Television crews, probably, capturing the unfolding drama of this rescue. The footage would make international news, that was for sure. Julia spared a fleeting thought for the relatives of everyone involved. Including hers. Thank goodness her sister Anne would be unable to recognise that it was her doing such a dangerous job.
‘Can you hear me?’ Julia shouted.
‘Ouch!’ came Mac’s voice.
‘Sorry.’ Julie lifted her microphone, tucking it under the rim of her helmet. She called again and a boy inside, who looked about fourteen, nodded warily.
‘How many of you are there?’ Julia called.
The boy’s eyes slid sideways but he didn’t move his head. He looked hunched. Terrified of moving, probably, in case it was enough to send the carriage plummeting to the bottom of the gully. He shrugged helplessly and then winced and Julia could see the way he was cradling one arm with the other. A fracture? Dislocated shoulder?
The woman who had been sobbing in the seat across the aisle tried to get closer, the child still in her arms. She was blocked by the still shape of the slumped man.
‘Help!’ she screamed. ‘Please…help us!’
Her words were clearly audible. So was the panicked response from others still in there, telling her to stay still, prompted by the sway of the carriage her movement had caused. Julia’s hands were still against the window and she simply moved with it, gently swinging out and then back. Not far at all but more than enough for her heart to skip a beat and for a soft curse from Mac to echo in her earphones.
Julia flipped down the small arm of her microphone. ‘Pull me up to the door, Mac. I need to get inside.’
‘No way!’
‘Can’t triage from here. I can see at least six people and some look OK to evacuate fast.’
‘Get them to climb up and we’ll winch from the door.’
Julia frowned. The woman was close to hysterical and wasn’t about to let go of the child. The teenage boy had an injured arm or shoulder.
‘Not practical,’ she informed Mac. ‘They need assistance. Anyone else qualified to operate the winch up there?’
‘Yes.’ The word was reluctant. ‘Red Watch is here now as well.’
Another SERT partnership of Angus and Dale. This was good.
‘I’ll get inside,’ Julia suggested. ‘You winch down with a nappy harness and I’ll bring out as many as I can. Then we’ll be able to assess what we’ve got left.’
Mac must have shifted his microphone but Julia could hear faint voices in animated conversation and knew that her idea was being discussed with others up there on the bridge. A long minute later and Mac was ready to talk to her again.
‘On one condition,’ he said briskly. ‘We’re monitoring the cables. We might not get much warning if things aren’t going to hold but if I give the word you have to get yourself out of there. Stat. No argument. Got it?’
‘Got it.’
Julia did get it and her promise of co-operation was sincere. She heard the faint wail of distress as she was hoisted away from the faces at the bottom of the carriage despite her hand signals to indicate that things were in hand and rescue was close.
And then there she was. Beside the door. She had to climb inside and unclip the winch line that suddenly felt like an umbilical cord in its ability to sustain life.
Fear kicked in as she did precisely that. Her mouth went dry and her heart pounded so hard it was almost painful. For a horribly long moment, Julia thought she’d gone too far this time. She couldn’t do this after all.
‘Jules? Talk to me.’
The voice was soft but she could hear a faint reflection of her own fear. Mac was afraid for her and it was more than concern for the wellbeing of his colleague. Or was that just wishful thinking on her part?
Stupidly—and so inappropriately it was easy to contain—Julia felt an odd tightness in her throat. A prickle behind her eyes that advertised embryonic tears. She dismissed them with a simple swallow. She didn’t need to go there. All she’d needed had been to hear his voice. To remind herself that she wasn’t doing this alone. That she had the best possible person in the world watching her back right now.
‘I’m…inside,’ she relayed. ‘Climbing down.’ She moved as she spoke. Cautiously. Hanging onto the back of a seat frame as her feet found purchase on the cushioned back of the next seat down the vertical aisle. ‘How are those cables looking, mate?’
‘Good,’ came the terse response. Mac was concentrating as hard as she was.
‘These seats make quite a good ladder.’ Julia kept talking because she wanted Mac to keep responding. She wanted to hear his voice. Maybe she needed to keep hearing it because it gave her more courage than she could ever otherwise summon.
But when she was halfway down the aisle, the smell hit her. The smell of fear. And she could hear the voices and moans and she knew that within seconds she would be able to speak to and touch these unfortunate people. She could start doing the job she was trained to do and help those who had been plunged into a nightmare they couldn’t deal with alone.
Julia felt the power that came with the knowledge that she could help and that power gave her complete focus. Knowing that Mac was close gave her strength, yes, but that was simply a platform now. This was it.
Time to go to work.
‘Who can hear me?’ she called, pausing briefly. ‘Keep still but raise your hand if you can.’
She wanted to count. To find out how many were conscious enough to hear her and physically capable of any movement at all.
One hand went up tentatively. And then there was another. And another. Six? No, seven. And dim patches where she could see the shape of people but no hands. The less injured people would have to be evacuated first to allow access to the others.
The woman she’d earlier deemed close to hysteria was still sobbing. ‘Please…’ she called back. ‘Take Carla first. She’s only seven…Please!’
Julia revised her count to eight. Carla was being clutched too tightly to have raised her hand.
She climbed closer. The teenage boy with the injured arm was silent but she was close enough to see that his eyes were locked on her progress. Searching for her face. Silently pleading with as much passion as Carla’s mother.
Julia had to tear her gaze away to try and reassess the number and condition of victims she would be dealing with. To triage the whole scene, but it was difficult. The light had faded even more outside now and it was much darker in here. The light on her helmet could only illuminate a patch at a time and it was like trying to put a mental jigsaw together.
People were jumbled together. Right now it was impossible to see which limbs belonged to which person or even how many people were in the tangle.
‘Get me out!’ A male voice from behind Carla and her mother was loud. ‘I can’t feel my legs. I need help.’
Julia saw hands come over the seat back behind the still sobbing woman. Good grief, was the man trying to move himself despite possible spinal or neck injuries? Someone beside him groaned and then someone else screamed as the man’s frantic efforts created a shuffle of movement and made the carriage swing alarmingly.
‘Stay absolutely still, and I mean everybody!’ Julia injected every ounce of authority she could into the command. ‘Listen to me,’ she continued, her tone softening a little. ‘I know you’re all scared but you’ve all been incredibly brave for a long time and I need you all to hang onto that courage