by Clark, Lucy
By the time Bergan had dealt with the young girl, calling through on her walkie-talkie to alert Sunainah to the first paediatric case, another patient was waiting for her.
‘We’ve managed to move a large section of the brickwork, which has thankfully given us access to what used to be the dentist’s area,’ Palmer told her as she dispatched an elderly man back to Sunshine General in an ambulance. ‘Once we’ve sorted out this section, we can start heading downwards, picking our way carefully.’
‘How long will it take to clear the whole site?’
‘Could be as long as a day or two. It just depends.’
Bergan pursed her lips, but at the call of another person being lifted from the mound of despair she nodded and headed over to do her job. The next woman to be extracted had multiple fractures to her legs and arms and Bergan immediately radioed for Mackenzie’s orthopaedic expertise.
‘How are things at the community centre?’ she asked her friend as the two of them worked together after Mackenzie had joined her, Bergan inserting an intravenous drip into the woman’s arm as Mackenzie splinted the woman’s legs.
‘Settled.’ Mackenzie shrugged. ‘Quite a few people being treated for shock, unable to believe something like this could happen in downtown Maroochydore. Where’s Richard?’ she asked.
Bergan looked around their immediate vicinity, but there was no sign of him. ‘I haven’t seen him for quite a while. He’ll be around somewhere. I’ll check with Palmer.’
‘Right. I can take it from here. Is there an ambulance due back soon?’
‘One is expected in about five minutes.’
‘Excellent.’
Bergan left Mackenzie with the patient and headed over to where Palmer was talking to someone on his walkie-talkie. He stood near the edge of one of the large holes that had been excavated. There were also a few abseiling ropes going down into the hole, indicating there were men down there, working their hardest to continue rescuing people from the rubble.
‘Status update? Over.’ Palmer waited for a moment and Bergan listened in, waiting to ask Palmer if he knew where Richard had gone.
‘Slow, but we can hear her and she can hear us. Over.’
‘That’s Richard!’ Bergan stated with incredulity, and pointed to the walkie-talkie in Palmer’s hand.
‘Yes.’
‘What’s he doing down there?’ And why was there a sudden weight pressing on her chest? Concern for his safety, the need to see with her own eyes that he was indeed OK became paramount. She closed her eyes for a brief moment, trying to get her thoughts under control, to pull on her professionalism, but all she saw was the image of Richard lying in that large hole, covered with dust and rubble. She swallowed convulsively, unable to stop the sensation of dread spreading through her. At a loud noise from down in the hole, her eyes snapped open and she stared worriedly at Palmer.
‘Is he all right? Is Richard all right?’
Palmer frowned at her for a second, clearly puzzled by her reaction, before nodding. ‘He’s fine. There’s a woman down there who my men have been talking to while they dig her out. She was complaining of pain and they were hoping that if they could at least get one of her limbs exposed, Richard might be able to put a drip in.’ Palmer shrugged. ‘Whether or not they’ll succeed in time is anybody’s guess, but we need to be prepared.’
‘I quite agree, but—’ She stopped, almost about to ask Palmer why it had to be Richard who had gone down, but of course she knew the answer. He was not only a brilliant doctor with experience in such situations, but she also had no doubt that he’d volunteered for the task. It was just like him. Part of her was proud of his courage, the other part was frightened in case something bad happened.
‘Is it stable?’ she asked Palmer, and to her surprise there was a tremor in her voice. ‘The walls, I mean. They won’t cave in?’
‘It’s safe, Bergan. I wouldn’t let my men down there if it wasn’t. You know what a safety-first type of guy I am.’
She nodded, knowing he spoke the truth. They’d worked together on different retrievals quite a lot over the years, and even though she’d politely refused his suggestions that they perhaps turn their professional relationship into something more, she still knew she could rely on Palmer never to put anyone in danger.
Palmer’s walkie-talkie crackled and one of his men spoke.
‘We’re getting closer but the doc thinks he might need assistance with the medical stuff. Is there anyone free up there to give him a hand? Over.’
‘I’ll do it,’ Bergan volunteered, before Palmer could depress the button to reply. When he looked at her, she shrugged. ‘I know how to abseil and I am currently without a patient to care for.’
Palmer nodded. ‘Bergan will be down in a few minutes. Over.’
With that, she walked over to where the harnesses were kept and stepped into one, buckling it securely. Palmer hooked her into a D-clamp and attached the ropes, handing her a pair of gloves. ‘I don’t know if they’re a good fit. They might be a bit big.’
She slipped her hands in. ‘I’ll manage.’
‘You always do.’ Palmer double-checked her ropes and clamps, before announcing to his men that she was on her way down.
Taking a deep breath, Bergan eased over the edge of the rubble before seating herself more firmly into the harness. Slowly feeding the rope through the clamp, she lowered herself into the hole, looking down towards the shining lights the workers had set up.
‘Almost there,’ she heard Richard’s voice say, and in another few moments she felt his hands clamp around her waist to steady her until her feet met the uneven ground. She turned to face him, their hard hats almost hitting each other. ‘Good of you to drop in,’ he murmured, and some of the men chuckled.
‘She’s down. Over.’ Richard spoke into the walkie-talkie, then helped to unhook her from the abseiling rope. Bergan pulled off her gloves, her gaze travelling over Richard as though to reassure herself that he was indeed OK. She let out a sigh of relief, her mind beginning to clear of the fog that had surrounded it.
‘Status?’ she asked, pleased to feel more in control, more like her old self again.
‘Female, thirty-one years old. Wendy. Married with one child, who has already been lifted out. She’s conscious, quite lucid, can’t feel her legs, is having trouble breathing and is very dizzy.’ Richard spoke quietly as he led Bergan carefully towards where the men were still excavating.
‘Prognosis?’
Richard met her gaze and as her eyes had now had time to adjust to the change from natural to artificial light, she could see the pain reflected there as he slowly shook his head. ‘It’s not good. I don’t know how we’re going to sit there, talking to her, waiting patiently for the rescue team to dig her out, but—’
‘That’s our job,’ she finished for him. She could feel his fear for the patient, but was amazed at the way he was able to hold himself together.
She slipped her hand into his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. ‘You’re not alone, Richard. Whatever it is we need to face, we can face it together.’
As she spoke the words, looking up into his eyes, she realised she truly meant those words, not just in relation to their present situation. She wanted to be with Richard. She wanted to support him and to have him support her in return. She wanted to face whatever life threw at them and she wanted them to face it…together.
CHAPTER NINE
‘HELLO? RICHARD? ARE you still there?’ a woman’s voice asked.
Richard cleared his throat as Wendy’s voice floated up through the rubble. He let go of Bergan’s hand and with extreme caution sat down on the pile of bricks and mortar near where Wendy’s voice had come from. Bergan followed suit.
‘I’m still here, Wendy.’ To Bergan’s surprise, his tone was calm and controlled. ‘Just helping my colleague down.’
‘Oh. Is that Bergan?’ Wendy’s voice was interested and Bergan frowned for a moment, feeling a little strange at meeting a woman sh
e couldn’t see.
‘You told her about me?’ Bergan’s words were a quiet, perplexed whisper and whether it was the surprised look on her face or the fact that he really was drawing strength from her, Richard nodded his head and smiled.
‘How could I not?’ he said softly, then angled his head towards the rubble. ‘Talk to her. Help me help her.’
Bergan nodded and cleared her throat. ‘I’m here, too, Wendy. Can you tell me how you’re feeling?’
There was a moment of silence before Wendy’s wavering words floated up to them. ‘I can’t feel my legs.’ The sentence ended with a sob and Bergan raised her gaze to look at Richard, communicating wordlessly that this probably meant there was some sort of spinal damage.
‘What about your hands? Can you wriggle your fingers?’
‘Yes. I can wriggle my fingers on my left hand, but it really hurts when I try to do it on the right.’
‘Possible fractured arm.’ Richard spoke softly.
Bergan nodded. ‘What about your head?’
‘I’m dizzy.’
‘That’s natural.’ Bergan tried to inject a calmness into her tone she didn’t really feel. The one thing they had to do at the moment was to keep Wendy as reassured and as stable as possible. ‘Talk to her for a moment,’ she said to Richard as she held out her free hand for the walkie-talkie. ‘I need to give Palmer instructions.’ Richard started talking to Wendy while Bergan called up to Palmer.
‘I want Reggie and Mackenzie at the top of the hole with a waiting ambulance as soon as we’re ready to bring Wendy up. No excuses. Over.’ There was determination in her tone. They were going to get Wendy out and she was going to be alive when they did.
With Reggie and Mackenzie waiting at the top, Wendy would be guaranteed two of the best surgeons Sunshine General employed. Bergan pushed aside the small bubble of doubt that entered her thoughts as she glanced at the workers who were carefully and as quickly as possible removing the rubble that had buried Wendy. They would get Wendy out—alive.
‘I think Mackenzie went back to the hospital with a patient. Over.’
‘I said no excuses. You tell them I need them. Use those exact words. That’ll be enough. Over.’ Bergan placed the walkie-talkie in Richard’s top overall pocket. ‘Let’s get set up.’
‘Richard? Bergan?’ Wendy’s words floated up. ‘What’s…what’s happening?’
There was a smile in Richard’s voice as he spoke. ‘Bergan’s switching into stubborn mode.’
‘Is that a good thing?’ Wendy wanted to know.
Richard’s rich chuckle filled the cavern as he watched Bergan open the medical kit and start preparing what they’d need for an intravenous drip. He noted she had both a bag of saline and a bag of plasma. ‘That’s a very good thing, Wendy. Never have I met a more stubborn woman than Bergan.’
‘Really?’ Bergan was surprised at that. ‘Never? You’ve worked all over the world and you’ve never met a woman more stubborn than me?’ She kept her tone light but loud enough for Wendy to hear.
‘I speak the truth,’ Richard remarked.
‘You two sound like you’re much closer than just colleagues.’ Wendy’s words floated up to them and Bergan could hear that she was definitely interested. That was good. If they could keep Wendy’s cognitive functions working, keep her lucid until they could reach her, that would be fantastic.
‘When you work closely with people, you tend to build closer relationships,’ Bergan stated, needing to keep her words matter-of-fact because if she stopped to think about the personal relationship she presently shared with Richard, she might lose her focus altogether. ‘Wendy, can you tell me where it hurts most?’ she asked.
Bergan was determined to do everything in her power to save Wendy’s life. She wasn’t sure exactly how she was going to accomplish that but she’d learned long ago that if she focused her determination, if she dug her stubborn heels into a situation, she could usually make some sort of difference.
‘Wendy? Wendy?’ she called when the other woman didn’t reply instantly. ‘Where does it hurt?’
‘Everywhere. My stomach. My heart. My head.’
Bergan closed her eyes, trying to picture Wendy’s body, trying to get a clear picture in her mind so that when they had access, she could work more quickly. ‘Try and be specific. I know it’s not easy, Wendy, but when we get to you—’
‘If,’ Wendy interrupted.
‘When we get to you,’ Bergan said, stubborn determination in her voice. ‘It will make it easier for Richard and I if we know more about where the pain is centred. Just try and focus for me, Wendy. We are going to get you out and you are going to live. I want you to believe that and if you can’t believe, I want you to believe in Richard and me. I want you to believe in the crews that are working so incredibly hard up here to make sure we get to you very, very soon.
‘I want you to believe that I have two of my best friends, two women who are brilliant surgeons, waiting for you at the top, to give you the treatment you need so you can recover and get back to your family. This is possible, Wendy, and as difficult as it is right now to hang on to hope…’ Bergan looked across at Richard, who had pulled on a pair of heavy gloves and was helping the crews lift a particularly large section of bricks. He seemed to feel her eyes on him and the instant their gazes met, Bergan said, ‘There always has to be hope.’
‘She’s right,’ one of the rescue workers said, and Bergan was amazed to see their weary bodies almost flood with energy, flood with strength, even though they’d already been working so hard for so long.
‘Wendy?’ Bergan called. ‘Where does it hurt?’
‘It hurts most near my stomach and I…I keep getting very dizzy and…and tired,’ Wendy said, sniffing a little, then coughing and moaning in pain. Bergan closed her eyes, forcing herself to concentrate, drawing a mental picture of Wendy’s situation. Opening her eyes, she pulled a few more things to the front of the medical kit, ensuring she would have everything she needed at her fingertips.
‘I can see her!’ The call came from one of the rescue workers who was lying down on his stomach, peering through a small crack in the rubble. ‘Not too far below us is another cavern, similar to this one, so we’re going to need to go slowly so we don’t cause a cave-in, but I can see her.’
The words were like another burst of energy for the crews, one of them radioing up to Palmer to let him know of this latest development.
Richard and Bergan quickly picked up their equipment and carefully made their way around to where the worker was lying on his stomach.
‘Where?’ Bergan asked, and as he shifted, she lay down and peered through the hole, surprised that Wendy was indeed much closer than she’d originally thought. She could see the left side of Wendy’s body and it was then she realised the woman was lying at an angle, a large wooden beam pinning down the lower half of her body and broken bricks pressing into her back, as well as her abdomen. The woman’s face, however, was partly obscured from view.
‘Wendy. Wendy, we can see you!’ She shifted out of the way so Richard could look and also assess the situation.
‘Really?’ Wendy instantly tried to shift at this news. It was a natural human reaction.
‘Stay still,’ Richard instructed. ‘It’s natural to want to move but we need you to remain as still and as calm as you have been up until now. You’re doing an incredible job, Wendy,’ Richard said encouragingly as he straightened. ‘How is she breathing?’ he asked softly, looking at Bergan.
‘There must be a pocket of air around her mouth and nose,’ Bergan guessed with a shrug of her shoulders. ‘Whatever it is, I’m not going to quibble because it’s allowed her enough oxygen to stay alive.’
‘Good point.’ Richard nodded then angled his words down towards Wendy’s body. ‘The crews up here are going to do their thing while Bergan and I get ready. Just remember to stay as still as possible.’
‘OK.’ The hope in her tone was obvious. Until then, it had been diffic
ult to keep the other woman’s spirits buoyed, but they’d done it and now they were going to get her out.
As the crews continued to work, Bergan asked Wendy about her family, about her husband and children, because now that Wendy had hope, she was happy to talk about those who would hopefully be seeing her soon.
With crews that were galvanised into action, with Bergan and Richard standing ready and Palmer radioing that both Mackenzie and Reggie, as well as the ambulance, were waiting for them at the top, the rescue seemed to speed up. A stretcher was lowered down via abseiling ropes, ready and waiting for Wendy.
‘How much longer until we can get to her?’ Bergan asked, hating that all they could do at the moment was wait. It was the part of being out on retrieval she hated most. She wanted to pace up and down, but that was impossible in their present circumstances. As her impatient agitation increased, Richard placed both hands on her shoulders and forced her to look at him.
‘Settle. Calm. Breathe.’
‘I can’t. I need to be next to Wendy, treating her, making a difference, doing something.’ She shook her head.
‘I know, but it won’t be too much longer.’ He rubbed his hands up and down her upper arms, wanting to support her. ‘The fact that each second feels as long as a minute doesn’t help either.’
‘No.’
‘Bergan? Richard?’ one of the rescuers called. ‘We’ve managed to open the cavern a bit.’
‘We have access to her?’
‘We do. Her left arm is clear, so at least you can start to treat her now.’
‘That’s marvellous news.’
Richard and Bergan carefully made their way across the rubble to where a new area had been excavated.
‘You go first,’ Richard said. ‘You’re much lighter than I am. I can pass you what you need.’
‘OK.’
The rescuers were talking to Wendy, keeping her lucid, but when Bergan spoke she could almost hear the relief in Wendy’s tone.