THE PAIN STARTED in his chest with every breath. His hands were shaking, and he couldn’t get them to stop.
He knew exactly what Paige was saying to him. He just didn’t ever want to stop and have that conversation with his father.
He hated that so much of what she’d said was right. He’d been tired lately—exhausted, even—sometimes functioning on four hours’ sleep a night. His diary was a whirlwind of dates, surgeries and venues. He consciously said yes to just about everything, juggling dates so he could fit all requests in.
He pulled out his phone and stared at it. He was going to check something but, deep down, knew the answer wasn’t something he really wanted to find.
He scrolled. In the last five years he’d had thirty-five days off. One week a year. He’d generally gone skiing somewhere for a few days or seen his father, but that had been it. No down time. Even when he was travelling between countries he was still working. No wonder she was calling him out.
He could picture his father’s face right now. His chest tightened at the thought of bringing up the subject of his mother. What on earth would he do if he found out that his father also blamed him for his mother’s death? That was secretly what he feared. His father had been totally devoted to her. He knew that he missed her terribly—just like Stefan did.
There were voices down the corridor, movement, excitement.
Joe was talking loudly on the satellite phone, taking instructions from Paige.
He looked outside. Paige’s hair was swept up in a ponytail, she had her outdoor clothes on, and a holdall on her back. She was on her knees, securing Rafe’s chest drain bottle.
‘Is the helicopter on its way?’ he asked, striding down the corridor.
Cathy appeared behind him, pushing another wheelchair with Claudia, and her mother walking alongside.
‘There’s still a limited timeframe. We’re going to try and get Rafe and Claudia airlifted at the same time.’
Stefan could see it was still windy outside. The helicopter would have to drop the stretcher then hoist it back up. It would be dangerous for all involved.
‘What’s the estimated arrival time?’
‘Five minutes.’ Paige’s voice was calm and professional. She didn’t even look in his direction. All her attention was focused on her current patient. She spoke again. ‘Stefan, go and assess everyone else for the order in which they’ll be evacuated. The helicopter will try and make return trips, but it might not be possible.’
He wanted to talk to her again. But this wasn’t the time.
He moved to check over Bob, Frances, Eva, Anna and Greta, helping them into outdoor jackets and giving them a rundown of what could happen next.
The thudding of the helicopter rotors cut through the wind noise. A few moments later, there was an icy blast down the corridor as the front doors were opened.
Stefan pulled the two chairs with the ladies with broken ankles as Bob and Eva walked behind.
The helicopter was hovering over the car park area of the hospital. With trees surrounding the car park, it wasn’t a safe place to land but, as Stefan watched, the side door slid open and the stretcher was winched down. Joe and Paige were with Rafe; Joe had the satellite phone between his ear and shoulder.
They wrestled Rafe into the stretcher, positioning his bottle and giving the signal for him to go up. As he lifted up to the helicopter, Joe handed the phone to Paige. The noise from the rotor blades was enormous, Stefan had no idea how on earth Paige could hear anything. But a few minutes later a harness descended, she clipped herself in, put her holdall on her back and, before he knew it, was lifted into the sky.
A sense of dread swept over him. They hadn’t had a chance to talk yet. He hadn’t told her how sorry he was, and how he’d been too wrapped up in himself to truly understand and appreciate how she was feeling.
The stretcher for Claudia came back down as Stefan ran over to help Joe. The little girl was much easier to manoeuvre and get clipped in. ‘What’s going on?’ Stefan asked Joe as the winch lifted Claudia into the air.
‘The doctor on board isn’t feeling well. Asked if someone could help with the transfer.’ The wind and backdraught were playing havoc with having any kind of discussion. The harness descended again and they clipped Marie, Claudia’s mother, in. She lifted into the sky easily and, as she was assisted in, the door slid closed.
Before Stefan had a chance to think, or say anything at all, the dark helicopter moved off, disappearing into the distance.
Joe put his hand on his shoulder, oblivious to what had just happened between Stefan and Paige. ‘They hope to get back in thirty minutes. They can get the rest of our people out then, and will come back for us if there’s time.’
His stomach flipped over. He couldn’t help but think he’d made a huge mistake in not taking the time to sit down with Paige and talk again.
Stefan swallowed. He had no idea where the helicopter was going. Likely it would be one of the bigger hospitals in the nearby city. Would Paige wait there? Or would she leave?
Deep down, he knew the answer to that.
And, what was more, he deserved it.