Love in the Crossfire

Chapter 1

When Memory and Blood Meet

The city of Velmont was completely enveloped in fire and smoke as dusk fell hard. Sirens resounded like wailing cries. Hope was crushed beneath the boots of marching soldiers, and gunfire and dust filled the city from every direction. Maria Johnson knelt beside a 16-year-old boy who was groaning, her gloves shaking and stained. She worked for the resistance, which aimed to revive the shattered state and was a doctor by profession and necessity. Her own heart, however, waged a private war in the midst of the chaos. Maria met Smith Williams years ago at a UN-sponsored public health seminar in a city that had not been affected by war. With a sharp gaze that cut through rooms and a soft Southern accent, he had posed as a logistics expert. She had almost inadvertently given him her phone number when she was a student nurse with a sharp mind and quick wit. She never thought he would call. He did.