A Doctor's Secret (Lifeline Air Rescue Book 2)

by Scott, Laura

  So, Samantha liked her privacy. Big deal. Did he really blame her? He understood how she felt. He hadn’t announced his miserable past for everyone at Lifeline to lament over.

  Valerie. With a guilty start, Reese realized he hadn’t really thought about his late fiancée at all since earlier that day. And even then, only because the ice on his blades had reminded him of the crash. For a moment, he tried to imagine Valerie’s tanned features, her easy smile, but instead, Samantha emerged from the mist of his memory. Samantha’s creamy skin, her red hair pulled into that no-nonsense braid, her tentative smile.

  The shadow of fear in her eyes.

  Today was the anniversary of Valerie’s and Greg’s deaths. Yet somehow being with Samantha had managed to obliterate his sadness and regret. There wasn’t anything he could do to help Valerie now, but he could help Samantha feel safe during the remaining months of her Lifeline rotation.

  At least until she graduated from her residency and moved on somewhere far away, maybe even in another state.

  Far enough that he would be able to forget about her once and for all.

  4

  Reese left his apartment to head to work early, but he was disappointed to note that Samantha’s ancient vehicle was already missing from her parking spot. They should carpool to work since they lived so close.

  He winced at the insane thought. Who was he trying to kid? He didn’t give a hoot about saving fuel; it wasn’t as if the Oak Terrace apartment complex was far from Lifeline. No, what he really wanted was an excuse to spend more time with Samantha.

  Stupid to dream up ways to spend more time with her. They were scheduled to fly together often enough as it was. Sleep had been a long time in coming last night, thanks to his overactive imagination. He’d woken feeling groggy, aching for something he couldn’t have.

  Inside the Lifeline hangar, he found Samantha standing in the debriefing room. He could’ve used a crowbar to pry his tongue from the roof of his mouth when he saw her. Her fresh, clean beauty literally took his breath away. There was nothing spectacular about the regulation navy blue flight suit she wore, but she’d left the zipper open a few inches, revealing the white turtleneck beneath. The material almost entirely covered her skin, but for some reason, on her, the white turtleneck sweater was incredibly alluring.

  “Good morning,” he finally managed.

  “Hello, Reese.” Her brief smile was gone before he had a chance to fully appreciate it. He tried to think of something to say that might bring it back.

  Mentally, he gave a snort. Enough already. He and Samantha were flight partners, nothing more. Time to get back on friendship footing. “So, how’s the weather?” This was one time when talking about the weather wasn’t inane chatter but pertinent to the job they were paid to do.

  “Clear skies. You are good to go,” Nate piped up from his seat beside the radar screen.

  “Great. Then we don’t need to refuse any calls,” Samantha replied.

  Reese raised a brow at her irritable tone. “I don’t like refusing calls either.”

  “I know.” For a moment she looked chagrined. “But there’s nothing worse than feeling helpless. At least we know that today if something comes in, we can respond.” She glanced at Nate. “Are there any transfers waiting in the wings?”

  “Nope.” Nate shook his head.

  Reese took off his jacket and carried it into the small pilot’s room adjacent to the debriefing area. He mulled over Samantha’s words as he hung up his jacket behind the door. None of them liked being grounded, Samantha had mentioned feeling helpless. A leftover emotion from her marriage to Markowitz? She hadn’t confided the details of her breakup, but he desperately wanted to know more. Had her ex-husband made her feel helpless? Had he used his strength against her?

  Anger simmered at the thought, but he reined himself in with an effort. His imagination was working overtime again. Just because Samantha hated feeling helpless, that didn’t mean there was physical abuse in her past.

  Besides, a guy who was abusive probably wouldn’t bother sending flowers. Right? Right. He grimaced at the way he’d jumped to conclusions.

  But what was the deal with the lily?

  Shaking his head at the insatiable curiosity, Reese made his way back into the debriefing area. His pager went off simultaneously with Samantha’s.

  “Motor vehicle crash on the interstate, one adult victim in critical condition,” he read the page out loud. He glanced at Samantha. “Where’s Andrew? Are you ready to go?”

  “He’s getting coffee, but it can wait. We’re ready.”

  Reese walked behind Samantha, the faint evergreen scent teasing his nostrils. What did she do, shower with the Christmas tree every morning? Don’t go there. Imagining Samantha in the shower, with or without a Christmas tree, wasn’t smart. He needed a clear mind to focus on flying.

  “Andrew, come on. We have a transport,” Samantha called as they passed the lounge. With obvious reluctance, the young paramedic set his freshly poured coffee aside and followed them out to the hangar.

  All three of them grabbed helmets, then Reese headed for the chopper while Samantha and Andrew double-checked the flight bag of medical supplies. First, Reese open the hangar door, then using the triangular rolling base, he pushed the lightweight helicopter outside into the frigid air.

  Samantha and Andrew quickly followed, jumping into the helicopter through the side doors with the flight bag in tow.

  Reese climbed into the cockpit and gently plugged in his headset so he wouldn’t miss one minute of listening to Samantha’s sweet voice.

  Oh yeah. He had it bad.

  With a resigned shake of his head, he started the engine. The crash scene wasn’t far, just to the south about twenty miles. He communicated with the paramedic base, then told the rest of the crew to prepare for takeoff.

  Samantha and Andrew were quiet in the back, and he wondered what they were thinking. Maybe Andrew was still half asleep, since he hadn’t gotten his daily dose of caffeine. Reese stared down at the ribbon of highway below, taking note of the glaring sunlight from the east. He’d need to land in such a way as to avoid having the full force of the sun in his eyes on takeoff.

  The mangled cars and rescue vehicles at the scene of the crash were visible from his vantage point in the air. Cueing his mic, he alerted Samantha and Andrew.

  “ETA four minutes.”

  “Roger. We can see the crash site.” Samantha’s lyrical voice caused his gut to tighten with awareness. He forced himself to concentrate on power lines in choosing the best place to land. It was a large grassy field on the west side of the highway, where most of the debris from the crash was scattered. From the looks of things, the victims were in the field as well. He decided there was enough room for him to land on the empty portion of the field, close but not too close to the scene. He gently set down the chopper, then flipped the switch, dropping the rotation of the blades to their lowest setting.

  “You’re clear to go,” he told them.

  Through his window, Reese watched Andrew and Samantha exit the helicopter. He held his breath when they opened the back hatch and pulled out the gurney, the tail of the chopper being the most dangerous. In moments he saw them running alongside the gurney as they wheeled it over to the crash site. Sitting in the cockpit while the crew attended to the victims was the hardest part of his job. The pilot’s responsibility was to stay with the bird. He understood the rules. You never knew if there was some wacko that would try to jump into an empty helicopter if left unattended. Still, understanding the rules didn’t mean he had to like them.

  The sun glinted brightly in the fiery hue of Samantha’s hair. She and Andrew knelt beside a female victim, and Reese noticed the paramedic was holding back a man who appeared to be trying to get to the woman’s side.

  Her boyfriend? Husband? He couldn’t be certain, but the frank anguish on the man’s features reminded him of the day he received the phone call about Valerie and Greg’s crash. The pain o
f losing someone you loved was indescribable.

  Samantha and Andrew had already placed the victim on a gurney and seemed to be getting ready to bring her to the helicopter. Reese was glad. Their actions meant the woman was still alive, still had a chance at survival. He tapped his foot impatiently as he waited for them to approach.

  The paramedic still held onto the guy who Reese could only assume had been in the crash with the woman. Samantha and Andrew had almost reached the helicopter when the guy broke loose from the paramedic’s grip.

  What was he doing? Reese shut down the engines as the guy ran straight for the gurney. He yanked off his helmet, pushed open the door, and jumped to the ground. He dashed toward Samantha and Andrew who looked up at the suddenly quiet chopper in surprise.

  “Look out,” he shouted.

  The distraught man grabbed the woman on the gurney, nearly knocking Samantha to the ground with the force of his lunge. “Becky!” the guy cried. “No! She can’t die! Becky!”

  Reese grabbed the guy’s arm before he could dislodge any of the lifesaving medical equipment Samantha may have connected to the patient. “Hey, buddy, you’re not helping us here. She needs medical attention. We need to get her to the hospital as soon as possible.”

  “I’m coming with you.” The guy was strong, and Reese had to dig his boot heels into the earth to prevent himself from being tossed aside. “Let me go!”

  “Knock it off,” he warned. He didn’t want to toss the guy to the ground, but he would if he had to.

  “You can’t come along,” Samantha said, regret shadowing her eyes as she held firmly onto the gurney. “I’m sorry, but I promise we’ll take good care of her.”

  “I’m coming!” The guy yanked hard against the hold Reese had on him. “Becky, don’t worry, hon. I’m coming with you.”

  Reese wrestled the guys grip off the gurney, then met Samantha’s gaze over his head. “Get her into the chopper, quick.”

  Samantha and Andrew ran with the gurney toward the rear hatch door. Reese hoped the paramedics were on their way to help him subdue the man, or they’d never be able to get off the ground without him trying something stupid like jumping on for a ride.

  A guy like this could cause them to crash.

  Luckily, the paramedic saw what was happening and came to the rescue.

  “Whoa, Jake, what are you doing?” One of them got in front of the man while the other helped Reese hang on to his arms. “You’re not helping Becky, she needs to get to the hospital, fast.”

  The two paramedics worked together to force Jake to the ground. Once he was down, Reese was able to relinquish his hold on him.

  “Keep him down until we’re gone,” he tersely advised.

  The paramedics nodded their agreement. The one who’d been holding on to Jake earlier added, “He’s not injured that we can see, but we’ll probably have to sedate him and transport him to Trinity anyway.”

  “Good luck with that.” Reese dashed to the helicopter and climbed into the cockpit.

  Samantha and Andrew were already safely inside with their patient. Without wasting time, Reese quickly buckled in, pulled on his helmet, and notified the base they were lifting off. It took him a moment to get the engines back up and running, and he hoped that during the brief time they were stopped ice hadn’t coated the blades. That was one of the reasons he kept the blades rotating, even when on the ground.

  When he had rotors going at the appropriate speed, he guided the helicopter off the ground, keeping a wary eye on the two paramedics holding down the irrational, grieving Jake.

  When he had cleared the tops of the trees and the power lines, Reese took a deep breath and let it out slowly. That was close. For a few minutes there, he’d wondered if they’d make it without mishap. He knew just how poor Jake must’ve felt, watching helplessly as Samantha and Andrew whisked away the woman he loved. Still, the way Jacob plowed into Samantha ticked him off. Thank goodness she wasn’t hurt.

  As he banked around toward Trinity, Reese became aware of problems in the back with their patient

  “Andrew, get me two more units of blood. We’re losing her pressure.” Samantha’s voice came through his headset. “Come on, where is she bleeding?”

  “Her rhythm is fine,” Andrew commented. “I think if she was bleeding internally, she’d be more tacky.”

  “Not if she has cardiac tamponade or a hemothorax,” Samantha responded. “My instincts tell me it’s her heart, but I can’t listen to her heart tones and lung sounds to know for sure.”

  “Do you need me to find a place to land?” Reese asked, revealing he was flying and listening to the conversation at the same time. With helmets on and communication through an intercom, he understood the limitations of air transport. At least he could get them to Trinity or an alternate location, quickly. ”I don’t mind, whatever is best for the patient.”

  “No, thanks, Reese. I’m going to place a cardiac needle to relieve the pressure. Just get us to Trinity as fast as you can, okay?”

  “Roger.” Thank heavens, this was a short trip. They were only five to seven minutes from their destination, so there wasn’t much he could do except climb a few more feet in altitude in an effort to use the tailwind to its greatest advantage.

  “Wow!” Andrew’s voice came through the helmet loudly. “Look at all that blood!”

  “Reese, please radio the base to request that a cardiothoracic surgeon be on standby,” Samantha said. “I think Becky is going to need open heart surgery related to chest trauma.”

  “Roger that.” Reese quickly flipped the switch to get in contact with the base, rattling off Samantha’s instructions.

  The paramedic base responded to his call, and he gauged the time remaining until they reached Trinity Medical Center. “ETA three minutes,” he informed them.

  “Thank goodness,” Andrew muttered.

  “Look, her blood pressure is improving. We’re doing all right. Just keep giving her more blood while I hold the needle steady,” Samantha ordered.

  “You got it.”

  Reese listened intently as he approached Trinity’s helipad. He radioed the base to inform them he was about to land. Within moments, he set the chopper down in the center of the helipad.

  “All clear,” he informed them.

  Samantha didn’t waste any time. He watched as she and Andrew unloaded their patient and wheeled her quickly to the waiting elevators.

  There was nothing more he could do. Reese sat back in his seat and rubbed a hand over his eyes. This was why he had needed to fight his secret desire to spend time alone with Samantha. How would he ever survive another loss like the one he experienced with Valerie?

  Very simply, he wouldn’t.

  Poor Jake. Reese could only hope that Samantha’s quick diagnosis had saved Becky’s life. But as he waited for Samantha to return, he realized telling himself to keep away from Samantha was the easy part. The hard part would be listening to the logical voice in his head.

  Because every instinct he possessed screamed at him to grab Samantha and to hang on tight.

  SAM STOOD beside Andrew outside entrance to the surgical suites, reluctant to leave although the cardiothoracic team had taken over. They’d wheeled Becky into the OR and prepared her for exploratory surgery to view the extent of the damage to her heart.

  “Hey, she’ll be fine.” Andrew touched her lightly on the arm. “Come on, we better go.”

  She nodded and followed Andrew back to the elevator, riding up to the rooftop landing pad where Reese waited in the Lifeline chopper.

  There hadn’t been time to dwell on the incident at the scene while in flight, as her patient’s condition had been too critical. But now the entire event seemed surreal. Never before had she been nearly attacked by a distraught family member at a crash scene. If not for Reese holding the guy back, they wouldn’t have gotten out of there in time to get Becky safely transported to Trinity.

  Outside, Andrew signaled to Reese who gestured for them to clim
b inside the helicopter. Andrew began putting supplies away, cleaning up the bloodstains with a bleach wipe.

  Sam helped, listening intently as Reese communicated with the base about to take off. His deep voice was mesmerizing. She could listen to him all day, every day.

  The trip to Lifeline would be quick, she knew, unless they received another call. Reese’s husky voice was calm. He’d been cool and steady even while holding back Jake.

  What would it take to ruffle his feathers? Sam wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.

  Back inside Lifeline’s lounge, Andrew made a beeline for the coffee machine. Sam hung back, waiting for Reese, following him into the debriefing room.

  “I need to thank you for what you did back there.” She touched his arm lightly, but the heat of his skin radiating through the long sleeve of his flight suit had her drawing back quickly. She hoped he didn’t notice her irrational response. “For a minute, I thought our buddy Jake was going to grab her and take off running.”

  Reese shook his head. “Yeah, I was worried for a few minutes myself, more so that he’d try to jump on while we were taking off.” He looked at her intently, and his voice dropped intimately. “I wanted to punch him when he knocked you aside like that.”

  She hoped her blush wasn’t too obvious. “I’m fine. He wasn’t trying to hurt me.”

  “I know.” Reese scrubbed his hands over his face. “But he almost did. I get he wanted to ride along, but can you imagine what would’ve happened if he’d gotten into the helicopter with us?”

  “I don’t even want to think about it,” Sam admitted, suppressing a shiver. Remembering how she’d had to draw blood from the area around Becky’s heart, she felt certain he would have interfered with her ability to save Becky’s life. “I thought he was going off the deep end.”