by Sue MacKay
She seemed very happy with David, something he accepted and wished her well about, but he wasn’t ready to take the chance himself. Add in that the boys weren’t as comfortable with David now he’d married their mother and he knew he couldn’t bring someone else new into their lives.
David didn’t get involved with the boys as he had in the early days, almost as if he’d been using them to win Leanne over and now he didn’t need to. Callum and Ryder were upset with David’s change in attitude towards them, and that made Jamie cross. Another thing to watch out for if he brought a woman into his home.
He’d be broken-hearted for them if that happened. Their insecurities hadn’t gone away completely and he wasn’t adding to them with anything he chose to do. So he’d got up from the table and walked out of the pub early when all he’d really wanted to do was sit there with Kayla and have a good time. A good move, if a disappointing one.
* * *
Kayla wriggled out of the small space in the squashed car, which she’d managed to squeeze her head and shoulders into with difficulty. Another six weeks had dragged past and now she was back at work—and happy. Except for the woman before her. ‘We need the Jaws of Life fast. She’s unconscious and bleeding.’
‘On the way,’ a voice she recognised called from the fire truck parked on the other side of the road. A voice that teased her, setting her pulse to ‘fast’ during nights when her legs were still giving her grief. Jamie Gordon added, ‘I got them out just in case.’
Thank goodness for someone using their brain. ‘Every second might count on this one,’ she informed him and the rest of the fire crew now crowding around the mangled vehicle, which had been driven into a solid tree trunk. At speed, Kayla suspected, given there were no tyre marks on the tarmac and how the bonnet appeared to be hugging the tree.
‘Fast and careful.’ Jamie sussed out the wreck, indicating where they needed to use the cutting apparatus. ‘Is there any other way?’
Kayla stood aside but as close as possible to her patient, and said to her ambulance partner, ‘Becca, we need the defib, a collar and the stretcher all ready and waiting the moment she’s free.’
‘Very soon,’ Jamie said over his shoulder without taking his focus off removing the driver’s door. A man of few words when necessary.
She liked that. But, then, she liked Jamie, despite having seen very little of him since that moment in the pub when he’d upped and left in a hurry. They’d bumped into each other at the one search and rescue meeting she’d attended since but it had been crowded and busy and not a lot of talking to each other had occurred. She’d known he’d walked away from her with the intention of leaving it at that and he wouldn’t be knocking on her door any time soon, and despite the way shock swiped at her when she did see him she’d respected his decision. Whatever his reason, which could even be as simple as he hadn’t felt the same connection as she had, it was his to make. Damn it.
Becca placed the defibrillator on the roadside. ‘The collar’s on the stretcher, which a cop’s bringing across.’
‘Cool.’ It was all hands to the fore, everyone helping where they could. ‘The airbag didn’t deploy and I’m worried about the woman’s ribs as the steering wheel appears to have struck hard and deep. Pneumothorax is a real possibility.’
The sound of screeching metal as the jaws cut through made her shiver and raised goose-bumps on her skin. Stepping forward, she leaned in through the gap the removal of the door had created and held back an oath. ‘She wasn’t wearing a seat belt.’
‘We need to cut the side panel and back door away so you can get her out without too much stress,’ Jamie said as he lifted the jaws and began tackling the car again. ‘Stand away, Kayla.’
Her teeth were grinding. He was right. If the door frame sprang free as it was cut she didn’t want to be in the firing line, but the woman needed her. Fast. Especially if her lungs were punctured. From the little she could see, the woman’s breathing was rapid and shallow, backing her suspicion of punctured lungs.
Come on, guys, this is urgent.
Ping. Bang. Screech.
The door frame and back door were cut through, and one of the firemen was hauling them away.
Kayla leapt forward. Pushing in, ignoring her jersey catching on sharp metal, she reached for the woman’s arm, which had been flung sideways. The pulse was light but rapid. Too fast, like her breathing. ‘Hello? Can you hear me?’
Nothing.
‘I’m Kayla. A paramedic. We’re going to get you out of here.’
Nothing.
A deep wound on the woman’s left temple bled profusely. Kayla drew a breath, began to check the ribs. ‘We need to remove the steering wheel, Jamie.’
‘Ready when you give us the say-so.’
There was little Kayla could do. When the pressure came off the ribcage, bleeding would start and then she’d be busy. ‘Becca, pads I can apply immediately.’
‘Here.’
‘We’ll put on the neck collar before moving her.’
‘I’ve got it ready.’
‘Right, let’s do this.’
In a short time the firemen had cut through the steering column and were carefully removing the wheel. Kayla hovered with the pads, applying them with pressure the moment there was space to work, all the time watching the woman’s breathing, begging her to inhale every time her lungs let air out. ‘Don’t stop now.’
Becca crouched on the other side of their patient and applied the collar.
‘Done. Now we need someone to take her shoulders, you, Becca, take that side. I’ll be in here, getting her legs out. How close is the stretcher?’
‘Right here,’ Jamie answered. ‘I’ll take her head and shoulders.’
‘We need to go fast but carefully. There’s a lot of bleeding.’ Too much. Kayla checked that the woman’s legs were free of the tangled metal. ‘On the count. One, two, three.’ She strained to lift the woman’s dead weight in her stretched arms, gritting her teeth and using all her strength as she helped the others, and the woman was soon out and being lowered onto the stretcher with care. ‘Good work, everyone.’
Jamie’s hand touched her shoulder, squeezed and lifted away again.
Kayla blinked. He understood how important it was to her to save this woman. Because it was what she did, who she had been ever since she was a kid and had seen Zac save Maisie after a bee attack that had brought on a severe allergic reaction. That had stuck with her, made her aware how easily people got into trouble, and she always wanted to be the person helping them. Another point in Jamie’s favour. They might start adding up to a high number if she wasn’t careful.
Tearing the ripped T-shirt wide open, Kayla ran her fingers over the ribcage and tapped. She nodded. ‘Hollow sound, indicating a punctured lung. Ribs moving as though fractured, and the gasping, shallow breathing all point to torn lungs. Regardless of other injuries, we need to get straight to the emergency department.’
‘Right.’ Becca had the heart monitor pads on their patient’s chest. ‘GCS is two. No reaction to touch, sound or lifting her eyelids.’
‘Understandable. There’s a lot of trauma. Still no response to sound, movement or the pain.’ Kayla noted the odd angle of one arm and deep wounds on both legs, and a memory made her shiver. That pain would be intense. ‘Load and go.’ No time for anything else when the patient couldn’t hold air in her lungs. That took priority over everything else.
A continuous sound emitted from the monitor. A flat line ran along the bottom of the screen. ‘Cardiac arrest.’ Just what the woman didn’t need. Kayla immediately began compressions, not liking what she could feel under her clenched hands.
Becca grabbed the electric pads. ‘Here.’
Slapping them in place, Kayla glanced around. ‘Stand back, everyone.’ She pressed the power knob. Please, please, please.
The woman’s
body convulsed. The monitor began beeping, the line lifting.
Relief flooded Kayla. ‘Watch her head, Becca. Tip it back a little to make breathing easier.’
‘Want a hand?’ Jamie was beside her.
‘We need her on board now. I’ll do a full assessment on the way to hospital.’
I am not losing this woman.
Her mantra wasn’t always successful, yet she always repeated it in serious situations.
‘You need someone to go with you? I can’t do much but read the monitor or note down facts as you find them. The guys don’t need me here to finish up with the wreckage.’ He took one end of the stretcher and moved towards the back of the ambulance with her on the other end and Becca holding the woman’s head.
Having Jamie on the short but worrying trip would be a bonus. He always appeared calm. He didn’t walk away when people needed him. She wouldn’t think about that day at the pub because she hadn’t needed his company then. But now she might. She didn’t know how it was going to go with this patient so an extra pair of hands was a good idea. ‘That’d be great,’ she replied as she climbed into the ambulance and locked the stretcher wheels in place.
Becca stepped aside for Jamie, then pushed through to the front as someone closed them all in.
‘Top speed, Becca,’ Kayla instructed. ‘Call ED, inform them we have a suspected pneumothorax and other serious injuries.’ The medical staff would be geared up, ready to do everything required to save the woman’s life.
With lights flashing and the siren shrieking, the ambulance pulled away.
Kayla checked her patient’s breathing. ‘Still rapid, short intakes. Lips blue. BP please, Jamie.’ She didn’t look up as she began intubating her.
As he held a bandage to the woman’s head he read the monitor screen. ‘Heartbeat’s sporadic.’
She glanced up. Swore. ‘Bleeding out.’ Other than the head wound, she hadn’t found an excessive amount of external blood loss but combined with what might be happening in the lung cavity it would all be adding up. ‘There could be other internal traumas. The steering wheel made a huge impact and was wide enough to reach her abdomen.’ The liver or spleen might’ve been ruptured. Who knew? She didn’t have time to find out. With a final push the tube slipped into place and she turned the oxygen on. ‘Now for some fluid.’
‘What do you need?’ Jamie already had the medical pack at hand.
‘Sodium chloride, needle and tube. Everything’s in the top left pocket.’
The monitor beeping stopped, replaced by a monotone. Kayla yelled, ‘Becca, pull over. We’ve lost her.’ She placed the electric pads on the exposed chest in front of her, jerking sideways as the ambulance lurched off the road and braked.
Jamie grabbed Kayla’s arm, held her for a moment while she got her balance. ‘You right?’ His concerned gaze was fixed on her.
She nodded, watching the monitor and holding her hand over the button that’d give a jolt of current to the woman’s lifeless body. ‘Stand clear.’
Don’t you dare die on me.
Jolt.
Jerk.
The monotone continued. No, no, no.
Her heart in her throat, Kayla said again, ‘Stand back.’
Jolt.
Jerk.
Beep, beep, beep.
Phew.
Air rushed across Kayla’s lips as she removed the pads. ‘Go, Becca.’
Immediately the ambulance was bouncing onto the road and picking up speed.
Lifting the woman’s eyelids, Kayla found no response. They weren’t out of the mud yet. ‘Come on, lady, don’t you dare let us down. Hang in there. What’s your name?’ Not knowing felt impersonal, considering the circumstances.
‘The police are trying to find out. They say the registered owner of the car is a male, but they weren’t having any luck getting in touch,’ Jamie filled her in. ‘There didn’t appear to be a wallet and cards, or a phone.’
‘Maybe she’s a tourist.’ This was the most popular tourist destination in the country. ‘She looks to be in her twenties, though it isn’t always easy to tell in these situations.’
‘Here.’ Jamie handed her the sodium chloride and needle.
Wiping the back of the woman’s hand with sanitiser, she tapped the flat vein hard to make inserting the needle easier, slipped it in and attached the tube with the fluid and taped it in place.
‘As easy as that.’ Jamie smiled. ‘You’re good.’
A sense of pride filled her. ‘I hope so. I’ve worked hard to be the best.’
‘If I ever get into trouble I’d like you to be there to help me.’
As if someone like Jamie would need her, but then again no one knew what was waiting around the corner. This woman hadn’t known she was heading for a tree as she drove. ‘Let’s hope the need never arises.’ She couldn’t imagine a man with Jamie’s build and strength being laid out, unaware of what was going on around him.
‘Just saying.’
Say it as often as you like.
She cut away the woman’s shorts to expose severe bruising on both thighs. ‘Those’ll be from where the bonnet pushed down on her.’ Had her femurs been fractured in the impact? Pain nudged Kayla from her own legs. Shoving it away, she looked at the monitor. No change, which was on the side of good but not good enough. They couldn’t get to the ED quickly enough.
The ambulance slowed and Becca began backing into the hospital’s ambulance bay. ‘After we unload I’ll take the ambulance next door to the station to clean up and restock while you do what’s necessary this end, Kayla.’
‘Okay.’
‘There’s a crowd waiting for us.’ The words were barely out of Becca’s mouth when the back doors were being opened and helping hands were reaching for the stretcher.
Jamie took the top end to move the stretcher out and then with Becca and two nurses rushed the woman inside.
Kayla followed, filling in Sadie, the doctor on duty, with all the details, and what she thought were the major injuries. ‘Her breathing’s shallow and rapid, there’s a soft area in the ribs on the right and a blue tinge on her lips and face. She’s had two cardiac arrests and there’s bleeding from wounds and a serious head wound.’
‘You focused on her lungs and heart, I take it?’
‘Yes.’ The life-threatening problems, though who knew about the head injury? It wasn’t something she could’ve dealt with anyway. That required a neurosurgeon, someone not on hand here in Queenstown, so she would have to be sent elsewhere.
‘I’ve given the life flight helicopter lot the heads up that we’ll probably need them before the night’s out. It depends how quickly we can stabilise the lung problem,’ Sadie told her.
Sadie had gone with the diagnosis she’d had Becca call through and believed their patient would be going to a larger hospital further away, which one depending on urgency and theatre requirements. Once again pride filled her. ‘That sounds good. Oh, we don’t know who she is. The police are onto it, and hopefully will have an answer before you send her off.’
‘Great.’ Sadie was already focused on their patient and that information seemed to barely register.
Kayla repeated it to a nurse, and then, knowing there was nothing else she could do, headed for the door out into the ambulance bay. She had done her damnedest for the woman and hoped it was enough. But she was in a very bad way and there was no knowing how it would turn out. Now she’d handed over, Kayla felt knackered and her hands were shaking, while her feet were beginning to drag as she walked down the ramp out onto the footpath. Drawing in a lungful of summer night air, she was glad to be alive. A normal feeling after a serious case, she sometimes wondered if she was being selfish or realistic.
‘You all right?’ A familiar deep voice came from the other side of the drive where Jamie stood, leaning against the hospital wall, his ankle
s crossed and his hands in his pockets.
‘No.’ Without hesitation, Kayla changed direction and crossed over, walking right up to him and into the arms suddenly reaching for her, wrapping around her waist to tuck her against his wide chest. She didn’t question herself, only knew that she wanted to be close to someone who understood what she’d just gone through in trying to save that woman. Jamie did understand, would’ve been through many similar traumas as a fireman and a member of the search and rescue squad. ‘It was awful.’ Calm throughout a trauma situation, she always got wobbly as the adrenalin faded.
‘That woman was lucky you were on duty.’
‘She’s not out of trouble by a long way.’ Kayla was glad there were far more qualified people now working on the patient. Under her cheek the fabric of Jamie’s shirt was like a comfort blanket; warm and soft. Relief at bringing the woman in still alive washed over her.
‘You saved her life—twice. Be kind to yourself.’
‘It’s hard. I know from when Dylan died what it’s like to get that knock on the front door from the police.’ It was why she worked so hard to keep up to date on procedures.
Jamie’s arms tightened around her. ‘That’s a bitch.’
Shoving aside her pain, she said quietly, ‘I wish we’d had a name for her. It felt impersonal when what I was doing was very personal.’ There were no restrictions when it came to saving a person’s life but sometimes it still felt as though she was being intrusive.
‘Know what you mean.’ Jamie’s hand was spread across her back, his palm and fingers recognisable, more warmth soaking into her.
She snuggled in closer and stood there, breathing in his scent, soaking up his heat, and just plain breathing. She needed this. She shouldn’t be standing here in Jamie’s arms, but she was, and liking the strength he lent her. It was as though she was allowed a history and did not have to explain it all in depth. He made her feel, briefly, like she belonged. Yet that had to be blatantly untrue. She put it down to being lonely in the hours she wasn’t working.