Page 2 of Her Tempting Protector

“Right now, she has them in the palm of her hand. She’s a great orator. She’s saying they can’t riot, because it will just end up with more innocent people dead.”

“It shouldn’t. Those bastards should have gone to ground with the regime change.”

Carys looked sideways at Isaac and rolled her eyes.

“Okay, you’re right. Nothing’s ever that clear-cut here in Africa,” he sighed.

“There you go.”

She wanted to hit something. She should have done more due diligence before coming here. She’d taken Hamdok’s people at their word that they had more say than the Transitional Military Council, that things were peaceful and democratic and that the RSF had disbanded. Instead, they had reared their ugly heads twice in the last three weeks. They attacked two enclaves outside of Khartoum; maiming, raping and killing. Sometimes, the way they chose to murder people, was to set them on fire. Carys shuddered.

The window was open so they could hear her speak even though the blinds were partially closed. They continued to listen.

“I can’t make out what she’s saying, she’s talking too fast. Can you translate?” Isaac asked.

“She’s trying to talk them into going home. She said that Hamdok will keep them safe, but some people who lived through the last massacre months ago aren’t having it. They’re insisting on staying here, and at the other vulnerable sites to stand guard. Besides this hospital, there’s the orphanage and two schools.”

“I agree with them,” Isaac said.

“I don’t. We’re asking for a riot, which will just lead to more citizens dead.”

“Bullshit,” Isaac’s voice was controlled. “Hamdok’s people still aren’t here. Hell, even the police are nowhere to be seen. They’ve run away like cockroaches when the light comes on. We don’t know when the rebel RSF will attack next. Five days ago, they were in Sinjah, and three days before that, they were in Al Fao. They’re not making any sense. They could be in Khartoum today for all we know. Have you gotten ahold of anyone on Hamdok’s staff?”

She had, but she’d only gotten the runaround, they kept telling her that it was in the hands of one of the generals on the Transitional Military Council, but right now they were worried a coup had taken place. Therefore, no one knew who oversaw the RSF—there were currently some sanctioned by Hamdok’s government, and a great deal more who were not.

None of the citizens knew who they could trust. Hamdok was trying to form a coalition of forces that the masses could believe in, but it was slow in coming. Meanwhile, atrocities occurred, and the citizens took aim at anyone in an RSF uniform, afraid for their lives. Carys couldn’t blame them. She didn’t even know how the two RSF forces identified themselves against one another.

Then when she talked to some of her patients, they told her even the Rapid Support Forces, who had always been under the government auspices, took part in some of the rapes and killings. So Carys didn’t know who could be trusted except for Hamdok himself, her security team, and the citizens. But guns, in the hands of scared neophytes, were never a good thing. They were in the deep stinky stuff.

The woman’s voice rose higher as she praised the assembled citizens for their courage. She said it was because of their hearts and minds that Sudan had found peace and freedom, and it was up to them to continue down that path.

Carys waited with bated breath. She couldn’t decide if she wanted the people with guns in the crowd to go home or stay and protect them from the rebel RSF members. Carys had about given up hope on any kind of military aid from Hamdok’s newly formed government and watched dejectedly as the crowd dispersed.

“I’m going out there to talk to her,” Carys said.

“You can’t,” Isaac pulled at her arm. “You’re in charge, and we need your direction.”

“Isaac, you can’t go out there, you’ll seem like you’re trying to tell her what to do. Me asking questions, woman to woman, will go over better.”

He finally nodded his head.

Carys hurried through the front doors of the hospital and made her way through the scattering crowd toward the truck the woman had been standing on.

“Hello?” Carys called out in Arabic.

The woman replied in English. “You’re working with Doctors without Borders there in the hospital, right?” she guessed. “My name is Nasifa Alhassan. I teach at the University.” She held out her hand.

Carys took it and introduced herself. “How worried should we be here at the hospital?”

Nasifa sighed. “Worried.”

“Then why did you tell everyone to go home? I don’t want any harm to come to our patients. I also don’t want anything to happen to the men and women I recruited to come here with me,” Carys said fiercely.

Nasifa gave her a steadfast look. “I don’t want that either. I don’t want one single person in my country to be hurt. One of my former students is with the rebels that’s how I know that’s the reason we’re not seeing any of Hamdok’s men here, they are out meeting with the RSF rebels, trying to come up with a way to make peace. Many of those men were not part of the atrocities that have occurred. Some are just young men and boys who have been forcibly recruited into their midst.”

“But some of them were. Some of them are guilty of war crimes,” Carys protested.

“If they can’t make peace, the rebels will continue to attack our people. Peace is better than punishment,” Nasifa said sadly. “At least this way, you know your patients and people will be safe.”

“But any kind of peace negotiation is days away. What about today?” Carys demanded as she thought about the people in her care.

Nasifa gave her a pitying look. “You can only pray.”