‘Yes. Everything’s just about sorted out now so it’s time for bed, I think,’ she replied lightly, because he wouldn’t thank her for worrying about him. He’d always been very independent and had never relied on anyone else to help him, and it struck her all of a sudden just how strange that was. Most people relied to some extent on the people they worked with, but not Rafferty. He never asked for a favour, rarely delegated and was always the first to volunteer when it came to extra work.
Was it the result of the way he’d been brought up? she found herself wondering.
Being passed from pillar to post while he’d been growing up must have meant that he’d had no one except himself to rely on and that was why he was so self-sufficient. It could also explain why he was so wary of showing his emotions. He’d never had the opportunity to form an attachment to anyone because he’d been moved so frequently, so he’d learned to keep his feelings hidden.
It was as though she was seeing the situation through fresh eyes and it shocked her that she’d never given any thought before to the full effect his past must have had on him. She’d been too caught up by the need to convince him that her family’s wealth didn’t matter to take account of the reasons why it did. She’d had loving parents and stability while he’d had very little affection and lots of uncertainty—was it any wonder that he was afraid of making a mistake over her?
‘I’m so tired that I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep.’
Rafferty followed her out of the tent, pausing to turn off the generator so that they were plunged into darkness. There were just the security lights left on now to guide them across the compound. Everywhere was very quiet. Even the sound of digging had stopped as the search-and-rescue teams had finished working for the night. It lent an air of intimacy to their surroundings, which wasn’t lost on Natalie as they made their way through the camp.
‘Maybe you should go for a walk?’ she suggested, her voice sounding husky as nerves suddenly set in. Was this the right moment to ask him why he’d ended their relationship? Bearing in mind these new revelations she’d had to explain his behaviour, it seemed even more important that she make him tell her the truth. It was just the fact that he was so exhausted that stopped her blurting it out.
‘I don’t think my legs would support me.’ He groaned as they stopped outside his tent. ‘I’m not even sure if I can make it as far as my bed. If I keel over, just leave me here and I’ll be fine!’
Natalie drummed up a laugh but it was hard to know what to do for the best. She had a funny feeling that she would get only one shot at this and she didn’t want to waste it by choosing the wrong moment.
‘It would save time, I suppose,’ she said lightly. ‘You’d be all ready for the next round in the morning if you slept there.’
‘Don’t!’ Rafferty rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t even want to think about going through a repeat of today.’ He took a deep breath then bent down and unzipped the flap on his tent. ‘Right, I’m going to bed and I’m going to sleep. It’s just a question of mind over matter, isn’t it? Goodnight, Natalie. I’ll see you in the morning.’
‘Goodnight,’ she echoed as he ducked inside the tent. There was nothing else she could say now. She’d missed her opportunity so now she would have to bide her time and hope that there would be another one before they left. However, as she made her way to her own tent and got ready for bed, she was very aware that they wouldn’t be in Honduras for much longer. Another day—two at the most—and that would be it: there would be no hope of finding any more casualties after that so they would pack up and return to England. And once they were home that would be the end for her and Rafferty. They would go their separate ways and there was nothing she could do to stop it happening.
She took a deep breath when she felt tears burn her eyes. Crying wouldn’t help to salvage their relationship. She had to convince him that he could trust her enough to unlock his emotions, but she could only do that if he truly loved her.
She sighed because she’d come full circle and was right back where she’d started—wondering if Rafferty loved her enough to want to spend his life with her.
CHAPTER TEN
‘THE instruments will need to be packed into those foam-lined cases before they’re put inside the crates. There’s a customs declaration form that will need to be filled out as well so I’ll do that before we load them onto the trucks.’
Rafferty made a note on the increasingly long list of jobs that still needed doing, then carried on. They were in the process of dismantling the camp and there was a lot to get through if they were to be ready to set off at midday. They were booked onto a flight that left Comayagua Palmerola airport at eight that night and it would take them at least five hours to drive to the airport so he had to make sure that they kept to a very strict timetable.
The search-and-rescue teams were also leaving. They had stopped digging the previous night when it had been decided that there was no hope of finding any more survivors in the rubble, and they were now packing up their equipment. It had been an international effort with teams on site from the USA, the UK and France, as well as from several neighbouring South American countries. He glanced up when the clatter of helicopter rotors overhead announced that one of the teams was on its way. Soon everyone would have left and the local people would have to try and get their lives back into some semblance of order.
Wally, the head of their ground crew, came over to speak to him just then about some problems they were having with dismantling the theatre tent so Rafferty went to see what was wrong. It turned out that one of the main supporting struts had become jammed into place and no amount of pushing and pulling would budge it.
In the end he agreed that the support would have to be cut so the tent could be dismantled, but he was aware that it was going to put the crew under extra pressure to get packed away on time. It was the last thing he needed, too, because he didn’t feel up to dealing with any more problems. He had enough to contend with, thinking about him and Natalie, without adding to his stress levels. Had he done the right thing by telling her that they should split up, or should he reconsider his decision?
‘All the nursing supplies are packed now—dressings, linens, etcetera—so what else needs doing?’
He glanced round when the subject of his thoughts suddenly materialised at his side, feeling his heart kick up a storm. Just being near her was enough to make his body go into overdrive. She was dressed in jeans and a ratty old sweater because it was messy work, packing everything away, but she still managed to look utterly desirable and gorgeous.
She could wear a bin liner and he’d still want her, Rafferty thought wistfully. It was just the kind of thought he could have done without when he was experiencing doubts about the wisdom of his decision. He’d done what was right for Natalie and that was what mattered!
‘Can you check on the last few patients who are still here?’ he asked gruffly. ‘Dilia Meléndez is being transferred to the main hospital at Tegucigalpa and I want to make sure the consultant there understands exactly what’s happened to her. It will be touch and go whether she survives now that infection has set in.’
‘Patsy is translating Dilia’s notes into Spanish to make sure the staff at the hospital know what treatment she’s been on.’ Natalie sighed. ‘It doesn’t seem fair that she’s got this far and might not pull through.’
‘It’s really tough on her family. I spoke to her husband yesterday and he was beside himself with worry,’ Rafferty agreed sadly. ‘Let’s hope the new antibiotic regime she’s on will have a beneficial effect over the next day or so. Anyway, thank Patsy for me, will you? It’s good of her to go to all that extra trouble.’
‘All part of the service,’ Natalie said lightly, and he grimaced.
‘I know. And if it’s any consolation, I’ve apologised to Patsy for my remarks the other day.’
‘So she said. Right, I’ll check on Dilia then make sure the rest of the patients are ready for when the ambulances
arrive.’ She broke off when Joanna suddenly came rushing over to them.
‘We’ve just received a radio message to say that a helicopter has crashed in the mountains not far from here,’ Joanna announced, breathless after her dash across the compound. ‘It’s the chopper that was due to ferry the S and R team back to Florida.’
‘Do they know if there’s any survivors?’ Rafferty bit out.
‘Yes. The pilot managed to radio through to base. They’re all injured, apparently, but it’s the copilot who’s come off worst. Air traffic control at Miami have contacted the relevant authorities but they want to know if we’re in a position to respond until they get here.’
‘They want us to give the crew medical assistance?’ Rafferty clarified, frowning when Joanna nodded. ‘If we can get to them, of course we’ll help, but where exactly are they?’
‘I’m not sure. Larry has been liaising with the guys at air traffic control. He was still trying to get a fix on the crew’s location when I came to find you.’
‘Right. The best thing to do is find out where exactly they’ve come down and take it from there.’ Rafferty handed Joanna the clipboard. ‘Can you take over here while I check what’s going on?’
‘Of course.’
Joanna took the clipboard while he and Natalie went to find Larry. He was in the small tent they used as their communications centre. He looked up when they went in but he was busily talking to someone from air traffic control. Rafferty waited with mounting impatience while the other man wrote down a series of map co-ordinates.
‘So do we have a fix on them yet?’ he demanded as soon as Larry ended the call.
‘Here you go.’ Larry handed him the co-ordinates then pulled out a detailed map of the area. ‘Let’s see if we can pinpoint their location from this.’
Rafferty read out the co-ordinates while Larry cross-referenced them against the map, his heart sinking when he saw where the helicopter had crashed. ‘It’s halfway up a mountain.’
‘I know. How on earth are we going to get up there to help them?’ Larry replied worriedly.
Rafferty frowned as he studied the contours printed on the map. ‘They must have come down at roughly eight thousand feet from the look of it. It will take us ages if we have to climb up there to reach them, always assuming we can manage to climb that far, of course, and there’s no guarantee about that. The mountains around here are very steep and we’re not equipped for an operation like that. What we really need is someone to drop us off on the mountain as near as possible to where the chopper came down.’
‘One of the other helicopters, you mean,’ Natalie put in, and he stifled a sigh because he really didn’t need any more reminders about how quickly she’d always followed his train of thought. When it came to such matters they were in complete harmony—unlike other areas of their life.
‘Yes,’ he replied with as much equanimity as he could muster in the circumstances. ‘If we can get one of the pilots to drop us off, it will save us a lot of valuable time. If the copilot is as badly injured as they say he is, every extra minute counts.’
‘I’ll go over to the search-and-rescue camp and see if I can find someone to help us,’ she offered at once. ‘A lot of the teams are still packing up and I’m sure someone will offer their services once they find out what’s happened.’
‘And while you’re doing that, I’ll sort out our equipment.’ Rafferty grimaced. ‘Isn’t it typical that we’re going to need some of our stuff when we’ve only just packed it away?’
‘I’ll give you a hand,’ Larry offered, following them out of the tent.
Rafferty left Natalie to sort out their transport arrangements while he and Larry went over to the trucks, which were in the process of being loaded with their equipment. He quickly explained to the others what had happened and in a very short time they’d managed to put together some packs of medical supplies. Natalie came back just as they were finishing packing everything into a couple of haversacks, and he glanced up at her.
‘Well?’
‘Everyone wanted to help but a lot of the teams are travelling out by road then flying home from the airport. In the end, it was decided that the Nicaraguan pilot would ferry us over there in his helicopter. He’s ready to leave whenever you say the word.’
‘Good.’ Rafferty stood up and looked around the assembled group, knowing that it was going to cause a lot of problems if the whole team was delayed. Their seats on the plane were booked and paid for: there was no way that he could justify the expense of cancelling them when it would cost the agency such a lot of money.
‘It will cause too many problems if we delay our departure so I want the rest of you to carry on as we’ve arranged. I’ve no idea how long it’s going to take us to find those guys, neither do I have any idea what state they’ll be in when we get to them, so just Natalie and I will go. We’ll try to catch up with you at the airport but we might need to reschedule our flights home if we’re delayed for too long.’
There was a bit of muttering because the rest of the team were obviously loath to leave without them. However, in the end they saw the wisdom of what he was saying. Rafferty handed over the customs forms and other documents to Larry and asked him to liaise with Joanna, then turned to Natalie.
‘We’d better get a move on. The sooner we find those guys, the better it will be for everyone concerned.’
Natalie nodded as she picked up a haversack. ‘The helicopter is over here,’ she told him briefly, leading the way.
Rafferty picked up the other pack and waved when the rest of the team wished them good luck. The helicopter pilot, Efraín Molina, was waiting beside his machine so Rafferty wasted no time as he introduced himself and climbed on board. The pilot and the winchman ran through the preflight checks while he and Natalie strapped themselves in.
Rafferty glanced at her as they lifted off a few minutes later and felt a rush of happiness suddenly fill him. The next few hours would be a testing time for them both, but having Natalie with him made him feel as though he could overcome any obstacles. She gave him confidence and strength, empowered him just by her presence. She meant the whole world to him and even though he knew that they had to part when they got back to England, at least he would have this time with her to look back on.
Natalie could feel her tension rising as the helicopter swooped over the mountains. All around them the jagged peaks soared towards the sky. They had flown over oak and pine forests but the vegetation had thinned out as they’d travelled deeper into the mountain range. Now just a few sparse trees hugged the rocky ground below them.
‘We must be nearly there by now.’
Rafferty’s voice echoed tinnily through her headset and she turned towards him, feeling her heart ache with a fierce pain when she saw the warmth in his beautiful green eyes. If only it was there because of her, she thought wistfully, but there was no point in deluding herself. He was eager to get this rescue under way, excited by the prospect of saving lives under the most arduous conditions. It was what made him tick, what made his life mean something, and she mustn’t make the mistake of thinking that it was her presence that had made him look so animated.
‘The pilot said it would take us about fifteen minutes to reach them, didn’t he?’ she replied, deliberately removing any trace of emotion from her voice.
‘It’s just about that now so we should see some sign of them pretty soon—’ He broke off and pointed to a spot below them. ‘That’s them. There.’
Natalie turned and stared out of the window, her stomach churning when she saw the crumpled remains of the helicopter far below. It was about halfway up the side of the mountain and she had no idea how they were going to get to it because the ground looked very steep, from what she could see. The pilot’s voice suddenly came through her headset, advising them that he was going to fly over the area again to see if he could find somewhere to land. She held her breath as the helicopter swooped round in a wide circle then started to lose height. She had a b
etter view of the area now and her heart sank as it became obvious that the slope was too steep for them to land.
‘There’s got to be some way of getting down there.’ Rafferty’s tone echoed her frustration as he studied the rough terrain, and Natalie sighed.
‘There’s just nowhere to set down, is there? It’s much too steep.’
‘No, we can’t land, but we could be winched down.’
‘Winched down!’ she repeated in horror. ‘You have to be joking. I’ve never been winched out of a helicopter before. Have you?’
‘Nope. But there’s a first time for everything, isn’t there?’ He suddenly grinned at her. ‘We’ve come this far, so we can’t just give up at the first hurdle, can we?’
‘Some hurdle,’ she muttered darkly.
‘It can’t be that difficult, Natalie. People get winched out of helicopters every day of the week.’ His tone softened, took on a cajoling note that made her grit her teeth because she knew to her cost how effective it could be. ‘You’ll be perfectly safe. Honest.’
‘I’ll never hear the end of it if I refuse, will I?’ she said with a sigh, because there was no point trying to hold out. When Rafferty turned on the charm she was putty in his hands…as he undoubtedly knew!
‘Thanks.’ He touched her lightly on the hand and she felt her nerves flicker in response when she felt the warmth of his skin on hers. It was a relief when he let her go so he could position the tiny microphone attached to his helmet closer to his mouth while he spoke to the pilot.
Natalie waited in silence while the two men had a brief discussion about the logistics of what they were proposing to do. There wasn’t any point her chipping in, because she would go along with whatever he decided. She would trust him with her life and the thought was almost too poignant in the circumstances, because once they returned to England he would no longer be there when she needed him to help and encourage her. He would no longer be there to drive her mad with his stubbornness, just as he would no longer be there to hold her in his arms and make her feel more alive than any woman had ever felt before. He would be gone from her life for good and she didn’t think she could bear it. She didn’t want to try!
Nurse in a Million Page 14
