‘Queen of the paddleboard, she is.’
Zac would have been happy to do exactly that but it only took a glance to see that she had no desire to chat. Her face was turned away and she gave the impression of finding the view too fascinating to resist.
She still looked small, with the wide straps of her harness across her chest. The helmet looked too big for her head and while someone might be excused for getting the impression of a child playing dress-up, they’d only need to see her profile to sense a very adult level of focus and…what was it…judgement?
Yeah…He felt as if he’d been tried and judged and the verdict had not been favourable.
But he’d never even met the woman before today so what was he being judged on?
Was she some kind of control freak, perhaps, who didn’t appreciate having someone on board who had a medical authority higher than hers? Or did she require confirmation that a newcomer’s ability was what it appeared to be on paper?
Fair enough.
What wasn’t acceptable was making said newcomer feel less than welcome. Undesirable, even.
As if she felt the force of his frown, Summer turned her head. Her gaze met his and held longer than could be considered polite.
Yeah…she was fierce, all right. Unafraid.
Who was going to look away first? Defusing tension was a skill that came automatically for Zac. He might have had to learn it for all the wrong reasons when he was too young to understand but shades of that ability still came in handy at times. All it usually took was turning on the charm. He summoned his best smile and, for a split second, he thought it was going to work because she almost smiled back. But then she jerked her head, breaking the eye contact.
A deliberate snub? Zac tamped down a response that could have been disappointment. Or possibly annoyance. Neither would be helpful in establishing a good working relationship with this unexpectedly prickly young woman.
‘You should get a good view of the Pinnacles on your side in a few minutes,’ Summer said.
‘Might get a bit bumpy going over the mountains,’ Monty added. ‘I’ll get an update on scene info as soon as we get over the top.’
When he’d first started this kind of work, Zac would be using this time to go over all the possible medical scenarios in his head and the procedures that might be needed to deal with them. A chest decompression for a pneumothorax, perhaps. Management of a spinal, crush or severe head injury. Partial or complete amputations. Uncontrollable haemorrhage. But the list was long and he’d learned that there was no point expending mental energy on imaginary scenarios.
He’d also learned that it was better to start a job without assumptions that could distract him from the unexpected. And that he could deal with whatever he found. This time was better used to relax and centre himself. The view of the spectacular bush-covered peaks below them was ideal—and definitely better than trying to make conversation with someone who clearly had no intention of making his life any more pleasant.
‘ETA two minutes.’
‘Roger.’ Summer leaned forward in her seat to get a better view of the ground below. ‘Vehicles at eleven o’clock. I can see a fire truck and ambulance.’
‘Copy that,’ Monty said. ‘Comms? Rescue One. On location, on location.’
The chopper tilted as they turned. Monty was using the crew frequency now. ‘Turning windward,’ he advised. ‘I think the road’s going to be the only landing place.’
‘Got a bit of a tilt to it. No wires, though.’
‘No worries,’ Monty said. ‘Be a bit dusty, folks. Okay…right skid’s going to touch first.’
They had the doors open before the dust cloud had cleared. Zac released the catch of his safety harness first and hoisted one of the backpacks onto his shoulder as they climbed out.
Summer picked up the other pack and a portable oxygen cylinder and followed. Weirdly, it felt like she was used to working with this guy already. Maybe that was because he seemed to know exactly what he was doing and he wasn’t waiting to follow her lead. At least he stood back when they reached the knot of people standing by the side of the road near the fire truck so it was Summer that the fireman in charge of the scene spoke to first.
‘We’ve got the vehicle secured but haven’t got the driver out. It’s a bit of a steep climb.’
‘Single occupant?’
‘Yes. An eighty-three-year-old woman. Frances.’
‘Status?’
‘I’d say two.’ An ambulance officer joined them. ‘GCS was lowered on arrival. She’s confused and distressed. Airway seems to be clear but we haven’t got close enough to assess her properly yet and, given the MOI and her age, there’s every probability she has serious injuries.’
‘Access?’
‘Ladder. It’s a few metres short of the target, though. You’ll have to be careful but there’s plenty of trees to hang on to.’
‘Cool. We’ll go down and see what’s what.’ Summer glanced at Zac. Tall and broad-shouldered, his size and weight would make the climb and access to the vehicle much harder than it was for her. It would probably be sensible for him to suggest waiting up here on the road while she did an initial assessment and made their patient stable enough to be extricated by the fire crew.
‘Want me to go first?’ he asked. ‘And test the ladder?’
‘If you like.’ Summer passed her backpack to a fireman who was ready to secure it to a rope and lower it down. Not that it was needed, but she had to give him points for thinking about her safety.
Looking at the narrow ladder lying on the crushed and probably slippery ferns of the bush undergrowth on an almost vertical cliff face, she had to acknowledge those points.
‘Yeah…you going first is a good idea, Zac. There’ll be less damage done if I land on you rather than the other way round.’
‘Impersonating a cushion is one of my splinter skills.’ Zac handed his pack to the fireman and then turned without hesitation to climb onto the ladder. A rope attached to the top and anchored to the back of the fire truck was preventing it sliding downwards but it couldn’t control any sideways movement. Another rope was attached to the back of the small car that could be seen protruding from the mangled scrub and ferns a good fifteen metres down the bank.
‘She was lucky the scrub cushioned the impact,’ the fireman said. ‘Probably why she’s still alive.’
Zac was halfway down the ladder now and climbing carefully enough not to make it swing. Summer caught the top rung and turned her body to find a foothold. She loved the kind of challenge this sort of job presented. The ladder was easy. Getting down the last stretch when you had to slide between trees was harder. There were fire crew down here but it was Zac who was moving just ahead of her and every time he caught himself, he was looking back to make sure she’d reached her last handhold safely.
It was Summer who needed to take the lead as they got close enough to touch
