Page 40 of Under a Spanish Sky
‘One day, while I was operating on a woman who needed a Caesarean section, I heard gunfire.’ He stopped to take a deep breath.
‘Gunfire wasn’t that unusual up there and, at first, we weren’t too worried.
Anyway, I was in the middle of the operation and couldn’t stop, even though the shooting got nearer and nearer.
Finally they reached us, the door was kicked open and a hail of gunfire came pouring in.
The nurse beside me was cut to pieces before my eyes and I was hit three times.
I was thrown back onto the floor, ending up under the operating table, covered in the blood and body parts of the two nurses and the other doctor.
’ Another pause and then, when he started speaking again, his voice was totally devoid of any emotion. ‘The other doctor was Nicole.’
‘Oh, Luke.’ Amy was appalled and didn’t know what to say. She could imagine the horrific bloodbath and could only begin to guess at the effect it must have had on Luke. She squeezed his hand again but felt no response.
‘It must have been the fact that I was hidden under the other three bodies and covered in their blood that saved me from being hacked to death with machetes. I passed out and when I came round, the men had gone, I was alive, and everybody else in there was dead, including the patient on the operating table along with her unborn child… and Nicole.’ For the first time, Amy felt his hand grip hers.
‘I can’t even begin to describe the scene that greeted me when I tried to stand up, although I’ll never forget it. ’
She heard him pick up his glass and take a mouthful.
‘Anyway, I was very lucky. Two of the bullets passed right through the tissue of my upper arm without touching the bone and the third must have hit one of the other victims first, because it entered my chest cavity and stayed there.’ He cleared his throat and explained.
‘AK47 rounds tend to do most damage on the way out. They can literally blow a chunk of body away. The fact that I was hit by a spent round saved my life. Like I say, I was very lucky; at least physically.’
‘How long did it take you to recover?’
‘Physically, not so long. A month, two maybe. They flew me back to Abuja and from there to London and I got the very best care available. The trouble wasn’t with my body so much as with my mind. I’m afraid that, psychologically, I went to pieces.’
‘I can well believe it.’ Amy was appalled at his story, particularly the fact that his fiancée had died in the attack and her blood and body parts had covered him.
It didn’t bear thinking about. She squeezed his hand again.
‘I can’t begin to imagine how awful it must have been for you.
’ She had a thought. ‘So, did you meet Father Tim in Africa?’
‘Yes, and then again when I was in the hospital in London. He’d returned to the UK by then and when he heard about what had happened to me, he came to visit me in there and then, later, at the mental health hospital.
’ Luke took another mouthful of wine. ‘He helped me a lot. You see, ever since that day, I haven’t been able to pick up a scalpel, put on a surgical gown, or even sit down with a patient.
It’s as if my whole being has rejected my former life.
Even if I wanted to go back to medicine, my brain refuses to let me. ’
‘Luke, you can stop talking about it now, if you like. Don’t let the memories stress you out any more.’
‘I’ve almost finished, Amy, and, anyway, everybody tells me it’s good to talk about it. The fact is, like I said, you’re just about the first.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Amy, you needed to know.’
‘So when did you decide to go for medieval history?’
‘I’d always been interested in history and you won’t be in the least surprised to hear that it was Tim who pushed me into doing something about it.’
‘Just like he did to me.’
‘I owe Tim a lot. When he saw the way things were going, he told me to get myself back to university. He got me to face the fact that I needed to make a change from medicine. So that’s when I chose medieval history.’
‘And after the PhD, what happened?’
‘You happened, Amy.’ She heard him pause again.
This time it was a long pause. ‘Tim took me to one side and told me he thought I needed a break; time to decide on my future. He told me about this brave girl who’d been dealt a pretty poor hand.
’ She felt his fingers tighten against hers.
‘And he put the two of us together. He’s a lovely man, but he’s a conniving, scheming plotter, you know. ’
‘You said it. Without his insistence, I’d never have gone ahead with this trip and I’d never have met you.’
‘I think we both owe him a lot.’
‘Amen to that.’
‘Thank you for listening. I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to summon up the courage to tell you my story.’
‘Nobody could accuse you of lacking courage, Luke. Thank you for telling me and remember the old saying, a problem shared is a problem halved. I’m here for you any time, you know that, don’t you?’
Amy knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that a watershed had now been reached.
Getting him to start to open up about his life was a massive step forward for him.
The next step, she fervently hoped, would be for him to begin to process whatever feelings he might be harbouring towards her.
It wouldn’t be long before they reached the end of their journey and the spectre of losing him from her life was haunting her more and more as the days went by.