to medical equipment and drugs and where Ben and Ginny would come to help.
This was where someone would come to reunite Jack with his mother.
And … and it was a much safer place to be than out there in the unknown, where things were wrecked and dangerous and where she could be at serious risk if there were any more of those horrible aftershocks.
But these new arrivals were the experts. They also had medical qualifications that exceeded her own. Ethically, she had no choice. She had to follow orders.
‘Let’s go.’ Frank was staring out the window. ‘We’re wasting time here, mate.’
Tom’s glare was holding Abby. Pulling her in.
‘I can’t go out like this.’ Abby held out her bare arms and looked down at the flimsy material of her uniform.
‘There’s the overalls in the back of the Jeep,’ Ruth reminded her. ‘And the helmets.’
‘You’ve got a four-wheel-drive vehicle?’ Tom was moving towards the door. ‘Excellent. Let’s move.’
The Jeep was one of the clinic’s vehicles, modified to have a stretcher clipped in the back and equipped with emergency gear. The island’s equivalent of an ambulance. Ben had the other one.
‘Go, Abby,’ Ruth urged. ‘We can cope here. People need you.’
Abby nodded. She had no choice. Tom was already halfway out the door. Frank was holding back, waiting for Abby to go ahead of him.
‘Send someone to find me,’ she told Ruth, ‘if you hear anything at all about Jack.’
‘Of course I will. He’ll be fine, Abby. They all will.’
But Ruth’s lips trembled. She had two daughters on that school trip, didn’t she? Did she have to try and make Abby believe they were all safe in order to keep herself focused?
‘Who’s Jack?’ Frank asked as he followed Abby out of the door. ‘Your husband?’
‘No.’ Abby took a deep breath as she tried to push her own fear back into its box in the corner. ‘He’s my … my son.’
Tom heard.
Abby had a child? A son?
Of course she’d moved on. It had been nearly six years since they’d been together. How old was this Jack? A baby? A toddler, maybe. Couldn’t be any older unless she’d moved on and replaced him pretty damn fast.
‘So you’ve got a son?’ The words escaped as Tom climbed into the front passenger seat of the Jeep.
Abby reached to switch on the ignition. ‘Mmm.’
‘And he’s in day care or something, because you’re working?’
She might have nodded. It was hard to tell because she was turning her head to see whether Frank was on board and the door was closed. It was also quite possible she was avoiding answering him by simply pretending she hadn’t heard his question.
‘How old is Jack?’ Tom knew it was none of his business. He had no right to ask personal questions and it was entirely inappropriate given the circumstances but the idea that Abby had moved on so conclusively … had had a child with her new man was sitting in his gut like a hot rock right now. Burning, even.
The vehicle lurched forward with enough force to make him think about fastening his seat belt instead.
‘Sorry,’ Abby said. ‘Haven’t driven this beast for a while. It’s a bit rugged.’
‘No worries,’ Frank said dryly. ‘We just won’t hand you the controls for the helicopter any time soon.’
Even when Abby was used to the clunky transmission again, the ride was no smoother. The road was badly damaged with parts that had risen into hillocks and other parts sunken and cracked. There were pools of.
‘What is that?’ Abby asked.
‘Liquefaction,’ Tom responded. ‘Silt gets driven up through the earth. Don’t drive into it. It may be filling a sinkhole and could be deep. We’d get stuck.’
Abby was now manoeuvring the vehicle very competently, driving onto the grass verge at times to avoid obstacles. For a moment, Tom stopped looking through the windscreen to spot hazards and looked at her face instead.
He saw a grimly determined profile. She must be scared stiff, he thought. She’d never been into the adrenaline rush of facing danger. She was the total opposite of someone like Fizz. Unlike any of the women he’d ever been attracted to or involved with—before or after Abby, in fact—and maybe that had been the attraction in the first place. It had also been the reason it could never have worked long-term. He needed to remind himself of that. Had to fight an undercurrent happening here that he didn’t even want to try and identify.
And Abby was not only facing potential personal danger here. This was her home now and people she knew well could be amongst the dead and injured. And her child was missing? Yet here she was, totally focused on what had to be done. Heading further into danger?
Tom felt a strong impulse to send her back up the hill when he and Frank had been delivered to where they needed to go. To keep her safe.
Except they needed all the medical assistance they could get. The whereabouts of the only other medics on the island were unknown. Sure, the volunteer fire brigade or civil defence guys here would be trained in first aid but he’d seen Abby in action in an emergency department. He knew she would be as capable as he was of getting an IV line in under difficult circumstances. Assessing someone’s injuries. Intubating them if necessary. She was more than capable. Abby was gifted. Working as a GP’s nurse on a remote island must be sadly underutilising her skills.
If hitting another bump wasn’t enough to bring his train of thought instantly back to his present surroundings, entering the main street of the village certainly was.
‘Oh … my God,’ Abby breathed. She slowed the vehicle, looking stunned as she took in the scene.
It must have been a very picturesque shopping centre with its old, heritage brick and stone buildings preserved and restored to enhance it as a tourist destination but they were always the type of buildings that came off worst in an earthquake. Shop facades and chimneys had toppled. Walls had crumbled, leaving skeletons of wooden framing and rooms exposed like an open doll’s house.
A car was buried under a crushing mound of bricks, with only the front wheels and bumper clearly visible.
‘Hope there wasn’t anybody inside,’ Frank said quietly.
A few metres on there was another mound of bricks and timber. There were several men here, frantically pulling at chunks of rubble. They flagged down the Jeep.
‘We need help. There’s someone under here.’
‘Are they calling?’ Tom asked.
The man shook his head, his face twisted with distress. ‘We can see her foot.’
Tom
