Diagnosis

by Lucy Clark

  Charli smiled. ‘I was thinking the same thing.’ She leaned across and kissed his cheek. ‘Thank you for giving to me.’

  Logan met her gaze and shook his head.

  ‘I shouldn’t have done that, I know,’ she said, as though reading his mind. Logan was opening his mouth to respond when Maree walked in. He turned to look at the nurse and one glance at her face told him that something was wrong.

  ‘Emergency?’ he asked.

  Maree stared at him in surprise. ‘How did you know?’

  ‘You have one of those faces,’ he joked, and Maree swatted at him playfully.

  ‘The ranger’s office has just called through. Three inexperienced bushwalkers failed to return at sunset. They’ve only just located them at Redman Bluff.’

  ‘Retrieval?’

  ‘Yes.’ She handed him a piece of paper. ‘This is where you need to head to. Go out in the ambulance so you’ll have everything on tap if you need it.’

  ‘Right.’ He turned and looked at Charli. ‘Let’s go.’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHARLI fell into step beside Logan. ‘Do you often do retrievals?’ she asked as they headed out of the hospital.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What about the hospital? Aren’t you supposed to be on duty?’

  ‘This hospital is split into two sections, medical and surgical. As I’ve been trained in retrieval techniques, it’s better that I go. One of the surgical interns will take care of A and E until I’m back.’

  ‘A and E?’

  ‘Accident and Emergency. Same as ER.’

  ‘Right. So, you can do that? Just like that? No forms? No red tape? You can just head out on retrieval?’

  ‘You got it.’ He smiled as they headed out to the ambulance. ‘A bit different from your large American hospitals, eh?’

  ‘Very different.’

  Logan found Bruce and they set off. Charli was sitting in between the two of them and his awareness of her sparked his hormones into overdrive. Just the feel of her thigh, pressing against his, was enough to knock him completely off balance. Focusing his mind on work, he worked hard to answer the questions Charli was asking about the district. How many callouts did the ambulance get? What type of retrievals had they been on? How did they cope with limited facilities at the hospital?

  ‘You’re almost as bad as Owen,’ Logan said with a laugh. ‘Asking questions, thirsty for knowledge. I wonder if you’re like this all the time?’

  Charli glanced at him and smiled sheepishly. It was then Logan realised she was as aware of him as he was of her and the questions were a way to keep her mind occupied. He decided to follow suit and ask her a few questions about her working environment.

  ‘Doesn’t working in a big hospital and having to always be aware of red tape, cost-effectiveness and so on bother you?’

  ‘No. Actually, it doesn’t. I have a good team beside me and have learned how to number-crunch to my advantage.’

  The instant the words were out of her mouth, Charli gasped and put her hand over her mouth. Logan smiled.

  ‘There’s another bit of information to file away about you. You know how to dwiddle the numbers.’

  ‘I never said that and I don’t even know what dwiddle means, you crazy Australian.’ She giggled with delight, like a child unwrapping another layer of a large present. How did he do it? How did he know the right time to ask questions and get answers to come automatically out of her mouth? Was it Logan…or was she starting to remember more? She frowned and thought hard. While she’d been speaking to Logan, she’d been able to picture her office at the hospital, picture the accountant assigned to her department, picture her senior registrar. She thought harder—but she couldn’t remember their names. She’d never been good at names. Numbers, statistics, surgical methods—not a problem. But names? Forget it…And she often did. She smiled, pleased she’d remembered something else about herself, and this time she’d remembered without prompting!

  Bruce was starting to slow down and she realised they’d arrived at their destination. She noticed a police car was parked beside a ranger four-wheel-drive.

  ‘Is that Wil’s car?’

  ‘Sure is.’ Logan waited for Bruce to stop the ambulance before he climbed out, holding the door for Charli. ‘Who’s the ranger on duty, Bruce?’

  ‘Tom,’ he answered.

  ‘Good. Tom’s got a good head on his shoulders.’

  Bruce radioed Tom to get directions to the bushwalkers’ location. Tom radioed back what injuries he’d found on one of the men. ‘Halley and Max are on their way out as well,’ Tom’s voice said through the UHF radio.

  ‘Reinforcements are always good.’ Logan smiled at Charli and she had to force her mind back into medical mode—it was the only part of her life she was one hundred per cent certain of. Helping Logan today had helped her immensely and now she had the opportunity to use her skills to help other people.

  They climbed into retrieval overalls, put on helmets with lights attached and sorted out who was carrying which medical supplies. She was glad that, whatever had been happening in her life before yesterday morning, she’d worn decent lace-up shoes. It helped when she had to follow in Bruce’s footsteps—Logan behind her—as they made their way down to where their patients were.

  ‘Not too much farther,’ Logan said as they started to descend into a small gorge.

  ‘I now know why you have all your medical supplies in backpacks,’ Charli muttered as she placed her hand on a rock to steady her descent.

  Logan chuckled behind her. ‘A different way of life. That’s one of the things I love about being out here. You need your wits about you the whole time.’

  ‘Are you saying you improvise with your medical care?’

  ‘When the need arises, yes.’

  She glanced over her shoulder at him, surprised but pleased at the same time.

  ‘What? You don’t improvise from time to time? Even in the big city?’

  Charli smiled and turned back to concentrate on what she was doing. ‘I think every doctor needs to, to a certain extent, but a few of my colleagues are strictly by-the-book people.’

  ‘That’s not always a bad thing.’

  ‘I’m glad you said that, Logan, because I think I’m one of those people.’

  Logan chuckled at her words and she wished he hadn’t. The sound washed over her in glorious waves of happiness. She felt as though she could talk to him about anything.

  ‘They should be around here.’ Logan stopped, cupped his hands around his mouth. ‘Cooee!’ he called, then waited.

  ‘Cooee!’ came an answering call.

  ‘This way,’ he said.

  ‘Why didn’t you just use the radio?’

  ‘No need. We can pinpoint from following the direction the sound came from. They’ll also know where we are and how much closer we’re getting.’

  ‘Oh.’ Charli thought it through and realised it made sense. A few minutes later, Wil came through a thick clump of trees, almost scaring her. She jumped back and felt Logan’s arms go about her waist to steady her. Charli gasped.

  ‘Er…sorry…Charli. Didn’t mean to scare you,’ Wil apologised.

  She sucked in air to her lungs, desperately trying to steady her heartbeat, which had nothing to do with Wil startling her and everything to do with Logan’s touch. An overpowering shock had travelled through her body, leaving her slightly breathless. She edged away and he dropped his hands, but it took a few minutes after they’d moved on, back the way Wil had come, before her heartrate returned to almost normal.

  They finally arrived where the first bushwalker had gone over. Wil and Tom had set up lights to illuminate the area. Tom was busy rigging up extra abseiling ropes to a stretcher, which was attached to what looked like a small crane.

  ‘Ah, the cavalry has arrived.’

  Logan introduced him to Charli and Tom set about briefing them.

  ‘Three bushwalkers set out late this afternoon for a walk out here to Re
dman Bluff. Unfortunately, it appears they weren’t too experienced and didn’t take the proper precautions. The ranger helicopter found them after the alarm was raised when they didn’t return to their camping ground. All three have gone over the bluff. Two are on the same ledge, the third is on a lower level. Max and Halley are on their way out and will probably be in time to take the first two casualties off your hands,’ he said to Logan.

  ‘Good.’

  ‘We’ll get you hooked up to a harness and then attached to the Larkin frame here.’ Tom put his hand on the small winch. ‘Once you’re in, we’ll send you down to assess the first two patients.’

  Logan turned to Charli. ‘Ever done any abseiling before?’ He grinned when she gave him a nudge.

  ‘Logan, how would I know?’

  ‘Sometimes I ask the question and you know the answer, sweetheart. I was just trying it this time around. How do you feel about going over the cliff? Would you rather stay up here?’

  Charli looked at the edge and felt instant dread.

  ‘By that look, I think you’d be best to stay up top.’

  ‘No.’ She shook her head, the words ‘believe in yourself’ running through her mind. ‘I…If you need me, I’ll come down.’

  Logan nodded and climbed into a harness, waiting while Tom hooked him up to the Larkin frame. With his backpack on, his safety helmet to shine light on what he was doing, Logan was lowered over the cliff.

  Charli couldn’t believe what she was seeing and wondered whether her heart had stopped beating at the sight of him disappearing from view. His smile was the only thing that reassured her. He’d probably done this a thousand times before so there was really no need for her to worry.

  He called up to Tom that he was almost there and she realised he had a radio microphone so he could communicate with them.

  ‘Little bit more. I’m almost on the first ledge…just dodging a tree. OK. I’m down. I can see them both.’ He paused. ‘One of them doesn’t look good. Definite fractured arm, and that’s just from looking at him.’ Logan made his way over to the man and took his pulse. ‘Patient one, pulse is thready.’ He shifted over to where the second one lay. ‘Patient two, pulse is stronger. He doesn’t look to be too bad. Hey!’ Logan called. ‘Can you hear me?’

  He received a muted response. ‘He’s rousing. Charli? I know you weren’t too keen on coming down but it would be great if you could. Tom would do it but I need him up top to control the Larkin frame. Wil and Bruce don’t have the qualifications I need.’

  There was silence and Charli felt the three guys up top staring at her. ‘If you can’t do it, say so,’ Tom said. ‘You’ll be no good to Logan if you go down and are too scared to do anything.’

  Charli thought and swallowed over the lump of fear in her throat. She knew Logan wouldn’t have asked her to come down if he didn’t really need her.

  ‘OK.’ She nodded and before she could change her mind, Tom was helping her into a harness and hooking her to the Larkin frame. He handed her a pair of gloves and a headset so they could communicate. Her medical backpack was on and no sooner had she blinked than she was being coached over the side of the gorge.

  ‘You’re on a winch so you don’t need to worry about doing anything,’ Tom told her in his brief but explicit instructions. ‘Logan will be waiting at the bottom to guide you down. Just breathe deeply and relax.’

  Charli had opened her mouth to respond but found that she couldn’t, so she nodded instead. She wanted to close her eyes, to make this all go away, but Tom had said if she did that she might get dizzy and that was the last thing she needed.

  It seemed to take for ever yet at the same time not long at all before she felt Logan’s hands guiding her in as she came to stand on the ledge beside him. ‘OK, she’s down.’ Charli clung to him for a moment, knowing if she didn’t she’d lose her nerve, and that was the one thing she’d vowed not to do.

  ‘You did great, Charli. Just great.’ Logan took off his helmet and bent his head to kiss her firmly. ‘Now.’ He replaced his helmet. ‘We need to get to work.’ He unhooked his rope. ‘Send down the stretcher next, Tom.’

  ‘Logan! What if you fall?’

  He grinned at her. ‘I won’t. Come over here.’ He helped her off with her backpack and pulled out a pair of surgical gloves. ‘This is patient one. His pulse isn’t good and…’ He pointed. ‘Look at that arm. Definitely broken. Can you work on him while I get this other guy organised?’

  ‘Sure.’ Charli pulled the backpack closer to her and swapped her gloves over. The ledge was wider than she’d anticipated and she was extremely grateful for that. She checked the man’s pupils, BP, temperature and respiratory rate, calling out her findings to Logan and the others above. She secured a cervical collar around the patient’s neck, silently apologising for the discomfort of the thing. ‘His BP is dropping quite quickly. He has to be bleeding somewhere.’ She ran her hands over her patient and found a large gash across his abdomen beneath his torn clothing.

  She pulled on the fabric so she could access the area better. ‘How are you doing, Logan?’ The stretcher was almost down. ‘Let me know if you need any help.’

  ‘OK. How’s patient one?’

  ‘Bleeding. I need some sutures.’

  ‘I’ll get some out for you.’ Logan dug in his backpack and pulled out the equipment she needed, loading the needle into the locking forceps.

  ‘I’ll have to stitch in layers. This is quite deep.’

  ‘Let’s get him stabilised and once he’s up top we can sort things out.’

  ‘How’s your guy?’

  ‘In better shape. I’ll get an IV going for you before I transfer patient number two to the stretcher.’

  ‘He needs Haemacell.’

  Logan rigged up the drip, hanging the bag on a long, thick stick he’d stuck in the ground. The stretcher was hanging above them, waiting for the all-clear, and Logan got it down and managed to roll his patient into it. After securing the straps, he called for the stretcher to go up.

  ‘He’s all right to go up by himself?’

  ‘Yes. He’s fractured his left tibia and fibula and has a large bump on his forehead as well as several scratches and bruises, but that’s about it. He’s had a very lucky escape. We’re not too far from the top and the patient is conscious. Tom will have him soon. Besides, if I’d gone up with him, I’d have had to steal your rope and leave you here unprotected. Not good for your first time on retrieval.’

  Charli had been busy while they’d been talking, debriding the wound so she could see properly to suture off the vessels doing damage. ‘I need more light.’

  Logan grabbed a torch from his backpack and held it for her, keeping a check on the patient’s pulse while she worked. ‘That’s a neat line of stitches,’ he told her.

  ‘Really? I think it’s quite messy.’

  ‘You’re a perfectionist, Charli. No two ways about it.’

  Tom radioed down to say the first patient was at the top and that Max and Halley were about five minutes away.

  ‘They’ll be working for their living as soon as they arrive,’ Logan told him. ‘Send down the next stretcher when you’re ready. This guy’s almost available for transfer as well.’ Logan checked his pulse again. ‘Stronger than when I first checked it.’

  Charli was almost finished. ‘I can do without the light. Take his obs and we’ll see how he’s doing now.’

  ‘BP’s up, respiratory rate and temperature are still the same. It’s rather chilly out here so let’s get him up to the top.’

  ‘Agreed.’

  ‘And how about you? Are you cold?’ he asked her quietly. ‘I don’t want you getting sick again.’

  ‘Actually, I’m quite hot…probably from all the excitement and hard work.’ Her gaze met his and he smiled.

  ‘You’re one in a million, Charli Summerfield.’ He smiled at her and she was glad she was still hooked up to the ropes as her limbs turned to jelly.

  ‘Hey, stop flirting an
d concentrate on what you’re doing,’ Tom said with a laugh. ‘Stretcher is on its way down to you.’

  Logan and Charli prepared their patient for transfer to the stretcher, being very careful of the arm, which was twisted at an odd angle. ‘His shoulder is dislocated but I’m hesitant to put it back in case the neck of humerus is fractured. Radius and ulna are definitely broken.’

  Logan nodded. ‘We’ll just have to position him as best we can.’ When the patient was secured on the stretcher, Logan clipped Charli in beside it.

  ‘What about you?’

  ‘I’ll be fine.’

  ‘Max and Halley are here,’ Tom called down.

  ‘Go on up.’ Logan said the words softly and radioed to Tom to start the winch once more. She was one in a million and the more time he spent with her, the more he didn’t want her to be taken from his life—as he knew she would be. He thought she was the bravest woman in the world for allowing herself to be winched over the edge of the gorge at night to tend to a patient. It must have been terrifying for her, especially as it had been her first time. His first time had been at a training exercise during daylight, with Wil pretending to be the patient, and he’d been scared stiff.

  He anxiously waited for radio confirmation that they were both at the top and breathed a sigh of relief when it came.

  ‘I’m going to send Max down to the patient below, Logan, and then I’ll send a rope down for you to join him,’ Tom said.

  ‘OK.’ It was another ten minutes before Logan found himself on the next ledge down, with Max firmly in control of the situation. The two men had worked together in the past and were able to stabilise the patient quickly. They called for the stretcher and Logan went up with the patient.

  At the top, he looked around for Charli and saw her in the back of the ambulance with the patient she’d worked on. Logan hurried over, briefly greeting Halley.

  ‘BP’s started to drop again.’ He heard the urgency in her voice. ‘He’s bleeding somewhere else.’ She looked at Logan. ‘We need to get him to surgery, stat.’

  ‘Don’t worry about the other two patients,’ Halley told them. ‘Max and I can take care of them.’