waited beside the motorcyclist as a paramedic walked towards him and knelt down. He tried to talk to him, but there was no response, and so he looked up at Sarah. ‘Do you know if he has been unconscious the whole time?’
‘Yes, he has.’ She hesitated, then added, ‘The two drivers were both conscious when I went to look at them. One seems to have a chest injury and is struggling to breathe, and the other is complaining of leg pain.’
‘Thanks. Perhaps you’d like to show my colleague the one with the chest pain.’ He nodded towards a second paramedic who was emerging from the ambulance.
Sarah did as he’d asked, and when she was satisfied that both drivers had been assessed and the man with chest pain was being attended to she went back to the driver who had caused the pile-up and tried to reassure him that help was on the way.
By this time a second ambulance had arrived, along with a fast-response car, and more emergency practitioners began to come forward.
Feeling a trifle redundant by now, Sarah went to see how the motorcyclist was doing. The paramedic she had spoken to earlier was working side by side with someone else now, a dark- haired man who was wearing the outfit of an emergency doctor.
Sarah looked him over. Something about this man caught her attention, but she couldn’t quite make up her mind what it was that was bothering her. He was kneeling down, but his demeanour was striking in that every move he made was decisive and self-assured. There was no hesitation, no doubting what needed to be done.
‘As soon as I’ve finished intubating him, we’ll splint that fractured limb,’ he said. ‘Once that’s done we can safely transfer him to the spinal board.’
Sarah felt the hairs prickle along the back of her neck. That voice was all too familiar, and she must have inadvertently let out a breathy sigh of recognition because the man shifted his head a fraction to look up at her. He frowned.
Sarah blinked. What was Ben doing here? Was this his job, working for the emergency services? Or was he based at the local hospital? The questions were on the tip of her tongue, but she stayed silent, because right now she didn’t want to distract him or in any way impede the work he was doing.
For a few seconds he held her gaze and the atmosphere seemed to be filled with tension.
‘It must be something in the air,’ he murmured. ‘We seem fated to meet under unusual circumstances.’ Then, almost as though that strange collision of minds had never happened, he simply turned away and continued attending to his patient.
It was only when the intubation was completed and the man was receiving life-giving oxygen that Ben looked at her once more and said briskly, ‘If you want to do something to help, you could squeeze this oxygen bag. Keep up the momentum, and make sure you keep to a regular rhythm.’
Sarah nodded to show that she understood, and crouched down beside the young biker. ‘He’s still unconscious. Does he have any other injuries, apart from the leg?’
‘I imagine he has a head injury, and there may be internal injuries, but we won’t know until we’ve done scans at the hospital. Either way, it looks as though he has a broken thighbone, and he’ll most likely need to have surgery to pin it in place. He’s lost a lot of blood, but I might be able to make up for that by putting a line in and giving him fluids.’ He fixed her with his dark gaze. ‘What you need to do is to keep pumping the oxygen.’
Sarah did as she was told, and kept quiet so as not to distract him. The paramedic worked with him to splint the leg, and then between them they lifted him onto the protective board.
Ben stood up. ‘OK, you can hand over to the paramedic now,’ he told Sarah. ‘I’m going to take a look at the other patients.’
‘OK.’ She relinquished her hold on the oxygen bag and watched Ben cautiously as he moved away, not quite understanding his abrupt manner. Perhaps he thought it strange that she had a knack of turning up in odd situations, but that was his problem, not hers.
Paramedics were getting ready to move the man who had been clutching his chest. As to the driver of the black saloon, he had been released from the driving seat and removed to a place of safety. It appeared that he was suffering from pain and swelling around his knee. To Sarah’s untutored eye, it looked as though the knee had shifted in relation to his leg.
Perhaps she had said as much, because Ben glanced at her as she approached and said lightly, ‘Yes, it certainly looks that way.’ His mouth gave a faint twist. ‘I’m surprised to find that you’re still here. You’re not at all squeamish, then?’
Sarah lifted her shoulders in a noncommittal shrug. She had no idea whether she was or not. As far as she was aware, this was the first time that she had come across a situation like this. ‘So, what’s wrong with his leg? Do you know?’ she asked. ‘Is there a fracture?’
‘I can’t be sure whether there’s any fracture, but I expect the force of the smash has caused him to hit the dashboard with his leg and consequently the knee was dislocated. From the looks of the swelling and discoloration, it’s quite nasty.’
He turned his attention to the patient. ‘I’m afraid that your circulation is not as it should be in that limb, Colin, so I think that I should try to get the knee back in position without delay. I don’t believe we can wait until we get you to the hospital.’
Colin mumbled a response, and Ben obviously took that as agreement, because he said, ‘I’m going to give you something to take away the pain while I do that.’ He looked directly at the man. ‘As the paramedics are dealing with other patients, I’m going to ask this young woman if she will lend a hand with the procedure. Are you OK with that?’
The driver nodded, and Sarah guessed that he was in too much pain and discomfort to care one way or the other. She gave Ben a wide-eyed look.
‘I’ve never done anything like this before,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Are you sure that you want me to help?’
‘Quite sure.’ He was already drawing up a syringe of what Sarah imagined was painkilling medication. ‘All you have to do is position yourself at his head and thread your arms underneath his armpits. Clasp your hands together over his chest and keep up a counter-pressure when I pull on his leg.’ He started to give the injection, glancing from time to time at his patient.
‘How does that feel? Is it any easier?’
‘That’s better,’ the man said after a while. ‘The pain is going.’ He gave a slow sigh, and Sarah guessed that he was feeling a surge of relief.
Ben glanced at Sarah. ‘Do you think you’ll be able to help me out?’
‘Yes. I can do that.’
‘Good. Let’s get on with it, then, shall we?’
Sarah followed his instructions, kneeling down at the man’s head and placing her arms around his upper torso.
Ben, in the meantime, positioned himself to grasp the man’s leg in a way that would allow him to straighten it. ‘Are you ready?’ he asked, glancing at Sarah. ‘It’s really important that you counter my pulling on the limb.’
‘I’m ready.’
It
