Heart Of The Outback, Volume 2

by Margaret Way

  Up ahead he could see Lauren, a flight nurse with the Air Ambulance Service, treating another victim. With her was Dr Jack Montgomery, her fiancé. A paramedic was attending to a second patient but, from what Matt could see, he didn’t require any assistance. A third man was sitting alone, holding a blood soaked towel against the side of his head.

  Jack looked up as Matt approached, not wasting time with greetings. “Could you take a look at Simon here?” He indicated the young man holding the sodden towel to his head. “He’s the next most urgent.”

  Matt knelt down and pulled on a pair of disposable gloves with ease.

  “Hi, I’m Matt, I’m a doctor and this is Steffi.” Mentally he crossed his fingers that he had her name right. She didn’t correct him so he filed her name away and continued, “She’s a nurse and we’re just going to have a look at your head.”

  He removed the towel for just a moment. Blood was flowing from the man’s ear, running down his neck and soaking the collar of his shirt.

  His earlobe was gone, neatly sliced off by some flying debris—a piece of metal, Matt assumed. The wound wasn’t life-threatening or difficult to deal with, but Matt thought it best not to go into too much detail about the injury with the patient. Shock could be more dangerous than anything else in these situations.

  “If you like, I’ll fashion a bandage to stem the bleeding and get him organised for a transfer. You can see to someone else then,” he heard Steffi say.

  It made perfect sense. His expertise wasn’t required for this job—a nurse was more than capable. But he was reluctant to walk away. “Are you sure?”

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “I realise you don’t know me from Adam but I’m perfectly able to do this, and meanwhile we’re wasting time.” Her expression made it clear that he was the one wasting time.

  “Of course.” As she reached for the kit of supplies she had brought with her, Matt stepped back but he lingered to watch as she selected dressings, plasters and compression bandages. He listened to her soft voice reassuring Simon as her small hands worked to stem the bleeding.

  She was right, he didn’t know her from Adam, but she seemed to know what she was doing. She was also doing a great job of ignoring his presence but she didn’t appear to be offended that he was watching her, checking out her claim to have credentials. He couldn’t fault her treatment, couldn’t fault anything he’d seen about her so far, in fact. So he should really get going now that he’d satisfied himself of her ability.

  A call for help sliced through the air. “Is there anyone spare? There’s an injured man down below.” A fireman had called out from one of the blackened boats tied to the wharf. Matt didn’t wait for him to call a second time, heading for the fishing boat as fast as he could.

  “What have you got?” There was no need for introductions. In a community of this size most of the medical and emergency services personnel knew each other, at least by sight.

  “Young bloke down in the cold room, complaining of leg pain, says he can’t stand. I didn’t want to move him without someone checking him over.”

  “How come he’s only just been found?”

  “He was listed as missing but no one’s been able to check this boat because of the fire. Says he’s been calling out but obviously he couldn’t be heard over the noise of the firefighting equipment.”

  It was only then that Matt realised the noise level had dropped, even though he was now right by the trawler. The firemen had finally got the inferno under control and now just one boat was still burning but much less fiercely. Others were still smouldering, including the one Matt was looking at, two berths away from the centre of the blaze.

  The big boat was badly damaged, its forward deck buckled and charred, and the thick, putrid smell of the smoke was still heavy all around them. Not to mention the reek of thousands of dead fish strewn all about, the stench cranking up as the hot sun burned down on them. But the fire was under control and further catastrophe had been averted.

  He looked warily at the remains of the boat. The fire had spread to the rear of the deck, too, and although the damage didn’t look as bad, he wasn’t about to go charging in. The first rule of medical training was to ensure you’d assessed the risks to yourself. He’d be no good to anyone if he ignored the rules.

  “Safe to go on?”

  “Follow me.” The firefighter headed towards the rear gangplank, which was unscathed, whereas the forward one was a charred mess. They crossed onto the boat.

  “The stairs take you into the cold room. I’ll stay up here. We have to be careful the wind doesn’t whip any embers back up.”

  “Cheers,” Matt muttered under his breath as he grabbed the handrail. So much for assessing risk. They might always assess but they also went right on ahead no matter what answer they got.

  He called out to the retreating fireman, “Can you send someone else as soon as they’re free? I might need a hand.”

  The response came floating down to him as he slid down the steps. “Sure thing.”

  He picked his way over the slippery floor, awash with water that would have gushed in from the hoses. The fisherman was sitting on the wet floor, holding his left knee.

  “G’day. I’m Matt. Can you tell me your name?”

  “Bobby.”

  “Do you remember what happened?”

  “Not really. I think I must have missed a step and fallen down here. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the deck.”

  He obviously didn’t recall the explosion. Had the blast sent him flying?

  “Did you sit yourself up?”

  “Yeah, I was going to get up but my ankle is killing me. There’s no way I could stand. I can’t move now, it hurts too much.”

  “I need to check you over before we move you any further. Does anything other than your ankle hurt?”

  “I’ve got a bit of a bump on my head,” Bobby ran his hand gingerly over his right temple, “but that’s nothing compared to this damn ankle.”

  Matt dug a small torch out of the medical kit and shone it into Bobby’s eyes one at a time. Bobby had had a brief LOC but there didn’t appear to be any major head injury. He’d also managed to sit himself up so he probably hadn’t suffered any major spinal damage. Matt needed to look at his ankle but first he had to get Bobby’s waterproof overalls, with all-in-one thick rubber boots attached, off. He looked around and spotted a knife handle protruding from a knife belt around Bobby’s waist.

  “Can I borrow that?” He pointed to the knife. “I need to cut your boot and overalls away.”

  Bobby flicked open the strap holding the knife in place and passed it, handle first, to Matt.

  The filleting knife was razor sharp and Matt slit Bobby’s overalls at the knee before running the knife carefully through the fabric down towards the boot. The rubber of the boot was much thicker and he had to use a sawing action with the knife to cut through it. As he was working, a pair of feet and denim-clad legs appeared next to him. He stopped cutting and looked up, smiling automatically when he saw Steffi standing there.

  She had a silver space blanket in one hand and a pair of heavy-duty shears in the other. “Try these, they might be easier,” she said, handing them to Matt. “What would you like me to do?”

  “Bobby had a brief LOC. He’s complaining of a bump on the head. Can you check him out? The bump might have knocked him out or he might have just blacked out with the pain. He seems fairly alert now.”

  Matt took the shears Steffi held out for him. Their hands touched and a bolt of awareness shot up his arm. Not that unexpected given his earlier reaction to her but, still, this was hardly the time or the place.

  Steffi jumped as his touch seared her skin. Her hands were shaking—circumstances, not her reaction to this man, she told herself. She wrapped the insulated blanket around Bobby’s shoulders and started to palpate his skull. Her life was a big enough mess already. She didn’t need to compromise her work because she had the hots for some stranger in an orange jacket. />
  She tried to block it out, tried to block him out, as she introduced herself to Bobby. But Matt was right in front of her and she didn’t need to watch what she was doing. Her fingers would find any lumps or bumps on Bobby’s head, so she could watch Matt without too much difficulty. It wasn’t checking him out, more like plain old professional curiosity. Tit for tat. He’d certainly spent more than a moment watching her when she’d treated Simon.

  He wielded the shears with confidence, pulling the rubber of the boot apart and easing it away from Bobby’s leg and foot, his touch gentle and sure. He might not have a traditional doctor’s haircut, his hair falling to his shoulders in soft waves, but he certainly had doctor’s hands. Lovely hands. Caressing, strong hands, hands that would sense the tiniest detail. She caught herself just before she licked her lips. That might not be so professional.

  “Did you find anything?”

  Steffi jumped as his voice brought her attention back to the job at hand. “No, nothing. Do you want me to do his obs?” Bobby had gone quiet and she knew that, like most of the victims today, shock was bound to set in.

  “Thanks.” Matt turned back to Bobby, continuing his examination of an ankle that was bruising and swelling even as they watched.

  “I think he may have a crush fracture of the calcaneus,” he said, as Steffi slipped a thermometer under Bobby’s tongue.

  “Pulse 140, temperature normal,” she reported.

  Matt was now examining Bobby’s pelvis. She knew a fall heavy enough to shatter a heel could also damage the spine, pelvis and hips. Bobby was managing to sit, though, so it looked as if he was relatively lucky, although he might disagree, Steffi thought as she reached for the blood-pressure cuff. As she was about to pick up the cuff, the medical kit slid out from under her hand, as if pushed by an invisible force. She watched it slide along the floor to the opposite bulkhead smacking into it with a resounding thud. She was swaying to keep her balance but time seemed to be slowing down. She couldn’t get a handle on what was happening here.

  Matt’s reaction was faster. He braced himself against a freezer with one foot and threw his weight across Bobby’s upper leg, preventing him from sliding, too.

  “Get off the boat, Steffi. Now.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  “WHAT’S going on?” “Just get off the boat.”

  Matt’s tone brooked no argument but Steffi still tried to stretch towards the medical kit before heading for the steps. “Leave it.”

  It was an order and for a moment she bristled, but then it sank in that he thought the situation was serious. When she started to clamber up the steps the boat tilted further and she missed her footing, falling back down. She realised Matt had been right. The situation was serious.

  He called out to her, “Are you OK?”

  “I’m fine.” She grabbed the handrail and started to haul herself back up the stairs, which were now tilted at a thirty-degree angle to the starboard side.

  “The boat’s taking in water.” There was an urgent note in his voice and she looked back down to see dark water seeping across the floor, more than just the water that had collected here from the fire hoses.

  “I’ll call for help,” she said as she hurried up the stairs as best she could, but as she reached the top and swung herself onto the deck, she knew Matt was right behind her. Turning, her jaw dropped open as she saw him climbing the last few steps with their large-framed patient slung over his shoulder in a fireman’s lift. He was showing no sign of strain, despite having to counter the weights of both of them against the list of the boat, but Bobby was looking paler than ever. He’d be in a great deal of pain, Steffi knew, but Matt had clearly not wanted to wait for a stretcher.

  Matt grunted at her, which she took to mean she should get moving, but she stood aside to let him take Bobby off first then picked her way over the deck, almost dropping to a crawl when the trawler lurched further on its side. She felt strong hands grab her under her armpits and lift her onto the wharf. Relieved, she looked up to see one of the firefighters standing before her.

  “Thank you,” she said, covering her moment of disappointment that it hadn’t been Matt.

  Then she stood to the side, watching Matt and Connor, who had returned from the hospital. By the time they had Bobby lying on a stretcher, he’d fainted again.

  “He’s fractured his right calcaneus, he’s in shock but otherwise OK.”

  Matt’s voice rang out clear and controlled as he issued instructions and handed the patient over to the ambulance officers. Among the competing sounds, his voice was the only one that penetrated her awareness.

  He was still talking to Connor. “Check his BP and give him some pain relief. He’ll need X-rays of his spine, pelvis and lower limbs. He doesn’t appear to have sustained a head injury but someone will need to check that again.”

  “No worries.” Connor whisked Bobby into the ambulance just as Jack and Lauren arrived, the look on Lauren’s face showing her relief that Steffi was safely off the trawler.

  Jack clapped Matt on the back. “That’s it, all done. Your patient was the last missing person and your timing was impeccable.”

  Matt looked at him in query.

  Lauren answered, “You ended the day on a fittingly dramatic note. Sinking ship and all that.” They turned to look at the ailing trawler, blackened and charred and now listing sadly to starboard, incongruous against a sky streaked with gold now that the sun was low on the horizon, daylight fading fast.

  Matt threw his gloves into the bag that Jack was holding out for him. “We’ll be needed in Theatre?” “Looks like it.” “What was the final toll?”

  “Two casualties at the last count, Brian Price and Johnno Mundy. It was his boat that went up,” Jack replied. “There were a number of relatively minor wounds from flying metal, one heart attack, the stomach wound, a fractured ankle, a dislocated shoulder and some fractured ribs.”

  “Any idea what actually happened?”

  “Looks like a refuelling accident but the police and fire brigade will have to piece things together before we’ll know for sure.”

  “It could have been a whole lot worse. They were lucky today,” Lauren said. Turning to Matt and motioning at Steffi, she said, “I see you’ve met my big sister.”

  “Your sister?” Matt looked from one to the other and Steffi knew the differences between them were jumping out at him. Lauren was tall, dark-haired and long-limbed with a generous bust while Steffi was almost her exact opposite, small and fair-haired. But they had the same olive skin and their eyes were almost identical. His eyes connected with Steffi’s and she saw the same spark of recognition he’d shown when they’d first met. He had recognised her eyes, the same deep, striking blue as Lauren’s.

  He extended his right hand towards her. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. I’m Matt Zeller.”

  She couldn’t ignore his outstretched hand but she really didn’t want her sharp-eyed sister to see her go all gooey. She placed her hand in his. Yup, there it was, that tingly sensation shooting up her arm and then down through the rest of her. A shower of little drops of heat.

  “Steffi Harrison,” she said, and pulled her hand away. Checking the guy out was one thing, but heart-stopping tremors were quite another. She didn’t have room in her life for sexual attraction. And she had enough evidence of how out of control her mind and body already were at the moment. She didn’t need more reactions she couldn’t control.

  If Matt noticed her abrupt withdrawal, his expression didn’t change. “Good work today,” was all he said.

  He was assessing her, she thought. But professionally or personally, she didn’t know.

  “Thank you.”

  “Good job all round,” said Jack, before turning his attention to Matt. “I don’t think our work is done yet. Can you give me a ride to the hospital in that old bomb of yours?”

  Matt laughed and his face lit up, softening the angular lines of his features, and Steffi’s stomach took anoth
er tumble. Hot, hot, hot seemed to be the only words her mind could formulate.

  “Sure. Let’s go.”

  “I’ll see you later,” Jack said to Lauren, kissing his fiancée firmly on the lips.

  The kiss was going on a little too long, Steffi thought. Especially when all she could think about was how lovely it would be to be kissed like that … by Matt. She felt him watching her and smiled, raising her eyes heavenwards to cover her embarrassment at the two of them standing around, waiting for her sister and Jack to finish.

  Jack pulled away and said, “We should be making tracks.”

  Goodbyes said, Matt and Jack headed back along the wharf, leaving Steffi and Lauren. They watched the two men, stripping off their waterproof jackets as they went, deep in conversation.

  “I love to watch him walk away,” Lauren said.

  Steffi looked at Lauren to explain.

  “He’s got such a great butt,” she clarified.

  Steffi looked again, but not at Jack. She couldn’t help it. She’d better try distraction. “Come on. I need a shower and a change of clothes.”

  “Are you coming back to my place?”

  “I really need to get back to Mum and Dad’s. Jess will be wondering what’s happened to us.”

  Steffi dropped Lauren at her unit in town before heading out to their parents” station, sixty kilometres north of Port Cadney. She pulled up to the rambling homestead and shook her head. To think she’d come back to the country for some peace and quiet.

  Inside she found her mother and her daughter surrounded by old family photo albums, laughing hysterically at the pictures.

  “I thought you were supposed to be packing,” Steffi said to her mum as she bent to kiss Jess.

  “You know what it’s like. We got a bit sidetracked when we started to clean out the storeroom. How did it go?”