‘We’ll drop this in when we get back to town and then Sheree will bring it out on her way home.’ Sasha clipped the piece of paper to the outside of Julie’s file. ‘She’s Kathy’s sister and lives two farms down the road.’
‘Small communities have their advantages.’ Grady picked up the stethoscope to place it in its pouch in Sasha’s kit.
‘Sometimes,’ the women answered in unison, then burst into laughter.
‘Not when you want to keep something secret, eh, Kathy?’
Kathy’s cheeks reddened. ‘You can talk, Sasha Wilson.’
‘Time we were on the road.’ Sasha slung the pack over one shoulder and waved at the twins. ‘See you two scallywags tomorrow.’
Back in the four-wheel drive, Grady dared to ask, ‘What was your great secret that the town found out about?’
‘I didn’t ride into town and announce to all and sundry I was pregnant. Apart from telling Mum and Dad, I kept it to myself for a while. Thought I’d give them time to get used to the idea before I started letting it out, but I hadn’t counted on Kathy guessing. Not that she went wild with the news, but she made me realise I couldn’t keep Flipper hidden for ever.’
‘I take it they knew at the medical centre?’
‘I was up front with them right from the start. Had to be. I’m there to cover Karen’s maternity leave, but Mike and Rory have indicated there might be a permanent job at the end of it.’ Worry darkened her words, tightened her brow.
‘What will you do if the job doesn’t eventuate?’
‘That’s not an option.’ She leaned forward to peer through the windscreen, and instantly eased off on the accelerator and wound down her window. Cold air filled the cab.
‘What’s up?’ Grady asked, as he craned his neck to see past her head.
‘I’m not sure but those guys are running towards the shed, carrying someone between them.’
‘I see them. That’s the farm the stock truck turned into.’ Unease made him wary. ‘We’d better go and see if we’re needed.’ Men didn’t usually run around with one of their mates swinging from their arms.
‘On our way.’ Sasha turned sharply, bounced the vehicle over the cattle stop and drove directly to the shed. ‘Stock truck’s still here, parked over behind that second shed.’
‘Drive right up to that door where those men ducked inside.’ Grady undid his seat belt, ready to follow the men.
Before Sasha had pulled up, a man appeared in the doorway, carrying a rifle under his arm. ‘What the heck?’ She stuck her head out the window. ‘What’s happening, Jason?’
‘Sasha? That was quick. Murts is in a bad way. That bull went berko when we tried to load him. Got Murts in the gut I don’t know how many times.’ The man who was apparently Jason strode over to them. ‘I’m going to put a bullet between his eyes.’
‘What do you mean, that was quick?’ Grady asked as he climbed out. ‘We’ve been up the road, visiting patients, and saw you all running inside the shed.’
Jason looked across at him, then back to Sasha, a question in his eyes. ‘I phoned 111 and McKentry used his truck phone to call the medical centre. Mike’s getting the ambulance and heading out here as soon as he can.’
Sasha joined Jason. ‘This is Grady O’Neil. He’s a doctor.’
‘Some good news.’ Jason pushed Grady towards the shed. ‘Go, man. Murts needs you real bad.’
Grady called over his shoulder to Sasha, ‘Bring your pack with you.’ Not that it contained half the equipment he’d give his right arm for at this moment. He hated to think of the injuries this guy Murts had suffered every time that bull’s head had slammed into his gut.
The man lying on the floor of the shed looked worse than even he’d imagined. Covered in blood from head to foot, he was shaking and groaning as his friends knelt beside him, helpless to do anything. ‘Hey, guys. Grady O’Neil. I’m a doctor.’
In the shed the relief was almost palpable. As the three men scrambled out of the way they tripped over themselves. ‘Thank God,’ one of them muttered, then added, ‘Hello, and we’ve got Sasha. Murts, this is your lucky day, dude.’
Unable to see anything lucky in being gored by a raging bull, Grady kept his mouth shut and knelt down on the hard dirt. Sasha joined him on the other side and immediately began taking a pulse. Make that tried to take a pulse. Her finger pressed on the carotid, moved a smidge left, right. Then, ‘At last,’ she whispered.
Grady spoke to the patient. ‘Hello, Murts. I’m Grady, a doctor. And Sasha’s here, she’s a nurse.’
‘Glad to see you,’ the guy wheezed around his obvious pain, and opened his eyes for a brief moment.
‘Murts, how old are you?’
‘Forty-eight.’
A clear verbal response, and Murts had opened his eyes. ‘Can you feel my hand?’ Grady asked as he touched his patient’s hand, and felt a small clenching around his fingers. ‘GCS thirteen,’ he told Sasha. Not bad in the circumstances.
‘Pulse weak and low,’ she responded.
Not good. Grady settled further down on his haunches. ‘Murts, can you tell me where the pain is coming from?’
‘Everywhere.’
Okay. Try again. ‘What about your head?’
‘Yes, b
ad.’
‘Your chest?’ Grady asked. There could be a pneumothorax if that solid head had hit Murts’s ribs hard enough. Or often enough.
‘Agony,’ Murts muttered.
Grady said in an aside to Sasha, ‘How do we go about calling for the rescue helicopter?’ Without that, this man was unlikely to survive. A two-hour trip over the hill was not an option.
‘I imagine Mike would’ve put them on standby the moment he got the call. They have to come from Wellington or Nelson, about equal flying times.’
‘Can you get Mike on the phone for me? Then see if any of these men saw the attack and where the bull got Murts, other than in the gut, as already mentioned.’
‘Sure.’ She stood, tugged her phone from her pocket and punched buttons. After handing the phone to him, she strode across to where the three men hovered anxiously.
He heard Mike answer his phone and got on with getting what he needed. ‘We’re with the man attacked by a bull. Can you make that helicopter a go? Needed here a.s.a.p.’
‘Onto it. I’ll be with you in ten.’ The phone went dead.
Continuing with his examination, Grady worked his hands over the chest he’d just exposed by tearing away what remained of Murts’s shirt. Beneath his hands the man writhed and groaned. Pain or cerebral irritation? What he wouldn’t do for a fully equipped theatre at this moment, and an X-ray machine. Or even that ambulance with at least essential equipment.
Sash squatted down again. ‘The bull rammed into Murts continually pretty much everywhere. The guys reckon at least twenty times.’
Grady closed his eyes briefly. Murts was lucky to be alive.
Sash wasn’t finished. ‘His head whipped all over the place, often connecting with the wooden fence rails. His legs took some hits as well.’
‘So we’re looking at internal injuries, possibly broken ribs and a punctured lung, and brain injuries.’
‘Could be bleeding out internally, too.’ Sasha began counting Murts’s resp rate again.
‘I need to insert an artificial airway before he gets into that helicopter. I’m presuming there are the right drugs in that ambulance so that I can do an RSI?’