Alison Roberts - The Recovery Assignment

‘Do you need a map reference?’ Charlotte’s tone was now as clipped as his had been.

‘No.’

Hawk concentrated on negotiating a rapid route through increasingly snarled-up traffic. An accident at this time of day had a surprisingly wide-reaching flow-on effect. Or maybe it wasn’t so surprising. Throw a stationary fire truck or two and an ambulance into even a three-laned highway and there wasn’t much space to channel traffic through. There would be police cars as well with officers trying to keep the scene clear and directing irritated motorists to a new route if possible.

Hawk was feeling a little irritated himself. The early callout had presented a welcome opportunity to delay the inevitable meeting with his new partner. He hadn’t expected the mid-corridor ambush but he knew better than to refuse a direction from Lance Currie unless he had a very good reason. His boss had held the senior position at Grisham Street station for many years. He was known behind his back as Elsie, and the nickname was appropriate for more than his initials. Currie was a bit of an old woman when it came to following regulations, observing protocols and dotting every ‘i’ on paperwork. If he’d decided Hawk was to take his new partner out on the job then it wouldn’t have been worth the repercussions if he’d refused.

Charlotte Laing had been even more unexpected than the ambush. Any hope that the potential distraction of working with a woman would be mitigated by her unattractiveness had been felled in a somewhat gut-wrenching swoop. This woman would turn heads anywhere. The only saving grace was that she was totally unlike the type of women Hawk preferred. He liked his female companions to be fun and they were invariably blonde, curvy and at least a little bit bouncy. Fluff, in other words. Charlotte Laing was as tall and slim as a pencil. Long, straight black hair twisted into a rope that only narrowed as it reached her waist. Her features were defined enough to appear almost sharp and her olive skin hinted at some exotic bloodline in her family tree. She looked, Hawk had to admit, like some native American princess and the overall effect was unusual enough to have been startling.

Hawk turned off the siren as their progress slowed to a crawl. He eased the car onto a footpath to skirt a line of cars that had no hope of manoeuvring to let them through. Pedestrians flattened themselves against a fence as a blip on the siren warned them what was happening. Hawk could see the flashing lights of other emergency vehicles in the distance but even now it was hard to concentrate solely on the task ahead of them.

It was more than irritating. Hawk had only been in her company for about ten minutes and it was already proving difficult to fight the distraction. He’d never seen anyone like her. On the positive side, being thrown into a job with her meant that he couldn’t escape. The startling effect would wear off more quickly and at least he knew there was no possibility of being distracted by a genuine attraction to the woman. No hint of bounce there. Or even a sense of femininity. Charlotte’s clear, golden-brown eyes advertised steely determination and a brain that was active enough to mean he needed to stay on his toes. That game-playing scenario with their names hadn’t gone over her head and Hawk had the uncomfortable feeling that he hadn’t actually scored any points at all.

A police officer let Hawk’s vehicle through the cordon and pointed towards a potential parking area behind a fire truck. An ambulance was parked at right angles to the fire appliance, its back doors open towards the car crumpled against the concrete post. Hawk glanced at the body lying between the ambulance officers. The man’s clothing had been cut to expose his chest. A male paramedic was taping an IV line to one arm. He lifted his hands and leaned back on his heels as the other paramedic pressed paddles onto the victim’s chest. Hawk grimaced at the convulsive jerk their patient made.

‘Doesn’t look very good,’ he muttered.

‘They’re defibrillating him so at least there’s some sign of cardiac electrical activity.’

‘What?’ Hawk’s head swivelled. He’d forgotten he wasn’t with someone who knew as little as he did about medical matters. ‘I thought they only zapped people if the heart had stopped. Flat-line stuff.’

‘Shocking someone can only interrupt and potentially reset the electrical activity. If there’s a flat line on the screen it means there’s no signal present so shocking someone isn’t going to do anything other than burn a bit of heart muscle.’

‘Oh.’ Hawk didn’t enjoy feeling ignorant. In future, he was going to keep his mouth shut and save himself a lecture.

‘The heart has stopped in that it’s not functioning as a pump, though,’ Charlotte added. ‘It’s usually fibrillating, which is a kind of fast wiggle that can’t produce an output—which is what creates a pulse.’

‘So that’s why it’s called a defibrillator.’ The annoyance of having his lack of knowledge exposed was replaced by a flash of satisfaction in learning something new. Hawk shook his head. ‘I’d never even thought about it.’

‘Why should you have? We gain expertise in what we’re trained in.’

‘Exactly.’ Hawk’s glance at Charlotte was speculative. ‘So are we going to get on with our job or do you want to go and help out with the victim?’

‘That’s my flatmate, Laura,’ Charlotte responded. ‘She and her partner, Tim, are both paramedics. They know what they’re doing.’

‘What are they doing?’ Hawk stared through the wind-screen as he opened his door. He hadn’t recognised the paramedics who had been listening to his talk yesterday. Funny, Laura looked far less mousy performing her duties. She looked competent…and busy.

‘Laura’s intubating him. It secures the airway and makes breathing for the patient far more effective.’ Charlotte pushed her door shut. ‘Let’s see if they have anything to tell us before we start on the scene, shall we?’

Hawk usually stayed well away from any paramedics when they were obviously occupied with trying to save someone’s life. His protocol dictated reporting in to any senior police or fire officer on scene to start gathering information, but Charlotte had already stepped towards the paramedics and Laura had spotted her.

‘Hi, Charlie! You’re on the job early.’

‘No time like the present. This is my partner, Owen.’

Laura tied the tape securing the endotracheal tube in place. She attached the ambubag and then glanced up briefly as she pulled her stethoscope from around her neck.

‘We met yesterday.’ She nodded. ‘Hi, Owen.’

Hawk simply nodded. He hated being called Owen.

‘Do you need a hand?’ Charlotte asked.

‘You could bag him while I draw up some drugs…if Owen can spare you, that is. Back-up should only be a minute or two away.’

Charlotte glanced at Hawk, clearly requesting permission to give assistance, and to his surprise, Hawk found himself nodding. It was only for a minute or two after all and he could easily use the time to gain an overall impression of the scene.

Laura was silent for a few seconds as she squeezed the ambubag and checked for air entry by listening over both sides of the man’s chest with her stethoscope. ‘We’ll go into Emergency under CPR if necessary but I’m still hopeful. It could be that he was unconscious for a while before actually arresting. Bystander CPR was initiated quickly and he was still in coarse VF by the time we arrived.’

‘VF?’ Hawk couldn’t help exposing his ignorance again.

‘Ventricular fibrillation.’ Charlotte gave him a quick glance. ‘The worst kind of wiggle. The finer it is, the closer to a flat line it is. If it’s coarse there’s more chance of converting it to a useful rhythm.’ She turned back to Laura. ‘Was the arrest witnessed?’