Just Perfect (17 page)

Christine opened her pack to check what supplies she’d been given as Alec questioned Jenny. “Who are we looking for? Where were they when this hit?”

“Paul and Theresa’s husband, Ted. They were up higher. Over there.” She tried to point, but winced in pain.

Alec turned on a hand-sized tracker. “Are they wearing transmitters?”

“Ted is. Paul forgot to pack ours.”

Alec let out a rare curse and stood. “Okay, Buddy, are you ready, boy?” His voice turned bright and playful. “You wanna go to work?” Buddy barked and quivered with joy. “Okay,
search
!”

The dog took off in the direction Alec pointed. Alec followed, carrying a shovel and metal rods to probe the ice.

“Where are you hurt?” Christine asked Jenny, doing a quick visual assessment. The patient looked about mid-thirties, dark hair, fair skin, slightly overweight, but in overall good health.

“Everywhere,” Jenny choked out. “My shoulder mostly.”

Christine felt inside the parka and found a broken collarbone. The arm clutched to the woman’s chest had a possible radial or ulna fracture. No acute abdominal pain to suggest internal damage. The only other injury was a badly wrenched knee. Nothing life threatening, and nothing that couldn’t wait.

“You’re going to be fine,” Christine assured her and draped a blanket over her shoulders. “Just keep still while we help your friend, okay?”

Jenny nodded, crying softly.

Christine shifted so she could take over for Brian, who was holding Theresa’s head steady while Eric dug.

“I’ll go help Hunter,” Brian said, and took off with a shovel.

Looking down into the battered face, Christine cringed in empathy. This woman hadn’t been as lucky as her friend. Definite head and probable neck trauma, and no telling how many broken bones and internal injuries they’d find. But she was breathing, and she had a pulse.

“Is Theresa okay?” Jenny stared at her friend.

Christine summoned a calm smile. “A life flight’s on the way. We’ll have her to a hospital in no time.”

“I can’t believe this happened,” Jenny sniffed. “Paul and Ted can be so stupid when they’re drinking. They kept making runs straight up the slope to see who could leave the highest mark. They know how dangerous that is. I asked them to stop, and when they ignored me, I decided to leave.

“I was nearly to the trees when I heard Theresa coming after me, to leave as well or ask me to stay, I don’t know. Before she reached me, I heard this rumble. Then everything went crazy. The whole mountain just… gave way. It happened so fast! One second Paul and Ted were there, and then—and then—this wall of snow crashed into them and headed straight for us. We tried to get out of the way, but it swallowed Theresa, then knocked me into the trees.

“When it stopped, I saw Theresa’s arm sticking out, and managed to uncover her face and call for help.” She looked around. “I don’t see my husband, though. I don’t see him! Why were they being such jerks? I swear to God, if he’s dead, I’m going to kill him!” Realizing what she’d said, she burst into fresh sobs.

Several yards away, Buddy barked. Christine glanced up to see the dog digging frantically. Alec and Brian joined in with shovels.

“Oh God!” Jenny started to rise. “Who did they find? Is it Paul? Is he alive?”

“Wait!” Christine grabbed her good arm. “Stay still. I don’t want you moving around until I’ve examined you better.”

“Good dog!” Alec’s voice carried over the snow. “Let’s find another. Come on, Buddy,
search
!”

Buddy set off on his quest, tail wagging, his vest bright red against the snow. Brian stayed behind digging out whomever they’d found.

The thumping of a helicopter sounded overhead. Christine looked up to see a life flight zooming over the treetops. This was getting to be a daily occurrence, she thought. The instant they landed, the medical crew rushed out to help, one man coming toward her, the other heading for Brian.

“Hey, you again,” the EMT said, smiling at Christine. “What’d‘ya have for us this time?”

Christine listed what she knew about Theresa’s condition. Within minutes, they had Theresa on a spine board with oxygen and an IV going.

“At this altitude, we can take only one or two at a time,” the EMT said. “Hunter called for another life flight, though, so it’s on its way.”

“Then he’s alive?” Christine nodded toward the man Brian was digging out.

“Yes.”

“Oh, thank God,” Jenny wept.

“Okay.” Christine considered Theresa’s condition. “See how close they are to having him ready to go and how critical his condition is. If it’s going to take more than five minutes, or he’s fairly stable, go with this one.”

“Got it. What about her?” He nodded to Jenny.

“I need to set her shoulder, so she can wait for the second chopper. This one needs to go now, though.”

While the men carried Theresa to the helicopter, Christine turned back to Jenny.

“Let’s take another look at you.” Digging through the backpack, she found everything she needed and gave thanks that Alec knew his stuff. She was setting Jenny’s shoulder when the life flight took off, which was either good news on the other victim’s condition, or they were having trouble digging him out. She looked over, watching Brian and Eric work at a slow, careful pace.
Please, God, don’t let that mean they’re dealing with a broken spine
.

The second life flight appeared. Like before, the crew rushed out to help.

“Can she walk?” the EMT asked when he reached her.

“Not on that knee.” Christine finished securing the splint on the forearm. “When you reach the hospital, make sure she goes straight to X-ray.”

“Will do.” He knelt and lifted Jenny in his arms.

“Wait,” Jenny protested when they headed for the helicopter. “Take me over there. I need to see if that’s my husband.”

Christine tried to calm her. There was no way she would let this woman see what was over there until she’d seen it herself. “We need you to wait in the helicopter.”

“No!” the woman protested louder as the EMT carried her away.

Christine gathered the medical gear and went to join Brian and Eric and the other EMT. They already had the man on a spine board. Brian shifted aside to give her room. The victim, who was conscious but disoriented, looked like he’d been dumped from the back of a cement mixer, his face a bloody, pummelled mess.

“What do we have?” She checked the eyes and pulse, worry mounting.

While the EMT listed the injuries, which included a possible broken spine and dangerously low responsiveness, Christine wondered if this were Ted or Paul. The EMT finished by saying he’d alerted the hospital to have a surgeon waiting in the OR.

If the patient made it that far. “I’m a doctor. Is there any way I can ride in with you?”

“At this altitude?” The EMT shook his head. “Not unless the other patient stays behind.”

“What about the other man?” She looked around and saw Alec and Buddy searching at the far edge of the avalanche field. She could clearly see the definition between the solidified snow and the loose powder surrounding it. How pretty this slope must have been when Jenny and the others arrived. Clear blue sky, fresh snow. A snowmobiler’s dream. Add alcohol and stupidity and it turns into a nightmare. “Any sign of him?”

“Not yet.” Brian checked his watch and let out a string of curses.

“What?” Christine asked, alarmed by his distress.

“The dude’s a goner.” Brian kept working. “Goddamn it!”

“Are you sure?” Christine asked.

Brian nodded. “Even if he survived the impact, and avoided slamming into a boulder or a tree, too much time has elapsed. Unless he got lucky and fell into an air pocket.”

“That can happen, though, right?”

“Sometimes.” Brian looked up at her with eyes that had seen too many lifeless bodies for someone so young. “Chances are, he suffocated about ten minutes ago.”

The news squeezed Christine’s chest. Did losing patients ever get easier? She hadn’t even met this one, but either Jenny or Theresa had just lost a husband.

“Okay, we’re ready,” the EMT announced. “Let’s take this slow.”

Brian and Eric nodded, and on the count of three, they lifted the stokes basket. Christine followed beside them, fighting frustration. Normally she’d be charging beside this man’s stretcher toward the OR, snapping out orders. On the side of a mountain, though, there was nothing she could do that hadn’t already been done.

“Is it Paul?” Jenny called from inside the helicopter as they loaded the basket. Seeing the man’s battered face, she burst into tears.

“Is it?” Christine asked her.

“No!” Jenny sobbed uncontrollably. “It’s Ted! Is he alive?”

“He is.”
For now
, Christine thought, praying he remained that way. If he made it to the hospital, she gave him about a fifty-fifty chance.

“Where’s Paul?” Jenny asked. “Have they found him?”

“They’re still looking,” Christine told her, refusing to repeat what Brian had said. Jenny’s husband could still be alive.

Brian and Eric went back to gather their supplies and resume the search.

The pilot leaned back, calling to the medical crew as they worked on Ted. “Are we ready?”

“Almost,” one of the EMTs answered, then looked at Christine. “Stand clear!”

“Wait!” Jenny shouted. “Not without my husband. Please—” The door closed on her words. An EMT took Jenny in his arms, where she collapsed against him, crying.

Christine stepped back, aching for Jenny as the helo lifted off. When it vanished over the trees, Alec joined her.

“Any sign of Paul?” she asked.

He shook his head. One look in his eyes told her he believed the same thing Brian did.

Dammit
! Christine struggled to maintain profes sional detachment and failed. Being a doctor didn’t make her immune to emotion, and premature death was the enemy she spent her life trying to beat back.

In the absence of the helo, the wind became more pronounced. It held a vicious bite as it blew across the ice. Buddy whined, pressing his body up against Alec’s leg.

“I know, boy.” Alec patted the dog’s head, averting his eyes from Christine. “He thinks he failed.”

Her heart clutched as she realized Alec was talking about himself as well. “He didn’t, though. He found one of the buried men alive.”

“Yeah.” He continued petting Buddy. “This is usually when someone says three out of four’s not bad.”

She nodded in understanding. “Four out of four would be better.”

He turned away and stood with his back to her, scanning the field as the wind battered his parka. “Four out of four would be a lot better.”

She wrapped her arms around him from behind and pressed her cheek between his shoulder blades.

“Why wasn’t he wearing a transmitter?” Alec demanded in a burst of anger. “If he’d forgotten to pack them, he should have rented some.”

“Alec, no.” She moved around in front of him and took his face in her hands. “Don’t play the ‘if only’ game, because you’ll start with ‘if only he’d done this,’ and end with ‘if only I’d done that.’ Don’t do this to yourself.”

“You’re right.” He exhaled in a rush. “I know this. Heck, I give this speech to the volunteers all the time. It still… you know.”

“Yes, I know.” She sighed in empathy. “So now what?”

The thumping of helicopter blades drew her attention skyward in time to see Kreiger returning.

“Now,” Alec sighed, “we switch from rescue mode to search mode.”