was shot. The game scouts were sent to investigate and found the elephant carcass along with the two dead poachers. They also found the wrapper for the chest seal and bandages but weren’t sure whether someone on Reece’s team was wounded or if he had wounded and then treated a third poacher. As soon as Reece was back in radio range, he heard Hastings frantically calling for him on their main channel.

“Go for Reece. ”

“James, what’s going on? What’s your status, over? ”

“We encountered a group of elephant poachers and were compromised. Two enemy KIA and two squirters. Solomon was hit, but he’s stable at the clinic. Need you to arrange moving him to a real hospital, over. ”

“Roger that, James. Confirm that he is stable and at the clinic at Montepuez, over. ”

“Affirmative. ”

“We will get to work on that immediately. You headed back to camp, over? ”

“Roger that, I’m an hour out. ”

Hastings and his team worked quickly and efficiently. Every man on the team, black or white, was seen as part of the family and no expense or effort would be spared to ensure Solomon’s survival and recovery. The pilot, still waiting for a commercial flight to arrive in Pemba, was dispatched to Montepuez to pick up their wounded man. As soon as he was airborne, Hastings called the clinic to let them know that the plane was on its way. Solomon was loaded into the clinic’s humble ambulance and transported the short distance to the airstrip. Within three hours of Reece’s radio call, Solomon was being treated at the private hospital in Pemba.

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