Rescue Nights

by Nina Hamilton

  Realizing she had been standing under the warm spray for longer than she intended, Kate turned off the taps and quickly dried herself off. Respecting the unisex space, she dressed in her spare flight suit before she made to leave the shower stall.

  Kate had never been able to bring herself to produce a hairdryer here at base, so the best she could do was slick her wet hair back in a ponytail. You didn’t prove yourself in a male dominated rescue team by spending time in front of the mirror.

  Taking a deep fortifying breath, Kate pushed open the shower stall door. She had to swallow a surprised curse when she almost collided with Andrew. She had been sure that he had already left the change room.

  ‘When did doctors learn to move so quietly?’ she asked, immediately hoping he didn’t register the harshness of her tone.

  Andrew loosened his hands, which he had placed on her upper arms to steady her, and took a step back.

  ‘The clever ones like me learn to move quietly so we can check on our patient’s charts without waking them.’ He smiled as he continued, ‘Rounds go a lot faster when the patients aren’t conscious enough to ask questions.’

  Considering it was the first time Kate had seen his almond coloured eyes light up with genuine humour, she bit back a peevish response. Confused by the way the barrack-like change rooms seemed to contract in Andrew’s presence, she stowed away her wet uniform and towel and headed to the door. However, Andrew stayed close as she moved out into the cavernous space that was the main area of the helicopter rescue base.

  ‘Do we usually get an update about our patient after we drop them off at the hospital?’ Andrew asked.

  Because his question was about patient care, Kate slowed down her fast gait before answering.

  ‘If you call the hospital, any of the doctors or support staff will be happy to give you an update. We are a relatively small medical community up here in the Far North, so most of us stay helpful to one another.’

  ‘Colin looked relatively happy when we dropped him off at the hospital,’ Andrew observed.

  ‘Probably less happy once they started manipulating and stitching up his leg,’ Kate replied. ‘Although he did look particularly relieved when he realized we weren’t going to leave him with his mates. I don’t think that that band of brothers would have provided the gentlest of medical care.’

  Turning into the helicopter staging area, Kate and Andrew were hailed by the pilot Joe Robinson. ‘Do you guys want coffee or tea?’

  ‘Give me fifteen minutes for the resupply,’ Kate replied, smiling at the middle-aged pilot.

  Andrew wandered past her to take a seat at the table, while Kate went to the opposite wall ready for the meticulous process of resupplying their med bags. She needed to replace the supplies that they used on Colin.

  She couldn’t help but resent the way the new doctor didn’t offer any help. It was looking like he was going to treat her as if she was a junior hospital nurse, rather than a valuable partner with vast experience in pre-hospital care.

  She took a deep breath to restrain a dirty look. At least he had been able to keep up on the rescue site. The doctor they had rostered on last week would no sooner have abseiled down a cliff face than he would have cut off his hand. They were finding it hard to get appropriate doctors for any length of time, so they had been making do with short stints. Getting a six-month contract out of Dr Andrew Wentworth had been a boon. In fact, it was so unusual that Kate had her suspicions. Was this a doctor running away from a malpractice suit? For the first time, Kate wished she had the London connections to find out the dirt.

  Walking back to the table, Kate was in time to hear Joe say, ‘Hope you don’t mind that we use first names around here?’

  Kate had to hide a smile. Too bad if he did mind, seeing they had been using his Christian name all morning. She waited to see if he pointed that out.

  Instead, he said, ‘Joe, you can call me whatever you want, as long as you keep the chopper steady while I’m below it.’

  Looking at the way Andrew’s eyes crinkled as he shared laughter with the boys, Kate wished he was a little less attractive. Having a good-looking co-worker was a sharp reminder of her been-single-for-too-long status. Because it didn’t matter how physically appealing he was, Kate had a very serious policy about going out with the men she worked with. She hadn’t worked as hard as she had, to be one of Australia’s few female helicopter rescue paramedics, to ruin it by dating any of the doctors who passed through Cairns, especially any doctors in the rescue teams.

  Shaking her head to clear the thoughts running through it, Kate clued back into the conversation. Andrew was talking to the men about the time he had recently spent in the Himalayas. However, as soon as her coffee-filled mug touched her lips, Andrew turned to her.

  ‘I have some questions about how we pack the med bags,’ he said. ‘I have a preference with how it works.’

  Suddenly Andrew was looking much, much less attractive. Kate could feel the muscles in her face tightening, as she managed what she was sure looked distinctly like the half-hearted smile it was.

  ‘Sure, Andrew. We can do that.’

  Obviously, he couldn’t have brought this up before she had tightly stowed and inventoried each item.

  With a palpable twinge of resentment, Kate put her coffee down on the table and walked with Andrew to the equipment area. He knelt down on his haunches and pulled the large med bag towards him. Kate rolled her eyes, behind him, before mirroring his actions.

  ‘I like the stethoscope and blood pressure cuffs on the top of the bag, along with the gauze and bandages,’ said Andrew, the authoritative tone in his voice clear.

  ‘Your bag, your choice,’ she said. She couldn’t help herself from adding, ‘As long as you don’t remove any equipment in the shuffle.’

  Andrew looked up with one eyebrow raised. ‘Your bag. Your choice,’ he echoed. ‘But just so you know, if you are assisting me, I like pulse and BP reported first. And if there is any bleeding it is my role as the primary medic to deal with it, unless I ask you to do otherwise.’

  Kate couldn’t help but be taken back. All doctors specialized in arrogance but not many would lay down the law like this on their first day. Especially if, unlike her, they didn’t have a specialty in pre-hospital care.

  ‘I’ll give you some time with the med bag,’ she said. ‘That way you can familiarize yourself and organize it exactly the way you like.’

  This time, she didn’t mind if he heard the bite in her voice.

  Kate easily straightened her legs and rose from the floor. She settled in the seat that Andrew had been sitting in.

  ‘So Ben, how was the fishing yesterday?’ she asked.

  When the shift change came, Kate welcomed it with far more enthusiasm than usual. Her battered silver station wagon seemed an oasis of calm as she drove away from the helicopter base.

  Working with Andrew today had created an unusual kind of claustrophobia in a job she usually loved. For the last hour, she had fantasised about being alone, just her, her television and her reality television programming.

  She drove home on automatic pilot, making her way through the Cairns streets. The rain, which had been so heavy this morning, had lifted, leaving the streets looking freshly washed. It was only when she pulled into the resort’s car park that she noticed headlights in her rear-view mirror. As she pulled into number thirty-three, the other car pulled in the adjacent car park.

  She only needed to glimpse the profile of the other driver.

  ‘Damn, damn, dammit,’ echoed through the car’s interior.

  Kate swung her legs out of the car and climbed out.

  ‘Andrew, when did you check in here?’ she asked the man who was getting out of his car, only a metre away.

  She didn’t, for a second, regret the ungraciousness of her question.

  ‘I rang the Commander a few days ago, looking for a recommendation. He gave me the number of this place,’ Andrew said laconically. ‘I must say I feel
lucky that I was able to get a three-month booking. It really lives up to its five star reputation.’

  ‘Villa living isn’t for everybody,’ she said, knowing how inane it sounded.

  There weren’t many cities in the world where you could stay in absolute luxury for a fraction of the cost. Chronic oversupply of luxury accommodation after a tourism downturn, and civic minded owners, meant that she had been able to negotiate a rate she could afford even on a paramedic’s salary. She just hadn’t expected that privilege to be extended to others.

  ‘Yeah, I suppose the feeling of a permanent holiday would be hard for some,’ he replied.

  Damn, why had she stayed incommunicado for the last four days? If she couldn’t have persuaded the reception staff to turn down his booking, at least she could have asked them to put him over the other side of the resort.

  As if he could hear her thoughts and wanted to spite her, he pointed to her overnight bag. ‘Do you want to give me that? We are heading the same way?’

  Heading the same way was her exact problem. However, Kate managed to smile politely.

  ‘It is fine. It is just clothes,’ she said, as she shouldered the duffle bag.

  As if he wanted to annoy her further, Andrew slowed down her rapid escape by stepping in front of her and peered into the admittedly grimy window of her station wagon.

  ‘A little bit into diving, are you?’ he asked, smiling wryly.

  With the car’s backseat pushed down, she had two wetsuits drying, and snorkels and various fins strewn about. The only thing that was neatly stowed were the oxygen bottles. She knew enough to always show her lifesaving equipment the greatest respect.

  ‘I spent the weekend on a boat doing my dive rescue recertification,’ she said, as she started down the path.

  Andrew fell into step beside her as they made their way through the lush tropical gardens. However, he didn’t seem inclined to enjoy the peace and charm of the exotic planting.

  ‘Do you spend the weekend diving often?’ he asked.

  ‘I dive for pleasure and as a volunteer,’ Kate answered. ‘When I am off duty, I am a member of the SES, so I can get called in to help out police divers.’

  ‘Helping out police divers isn’t exactly glamorous work,’ he said.

  Kate could hear an incredulous tone in his statement. She resented it enough that he really was lucky she didn’t call him on it.

  Instead, she answered patiently, ‘We live in a regional centre, but in the end we are a reasonably small group of rescue specialists. So, volunteering our skills in our off hours is important.’

  She could see from the expression on his face that he was still cynical. Typical doctor, they thought they were the only ones with skills to offer.

  Their relatively fast walking pace had brought them to the edges of the resort’s grounds, where Kate’s, and what she knew now as Andrew’s, villas were located. The place next to her was so infrequently inhabited that she had forgotten how closely it was situated. The worst of it was that they shared a common wall as well as having a perfect view of one another’s front verandas.

  With horror still growing, Kate gave Andrew a perfunctory smile. ‘I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,’ she said.

  The quirk of his mouth told her that he was more amused by the encounter than she was.

  ‘Definitely,’ Andrew replied.

  Kate opened the ornate wooden door and dumped her duffle bag on the polished floorboards. She immediately turned on the television to muffle any sounds. The wall between her and Andrew was heavy, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Kate picked up the room phone, and punched in an internal code.

  ‘Are you punishing me for something?’ she said, into the receiver, as soon as the manager picked up the phone.

  A dirty laugh greeted her words.

  ‘What is wrong with the gorgeous doctor?’ Lucy asked, once she had her amusement under control. ‘Is he just too good looking for you?’

  Kate was not quite ready to give up her ill temper. ‘He is a co-worker and a clear believer in his own god-giftedness,’ she protested. ‘As well as being bossy as hell.’

  ‘Well if he told you what to do, we can’t fault his bravery,’ Lucy quipped. ‘Not to mention those lovely muscular arms.’

  A new thought occurred to Kate. ‘I’ll never be able to bring a man home again.’

  ‘Considering you seem to prefer your couch, and television, to the men of Cairns, I’d have to say what else is new?’

  Kate had to concede, in her own head at least, that Lucy had a point. However, for form’s sake, she put in a half-hearted protest. ‘You never know when the desire for a one-night stand might hit me.’

  ‘If that unique event happens, I promise I’ll do my best to distract the good doctor.’

  Kate went over to the wooden blinds on her window, which she usually loved to keep open, and shut them.

  ‘Why did you have to put him next to me?’ Kate asked. She hated the fact that she could hear the whine in the higher register of her voice.

  ‘You know why?’ Lucy told her, probably more patient than she deserved. ‘Most guests don’t like being so far away from the resort’s main buildings, which is why Andrew’s villa is usually empty. I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t give him that one.’

  Now that Lucy had invoked professionalism, the argument was over. Kate couldn’t complain anymore about living in her co-worker’s pocket.

  Still, damn.

  Chapter Three

  ‘Beep, beep, beep.’

  Andrew heard the three blasts that signalled an incoming emergency call. He and Kate got up and left the drug inventory where it lay. For the first time since medical school, Andrew had been actually participating in this menial task. Kate didn’t look like she was joking when she suggested it, and for some reason he didn’t seem to want to incur her displeasure.

  ‘What have we got, Margo?’ Kate asked, as she preceded him through the door of the dispatch office.

  ‘Serious head injuries at a mining site. Patient was still unconscious at the time of emergency call. Onsite medic is attending the scene.’

  Those vital pieces of information tripped off Margo’s tongue with the ease of long practice.

  ‘Wheels-up three minutes,’ Kate told him, as she began the equipment grab. ‘We will patch you through to the medic once we are in the air.’

  Fifteen minutes later, Andrew was watching the rapidly passing landscape from the sky. The most recent onsite report had come in, so he was sitting opposite Kate with little to do. He still wasn’t sure that the jobs she had him doing this morning weren’t punishment for intruding on her life last night. It hadn’t taken any psychic ability to see her thinly veiled discontent at having her privacy so invaded. Andrew would have felt guilty if he hadn’t been really enjoying the stylish luxury of his new accommodation.

  ‘The exact GPS coordinates of the nearest landing site have been sent through,’ Joe reported.

  ‘What kind of mine is the Twenty-Ten?’ Andrew asked.

  ‘It is an open cut mine, so no worries about going underground,’ Kate answered.

  Hell, why did she have to make everything sound like he was only interested in saving his own skin?

  Andrew knew there was twenty minutes remaining of the flight, so he relaxed back into his seat. Taking a moment of quiet whenever he got the chance was something he had learnt as an overworked resident. It was a way to withstand the stress and rigours of a long shift. Today, it would provide the extra benefit of withstanding the disapproval emanating from Kate.

  A voice in his headphones alerted Andrew to their imminent arrival.

  ‘Appearing to our right is the gorgeous manmade monument that is the Bental Twenty Ten mine,’ said Joe, speaking in faux travel guide tones.

  Whatever the jokes, the view from above was genuinely awe-inspiring. Carved out of red earth, the Bental mine looked to be a massive hole. It was so big that the other side was lost in the haze on the h
orizon.

  ‘We haven’t been here for ages,’ Kate said. ‘They usually airlift their injured men directly to hospital.’

  ‘You think they didn’t want to transport this head injury with only their medic as backup?’ Andrew asked.

  ‘Yeah, they seem to have finally listened to our briefings this time. If anything starts to happen to the patient in the air, we really are the best equipped to deal with it.’

  As Joe guided the helicopter down, the earth was stirred around them. For almost a minute, red dust completely obscured the outside world.

  ‘Bloody hell, I hate this place,’ complained Ben. ‘I’m going to have to wipe down every inch of this bird before the day is out.’

  Thankfully, despite the lack of vision, the chopper was brought down lightly.

  Kate opened the door before Andrew could. She started into the haze, the med bag in her hand. ‘We’ll use their stretcher,’ she called back to Andrew.

  Andrew stepped out of the helicopter onto the hard baked earth and immediately wished it was concrete.

  ‘Where is rain when you need it?’ he muttered, for his ears only.

  Maybe some dampness would have stopped the dry dust from rising and getting caught in every crevice in his face and uniform. He could see the vague outline of Kate ahead. He followed her example of protecting his mouth and nose by holding his sleeve in front of his face.

  Finally, they got far enough away from the choppers rotors, and the air around them started to clear.

  ‘Should have remembered to bring along a surgical mask,’ said Kate.

  ‘Somehow I don’t think even a gas mask could have helped that dust storm.’ Andrew replied. He watched closely as she wiped her dirty hand across her already red streaked face.