by Sue MacKay
Turning to Cody, she saw his jaw tighten. His mouth flat-lined. Feeling out of sorts too? He’d been so calm in there, so reliable. Yet she’d felt a tremor in his body in that all too brief moment he’d held her close. His hug had been like a welcoming home, a comfort, a much-needed place of calm and care and warmth. Only during that hug had she known for sure how rattled he’d been by what had gone down. She liked that he’d shared the whole episode, including the fear. She stepped closer to him, still needing his strength, his deliberate calm.
Which was enough to make her step away again. She must not need anything about him, from him. Needing something from a man had got her into trouble before, had led to the wrong marriage for her.
‘Hey, Harper, are you all right?’ George stepped up to her. He was head of the department and her brother’s friend—which meant Jason would already know about this, damn it all.
She swallowed, pain from where her throat had been flattened more apparent now she wasn’t on high alert. ‘I’m fine.’ Her voice came out as a high-pitched squeak. Great. Now she was sounding like that sugar-overloaded toddler.
The department was in chaos with police going about their business while nurses and doctors hovered around the area, looking like they didn’t know what to do or where to go, so they resorted to staring at Cody and her.
George took her arm. ‘My office. Both of you. Jess, you too. Where’s Matilda?’
Jess shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I haven’t seen her. I’m on lunch break now, so can I go to the canteen? My boyfriend’s there.’
‘Of course you can, as soon as you’ve talked to the police. They’ll want to ask you all a few things.’ George looked around at his staff. ‘Okay, everyone, we have a waiting room full of patients, and one in the ambulance bay. Let’s try to get back to normal as quickly and quietly as possible. The police will be here for a while, and I expect you to be helpful and answer any of their questions.’ He held a hand up. ‘However, I do not want any one telling patients what has happened.’
Harper grimaced. Like he had any hope of every single person in the department keeping their mouth shut, but she supposed he had to put it out there. Texts would already be flying around the city, probably the whole country, and the moment Jess saw her boyfriend she’d be yabbering her head off. Not that Harper could blame the girl. Talking was a way of relieving the stress. Even she felt a desire to tell someone what had happened, but she wouldn’t. That would be totally unlike her. But then how often did she have a gun held to her head? Her muscles tightened as renewed fear grabbed her.
‘Cody, Harper, come with me. I’ll get you coffee sent from the cafeteria shortly. And some food.’ George’s answer to everything was coffee followed by food. ‘Come on. The sooner you talk to the police, the sooner I can send you home for the day.’
Harper shook her head. ‘You said the waiting room’s full. I can’t just disappear.’ At least, that was what she tried to say, but her voice was raspy and all broken up. Now that she was no longer dealing with the assailant and everything else, the pain in her throat seemed to be taking over. She needed something else to concentrate on so it would go on the back burner, at least until she got home.
Beside her, Cody growled, ‘I’m sure the other doctors don’t expect you back on the floor today.’ Then his hands clenched at his sides. ‘Gawd, what I don’t want to do to that lowlife.’
‘Not happening,’ she croaked.
‘Look what he’s done to you, all because of his greed.’
It hadn’t been only her. She spoke slowly and tried to ignore the pain. ‘George, Jess is in shock. Someone needs to check her over.’
‘On to it.’
She placed a hand on Cody’s forearm. Since when had she done this ‘touching colleagues’ stuff? She guessed that gun had a lot to answer for. Working hard at getting her words out clearly, she said, ‘Don’t let him get to you. I’m all right. Truly.’
Cody covered her hand with his for a quick touch, sending his warmth through her. Again. She could get used to that. But she wouldn’t.
‘You’re more than all right,’ he muttered before glaring across the room to where the assailant was being hauled roughly out of the department by two cops.
He no longer looked quite so dapper or smug, but the eyes that locked on her momentarily were filled with hatred.
She shivered. ‘Evil. Pure evil.’ As Harper watched the man being taken away, she felt some relief seep into her body and loosen a little of the tension gripping her. Turning to Cody, she asked, ‘How are you feeling?’ She swallowed and kept going. ‘You were right in the middle of it all. You hit the floor hard when you leapt on him.’ She still couldn’t get the sight of him doing that out of her head, probably wouldn’t for days.
Eyes the colour of spring paddocks locked on her. ‘Think my hip took a bit of a hammering but I didn’t feel a thing at the time. I’ll probably know about it tomorrow.’ His wide mouth tipped upward into a beautiful smile that sent ripples of pleasure through her. He really was ridiculously good-looking.
‘Ouch.’ She didn’t know if she was referring to his hip or her reaction to him.
His smile, like that hug, enveloped her in the sensation that they were in this together and that no one else had a part in it. Sort of like being in a cocoon with just Cody, which gave her a sense of it not being all bad. Not that she could find anything good about the last twenty or so minutes. She’d lost a patient. She hated that. No matter that the odds had been stacked against Mick from the moment he’d swallowed those drugs; she’d have done everything possible to turn the situation around—if she’d been given half a chance. If seemed to be the word of the day.
Someone tapped Harper’s shoulder, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Spinning around, she half-expected to find the gunman standing there smirking at her. ‘Don’t touch— Oh. Sorry, George.’ She’d totally overreacted. She rubbed her temples to calm herself down and try to ease the pounding that had cranked up harder than ever.
George gave her an understanding look. ‘Take it easy. He’s gone, Harper.’
‘Yes.’ He had, but how long before the sense of dread he’d caused left her? Going to sleep tonight might be a lot more difficult than usual.
‘The police want statements from all four of you. Especially you and Cody. That’s not happening in here with patients being treated. They’d overhear everything.’ Despite the presence of the armed defenders and two detectives, the department head was in charge, and letting her know it even before she argued that she needed to be busy right now.
If—that damned word again—she was being honest, she knew she wasn’t in any fit state to be dealing with emergencies or even the mundane illnesses presenting at the moment. But the idea of sitting in the office doing nothing but answering endless questions made her sick to the stomach. Glancing at Cody, she saw sympathy in his gaze. I don’t need sympathy. Especially not from you when you probably feel much the same way I do. She had to admit he didn’t look at all fazed by any of this, but he had been shaky in that hug. ‘I suppose coffee would be good,’ she conceded.
*
‘I’m surprised you think you can swallow anything.’ Cody watched Harper struggling to cope with the aftermath of the assault. She looked annoyed and a tad bewildered. No longer fearful, though, thank goodness. What would she do if he hugged her again? She held her hands against her stomach with her fingers entwined and knuckles white. He suspected she was desperately hanging on to her self-control. The shock was catching up, and he wasn’t immune either.
‘I’ll manage,’ she snapped. Was getting feisty another way of covering up her feelings?
‘Shouldn’t one of our doctors take a look at your throat?’ he asked. There could’ve been serious damage done.
‘That’s next on my agenda. You really shouldn’t talk too much until everything’s settled down.’ George nodded at Harper. ‘Want me to talk to Jason as well?’
‘No.’ Harper shook her head s
harply at the boss, her eyes glittering angrily. ‘No.’ Then, ‘I presumed you already had.’
‘Been a bit busy. You do realise someone will have put it out there on the net? Jason probably already knows, and the rest of your family.’ George gave her a pointed look.
If that throat had been in proper working order Cody had no doubt she’d have been telling George where to go, and it wouldn’t be somewhere nice. She wasn’t known for holding back on her thoughts, no matter who she was talking to. Who was Jason anyway? Her partner? She didn’t wear a wedding ring. He had to be a significant person in her life for George to think he should be told about what had gone down. But, then again, why wouldn’t Harper want this Jason character to know?
‘I figured that since my vocal cords are in excellent working order I should be the one to phone him and say you’re all right,’ George continued as though Harper hadn’t glared hard enough to poleaxe him.
Harper sighed as she lifted her hands in resignation. ‘You’re right. But no drama, okay?’
The man grunted. ‘What are the chances?’
‘None,’ Harper muttered as Karin rushed up to engulf her in a hug.
‘Hey, Harper, you poor thing. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I came out of the treatment room and saw that man holding a gun to your head.’ She raised watery eyes to Cody. ‘I’m glad you saved her.’
Saved her was a stretch of the truth. But he was pleased he’d been able to take Lowlife down before he’d hurt their doctor any more than he already had. He really hated seeing people get hurt, and he particularly hadn’t wanted to see anything happen to Harper. ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence,’ he drawled. ‘But Harper saved herself. She started the ball rolling when she dropped to the floor.’ His relief at Harper being safe was overwhelming. Today the outcome had been good. He wouldn’t think back to the darkest day of his life—not now. Too disturbing.
They were still standing in the middle of the department while other doctors and nurses were ducking and diving around them now, bringing patients in from the waiting room. Cody had had about all he could take of people staring at him and clapping him on the back for doing a cracking job on the assailant. They meant well, but they had no idea what it had really been like in Resus One. ‘Come on, Doc, let’s get out of everyone’s way. Go have that coffee George mentioned.’
‘Doc?’ Harper shivered. That annoyance with George transferred to him. ‘That man called me “Doc”.’
Comprehension slammed him. Of course, Lowlife had, and in a denigrating tone at that. ‘I’m sorry, never thought about it.’ He didn’t want to rile her any more. Not after what they’d been through together.
Her shoulders drooped momentarily, then tightened again as she drew a long, slow breath. ‘Thank you for knocking him down. I am grateful. You could’ve been shot.’ Unbelievably her eyes teared up. Again. For him? Not likely.
He’d never have picked her for the weepy sort, but then today hadn’t been exactly normal. Violence undermined the strongest of people. Even his gut had tightened painfully at the moment when that gun had appeared. ‘Stop talking and give your throat a rest.’ He reached to take her elbow, saw those watery eyes widen and dropped his hand. Of course he was out of line, even if he’d only wanted to help. Being overly friendly to a colleague at work, no matter how well intentioned, could be seen as overstepping the mark. Apparently that hug had been okay at the time but now any other move from him wouldn’t be.
Harper muttered, ‘I’ve seen violence in the ED heaps of times.’
‘But never directed specifically at you, I bet.’ The thought of that kind of personal, immediate threat brought back unpleasant memories. The looks on the faces of women in the pubs when their men came home from a dry six-week stint on the fishing trawlers. Some of the crew over-indulged in alcohol and drugs, then took the resultant mood swings out on their partners. He’d stopped going to the pub with the guys after a while, unable to cope with what he saw but never managing to prevent it. He’d tried talking them out of their rages, had taken some punches and given a few back in self-defence, but he’d never convinced those guys that what they were doing to their women was wrong. Some men had a mind-set about using their fists that was impossible to change.
But that was then, and he’d moved on to a different world, or so he’d thought. ‘Come on. George’s office will be a lot quieter. Even with the police joining us.’
Her fingers worked her forehead, then her temples. ‘You’re right.’
‘Are you okay? Apart from your neck and throat being squashed?’ She looked paler than before. Shock would do that, though he thought something else might be going on.
‘Of course I am,’ she snapped and stormed towards the corridor that’d take them to the office affectionately known as George’s cave. But at the door she stopped and graced him with a wobbly smile. ‘Why wouldn’t I be? It’s not every day there’s so much excitement in the department.’
‘There’s something we can be grateful for.’ The fact that the man had held that gun to a doctor’s head put today’s example of crazy way up there on the scale of craziness. Apparently Harper hadn’t seen as much of the rougher side of humanity in her working life as some medics in big city hospitals did.
‘To think this is Wellington, not Los Angeles, where there are permanent armed guards on the doors.’ For someone who shouldn’t be talking too much, she was doing an awful lot of it. A reaction to everything that had gone down?
‘You’ve worked in LA?’ If she wasn’t going to be quiet then a change of subject might be for the best about now. For both of them. Now that the showdown was over the adrenaline had backed off, leaving him feeling shaky, despite his previous experience with out-of-control thugs.
‘No. Never. But I know people who have.’ Then she turned the questions on him. ‘I know nothing about you. Where were you working before starting here?’
‘Invercargill. I did my training there and stayed on working in the emergency department for another year.’
‘That suggests you’re a late starter.’
Way past being wet behind the ears, for sure. Cody shrugged. ‘I had a career change at twenty-seven.’
‘From what?’
‘Commercial fishing.’
‘You’re kidding me!’ Surprise tainted her eyes.
He was used to that. Fisherman to nurse took a bit of getting around for most people. ‘I’ve found my niche.’
Nudging her into the office, he closed the door to keep the noise of the department out and instantly wished he hadn’t. The room wasn’t much bigger than a shoebox and somehow this woman with all her questions seemed to fill it so that he couldn’t put enough space between them. A scent of lemon or lime wafted in the air, reminding him of summer days in his grandfather’s orchard. The days when he’d been young, carefree and a little hellion. A long time ago.
‘Why Wellington?’ She blushed. ‘Sorry, none of my business, and not relative to the job.’
None of your questions are. But suddenly he couldn’t shut up either. ‘I’m originally from Kelburn.’ Yes, just along the road from the hospital. ‘My mum’s still here and my brother has a home in Central Wellington, though he’s currently working in Sydney at the General Hospital.’
‘Medicine runs in the family then?’
He pulled out a chair for her and tamped down the jerk of annoyance at her surprise. He might be a big man but he had the manners of a gentleman. Except when it came to dealing with thugs. ‘My brother’s an orthopaedic surgeon. Our father was a GP. Mother was a nurse. And so am I.’ And darned proud of it. It beat fishing out in the middle of the wild ocean any day, or trying to straighten out dumb jerks who thought the world owed them. Though that had caught up with him here this morning. Once again.
A brief knock on the door and two cops pushed into the room, filling the remaining space, which brought him closer to Harper.
‘Statement time,’ said the younger one as she gave him the once-over—a slow,
‘I like what I’m seeing’ once-over that stroked his ego but didn’t have his brain wanting to follow up. Nor his body.
Pulling out another chair, he copped a smirk from Harper. So she’d seen the constable’s appraisal. He shrugged. Nothing he could do about it; he hadn’t asked for it. It just happened. He turned to the other police officer. ‘You want to ask more questions? Or just take statements?’
The sooner this was done and that coffee arrived, then the sooner he could go back to work and put the morning behind him. That was if George let them go back to work. He seemed pretty adamant that they were going to have to go home for the rest of the day and rest up. Matilda and Jess too. Harper wasn’t going to like that; he was sure of it.
When they were done with the police Harper pulled out her phone and checked her messages. ‘Who doesn’t know what happened?’ she muttered and shut it off completely without answering any texts or emails.
Cody had texted his brother earlier to say he was good and not to worry about him. They’d talk tonight. Maybe. ‘You’re not putting it out there that you’re fine?’ She seemed very reluctant to talk to her family or this Jason character.
‘George did it.’ Her mouth lifted slightly. ‘He never does take any notice of what I want. No wonder he’s friends with my brothers.’
Cody thought she was just as guilty of that after George examined Harper’s throat and tried to make her take the rest of the shift off. Of course she refused, flouncing out to the department and picking up the next file on the way to the waiting room. George wasn’t best pleased, but he relented in the end. They could stay to the end of the shift but were relegated to paperwork only.
‘I’m fine, George,’ Harper insisted with a scowl.
‘You might think so, Harper, but you’ve had a huge shock. I’m not comfortable with you treating patients till you’ve had a full night’s sleep. That’s non-negotiable.’
Cody actually wouldn’t have minded knocking off early for the day but he didn’t want to leave Harper alone after what they’d been through. He felt weirdly protective of her after all the bravery she’d shown. She was quite a woman.
