‘There’s nothing anyone can do?’
‘For the moment I’m guessing the best thing for you to do is get some sleep,’ the captain said, studying his friend’s face and seeing a strain there he’d never seen before. ‘Hell, Ben, it’s not like you to get personally involved.’
‘It’s not, is it?’ Ben said.
‘Go to bed,’ the captain said, roughly concerned. ‘If there’s any news, I’ll let you know.’
‘Thanks.’
‘And, Ben?’
‘Yeah?’
‘This lady doctor…’
‘Mmm?’
‘How well did you know her?’ And there was suddenly a hint of an understanding smile behind the captain’s bland enquiry.
But Ben didn’t feel like smiling. ‘I knew her well enough. But I’m going to bed,’ he muttered. ‘Just keep the lid on the hostage situation. That’s all I ask.’
CHAPTER THREE
BEN woke at dawn, and five minutes later he was striding into the original hospital, looking for Lily.
For she was gone. The first thing he’d done had been to check her stretcher-bed and the sight of its neatly folded blanket had made him feel ill.
Hell, he’d slept six hours and he’d needed that sleep. She’d had little more than that and she’d had a lot more to catch up on.
‘Where’s Dr Lily?’ he snapped at the first person he saw. It was Pieter. The big nurse assessed Ben’s face and nodded, as if he now understood something that had been worrying him.
‘You’ll be Dr Ben Blayden?’
‘Yes.’
‘I should have realised yesterday,’ the nurse told him. ‘I’m afraid I wasn’t thinking.’
‘You should have realised what?’
‘That you’re our Lily’s Ben. That you’re our Benjy’s father.’
It took the wind out of Ben’s lungs, so much so that he felt as if he’d been punched. After seven years…
‘Where is she?’ he managed, and Pieter shook his head, troubled.