LITMIR.BIZ

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it could have been ten times worse. And every day Doc found an excuse to pop in. When she was off island she got Caroline or Ana to come instead. You know that nerve pain they get? Real bad, it was, but Doc Maddie was right onto it. She cares for everyone like that.’

      And then his face hardened again. ‘They say she just ran in. Everyone else was running out and someone shouted that Malu was bleeding so hard the guys carrying him had to stop. She grabbed her bag and ran. She’s a hero.’

      And his voice cracked with emotion as he swiped his arm across his face and sniffed.

      Josh’s phone pinged. He glanced down, trying not to hope, but the word on his screen read Maddie.

      He couldn’t read the message. For some dumb reason his eyes were blurry, too. He had to do a matching swipe before he could make it out.

      I’m not going anywhere. Just trying to decide which rock pillow to use. It seems I have a choice. Have given Malu morphine. He’s suffered major blood loss. Have given two litres of saline. I only have one more and want to hold it in reserve. Heart rate a hundred and twenty. Only just conscious. Worrying.

      How long since that’d been sent? While he was in the air? He swiped his face again and turned into doctor. Texted back, hoping whatever sliver of reception he had would last.

      You’re doing great. Heart rate will be high considering shock. Do what you can to keep him warm, cuddle him if you need to. If it’s his thigh, see if you can get him sloped so his legs are higher than his heart. But you know this, Maddie. Trust your instincts. Love you.

      And then he paused.

      How many times in the past had he texted his wife and finished with the words Love you?

      ‘You’ve never really loved me.’ He remembered Maddie saying it to him in those last dreadful days when he’d known their marriage was over. ‘Love shares, Josh. Love gives and takes and you don’t know how.’

       Love you?

      She was right, of course. He hadn’t loved her. Or not enough.

      He stared at the screen for a moment and then he deleted some characters. Then hit Send. Without the love.

      ‘I can’t imagine what the wives are going through,’ the truck driver said, almost to himself. ‘And Pearl … Malu’s wife … She’s another who thinks the sun rises and sets with Maddie. Y’know, our local mums are supposed to go to Cairns six weeks before bubs are born but the docs can’t make ‘em so Pearl didn’t. Maddie had to be choppered out to Atangi in the middle of the night. Breech it was, and Doc Maddie did an emergency Caesarean, right there in Pearl’s kitchen. Pearl won’t go to any other doctor since. And now Doc’s trapped with Malu. Doesn’t bear thinking of.’

      Josh tried to think of something to say—and couldn’t. He didn’t trust his own voice.

      ‘Married yourself, are you?’ the guy asked at last. They were heading downhill now, through dense tropical rainforest, presumably towards the coast. Josh was trying to consider the terrain, thinking of what he already knew: that the rainforest had reclaimed most of the cleared land round the minehead, and how hard it was going to be to get machinery in.

      He wanted to worry about machinery. About technicalities. He wanted to worry about anything but Maddie.

      Married yourself? The guy’s question still hung.

      ‘No,’ he said at last. ‘Not now.’

      He didn’t deserve to be married. He hadn’t protected …

      He’d failed.

      Born to useless, drug-addicted parents, Josh had been the protector since he could first remember. The strong one.

      He remembered a social worker, one of the early ones, walking into their house to find Holly curled on the bed and whimpering. There hadn’t been food in the house for days.

      He’d been eight and Holly five. Josh had been big for his age, confused, helpless, as hungry as his little sister, but he hadn’t been whimpering. He’d learned early not to cry.

      And the woman had turned on him, shocked into an automatic attack. ‘Why didn’t you come for help?’ she’d demanded. ‘You’re big enough now to protect your sister. Why didn’t you at least tell a neighbour?’

      He’d never made that mistake again. He’d protected and protected and protected—but it hadn’t worked. He remembered the helplessness of being torn apart from Holly, placed in separate foster homes. The nightmares.

      He’d learned to disguise even those. His job was to protect, not to share his pain. Not to add to that hurt.

      And now? Once again Maddie was hurting and he was stuck on the far side of a mountain.

      ‘Partner?’ Maybe the guy was trying to distract himself. Surely he was. They were his friends underground.

      And that was what Maddie was, he told himself. His friend. Nothing more.

      ‘I guess … A girlfriend,’ he told the guy and tried to think of Karen. They’d only been dating for three months but that was practically long-term for Josh. Karen was fun and flirty and out for a good time. She didn’t mind that his job took him away so much. She used him as he used her—as an appendage for weddings and the like, and someone to have fun with when it suited them both.

      Maybe she wasn’t even a girlfriend, Josh thought. But that didn’t matter.

      Whereas Maddie …

      ‘Here we are,’ the truck driver said, turning off the main road—if you could call it a main road—into a fenced-off area. The main gates were wide open. The sign on the fence said Mining Area—Keep Out, but there was no trace of security.

      There were a few dilapidated buildings nestled among the trees. Only the cluster of parked vehicles, an ancient fire truck, a police motorbike and a jeep with the Wildfire Medical insignia, told him that anything was wrong.

      ‘Best place for the chopper’s round the back,’ the truck driver told him. ‘The guys were starting to clear it when we left.’ He pulled to a halt outside the first of the buildings and turned and clamped a hand on Josh’s shoulder. ‘Good luck, mate,’ he told him. ‘Thanks for coming. We sure need you.’

      Josh climbed out of the truck and as he did his phone pinged. Maddie again.

      We’re warm enough. Could use a bit of air-conditioning. Do you think you could arrange it? Also a couple of fluffy pillows, two mattresses and Malu reckons he could handle a beer. I could handle a gin and tonic, though I suppose I’m stuck with a lemonade. Actually lemonade sounds brilliant. I’m happy to make do. That’s my ‘needs’ list, Dr Campbell. Could you get onto it, stat?

      A pillow would be nice. A pillow would be magnificent. Instead, Maddie lay on her back, with her hands behind her head, trying not to think how hard the rock was. And how much of a dead weight Malu’s legs were.

      See if you can get him sloped so his legs are higher than his heart.

      That was easier said than done. She could have put rocks under his thighs—yeah, that’d be comfy. Instead, she’d emptied her soft leather medical bag and given that to him as a pillow. She’d given him a couple of sips of the water—not as much as he wanted but she was starting to figure that if Keanu said two days then she might need to ration. Then, out of options, she’d lain down and lifted his legs onto hers.

      It helped. She had her hand on his wrist and she could feel the difference.

      He’d objected but not very much. In truth, he was drifting in and out of consciousness. He could hardly assess what she was doing.

      She wouldn’t mind a bit of unconsciousness herself. She ached where she’d been hit by flying debris. She had a scratch on her head. Blood had trickled down and it was sticky. And grimy.

      She’d kill for a wash.

      Her

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