The War Within Read Online Free

without complaint despite long hours and imperfect conditions. This was the first time someone had thanked her for her efforts. Robinson made her feel like her contributions mattered. Like she mattered.
    “Thank you.”
    “Don’t mention it. We’re a small but hearty band. I’m glad I can welcome a new member. If you have any questions or simply need someone to talk to, let me know. I’ve been told I’m a pretty good listener.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind.”
    When Robinson removed her hand, Meredith immediately longed for its return. She missed the comfort and sense of safety Robinson’s touch had briefly provided.
    The group entered a building marked Arrivals/Departures, which put Meredith more in mind of a pleasure cruise than a twelve-month stint in a war zone. Four ceiling fans whirred overhead, churning the still, stagnant air but providing little relief from the stultifying heat.
    Meredith and the seven other nurses who had flown with her from Okinawa formed an orderly line parallel to the intake table, where a woman with a lieutenant colonel’s silver oak leaves affixed to her uniform collar held court.
    “At ease,” the woman said, pushing her gunmetal gray chair away from the table. Her voice was filled with quiet command. It was a voice Meredith suspected was equally at home lavishing praise or giving blistering corrections. Her uniform was wrinkle-free, as if it and its owner had never seen a drop of sweat. Meredith would love to look that unruffled.
    She and her companions dropped their duffels at their feet and folded their hands behind their backs as their CO slowly walked back and forth in front of them.
    “I’m Lieutenant Colonel Billie Daniels. While you’re in Saigon, you will be under my command.”
    Meredith thought her commanding officer would be a gray-haired veteran. Instead, Lt. Col. Daniels appeared to be only in her late twenties or early thirties—the space of time her mother often referred to as the uncertain age between immaturity and experience. Meredith hoped the LTC had more of the latter than the former.
    Lt. Col. Daniels’s dark hair was pulled back into a severe bun, which added to her intimidating appearance. Her eyes were like lasers. Every time she focused them in her direction, Meredith had to fight not to lower her own in deference.
    “For the first month, you’ll be working at one of the model hospitals we have established to help the locals provide quality medical care after the US no longer has a military presence in this country,” Lt. Col. Daniels said. “Then you’ll be randomly assigned to evacuation hospitals in Long Binh or Qui Nhon. You’ll work the emergency room, triage area, and intensive care. Sometimes you’ll see as few as ten patients per day. Other times you’ll be inundated by over three hundred. When you work triage, your job will be to help the medics separate the expectant patients—those not anticipated to survive their wounds—from the ones who have a better chance of making it home.”
    “Permission to speak, ma’am?” a nervous-sounding voice asked from the end of the line.
    Meredith knew the voice well. Lois Dunbar, its chatterbox owner, had talked everyone’s ear off on the plane. Meredith knew much more than she cared to about her fellow first lieutenant’s adventures with enlisted men from San Francisco to Hawaii to Japan. The ones in Vietnam, she supposed, were next on the list.
    Lt. Col. Daniels stopped pacing in front of the line and turned to face Lois. “Permission granted.”
    “What happens to the expectants? Are they left to die?”
    Meredith had the same question, but she hadn’t dared interrupt the lieutenant colonel’s speech to ask it. Lois was a braver woman than she was. Or more foolish.
    “One thing we do not do in this man’s army,” Lt. Col. Daniels said with a flash of steel, “is abandon our own. You’ve sworn the same oath I have. Our mission is to save as many people as we can. If that means