I’m not standing out here for the hell of it. The air in front of her face turned misty as she sighed. Give the guy a break. At least he stopped. ‘A truck’s gone over the bank with two people inside. We need emergency services urgently.’ The risk of hypothermia was enough to want to rush everything, to drag Sam and Lucy out regardless of injuries. Which was so not how to go about rescuing them. ‘I’m not getting reception. Can you call it in from further down the hill? Or stop at the first house you see? Tell them Sasha Wilson is here.’
‘On my way.’ The car was already moving away, thankfully cautiously.
But as she watched the lights fade in the distance that loneliness grabbed at her again. Until help arrived, Sam and Lucy’s fate depended on her.
‘Your problem is? You’re a nurse. Not a bad one either. Get on with doing something practical. Sam will be getting desperate.’
With all the ice about the place she wasn’t in for an easy time getting down to the truck, something that never normally fazed her. But with Flipper to consider there’d be no leaping over the embankment like a surefooted goat. ‘Hey, I can do careful,’ she whispered. ‘This is one time where I have to go slow and steady.’ Now, there was a first. Her lips pressed hard together, the skin of her cheeks tight.
Maybe if she’d gone slow and steady with that greaseball back in Christchurch she’d still be up to leaping over edges without a care in the world. Might not have a baby under her belt. ‘Sorry, Flipper. I’m not trying to wish you away, sweetheart.’
Wrong time to be thinking about this, with the Donovans waiting for her. Taking a steadying breath, she let her medical pack slide down the bank. Then, with her torch gripped tight in one hand, she sat down on her bottom and shuffled and slipped down, too.
‘Hey, there.’ She mustered a cheery tone as she reached the driver’s door.
Sam blinked in the light from her torch. ‘Am I glad to see you.’
‘How secure do you think the truck is?’
‘I haven’t felt it move at all. From the sound when we hit I think we’re jammed against rocks.’
Some good news. At least they weren’t about to plummet down to where the road twisted across the hillside directly beneath.
‘Sasha, I’m real worried about Lucy.’
The fear in Sam’s voice had her squatting down by the shattered window to shine the torch inside. Blood had splattered over most of the interior. Lucy hung upside down, half in, half out of her seat belt, a huge gash across the side of her head.
‘She hasn’t said a word the whole time.’ Sam’s voice trembled. ‘What if—?’ he choked.
‘Hold that thought, Sam.’ Darn, but she hated it when friends were hurting. Placing her free hand on Sam’s shoulder, she tried for a reassuring squeeze. ‘I’ll check Lucy over. But what about you? Where are you hurting?’ At least he was upright, though what injuries he’d sustained when the truck had rolled didn’t bear thinking about.
‘To hell with me. Look after Lucy, will you?’
‘Okay. But keep talking to me.’ The way his voice faded in and out didn’t bode well. ‘Tell me where you hurt. Did you bang your head?’ He had to have, surely? ‘Are you bleeding anywhere? Stuff like that.’ Talking might keep him focused and make the minutes tick by a little faster than if he just sat watching and worrying over his wife. Really? That was the theory but theory often sucked. ‘Shine my torch so I can see what I’m doing.’
Hand over hand she grabbed at the edge of the truck’s grille and made her way to the other side. Not easy clambering over frozen rocks with a bump the size of a basketball under her jacket. Flipper must’ve got the seriousness of the situation because she’d gone nice and quiet with those feet. Automatically rubbing her tummy, Sasha muttered, ‘Thanks, sweetheart. Mummy owes you.’
Reaching through where the window used to be, she felt carefully for Lucy’s throat and the carotid. ‘There you go. Lucy’s got a pulse. She’s alive, Sam.’
One big sniff. ‘Thank you, lass. Can you get her down from that seat belt? I don’t like her hanging like that. Can’t be doing her any good.’
‘We’re going to have to wait for the rescue guys. I could do more damage than good if I cut her free.’ Tilting her wrist to see her watch, Sasha counted Lucy’s pulse. Slightly low but not too bad, considering. ‘You haven’t told me about your injuries yet, Sam.’
Carefully feeling Lucy’s head, neck, and arms for injuries, she tried to work out how long would it take for the rescue crowd to get here. How long since that car had driven away? Had the driver got that this was an emergency? Swallow hard. Toughen up. It would be at least forty-five minutes before anyone showed up. Make that an hour by the time everyone’d been phoned. Then there were the road conditions to contend with.
Focusing on diverting Sam’s attention—and hers—she said, ‘You and Lucy were coming home late.’
‘Been to tea with the kids in Nelson.’ He went quiet.
A glance showed his eyes droop shut. ‘Sam.’
He blinked. ‘Roads are real bad.’
‘Very dicey.’ It wasn’t the first time she’d driven this road in the aftermath of a winter storm, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. Unless she changed her mind about staying in Golden Bay like Tina wanted. Now her friend was a happily married woman she seemed to think she had the right to fix Sasha’s life. Worse, the guy Tina had thought would solve all her present problems had been nice—in a wet blanket kind of way. Tina was probably making up for the fact she’d introduced the greaseball to her in the first place.
‘Sorry, Tina, but which bit of no more men for me didn’t you get?’
‘Who’s Tina? Is someone else here?’
‘Talking to myself. A bad habit I really should get over.’
Taking a thick cotton pad from her kit, Sasha taped it over Lucy’s head wound. Hopefully that would slow the blood loss. She kept prattling on about anything and everything in an attempt to keep Sam with her. Having him slip into unconsciousness would make it harder for the rescue crew to remove him.
Glancing at her watch, she stifled a groan of despair. Twelve-twenty. The rescue crews couldn’t be too far away now. Could they? What if the road was worse between here and Takaka? Don’t even go there. She knew those men, had gone to school with some of them, now worked with others. They would come through. It might take some effort and time but they’d be here as soon as it was humanly possible.
‘S-Sasha, h-how’s Lucy?’ Sam’s teeth clacked together as shivers rattled him.
Sasha winced. A couple of thermal blankets would be very welcome right about now for her patients. Her own toes were numb, her fingers much the same since she’d removed her gloves to attend to Lucy, and she wasn’t stuck, unable to move. At least Flipper would be warm. She answered, ‘Breathing normally and the bleeding’s stopped.’
After what felt like a lifetime flashing lights cut through the dark night. Relief slipped under her skin. ‘The ambulance’s here. Now we’ll see some action.’
The first voice she heard was Mike’s, one of the GPs she worked for at the Golden Bay Medical and Wellbeing Centre. ‘You down there, Sasha?’
She stood upright, grabbing the doorframe for balance. ‘Yep, and I’ve got Lucy and Sam with me.’
Before she’d finished telling him, Mike had joined her. Rebecca, one of the ambulance volunteers, was right behind him.
Mike asked, ‘What’ve we got?’
‘Sam’s