Daphne, the lady in charge of Karington’s telephone emergency response, had rung everyone she could think of. Emma had said send the army and Daphne hadn’t done that, but only because there wasn’t an army to hand. She’d sent everyone else.
The sirens were faint at first, but they built until it sounded as if the entire emergency services for the country were heading this way.
Devlin had Jodie’s bleeding stopped—almost. He was concentrating now on setting up an intravenous line. He had to get fluids into Jodie’s little body if she wasn’t to die of shock. Given the amount of blood loss, heart failure was a real possibility.
He had his jacket off, and it was spread over the child to keep her warm. He set the drip to maximum—saline and plasma. Thank God he never travelled without them. Even so, his supplies were severely limited. So, as the cavalry arrived, the relief he felt was almost overwhelming.
The local ambulance was the first to appear. As the two paramedics, Helen and Don, parked their vehicle and ran across to meet him, he decided that he’d never been more grateful to see anyone in his life.
There was no time for greetings. ‘I need more plasma here,’ he said curtly. ‘And I need her warmed. Do you have warmed blankets on board?’
Helen, the senior officer, looked down at Jodie and nodded.
‘Yep. Will do. But it looks like you’ve done the hard part.’ She knelt and placed her stethoscope on Jodie’s chest and listened—something Devlin hadn’t had time to do. But what she heard was obviously reassuring. ‘It’s sounding steady,’ she told him. ‘Don, can you take over here? Dev, what else?’
Thank heaven for Helen, Devlin thought. In her early fifties, Helen had been born and bred a dairy farmer. But after her husband died in a tractor accident and her kids left home for the city, she’d retrained as an ambulance officer. Her decision to turn to medicine meant Karington had an ambulance team second to none.
What else? She was asking for the next priority and he hadn’t had time to think of one.
But it was staring them both in the face. Sort of. The quarter of it they could see above the clifftop.
‘The bus,’ he started, and then paused. As if his mention of it had caused a reaction, the bus gave a long, rolling shudder—as though it was about to topple.
Helen made a move towards it but Devlin held her back.
‘I think everyone’s out.’
‘They’re not all out.’
It was the child, Katy. She was crouched on the roadside beside her schoolteacher, pressing Emma’s jacket against the gash on his head as Emma had shown her. Now she looked up, her eyes filling with tears that it seemed she’d been holding back until now. Somehow.
‘The pregnant lady’s on the bus,’ she told them. ‘I told her that Kyle and Suzy were still on the bus and she climbed in after them. She hasn’t come out. I told her that Chrissy would do this, but Chrissy was sick so I have to do it. But I don’t know what the pregnant lady’s doing.’
Devlin did a fast sift of available information. ‘The pregnant lady?’
How many pregnant ladies could there be? His eyes moved to the woman he’d seen first—the woman who’d been lying beside her crushed car. He’d almost fallen over her as he’d run.
Her car was still there. Of course. It was mangled past repair.
The woman wasn’t.
He’d thought she was only semi-conscious.
How could she be on the bus? He’d told her to lie still. She looked as if she could have been badly injured.
But it had been such a fleeting impression. She was a young woman, he thought, and she’d been badly battered in the crash. She had dark curls, bunched back with ribbon, big green eyes that were too big for her shocked, white face, a smear of blood on her forehead.
She’d been pregnant. Very pregnant.
She needed medical attention.
‘She’s on the bus?’ he said again, blankly.
‘Yes,’ Katy told him, still fighting back tears of reaction ‘I was going to get on and look for Kyle and Suzy myself, but she told me I had to look after Mr Jeffries and the younger kids. She said she’d go. But…she hasn’t come out. Do you think it’s going to fall?’
She started to cry.
CHAPTER TWO
‘IS THERE someone inside?’
The call echoed through the smashed bus and no words had ever sounded sweeter.
Emma had listened to the sirens approaching. She’d heard vehicles stop, people talking, urgent voices, kids crying. And now there was a voice, calling through the shattered back window. It was the voice of the man she’d thought was Corey.
It wasn’t Corey. She must have been stupid to think it was.
Whoever it was, at least it was help.
‘They’re here,’ she told Suzy.
Suzy couldn’t answer. Of course she couldn’t. But the little girl’s bravery defied description. She was following orders to the letter, not moving a fraction. Her eyes were locked onto Emma’s, and Emma knew that contact was dreadfully important.
So was the contact Emma’s fingers were making. She was holding the ballpoint as if it was the most precious thing in the world. As indeed it was. It was the fine thread between life and death.
And now it seemed as if life might just win. Might…
‘We’re in here,’ she called, trying to make her voice assured. Mature. In charge. ‘Suzy and I are here, just waiting for rescue. We’re hoping for the fire brigade.’
There was a moment’s hesitation.
‘Is Kyle in there with you?’
Lightness faded. There was no way to dress this up to make it less brutal. She tightened her grip on Suzy’s forehead, and forced herself to respond.
‘Kyle’s been crushed,’ she said flatly. ‘He’s dead. He must have died instantly.’
There was a moment’s silence. An awful silence while those outside the bus took in the awfulness.
Then another question, as if he was afraid to ask.
‘Is Suzy OK?’
‘She’ll be fine,’ Emma said, forcing her voice to sound firm and sure. ‘But we’ve had some problems. I’ve performed a tracheostomy. I’m holding a ballpoint casing in position to help her breathe. We can’t move.’
There was an even longer silence at that.
‘You’ve performed a tracheostomy?’
‘Yes. Her face has been badly hurt. But she’ll be fine, just as soon as you can get her out of here.’
‘Who the hell are you?’
‘Emma.’ What did he want? she thought grimly. Proof of medical qualifications?
‘You’re the pregnant lady who was driving the Kia?’
‘That’s me.’ She smiled down at Suzy and tried again to force lightness into her voice. ‘So there’s me, there’s my bulge and there’s Suzy. We’d appreciate it if you could get us out as soon as possible. Please.’
‘We’ll do our best.’ There were sounds of an argument outside the bus but she couldn’t make out exactly what was being said. A few voices, mixed.
‘Miss?’ It was another voice. Lower.