‘I’d say about ten. Keep going until I tell you to stop...’
They made their way carefully across the hanging loops, Matt’s strength allowing him to go slowly and let Hannah tell him where the next hand-hold was. The water slide was easier, and Matt did it almost without any guidance, just a reassurance when they got to the top that he could allow himself to slide down the other side. A tangle of elastic ropes proved unexpectedly difficult and Matt got snagged up in them, but Hannah talked him through. They were ahead of the other teams, and she wondered whether he could hear the excitement in her voice.
Then she put a foot wrong. She was keeping her eye on Matt and landed awkwardly as she jumped down from the climbing net. Pain shot through her knee and she gasped.
‘Hannah...?’ He was standing quite still, his hand moving to the strap of his helmet. He knew she was in trouble, and any moment now he was going to take it off so that he could come to her aid.
‘Don’t... Keep the helmet on...’ Hannah resisted the temptation to tell him that she was all right. She’d done that last time, and he’d known it was a lie. ‘My knee hurt a bit when I jumped down. It’s not too bad, I can finish. You can look at it then.’
‘Tell me if it gets worse...’
‘Sure...’ He didn’t move. ‘I promise. Now get going...’
She took a couple of steps and found that the pain was subsiding, her knee strengthened by the support that she wore. The last, and most challenging, of the obstacles was still ahead of them.
The climbing wall had to be fifteen feet high, and was surrounded by air-filled cushions. It seemed almost impossible, towering above them.
‘This is the last one.’
He must have heard the tremor in her voice. Matt nodded, his lips forming a thin line. ‘Let’s do it.’
She managed to guide him up the first ten feet, climbing by his side. Then, concentrating on where Matt should reach, she missed one of her own footholds, slithering back down before she could grab on again.
‘Hannah!’
‘I’m okay. Wait...’
He waited, stock still, while she climbed back up again. By the time she reached him, she felt as if she were nearing the brick wall that all athletes slammed into at one time or another.
‘Stop a minute. Catch your breath.’ He must have heard her ragged breaths through the earpiece, and that wasn’t a request, it was a command. Hannah settled herself firmly on two good footholds, clinging to the wall and laying her head against its surface. The short climb to the top seemed suddenly impossible.
He was skimming his fingers across the wall, finding his next handhold. Slowly, he hauled himself up, his foot searching for a secure support. He was climbing blind, and Hannah could only watch, wishing that she had his strength.
‘How much further?’
‘Five feet.’ It seemed like five miles.
‘One step at a time, then.’
That sounded great. In principle. ‘I don’t think I can...’
‘Don’t think about it, just do it. Move!’
This was so different from the way he’d wordlessly picked up her bag, refusing to goad her into trying harder. But Matt was right there, with exactly what she needed right now.
Suddenly she was strong again. ‘Damn you, Robin!’ She reached for the next handhold and found it.
‘Get a move on, Flash...’
He was grinning now, and Hannah couldn’t help a grim smile. Together they climbed to the top of the wall.
‘It’s a shallow slide back down. Then about fifty metres to the finishing line.’
‘Got it. You go first.’
Hannah struggled to pull herself over the top of the wall, sliding gratefully down the shallow incline on the other side. Matt was still at the top, automatically looking around in an instinctive attempt to orientate himself.
‘Matt... Follow my voice.’ She called up to him and he turned his head towards her, then pointed directly at her. ‘That’s right. You’re facing in the right direction, just climb over the top and slide down.’
They stumbled across the finishing line together. Matt fell to his knees, and Hannah reached for him, unbuckling the chin strap of his helmet so that he could take it off. As he blinked in the sunlight, she finally allowed herself to sink down onto the grass.
‘Is your knee okay?’ He sat down on the grass next to her.
‘It’s throbbing a bit. It only hurts as much as the rest of me.’
Matt chuckled, seeming content to take her word for it. ‘How did we do?’
‘We were neck and neck with the blues, I wouldn’t like to make the call. We were well in the lead, but I slowed us up a bit on the last obstacle.’
‘You did a great job. That wasn’t as easy as it seemed.’ He grinned at her.
‘You too.’ Hannah held out her hand to give him a high five. It wasn’t the empty gesture that it might have been at the start of this competition. When their palms touched, he laced his fingers together with hers, gripping her hand in an expression of triumph. Something else as well. There was tenderness in his face, and when his gaze met hers it held her breathless in its thrall. One moment of exquisite closeness.
A cry sounded behind them, and they both looked round. Laura, the blindfolded partner for the yellow team, had fallen from the slide on the other side of the climbing wall. Her partner Jack had waved the first-aid team away, bending down beside her and talking intently. Then she got up slowly, and started to walk uncertainly towards the finish line.
The greens were trailing behind, but beginning to catch up now. A murmur ran around the crowd and the production assistants standing in front of them all motioned for quiet. Matt stood up, holding out his hand, and Hannah felt his strength boost her onto her feet.
The greens were closing, but Laura made it across the finishing line first, collapsing into Jack’s arms. There was a moment of silence as he lowered her to the ground and took her helmet off, obviously concerned about her. Then he gave a thumbs-up to the crowd. Matt started to clap, and the other teams joined in. The applause caught in the breeze, spreading through the audience.
The yellows waved, and a cheer went up. The director was hurrying over to them, obviously concerned, and after a brief conversation he picked up a microphone.
‘Laura’s okay...’ He paused as a ripple of applause ran around the crowd. ‘We’re going to break now until after lunch, and we’ll have the second challenge ready at two o’clock.’
‘There’s another one?’ Hannah grimaced up at Matt.
‘So it seems. I hope it involves sitting down.’ He grinned, stretching his limbs, and started to walk towards where Hannah’s mum was standing with Sam.
* * *
Her mum had apparently been texting Matt, and had already elicited an agreement from him to join them for lunch. They found a shaded spot at the edge of the area that had been set aside for today’s event, and her mother unpacked the sandwiches, while Matt went to his car to fetch the drinks. There was a chilled bottle of sparkling, non-alcoholic cordial, so that Sam could share their toast to a continued run of success.
‘Where on earth does he get the energy?’ Matt had talked with her mother about the book that she was currently reading with her book club, and they’d found a shared enthusiasm for a couple of writers. Now he was playing with Sam on the grass, the two of them engaged in a game of tag.
‘Maybe he’s got some to spare, not having a child to look after.’
‘Hannah...’ Her mother shot her a reproving look. ‘You know I’ll always look after Sam whenever you want.’
‘I know. I didn’t mean it like that, Mum. My time with Sam’s the best part of my day, I wouldn’t give it up for anything.’
‘You could. If you wanted to go out sometimes.’ Her mother looked pointedly across at Matt. ‘Matt seems very nice, maybe he’d take
you somewhere.’
Hannah rolled her eyes, trying to make out that the idea hadn’t occurred to her already, and been rejected. ‘Don’t you start. I’ve only just managed to get Sophie to shut up about it.’
‘Yes, she said.’ Clearly her mum and Sophie had been comparing notes. ‘I dare say Sophie’s been suggesting something a little more...intimate than a visit to the cinema.’
Hannah chuckled. Mum knew that Sophie didn’t mince her words. ‘Yes, she has.’
‘You don’t need to jump in with both feet.’ Her mother glanced across at Matt. ‘Although... I wouldn’t blame you if you did.’
‘Mum!’
‘What, I’m not supposed to think about things like sex? He’s very attractive. And where do you suppose you and your sisters came from? Your father and I—’
‘Mum, stop!’ Hannah rolled over onto her back, closing her eyes. ‘As far as I’m concerned, you found us under a gooseberry bush. I’m not going to even consider any alternatives.’
‘Whatever.’ Her mother gave a sigh. ‘But I’ve got some experience of this, Hannah. When your father died, I thought that it was the end of my world too. Don’t get me wrong, I miss him every day, and I’ll always be grateful to you for helping me through that time. But I have a few more things I want to accomplish now, and you should too.’
‘You think that Sam and my job aren’t enough for me?’
‘You always say they are. It doesn’t mean that you can’t have more.’
Thankfully, her mother didn’t press the point. She called Sam back over, and Matt followed, throwing himself down onto the grass.
‘Sam, have something to drink, it’s very hot.’ Her mother produced one of Sam’s favourite toys from her bag. ‘And you can show Matt your spaceship if you like. He doesn’t want to go running around too much, he’s got another challenge to do this afternoon.’
Matt shot her mother a grateful look, and turned his attention to Sam’s demonstration of the spaceship’s various features. He was nice with him, always including him in his conversation and listening to his opinions, giving them as much weight as if he were an adult. Sam was unable to put Matt’s respect for him into words, but he felt it and liked Matt.
After half an hour, the contestants were called back and escorted to the same rooms they’d been in that morning. There was no wait this time, and Matt was taken straight out again, leaving Hannah to wonder what was in store for them. He reappeared ten minutes later, holding the same helmets they’d been wearing that morning.
‘No! Not another one?’
‘Well, thankfully this one is sitting down.’ He handed Hannah’s helmet to her, and she saw that it was fitted out with the same goggles that he’d had earlier. ‘You get to drive an electric buggy.’
‘Blindfold... They want me to operate a vehicle blindfold.’
Matt shrugged. ‘That’s okay, isn’t it? You’ve got me to tell you which way to go. The course is laid out in the park, next to the hospital. I drive you over there, and then you take over.’
She wondered if he’d felt this way this morning. Blind and reliant on him. Matt was allowed to steer her out of the building and across the grass, and every touch was electric. All that stood between her and the ground.
He helped her into the buggy and they made the short trip over to the park. It was announced that the contestants would have ten minutes to familiarise themselves with the vehicles, and Hannah slid across into the driving seat. His hands guided hers to the steering wheel and once she was confident about being able to find the forward and reverse gears without too much fumbling around, he bent down, guiding her feet to the accelerator and footbrake pedals.
‘I’ve got it. How do I start this thing?’
She felt his fingertips touch her hand, guiding it towards the starter keys. She twisted them, hearing a muted whine as the electric engine started up. A few tentative moves forward and then backwards again, and then she heard someone shouting an instruction.
‘We’re going to start in a minute.’ She heard Matt’s voice in the speaker fitted to her helmet. ‘I can’t touch you now...’
Hannah shivered. It sounded like an erotic promise, just his voice in the darkness and a shared purpose...
‘What are the others doing?’ This was a race, and Hannah tried to keep her mind off anything that she and Matt might do together in the darkness. ‘I can’t hear their buggies.’
‘No, everyone has their own separate course. Ours goes to the left of the ornamental pond and it looks as if the others go to the right.’
‘Right. So when in doubt steer left, or we both end up in the water.’
His deep, low chuckle sounded in her ear. ‘Yep. If we do, just hold onto the buggy and I’ll fish you out. There’s a slalom for starters, so go slowly. After that there’s a straight run and you can speed up a bit.’
‘Okay. Got it.’ The fantasy of Matt in the darkness was replaced with one of Matt in the water, saving her. Hannah gripped the steering wheel tightly, waiting for the starting buzzer.
They made it through the slalom, Matt’s voice in her ear encouraging her and telling her which way to steer. Then he told her to put her foot down and go a little faster.
‘Stop!’ His voice sounded in the microphone, suddenly tense. ‘Hannah take the helmet off!’
That meant instant disqualification, they’d been told that. But Matt could see what was happening around them and she couldn’t. Hannah pulled the helmet off, blinking in the sunlight. Matt already had the door of the buggy open, and he glanced back at her.
‘This is real...’
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE SPECTATORS WERE ahead of them, in an area where the four courses converged at the finish line. Matt concentrated hard on directing Hannah, looking out for any obstacles in their path that the vehicle couldn’t manage. He’d seen the young man fiddling with the bundle of power cables that ran beside the white lines on the grass that marked their route.
Something about the way he was yanking the cables, not seeming to know quite what he was doing, seemed wrong, and at odds with the usual professionalism of the camera crews. A sixth sense made Matt glance at the man a second time, and it was then that it happened. A spark, a cry and the man was thrown backwards. They were far enough away from the finish line and the other three teams that no one seemed to notice.
In the flood of adrenalin it didn’t occur to him that this might be some carefully constructed feint to test them. This had all the awkward unpredictability of reality, and he was out of the vehicle before it had properly stopped, calling to Hannah. He ran across the grass, kneeling down beside the man.
He was pale, his lips blue. A burn on his arm where he’d touched the cable, and when Matt tore his shirt open and bent down to listen for a heartbeat, there was nothing.
Hannah was behind him somewhere and when he turned he saw her running towards them.
‘Stay away from those cables! One of them may be damaged.’ She swerved suddenly, giving the dark coil snaking through the grass a wide berth.
‘Okay, I’ll get them to switch the power off before anyone else gets hurt.’ The van that held the camera crew, who’d been filming their progress, had stopped and Hannah hurried towards them.
Matt quickly checked the man’s pulse again. A few thready irregular beats, which stopped again under his fingers. He positioned his hands carefully on the man’s chest.
He’d done this many times before. Not here, under the heat of the afternoon sun, with a hundred different variables, one of which was a live electric cable, situated right behind him. Hannah was dealing with that... Matt forgot everything else, and started CPR.
Death could happen so quickly. And life equally quickly. As Hannah reached him, kneeling down on the other side of the man’s prone body, Matt heard a rasping breath. He checked the man’s pulse, and felt the regular beat of
a heart that had responded to the rhythm of the chest compressions.
‘Got him...’ He murmured the words and Hannah nodded. The man’s lips were rapidly regaining their pink colour, and his eyelids were fluttering, as if struggling to open.
She nodded. ‘The camera crew have radioed down for a crash team from the hospital. They’ll be here soon.’
People were running towards them now, and he heard someone shout at them to stay back. As the man’s eyes opened, Hannah was there, taking hold of his hand, positioning herself so that her shadow fell across his face.
‘You took a bit of a jolt there.’ She smiled down at him. ‘Just be still for a moment. The doctor has everything under control.’
The man nodded weakly. He still needed care, he had burns and the CPR would undoubtedly have bruised his ribs badly. But his pulse was beating under Matt’s fingers. Hannah was checking the burns on his hand, and then she carefully took off his trainers, inspecting his feet.
‘Not too bad. He must have been thrown clear.’
Matt realised suddenly that she hadn’t seen what had happened. Hannah had reacted so quickly to the situation that he’d forgotten that.
‘Yes, he was.’
By the time the medical team arrived, they’d ascertained all of the young man’s injuries. Minor burns that were immediately wrapped with cool packs. There was a bump on the back of his head, and Matt borrowed a penlight to check his responses before he was loaded onto a stretcher to be ferried down to the hospital.
Hannah sat back on her heels, watching them go. Matt recognised her smile. It was the one that someone who knew they’d made a difference wore.
Then she turned, shading her eyes as she gazed towards the finish line. The yellows had already completed the course, and were celebrating their win, while the blues and greens fought it out for second place.
‘I’m glad Laura and Jack made it this time. They had bad luck this morning.’ Hannah turned the corners of her mouth down.
‘Yeah. They deserve it.’ Matt had made the only decision possible, but all decisions had a price. ‘I’m...sorry.’
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