Marion Lennox: Storm Haven

‘I’m sorry?’ Nikki frowned, trying to make sense of his words.

‘You do want a locum?’

‘Oh, yes.’ Nikki was under control now, moving aside to make way for him. As she did she was intensely conscious of his size-his smell-and it wasn’t all fishing-boat smell either. ‘It was only that you were so… well, unexpected.’

‘Because I wasn’t due until tomorrow?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ she said firmly. Why else?

She turned to usher him into the house, but as she did the telephone on the hall table started to ring. Now what? She flashed him a look of apology and went to answer it. It was almost a relief to turn away-to give her confused mind time to settle.

She wasn’t granted time. The voice on the other end of the line was harsh and urgent.

‘Nikki?’ It was Sergeant Milne’s voice, Eurong’s solitary policeman.

‘Yes?’ Nikki knew trouble when she heard it. Dan Milne’s voice was laced with it.

‘You’d better get here fast,’ the policeman barked into the phone. ‘I’ve got two kids trapped in a wreck on the beach road and I doubt if either’ll make it. They look bloody awful!’

Luke Marriott and a car crash all in one night! Nikki turned from the phone to find her new locum watching her. He’d placed his luggage down on the polished boards of the hall and was listening in concern to Nikki’s terse queries.

Behind them, Beattie Gilchrist appeared in her dressing-gown and fluffy slippers. The housekeeper raised her brows in surprise at the strange man making himself at home in the hall, but didn’t speak until Nikki put down the phone.

‘Trouble?’ she said as she saw Nikki’s face. What she saw there made her treat the stranger’s presence as secondary.

‘Beattie, this is Dr Marriott, our new locum,’ Nikki said briefly, pushing her hair back in a gesture of exhaustion. ‘Can you find him supper and a bed? I have to go. There’s a car come off the back beach road and a couple of kids are still inside. Sergeant Milne’s there and it looks bad-’

‘I don’t need supper,’ Luke Marriott’s deep voice cut across her decisively. He abandoned his battered suitcase and strode back to the door. ‘Is the ambulance there?’

‘It’s on its way. But, look, I can handle-’

‘I don’t think you can.’ The big man was suddenly in control, more assured than Nikki. ‘To be honest, you look done in already, and if there are two kids… Is there a medic with the ambulance?’

‘Our ambulance drivers are volunteers with first-aid certificates,’ Nikki admitted. ‘But-’

‘Then no buts,’ the man ordered. ‘Let’s go, Dr Russell.’

It took five minutes to get to the wrecked car.

Nikki didn’t speak but concentrated on the roads, and the man at her side seemed content to let her do so. The local roads were treacherous. The population of Eurong was too small to support major road maintenance and the roads were twisting and narrow.

Above Eurong’s swimming beach, the road curved in a sharp U around the headland. The teenagers in the car had tried to take it too fast and a massive eucalyptus had halted their plunge to the sea below.

By the time Nikki’s little sedan pulled to a halt at the scene there was a tow-truck and ambulance in attendance, and floodlights lit the wreck from the road above. Nikki left the car and swiftly made her way to the edge of the cliff, abandoning Luke Marriott in her haste. What she saw made her wince with dismay.

The tow-truck driver was securing cables to the rear of the crumpled car. Ernie, the ambulance driver, was half into the wreck and the policeman was behind him. Sergeant Milne looked up and gave a wave that showed real relief as he saw Nikki. He struggled up the cliff to meet her.

‘It’s bad,’ he said briefly, casting a curious glance across at Nikki’s companion. ‘It’s Martin Fleming and Lisa Hay. Lisa’s conscious but her legs are crushed between the car and the tree. Martin’s unconscious and bleeding like a stuck pig. Ernie’s trying to put pressure on now.’

‘I’ll go down.’ Nikki turned to slide down the slope but was stopped by a strong grip on her arm.

‘Your bag’s in the boot?’

‘Yes.’ Nikki had forgotten that she wasn’t alone. She looked up to Luke Marriott, relief in her eyes. ‘If you’ll get it…’

‘There’s morphine…?’

‘There’s everything. I…We’ll need saline…’

Luke was already moving. ‘That car’s stable?’ he snapped over his shoulder.

‘Now we’ve secured it, it is.’ The policeman grimaced. ‘I wouldn’t let Ernie in till then. For a while I thought they’d slide right down.’

‘We’ll need more men to get them out.’

‘They’re on their way.’

Nikki didn’t wait to hear more. She was already sliding.

The car was a mess. The ambulance driver pulled back as Nikki arrived, his face grim and distressed.

‘I can’t stop the bleeding,’ he whispered, his eyes on the conscious girl in the passenger side of the car. Lisa was moaning softly to herself, her body rocking against the savage constriction of her legs. ‘And I can’t do anything for-’

‘Get around to Lisa’s side,’ Nikki ordered. ‘See if you can check those legs for bleeding. And stop her twisting!’ She raised her voice, trying to penetrate the girl’s pain. ‘Lisa, help’s here. We’ll give you something for the pain while we cut you free. You’ll be OK now. Just keep still and let us help you.’

The girl’s moans grew louder. She turned wild eyes to Nikki. ‘Martin’s going to die,’ she sobbed. ‘And my legs…You’ll have to cut off my legs…’

‘No.’ Nikki’s voice was sharp but she didn’t make an impression. She was trying to work as she talked, conscious of the blood pumping through a wound on Martin’s scalp. Her fingers searched frantically for the pressure points but her eyes also saw what Lisa was doing to her legs. She was pulling, doing what Nikki could only guess to be more damage.

‘I’m going to die. You’ll have to cut off my legs. Martin’s dead…’ The girl’s voice rose in terrified hysteria and she writhed helplessly against her cruel confinement.

‘You’re talking nonsense.’ A man’s clipped, firm voice cut across Lisa’s screams. The ambulance driver was edged firmly out of the way and Luke Marriott’s face appeared on the other side of the car. His hands came in and caught the hysterical girl’s flailing fingers from hauling at her legs. ‘Keep still,’ he ordered. ‘Don’t move.’ Then, in the fraction of a moment while she reacted to his voice, he produced a syringe, swabbed with lightning speed and plunged the morphine home. ‘That’s good, Lisa,’ he said more gently. ‘The pain will ease now and we can cut the metal from your legs.’

‘But they’re smashed…’

‘You’re cutting them by pulling,’ Luke said firmly. ‘So don’t pull.’

‘And Martin’s dead…’

‘Is Martin dead?’ Luke looked over to where Nikki had found the point she wanted. Nikki was pushing firmly on a wad of dressing over the wound. At Luke’s terse request she looked up.

‘No one bleeds this much if they’re dead,’ she said grimly. ‘Ernie, I need a saline drip. If I can replace fluids…’

‘There you are,’ Luke told the frightened girl. He looked down at what he could see of the bottom half of her body. ‘Now, if you’ll stay absolutely still, I’ll see if I can relieve some pressure on your legs.’

It was grim work getting the two from the car, and by the end of it Nikki was despairing for the boy she was treating. Martin was deeply unconscious and the longer he remained unconscious, the worse it looked. The steering-wheel had slammed into his face. He had smashed his cheekbones, but something else was causing the coma. What? She hated to think. All she could do was keep him alive while around them men worked to free them.