Page 57 of Stranded with the Surgeon
Jennifer Allen would never take the easy way out.
She had considered staying with that plane wreckage the safer option, but she had still been prepared to follow him and risk the journey. He’d tried so hard to push her away. To cut her out of sharing any of his grief for Digger. To avoid having to care for her as well as himself. How had she felt, being left alone like that? She must have known there had been a possibility that rescue would never come. That she could have been left to die alone.
She hadn’t wanted to die alone and she’d been brave enough to do something about it.
Guy didn’t want to die alone either, dammit, but was he brave enough to follow her example and do something about it?
All it would take would be for him to summon the courage to follow Jennifer’s lead this time. And maybe this was the real bid for survival in his life. Because if he was with Jennifer, he would bereallyliving and not simply existing.
Jennifer was ahead of him and she wasn’t looking back. Just as he had when she’d set out to follow him. But she wasn’t going to be waiting on a rock for him to catch up. She’d told him he’d won. She would be out of his life as soon as this was over.
But he hadn’t won, had he? He was losing here – big time, and as the minutes passed, the more he could see just how much he was losing.
The teams kept in touch by portable radios. After an hour’s searching they took a break. Wayne decided to split the searchers into smaller groups. Some would keep going downriver but the others would move back and search the pockets of bush and the paddocks nearby.
‘He may have got himself out of the river and tried to head for home,’ Wayne decided. ‘I’ll get the helicopter in to have a look as well.’
* * *
Another thirty minutes passed. And then another. The helicopter was hovering overhead, but they could still hear the radio Guy was carrying as it crackled to announce a call.
‘Guy? Are you receiving?’
‘Roger.’
‘The chopper’s spotted something. There’s a water race at the far end of the paddock to your right where the chopper is. Can you check it out?’
‘On our way.’
Guy had taken hold of her hand to help her over a post and wire fence. Maybe he didn’t notice he was still gripping it tightly as they ran towards the area beneath the hovering helicopter.
Jennifer noticed. So did Wayne and the other members of their team who were following. The physical connection was broken only when they reached the ditch, skidding to a halt to peer over the long grass at the shape half in and half out of the shallow stream of water at the bottom.
‘Hey!’ The voice was as weak as the smile but, amazingly, the humour was still apparent. ‘You’re a bit slow doing the rescue bit, aren’t you?’
‘Phil!’ Jennifer scrambled down the sloping side of the ditch. ‘My God, you’realive!’
Guy was grinning from ear to ear as he turned to Wayne. ‘Told you she was the best, didn’t I, mate?’
Phil looked as though he wanted to laugh but groaned instead.
‘What hurts?’ Jennifer demanded. The fact that Phil could talk and even attempt humour was a good indication that his airway and level of consciousness weren’t badly affected.
‘It’s my leg.’ Phil groaned again. ‘I got out of the river just before the truck got washed away and decided to take a short cut home. Then I fell into this damn ditch in the dark and I think I’ve broken my leg. Hurts like hell and I can’t move.’
Jennifer didn’t need to cut any clothing away to see the twist in Phil’s right leg.
‘Fractured femur,’ Guy confirmed, having climbed down the other side of the ditch.
‘You feel like a block of ice.’ Jennifer let go of Phil’s wrist. ‘We need to get you out of here and start warming you up.’
The helicopter had landed in the paddock now and a stream of people were arriving, having heard the good news being relayed by radio. There were plenty of willing helpers to get Phil out of the ditch. Guy, Jennifer and Maggie worked together, wrapping Phil in foil sheets, putting a traction splint on his leg, giving him pain relief and IV fluids that Maggie had managed to keep warm in an insulated holder. Within a short time Phil was quite stable and relatively comfortable, ready for transport to hospital.
‘Are you going to travel with him, Maggie?’
‘Could do. I should stay with my ambulance, though. I am on duty.’
‘There’s only room for one extra.’ Guy frowned as he turned to Jennifer. ‘Maybe you should go,’ he said quietly. ‘That way you’ll have time to get cleaned up and you could still make your flight. I can send your other stuff on later.’
