Summary

Chapter 2 reverts back to 1996. Sonja recalls leaving her home in London. She broke up with Brendan, her Scottish fiance, resigned from her hospital residency, and made the trip home with a single Samsonite suitcase, a gift from Brendan. The situation was serious and she was frightened as her bus crossed military checkpoints. She knocked on her apartment door, hoping her sister, Natasha, would answer, but found it empty. The next day, she encountered a neighbor named Laina who warned Sonja that it wasn't safe to come into the hall when she heard people. Laina didn't know where Natasha had gone.

Sonja was hired at Hospital No. 6 and they didn't even ask for a resume. There was little in the way of management structure and she became chief surgeon in two months. She soon had more trauma experience than most of her medical school...