Her Emergency Knight

by Alison Roberts

  ‘If you can find something to prop Digger up with, I’d be grateful,’ she called. ‘Lying flat isn’t going to help his breathing.’

  A hand was raised in acknowledgement but Guy didn’t turn his head so Jennifer didn’t bother to call out any thanks. She turned back to the task at hand.

  ‘Sharp scratch now, Digger.’ It took several seconds of careful needle-tip manoeuvring to gain access to a vein flattened by low blood pressure. ‘Sorry,’ Jennifer murmured. ‘I know it hurts.’

  ‘It’s nothing,’ Digger said. ‘And I’m the one…who should be sorry, lass.’

  ‘This wasn’t your fault,’ Jennifer found herself saying. ‘And according to Guy, if you hadn’t handled things as well as you did then none of us would have made it.’

  ‘Shirley?’ Digger’s voice was rough. ‘And Bill? Are they…?’

  Jennifer shook her head, meeting his gaze only briefly before reaching for the luer plug to cap the end of the cannula.

  ‘Oh…God!’ Digger squeezed his eyes shut. By the time he opened them again, Jennifer had taped the IV into place and attached the giving set. She held the bag of saline aloft and opened the flow.

  ‘What did you say…your name was?’

  ‘Actually, I didn’t say.’ Jennifer’s smile was rueful. ‘Rude of me, wasn’t it? I’m Jennifer Allen.’

  ‘You’re the…big shot…from Auckland, yeah?’

  ‘Yeah.’ The smile was matched by a dismissive head-shake. ‘Not that that’s going to be much help up here.’

  ‘I’ll be right.’ A faint smile tugged at Digger’s lips. ‘I’ve got…nine lives.’

  ‘But how many of them have you used up already?’ Guy had returned, carrying what looked like the back of a seat. He also held a bulky, pale blue item of clothing.

  ‘Put this on,’ he directed Jennifer. ‘The sunlight’s not going to be around much longer and it’s going to get bloody cold.’

  The padded anorak looked inviting but Jennifer hesitated. Guy’s face softened almost imperceptibly. ‘Shirley doesn’t need it anymore,’ he said quietly. One corner of his mouth tilted. ‘And it should keep you warm—it’s big enough to go round you twice. Here, I’ll hold that bag while you put it on, then we can get this seat behind Digger.’

  The instant warmth was comforting. ‘Thanks…Guy.’

  ‘You’re welcome…Jennifer.’

  So they were to be on an equal footing. Fair enough. ‘What about you?’ Jennifer’s gaze slid to Guy’s bare arms. ‘Aren’t you freezing?’

  ‘I’ll go back and get Bill’s jacket in a minute. Let’s sort Digger out first.’

  It wasn’t the first time Jennifer had gained the impression that this man was used to putting other people first. She felt a pang of remorse that she hadn’t enquired into his welfare before this. That blood on the leg of his jeans still looked remarkably fresh. If it had all come from Bill, why hadn’t it congealed and darkened by now? As soon as they made the pilot as comfortable as possible, she would make it her business to check Guy out properly. She’d need to do something about her own arm as well. Doctors really were the worst patients.

  ‘I don’t suppose you’ve got a foil sheet or something in that kit, do you? It would be good to get something between Digger and the ground.’

  ‘Sure.’ Guy handed back the bag of IV fluid but Jennifer didn’t want to stand and hold it.

  ‘Could you pass me some tape?’ She almost sighed at the now familiar look she received. ‘Please?’

  Threading the tape through the hole at the top of the bag, Jennifer then looped long sticky sections in a figure of eight around the upper edge of the wingtip.

  ‘Bit fat for an IV pole but it’ll do the job.’

  ‘Good thinking.’ Guy held up two small packages. ‘Foil sheets.’

  ‘Great. Let’s get sorted, then.’

  For the next ten minutes they were both kept busy. They wrapped Digger in the sheets to help prevent the loss of body heat. They used rocks to stabilise the cushioned seat back and got it into a position so that Digger was propped up to assist respiration but still tilted to his injured side. They also tucked him a little more closely into the windbreak provided by the bent wing. Hoping that the fluids were raising blood pressure enough to make it safe to administer some pain relief, Jennifer reached under the cover of the leather jacket to find Digger’s wrist.

  She found her fingers grasped and saw a reminder of the cheeky grin she had noticed much earlier that day.

  ‘The lengths some people…have to go to…to get a pretty girl…to hold their hand!’

  ‘Hmm.’ Jennifer couldn’t help grinning. ‘You could have just asked! How’s the pain?’

  ‘Pretty…bad.’

  The grin faded as she turned to Guy. ‘Much stronger pulse now. Do you want to draw up some morphine?’

  ‘OK.’ Guy’s gaze was fixed on Digger and for a split second Jennifer saw a level of concern in his eyes that was far more than a doctor would normally show for a patient. Even a patient who was a friend. There was a bond between these two men that made special care of Digger paramount and Jennifer found herself reaching for the stethoscope. While things appeared to be stable right now, this man had at least two potentially life-threatening injuries.

  ‘How’s the chest?’ Guy’s expression was nothing more than professional now as he drew sterile saline into a syringe to dilute the contents of the morphine ampoule.

  ‘Clear on the right. Still moving air on the left, but I think the breath sounds have diminished since the last time I listened. A pneumothorax is pretty likely, given those rib injuries. We’ll just have to keep our fingers crossed that it doesn’t tension.’

  Their eyes met with only the briefest of looks. Enough to acknowledge just how quickly this scene could turn to custard. Enough to confirm that they would both be doing their best to manage any complications—and to succeed.

  A thin stream of fluid sprayed from a needle tip as Guy removed the air bubble from the syringe. ‘I thought I’d do this in five-milligram increments,’ he announced. ‘If that’s all right with you, Dr Allen?’

  ‘Works for me, Dr Knight.’

  The formal use of titles was more an agreement to work as equals than the previous form of a putdown, but Digger clearly didn’t approve.

  ‘Cut the “Doctor” bit,’ he growled. ‘Anyone would think…that I was…sick or something.’

  The first dose of morphine dulled his pain but not sufficiently to make re-examination of his abdomen a pleasant experience.

  ‘Definite guarding in the left upper quadrant,’ Jennifer informed Guy.

  ‘Talk English,’ Digger growled.

  ‘You’ve got a sore gut,’ Guy told him.

  ‘Could have…told you that, son…What’s…broken, then?’

  ‘You might have dented your spleen. Possibly a bit of your liver. They could be cut and bleeding a bit.’

  Jennifer eyed the bag of IV fluid. One litre was almost gone and they only had two more. If Digger did have an abdominal bleed from a laceration to either his spleen or liver, they would be in trouble before very long. She pulled the remnants of Digger’s woollen shirt back to cover him before tucking the leather jacket in place.

  ‘Thanks…Jenna.’

  Jennifer’s gaze lifted sharply. ‘Why did you call me that?’

  ‘Don’t like…Jennifer. Too posh.’

  The approving smirk on Guy’s face was hardly subtle. Jennifer just stared as he leaned towards the older man.

  ‘How’s your pain now, Digger?’

  ‘Bit better.’

  ‘On a scale of one to ten?’

  ‘Twelve.’

  ‘What was it before that dose of jungle juice?’

  ‘Twenty-five.’

  ‘Right.’ Guy shook his head. ‘Never one to conform, are you?’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘And maybe Jennifer likes her posh name.’

  She wasn’t going to stay silent while they reinforced their br
anding of her as some sort of outsider.

  ‘It’s not posh,’ she informed them loftily. ‘Neither am I.’

  Guy’s snort of amusement was outrageous.

  ‘What—’ Jennifer demanded, ‘is that supposed to mean?’

  ‘Well, come on! You’re the epitome of “posh,”’ Guy shot back. ‘Nice hair, nice clothes, great education. Top job in one of the country’s leading hospitals. Good grief, you even chose to wear high heels and a suit to go out sightseeing.’

  ‘This isn’t a suit! Just a skirt and top…and jacket.’

  ‘Looks like a matching set to me. They’d be getting the lace doilies out in the Glenfalloch pub if you showed up looking like that.’

  ‘I have no intention of setting foot in the Glenfalloch pub—wherever that may be.’

  ‘It’s my local,’ Guy said casually. ‘The best pub in Central and about the only building of any note between where I live and Wanaka.’

  ‘It’s my local…too.’ Digger sounded drowsy. ‘I’d give my left arm for a…pint or two…right now.’ He opened his eyes enough to give Jennifer an appraising glance. ‘You’re right, though, son…she’s a looker…Reminds me…of Diana.’

  ‘I was referring to the image of a city slicker,’ Guy said. ‘Not dishing out compliments.’

  ‘Cheers,’ Jennifer murmured.

  ‘Not that you don’t deserve a compliment, of course.’ Guy finished injecting the second dose of morphine. ‘I just wouldn’t want you to think I was hitting on you.’

  ‘Perish the thought,’ Jennifer agreed drily.

  She shook her head. What a bizarre conversation to be having, given the circumstances. Or perhaps it wasn’t. The three of them had been hurled into dealing with an appalling situation together. The more of a bond they could form, the more they could help each other survive. Already Jennifer felt very differently towards Digger than she would have if he’d been lying on a bed in her emergency department. And for a few seconds there she had actually forgotten they were crouched on a mountaintop with a tangle of crushed metal and two dead bodies nearby.

  ‘I don’t mind being called Jenna,’ she told Digger somewhat hesitantly. ‘It’s just that the only person who ever did was my dad and…’ Her voice was annoyingly wobbly. ‘And it just startled me a bit, I guess. My dad died not so long ago.’ She cleared her throat. ‘It’s time we hung a new bag of fluid, Guy. No.’ She scrambled to her feet. ‘I’ll get it. You need to go and find that jacket. You’re turning blue.’

  ‘OK. I’ll see what else I can salvage at the same time.’

  ‘Try the…side hatch.’ Digger had his eyes closed again but was looking a lot more comfortable. ‘There’s a few…camping supplies.’

  Moving seemed to have the effect of lowering the temperature sharply. Body warmth was quickly lost as the surrounding chill seeped under the folds of Jennifer’s skirt and sneaked down the back of her neck. Her toes felt numb and her fingers fumbled as they tried to remove the tab protecting the port of the saline pouch and insert the spike of the giving set. She stopped for a moment to blow on her hands and rub them together.

  Looking past the edge of the wingtip as she taped the new bag into place, Jennifer could see Guy picking his way around the tail of the plane wreckage some distance away. The bent wing that had snapped off the Cessna and was now sheltering Digger had left a gap that the small plane seemed to have folded itself into. Was that why those sitting in the middle had fared so much worse than the others?

  The hollow tail section that Jennifer had been wedged into was angled down to where the rudder was lodged between two huge rocks. Guy was using a much smaller rock to hammer at a flap that must be some kind of luggage compartment. Jennifer was pleased to see he was now wearing a dark blue padded jacket, similar in style to her paler version.

  The light was changing by the time Guy returned. The sun was lower and faint wisps of cloud and snow pockets on distant peaks were tinged faintly pink.

  ‘I found a tarp,’ Guy said with satisfaction. ‘And a billy. I even found some food. The dried soup won’t be much use without hot water, but there’s a packet of chocolate biscuits.’

  ‘Never know when you…might need a Tim Tam,’ Digger murmured.

  ‘I’m going to collect some rocks,’ Guy told Jennifer. ‘We’ll use the wingtip as a support and anchor the tarp. If we can keep the three of us sheltered as close together as possible, we should get through the night OK.’

  ‘The night?’ Jennifer didn’t care that the word came out as a frightened squeak. ‘They’ll come before then, won’t they?’

  Guy moved a hand towards the orange glow beginning to silhouette the mountains. ‘We’ve got about thirty minutes of useful daylight left. If they had any idea where we are, they would have flown at least close enough for us to see them by now.’

  ‘There is an emergency locator beacon on board, isn’t there?’ The way both men avoided her gaze was unnerving. ‘Isn’t there?’

  Digger mumbled something about it all being his fault and then closed his eyes as though his pain level was again intolerable. Guy jerked his head.

  ‘Come and help me with these rocks.’

  Jennifer followed him until they were out of Digger’s earshot. ‘Are you going to tell me what that was all about?’ she demanded.

  ‘They’ve been waiting for some new beacons to come in. About a month ago there was an incident that showed a certain batch of beacons to be faulty. A batch that included the one on this plane. They ordered the new ones straight away, of course, but so did everyone else. There was a waiting list.’

  ‘So…’ Jennifer’s tongue found a tiny laceration on the inside of her cheek as she absorbed the information. ‘What you’re saying is that the beacon on our plane may not have been activated at all. They might not even be looking for us.’

  ‘Oh, they’ll be looking.’

  ‘But?’

  Guy sighed heavily as he reached down to pick up a rock. ‘But probably not around here.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Sightseeing flights normally take in the lakes and the fiords. A round trip down to Milford Sound and back.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘So we went the other way. To find the glaciers.’

  Jennifer picked up a rock and tucked it into the crook of her left elbow, making her arm ache with renewed strength. She ignored the pain. ‘Digger must have filed a flight plan.’

  ‘He did.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘No. His plan was for the Milford run.’

  ‘So why the hell did he change direction?’

  Guy had three rocks in his arms now. ‘Because someone important wanted to see the bloody glaciers, that’s why.’

  ‘This isn’t my fault!’ Jennifer glared at Guy but he was busy searching for rather scarce stones of a manageable weight. ‘He asked me what I wanted to see. How was I supposed to know? Nobody disagreed. Including you.’ Jennifer swooped on another rock but her arm protested viciously at the extra weight and both rocks fell to the ground. ‘Oh, dammit!’

  Guy caught at her upper arm, his own rocks abandoned, as Jennifer reached down again. ‘Let me see that arm.’

  ‘It’s fine.’

  ‘Like hell it is.’ Guy’s fingers were on the now swollen flesh, having pushed up the sleeves of her anorak, jacket and soft jumper. His touch was gentle but firm and there was no way Jennifer could suppress her flinch as the ends of her broken bone moved against each other.

  Guy caught her gaze. ‘You realise this is fractured?’ His eyes held hers. ‘Of course you do.’ There was a flash of something like respect in his steady gaze. ‘Were you going to do something about it or just carry on collecting rocks?’

  ‘We need the rocks.’ It was surprisingly difficult to break the eye contact, but the rocks in question provided a new focus until Jennifer found a way to change the subject. ‘What about you? That’s not Bill’s blood, is it?’

  Fresh drops glistened on the dark grey rock at their
feet. ‘We don’t have enough fluid for two people in shock,’ Jennifer reminded him. ‘And if you keep bleeding like that, I’ll be the one who has to deal with it.’

  Her tone sharpened as she spoke. Silly, pointless tears were threatening to clog her throat. They were lost on a mountaintop and nobody had any idea where they were. They were all injured to varying degrees and a sub-zero night was about to enfold them.

  ‘Tell you what. We’ll get the tarp in place and then I’ll splint your arm and you can bandage up my leg.’ Guy’s forefinger touched Jennifer under her chin and she was startled into raising her face to meet his gaze again. ‘We’ll look after each other,’ he continued softly, ‘and that way, we’ll all get through this. OK?’

  ‘OK.’ For an instant, Jennifer really believed that everything would be all right. Together, they would survive. Guy’s strength was obvious, both emotionally from the reassurance he was able to impart and physically, which he demonstrated by picking up his own collection of brick-sized rocks and then the two Jennifer had found.

  His gentleness became apparent a little later as he bound Jennifer’s forearm to a small cardboard splint, and his stamina was evident when he unflinchingly tolerated her ministrations to a badly grazed arm, a deeply lacerated calf and possibly a fractured ankle that had swollen far more than her arm had.

  By the time they had finished their first aid on each other and had crawled inside the shelter they had created around Digger, a darkness more complete than Jennifer had ever experienced enfolded them. They checked their patient by the light of the torch Guy had had in his kit and then settled, one of either side of Digger, to help keep him warm.

  ‘Nice,’ Digger murmured. ‘If I just asked…would you hold my hand…again, Jenna?’

  A few seconds later Jennifer heard loud crackling noises coming from Guy’s side.

  ‘Hey, Jenna?’