Page 71 of Her Sensual Protector

“Give her to me, Leo.”

“Miss! Don’t make me get a shot.” Abia held out her arms for Daisy. She couldn’t stand it. She took the distressed girl out of Leo’s arms. Effie was now next to her.

“Is there something I can do?” she asked in English.

“Abia thinks she’s going to get a shot when she goes to the first aid tent. Do me a favor, can you just go there with the camera crew on your own? Maybe take a bit of a break, while I get her settled down?”

“Whatever I can do to help,” Effie offered.

“Leo and I will head over to the food distribution area, and that should calm little missy down.” Already Abia was not crying as hard now that Daisy had her in her arms, and she was fiddling with Daisy’s St. Christopher necklace.

When they started in that direction, Leo asked, “Why are we going there?”

“To discuss the women’s committee that I want to start for W.A.N.T. food distribution.”

“What will that entail?”

“A whole hell of a lot.” Now Abia was playing with Daisy’s braid. “I’ve talked with Maysa and five other women about forming a committee to come up with a way to verify which households are truly run by women. Those households will get extra supplies from our organization. It’s going to be massive since there are a million people in the camp. When you consider the fact that two-thirds of them are children or elderly who need care, then you have breadwinners. The estimate is that one in four households are handled by just one woman, therefore we’re talking anywhere from twenty to thirty thousand.”

“Shit, that’s going to be a massive project. Do you put people on the ground?”

“Volunteers. Like I was back in the day. I need to talk to the man handling the food distribution again. He needs to be on-board with our plans, otherwise, this will go sideways fast.”

“Understood.”

* * *

Leo saw the operation up ahead. This was where the few UN Peacekeepers present were deployed. This wasn’t where they were needed. He’d already heard where the problems lay, and it wasn’t fighting over food in front of everyone as it was being passed out. As a matter of fact, it was amazing how peacefully people lined up to get their rations. But who in the hell had the energy to push and shove?

Granted there was a crowd. Men in rags who had even given up wearing their headgear, except for the grandfathers. The women still wore their scarves, but most were old and faded. He hated to see so many desperate people. What Daisy was doing was nothing short of a miracle.

“Milk. Can I have milk?” Abia asked.

“No, Darling,” Daisy said sadly. She looked as heartbroken as the girl.

Leo fished into his backpack and pulled out a butterscotch candy. He’d been saving the package of candies for emergencies, and this qualified as one. He handed it to Abia, and she looked at the wrapped candy curiously.

“Unwrap it for her,” Daisy laughed.

Shit, I should have realized that.

As they continued to walk closer to the two men that Daisy needed to talk to, Leo unwrapped the candy and handed it to Abia. The men stood where the water jugs were being filled. There was a lot of activity there. Many hoses came from the truck, with not enough men to man them all. As they got closer, he saw some of the women pointing and smiling at Daisy. She smiled and waved back.

He thought it was odd that they were pointing instead of waving.

When they were just a few yards away, he saw a man, a kid really, holding what looked like a photo in front of his face. He looked at Daisy, then back down at the photo.

Fuck!

He saw the kid reach beneath his long shirt. Leo grabbed Daisy and Abia and twirled them to the ground, making sure that he was between them and the gunman at all times.

“Gun!” Leo roared in Arabic as he heard the distinctive pop, pop, pop of a pistol being fired. He felt a sting in his calf.

Abia screamed.

Oh God, is the baby hurt? Is Daisy hurt?

Then he heard something wonderful—Daisy crooning to Abia, calm as could be, trying to soothe the child.