had opted to join them on the trek up to Everest base camp and Juliet knew that none of them had had any experience of high altitude before.
Neil swivelled in his seat. ‘The two guys are trying to look tough and macho, one of the girls looks white and the other one is gawking out of the window at the view. She obviously doesn’t know about the runway. Ten more minutes to landing and then she’ll be as green as you. But so far their insides seem to still be inside.’
‘Good.’ She didn’t want to have to think about delivering medical care to anyone at the moment. She was too busy looking after herself. ‘I haven’t even had a chance to get to know them yet. Do they look as though they’ll make it all the way?’
‘To Everest Base Camp?’ Neil settled back in his seat again and gave a shrug. ‘Who knows? Altitude is a great leveller, as you’re always telling me. They’ve got all the gear and they’re enthusiastic enough. And they’ve certainly paid enough for the privilege of trekking with Dr Juliet Adams, expert in high-altitude medicine. They think you walk on water. If anything goes wrong, they’re expecting you to fix it with one wave of your magic stethoscope.’
Despite the teasing note in his voice, Juliet didn’t open her eyes. At the moment she didn’t feel like an expert in anything and the only thing she wanted to fix was her churning stomach. ‘Well, I just hope they’re impressed so far.’
‘They’re probably wondering how a woman who can’t open her eyes in a plane managed to climb halfway up Everest last year.’
Juliet felt a flicker of regret. ‘Not the top, Neil. I had to turn back at Camp III.’ Driven back by bad weather and another climber with a severe case of pulmonary oedema who had needed to be escorted down to Base Camp. The frustration and disappointment still festered inside her. Would she have made it to the top? ‘I’m fine as long as my feet are on the ground. That’s natural. It’s flying that’s unnatural.’
‘There’s nothing natural about climbing Everest,’ Neil said dryly, leaning across her to stare out of the window. ‘And I still don’t understand what a nice girl like you is doing in a place like this. You should be at home, looking after a man and raising babies.’
‘Are you proposing?’
Neil lifted her hand to his lips and gave a boyish grin. ‘Believe me, if I thought I had a chance I would have proposed years ago, sweetheart. But my daughter, who is about your age, would undoubtedly die of embarrassment and my wife wouldn’t be too pleased either.’
Juliet leaned across and kissed him on the cheek. ‘Given that you’re away from home, climbing mountains, for at least half the year, there’s no way I’d marry you, but there’s no one I’d rather have as part of a summit team. And this year we’re going all the way to the top.’
Everest.
The highest mountain in the world.
Her goal.
‘Why?’ Neil let go of her hand and shot her a curious look. ‘Why would a slip of a girl like you need to climb Everest?’
Something dark and terrifying stirred deep inside her, something Juliet preferred to keep locked away. She had her own reasons for being on Everest. And they were personal.
‘You sound like one of those journalists.’ She kept her tone light and Neil settled himself more comfortably in his seat.
‘So what do you tell the journalists when they ask you that question?’
Juliet shrugged. ‘Depends on my mood. If it’s bad then something like, “Mind your own business.” Sometimes I tell them it’s because it raises my credibility when I’m lecturing a thousand doctors on high-altitude medicine.’ She tilted her head to one side and gave a wry smile. ‘It’s hard to grab the attention of an audience if you’ve never been near a mountain. Sometimes I just tell them I like pushing myself to the limit.’
‘And what a limit. Do you know how many people have died attempting to climb Everest?’
Her insides tensed and knotted.
Oh, yes, she knew.
‘Nine per cent don’t come back,’ she said flatly, ‘and I don’t know why you’re giving me this lecture, given that you’re planning to climb it, too. At least I’m single.’
And she intended to stay that way.
‘Is that why you never get involved with anyone? You never talk about your love life.’ He turned his head and gave her a curious look. ‘Do you stay single because you have a life-threatening career? Even the promise of a floaty white dress and a bunch of presents you don’t need aren’t enough to tempt you to marriage?’
‘Now you definitely sound like a journalist,’ Juliet said lightly, rummaging in her bag for some sweets to suck, ‘and the answer is mind your own business.’
‘Well, whatever the reason, I’m glad you’re our team doctor. It means you can mop my fevered brow when I’m struck down by altitude. Who knows?’ He gave her a saucy wink. ‘I might even get mouth to mouth.’
‘You should be so lucky. And, anyway, I might be the one who’s struck down. Doctors don’t have immunity to the effects of altitude, as you well know.’ Juliet risked a glance out of the window and immediately felt her stomach lurch. ‘We’re coming in to land. Let’s hope we live to climb a mountain instead of slamming straight into one.’
She didn’t even want to think about the angle of the runway.
‘There are some strong teams attempting the southeast face this year,’ Neil told her, ticking them off on his fingers as he listed a few. ‘There’s a small Spanish team, the New Zealand team are exceptional and the Americans are filming an ascent.’
Juliet caught a glimpse of the runway ahead of her and the mountain ahead of that. She tightened her fingers into a ball and tried not to notice the abandoned wreckage of a plane on one side of the field. ‘If you’re trying to distract me, I have to tell you that it isn’t working. You need to try harder.’ She closed her eyes again and concentrated on her dream.
Everest.
Soon it would begin. The thirty-five-mile trek towards Base Camp, which would then be her home for the coming weeks.
Theoretically it was possible for an extremely fit, acclimatised person to make the distance to the foot of Everest in a few days but, as expedition doctor, Juliet had insisted that they take over a week to cover the same distance. Altitude sickness had been her area of study for several years and she understood the importance of allowing the body time to adjust to the decrease in oxygen. She was responsible for the health of the trekkers who were going with them as far as Base Camp, as well as the expedition members. And she was also responsible for her own health.
And she knew that her own health was important.
Without her, the team would have no medical backup in a remote and potentially lethal environment.
And if she didn’t stay healthy, she wouldn’t be climbing the mountain.
And this year she was aiming for the summit.
She was going all the way.
Lukla,
