Unlocking the Rebel's Heart Page 10

  ‘Don’t think Shaun would be very impressed with living in your apartment in Wellington,’ Ben said.

  ‘I might not be going back to Wellington.’

  ‘Where might you go?’ The quirk of Ben’s eyebrow was a sure sign he was interested in her plans.

  What would his expression reveal, JJ wondered, if she told him she might like to find another rural position, maybe even close to Cutler’s Creek? That it might be possible for them to continue seeing each other every so often? As friends, of course.

  Really close friends.

  The kind that could pick up where they’d left off—even when it included the kind of intimacy that JJ would never have considered enjoying on a casual basis. She didn’t want to consider it now, actually, but it would be better than knowing it was gone for ever, wouldn’t it?

  ‘The world is my oyster.’ JJ tried to sound nonchalant. ‘Coming here has taught me I can start a completely new life and...do anything I want, really...’ She grinned at Ben as she caught his gaze. ‘Maybe I don’t want that to stop.’

  She held his gaze for a heartbeat longer. Hopefully just long enough for him to get the message that their unexpected friendship was one of the things she didn’t want to stop.

  ‘Hmph.’ Betty wasn’t sounding impressed. ‘Don’t hold with things changing so fast,’ she muttered. ‘Not when we’ve just got used to the way they are.’

  ‘Everything changes, Betty.’ The scone Ben was pulling apart was still steaming. ‘Except how good your cooking is. You never know, I might head off myself one of these days.’ Judging by the subtle wink he gave JJ, he was quite aware of the way Betty was glaring at his back. ‘I reckon JJ’s right about doing what you want to do and maybe it’s about time I did something about what I’ve always wanted to do and got myself a job on one of those choppers. Hey...’ He turned to offer the older woman one of his most charming smiles. ‘I’d still see you, Betty. Look how often the helicopter gets called in here. I could...you know...send you a text so that you could have some soup and toasties ready...’

  Betty looked as though she was about to tell him that he wouldn’t necessarily be welcome in her kitchen simply for free food but she didn’t get the chance to say anything because Ben’s pager sounded and he immediately reached for his phone.

  ‘What’s happening?’

  JJ could hear the town’s civil defence warning sounding as Ben was listening to the information. She could imagine Mike and Chris and Bruce, amongst others, dropping whatever they were doing right now to rush to their stations. Within minutes Bruce would be on the road in his police car, Mike would have the fire truck ready to go as soon as any volunteers arrived and Chris would be outside the ambulance station ready to jump in as Ben went past. Others would be waiting for news, as well. JJ could see Betty glancing towards the pantry, as if she was wondering what stocks were like in case something big was happening and she might need to feed some hungry crews.

  ‘Roger that,’ Ben said, ending the call as he got to his feet. ‘I’m on my way.’

  ‘What is it?’ JJ asked.

  ‘Camper van’s gone over the edge in the gorge. It’s wedged in rocks halfway down the cliff by Goat’s Corner. No indication of how many passengers or what condition they’re in.’ Ben was already halfway out the door but JJ was right behind him.

  ‘I’ll come with you. Just let me grab the pack and my overalls.’

  He stopped so abruptly that JJ would have banged into him if he hadn’t put his hands out to catch her arms.

  ‘No.’ He was shaking his head. ‘I don’t want you to come this time.’

  JJ’s jaw dropped. She’d been out with him often enough in the last few weeks that it was becoming a normal part of her work routine. Possibly her favourite part.

  Ben must have seen her bewilderment at his decision. That she was hurt, even? She knew he was poised to move fast but he wasn’t going to leave her looking like that.

  ‘It’s a camper van,’ he said softly. ‘Down a cliff. There could be fatalities and...’ His eyes were as dark as she’d ever seen them. ‘...and that’s the way your parents died, isn’t it?’

  He’d remembered something she’d told him what seemed a long time ago now. A muttered comment that had been part of her trying to get past the embarrassment of him finding out her real first name. She’d said that she didn’t remember anything about the accident but he still didn’t want her to see something similar. Did he think it might spark some kind of flashback that could be emotionally traumatic? Was he trying to protect her?

  Because he cared...?

  It only took a split second for JJ’s world to change. To shift on its axis as much as it had that first time Ben had kissed her. More, in fact. Because, this time, her reaction wasn’t simply physical. The idea that this man cared enough to try and protect her went so deep it felt like her soul had just captured that emotion and recognised it as a missing piece.

  It only took that tiny fraction of time for JJ to understand just how much she cared about Ben.

  A blip of time so fast that Ben only had time to turn away from her while she realised that she might actually be falling in love with him.

  So fast that it was easy to pretend it had never happened. Okay, so she might have to think about it later but not right now. There was something far more urgent happening. Something that many people in this community were a part of. And JJ was part of this community now and wanted to remain a part of it for as long as possible.

  ‘It’s really not a problem,’ she called, picking up speed. She caught up with Ben as he entered the hospital foyer. ‘I can do this,’ she told him. ‘I want to come. Please...?’

  * * *

  It was a good thing that JJ was in the front passenger seat of the ambulance because Chris was nowhere to be seen in front of the station as Ben drove past, despite him being on call as a volunteer responder today. Maybe he was out of cell phone range somewhere on the back of the family farm or he’d had a problem with his car. Ben could call in another volunteer but he’d much rather have JJ with him, despite the likelihood that this callout would prove to be far more challenging than anything she’d had to face so far when she’d been out on the road with him. He could only hope that her own confidence in being able to deal with it—emotionally, as well as professionally—was not misplaced.

  He hit the switch to activate his beacons and siren as he put his foot down to get through the township and onto the open road that led to the gorge. There was no additional information on what they were heading for yet. Bruce was almost on scene, had set up a road block at this end of the gorge and would be able to position himself to stop any traffic coming in the opposite direction but, even with the road clear, nobody would be able to get near the camper van until Mike had the fire truck in position to provide any necessary stabilisation of the crashed vehicle. A rescue helicopter crew from Dunedin was on its way because winching someone down the sides of the steep gorge might be the only way to reach any victims.

  Even at the speeds Ben was pushing his ambulance, it was going to take some time to get to Goat’s Corner, which was a notorious bend about halfway into the dramatic gorge with the river far below the level of the road. Between the radio messages updating him on the activity of everybody being scrambled to deal with this emergency and the automatic thought processes of running through any likely protocols for dealing with critically injured patients, Ben was aware of snatches of thoughts about the woman on the passenger seat beside him.

  Of just how wrong his first impressions of JJ Hamilton had been.

  That impression of her total neatness in her designer jeans and pricey boots was only a faded memory now. Kind of amusing, when a sideways glance showed her wearing a pair of steel-capped boots and that ugly, orange, long-sleeved pair of overalls that were thick enough to protect skin from superficial injuries.

  Had he really
pegged her as unbearably prim and proper as well?

  Ha! Even Ben’s total focus on the road in front of him and the upcoming corners leading into the gorge couldn’t stop the flash of remembering that what he’d experienced in that high country hut totally blew that impression out of the water.

  And as for sticking religiously to protocols and rules, she wasn’t saying anything about the way he was pushing the ambulance to the edge of safety as the wheels clung to the road around the tight curves of this narrow road. He was breaking all the normal road rules, the way he was crossing the centre line at times. How far he was breaking the speed limit. A glance at JJ’s face, in fact, revealed a gleam in her eyes that he recognised all too easily and any doubts about her being on this callout evaporated.

  He knew that she didn’t lack courage. She’d taught him that when she’d been up for anything he’d thrown her way that day she’d pushed herself up Twin Rocks track and agreed to be their patient for cliff rescue training. There was more than bravery in her eyes right now, however. Ben could see what he knew was a potent mix of professional concern about what they might have to treat and the adrenaline rush of potentially putting one’s own life in jeopardy to save the lives of others. A balancing act of tempering risk factors with a determination to succeed.

  He wouldn’t have believed this version of JJ Hamilton had even existed that first day he’d met her. And it occurred to Ben that maybe she wouldn’t have believed it either but that was the last, fleeting thought he had on the subject because as he rounded another corner he could see the flashing lights of Bruce’s police car blocking any oncoming traffic.

  They were on scene.

  CHAPTER NINE

  JJ HAD ASSURED Ben that this callout would not be a problem but, as she stood on the roadside, looking down an almost sheer cliff to where the camper van was lying on the driver’s side, wedged onto a ledge between the cliff and a huge, protruding lump of rock, she had a moment of serious doubt that she’d been telling the truth.

  This was...shocking.

  At first glance, it looked very unlikely that anybody had survived this crash but who knew? This wasn’t an old VW Kombi, it was a modern, square white box and it probably had airbags and other safety features everywhere. Was it a young couple in there who had just had their love of life and dreams of adventure come to a crashing halt? Did they have a baby in a car seat, perhaps?

  And how were they even going to find out? How could they get down to that crumpled vehicle and, if they could, how on earth could you treat a badly injured patient in a space like that? JJ was experienced enough and had confidence in her own skills to deal with any level of trauma but maybe that only applied when she was in her nice, safe environment of an emergency department with medics and equipment and all manner of other resources that she could summon. Where were the protocols for dealing with something like this?

  What rules needed to be followed in a situation that looked so dangerous that the only direction that might have been sensible would be to stay as far away as possible?

  Ben was the one who really wasn’t bothered, here. He was pulling big coils of rope and other climbing gear from a compartment on the side of the fire truck and having a conversation with Mike between the directions he was shouting for his team. There were steel cables being rolled out from the back of the fire truck. Someone was laying out the pneumatic cutting gear on a tarpaulin and another crew member was lowering a long ladder over the edge of the cliff. Bruce knew exactly what he was doing as well and there was a long line of traffic already held up behind where his police car was parked sideways, its beacons flashing, to block both sides of the road.

  It was a relief when Ben came towards JJ.

  ‘You okay?’

  JJ nodded. She was better than she had been a moment ago, at least, when she’d been standing here alone. Just having Ben by her side was enough to make her feel considerably braver.

  ‘Put this harness on. And a hard hat.’

  ‘We’re going to abseil down?’ JJ tried to stamp on her fear but her training sessions hadn’t yet got as far as learning the skills she would need to be able to do that safely.

  ‘No. Mike’s got a ladder in place to cover the first twenty metres or so. Someone’s going down to get steel cables hooked onto the vehicle to stabilise it and there’ll be other ropes to use. The harness is so you can have a line attached for safety at any time. It might also be useful if we need to get winched out for any reason when the chopper gets here.’

  Safety... That one word stood out enough for JJ to find the courage she needed.

  Ben was helping her into the harness. ‘You could also wait up here until we can extract any patients but it could take a while. We don’t know yet whether we’ll need to get cutting gear down the hill to get them out.’ He caught her gaze and held it. ‘It’s your choice, JJ.’

  ‘I came here to help. Not much point in standing back and just watching, is there?’

  ‘That’s my girl...’

  There was a gleam in Ben’s eyes that could be interpreted as pride. Definitely approval, anyway, and his words gave JJ more than courage. There was determination there as well now. She might not know what she should be doing but she could trust that Ben did. And she wasn’t about to let him down. More than anything, she wanted to be the person Ben thought she was. Someone he had reason to be proud of. His girl...?

  There was limited room on the rocks around the van so they had to wait until some of the fire service crew came back up, having secured the ladder, cables and ropes.

  ‘Vehicle’s stable. It’s well caught in the rocks but we’ve got cables on, as well. You’re good to go.’

  ‘Occupants?’

  ‘Two people. Older. The driver’s not responsive. There’s a woman in the passenger seat and she doesn’t seem too bad. Terrified, though. We’ve left Jack talking to her until you guys get down. Her name’s Glenys.’

  ‘Access?’

  ‘Front door’s jammed but the side door is partially open. We’ll get some gear sorted and should be able to get access that way.’

  Ben nodded. ‘I’ll go first,’ he told JJ. ‘And have the pack lowered at the same time.’ One corner of his mouth lifted. ‘That way I’ll be at the bottom and ready to catch you if you’re not good with ladders or ropes.’

  The worst part for JJ was having to push past the fear of lowering herself over the edge of the cliff and getting onto the ladder in the first place. This had to be the most dangerous thing she’d ever done but nothing was going to stop her. Because Ben was waiting for her at the bottom? Thank goodness she’d been working on her fitness level for weeks now. She needed the strength she had gained in her muscles, especially when it came to hanging onto ropes to get over sharp edges of rock above the ledge.

  Ben had swapped places with Jack the firie as JJ climbed more rock to get high enough to see into the passenger side of the camper van. A white-haired woman had a laceration in the middle of a lump on her forehead and several trickles of blood down her face.

  ‘Hello...’ Ben leaned closer to the broken window. ‘You’re Glenys, aren’t you? I’m Ben. I’m a paramedic. And this is my partner JJ, who’s a doctor.’

  His partner. JJ liked the sound of that. She managed to edge a little closer.

  ‘We’re going to look after you until we can get you out. Can you remember what happened?’

  ‘It was all so fast... I think Derek fainted. I tried to hold the steering wheel but he fell towards me and pushed me away...’

  ‘Were you knocked out?’

  ‘I... No, I don’t think so...’

  ‘Headache?’

  ‘A bit...’

  ‘Are you feeling sick or dizzy at all?’

  ‘I’m...just really scared...’

  JJ’s heart went out to the woman who had to be close to her own grandmother’s age, yet she was a
dventurous enough to have been on the road for a camping trip. She listened as Ben sped through an initial survey to try and find out how badly injured Glenys was.

  She was talking well, which meant her airway was clear and her breathing adequate. She also seemed alert enough to suggest that the bump on her head wasn’t severe enough to have caused a brain injury. She might have injured her neck, however. Elderly patients could have significant C-spine trauma and show few or no neurological symptoms.

  ‘Please...’ Glenys was pleading with Ben. ‘Don’t worry about me. Can’t you check on Derek first? He’s...not moving and...’ Her face crumpled in distress. ‘I think he might be...it might be...too late...’

  If her husband had collapsed at the wheel it was very likely that a medical event, such as a heart attack or a stroke, had been responsible for this crash. It took no more than a glance at the slumped figure on the other side of the van to see unmistakeable signs, like the colour of Derek’s skin and the total absence of any visible respiratory effort or other movement, that Glenys’s fears were correct.

  Even if Derek had initially survived the crash, the position he was in now, with his chin on his chest, would have occluded his airway completely when he’d been unconscious. They still needed confirmation, however, and JJ could see Ben’s glance go to a narrow gap where the crumpled side door of the van had been pushed in. It was probably fortunate that he was far too big to try and enter the vehicle, JJ thought. Surely that would be against any protocol for dealing with a situation like this, anyway? What if the van slid further, with someone inside? That idea was enough to send a chill down her spine.