Winds of Fortune (35 page)

Nelson grimaced. “I’m not sure we can do that. Route 6 is pretty much underwater.”

Tory shook her head. “I don’t care if you have to pull a boat out of the harbor. If I have injured that need transport, I want them transported.”

“Trouble?” KT asked, her demeanor nonchalant but her eyes sharp and intent.

“What’s going on?” Nita looked from Tory to KT, her expression turning to alarm.

“We have incoming,” Tory said, hurrying towards the treatment area. “Nelson, get some people to clear a path through the lobby up to here. And ask Sally to come up.”

“I’m on it,” he said.

“KT,” Tory said, automatically assuming the role of team leader. It was her town, her clinic, her call. “You’re the trauma surgeon. You’ll get the most serious. Sally, Nita, and I will take the others. If you need help, call me.”

“Pia can give me a hand,” KT pointed out. “She’s an excellent assistant.”

“All right, fine.” Tory surveyed the corner of the room where they had piled their emergency medical supplies and instruments. “Hell, we don’t even have treatment tables. Keep the patients on the gurneys they come in on and treat them there.”

“This reminds me of operating in Southeast Asia when I was a resident and I did that charity tour,” KT said, her eyes bright with adrenaline and anticipation. “Remember, Vic? I told you we had to work with flashlights when the generators went out.”

“Hopefully we’re a little better off than that,” Tory muttered, but she wasn’t entirely certain that was true. Her worst fear was that they’d have serious injuries they wouldn’t be able to handle with their limited resources. She met KT’s gaze. “We could be in trouble here.”

KT swept a hand down Tory’s arm and squeezed her fingers. “Don’t worry. I’ve got your back.”

“Thanks.”

“I’d better get Pia and set up.”

Tory watched KT amble away as if she had all the time in the world. She knew that blasé manner was a practiced disguise perpetrated to instill calm in others. KT was already mentally planning, organizing, and executing any number of potential emergency scenarios in her head, and as soon as she saw her patient, every action would be choreographed with deliberation and certainty. Tory trusted Nita’s competence, but she depended on KT in a far more personal way.

“Nita,” Tory said, refocusing. “You triage—your ER training’s more recent than mine.”

“Got it,” Nita said, grabbing several packs of sterile gloves and tucking them into the waistband of her jeans.

“Let’s hope we don’t need blood,” Tory said. “We’ll have to make do with—”

“Here they come,” Nita announced as the loud thud of the heavy front doors banging open followed by a rising jumble of voices signaled the arrival of the paramedics with their casualties.

Nita leaned over the balcony and tracked the progression of the emergency teams across the lobby and up the stairs. Three grimy firefighters and a paramedic maneuvered a stretcher up the stairs with surprising speed. Behind them, paramedics and police officers guided several more walking wounded. At the top of the stairs, Tory directed the stretcher bearers toward KT. Nita focused on the other injured still slowly making their way up. Her stomach sank when she recognized Joey Torres leaning on Bri Parker for support. His face was streaked with soot and blood, and his clothes were soaked. Then she picked out the brunette officer, Allie, with another injured fireman.

Why wasn’t Deo with Joey? Anxiously, Nita scanned the crowd again. Deo wasn’t there. Deo wasn’t anywhere she searched.

Fighting a wave of dizziness, Nita pushed her way to the stretcher.

“Oh no,” she whispered.

Blood seeped down Deo’s forehead and angry red blisters covered the left side of her neck. Burns. Sandbags cushioned Deo’s head. Head injury?

“What happened?” Nita demanded, struggling for calm. She wanted to shove everyone out of the way so she could touch Deo, just touch her. “Where else is she hurt?”

“Put her over here, guys,” KT directed. “Let’s have a look.”

“Deo,” Nita said, as if expecting Deo to answer. “Deo, sweetheart?”

Pia pushed into the crowd. “Deo? Oh my God.”

“Baby,” KT said to Pia, blocking her view of her cousin on the stretcher, “let me take care of her. You go help the others.”

Nita tried to edge around KT to get to Deo, but a hand on her arm held her back.

“Let KT work, Nita,” Tory said. “She’ll take care of her.”

Nita spun away. “I won’t get in the way. I just need to—”

Pia caught Nita’s arm. “Tory’s right, honey. Come on. Joey’s over here. He needs your help.”

“Joey.” Nita took a breath and the part of her that functioned despite her own anguish and fear clicked on. Her mind cleared. “Yes. Of course.” She looked to Tory. “You’ll let me know as soon as I can see her?”

“I’ll make sure you’re notified as soon as KT gives the word,” Tory said.

Squaring her shoulders, Nita forced herself to turn her back on the scene of KT working on Deo’s still form. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done in her life. She fisted her hands, hoping to stop the trembling before she reached Joey. Pia was already with him, kneeling in front of the chair where he slumped, a bloody gauze pressed to his cheek.

“What happened?” Nita asked as she pulled on gloves. She glanced at the clipboard by his feet. His blood pressure was a little bit low, but Sally hadn’t noted anything urgent.

Joey shivered and his eyes glistened with tears. “Oh man, I fucked up. How’s Deo? Is she hurt bad?”

“KT is looking after her right now,” Nita replied, her voice sounding strangely flat to her own ears. Funny, her whole body was numb, but she knew exactly what she had to do for Joey. “Let’s take care of you. Tell me how you got hurt.”

“The building…part of the roof…it was on fire and it fell.”

Nita placed her index finger on the radial side of his wrist. His pulse was thready and fast. If he wasn’t young and healthy, he’d probably be in shock. “Pia, would you get him a blanket. He’s wet and cold.”

“I’ll be right back, Joey, sweetie,” Pia said, rising quickly.

“Deo pushed me out of the way,” Joey continued miserably. “I didn’t see it falling, and she pushed me out of the way.” Tears ran down his face. “Something hit her and she fell and I…oh, fuck, it’s all my fault.”

“It’s okay. Let me see your face,” Nita requested abruptly. She couldn’t hear any more about Deo if she hoped to be able to work.

The laceration on his cheek was long, but not too deep.

“Are you hurt anywhere else? What about your hand? Did you re-injure it?”

Joey stared down into his lap. His splint was wet and sandy but intact.

“It’s okay. I didn’t fall on it.” He turned anguished eyes to Nita. “Can I see her? Can I please see her?”

“In a little while.” Nita straightened and her vision dimmed. For a second, she thought she might faint, and then she felt a steadying hand on her elbow.

“Hey,” Reese said gently. “Nita, are you all right?”

“Yes. Yes, thanks.” Nita took in the white bandage wrapped around Reese’s left hand. “You’d better let me look at that.”

Reese followed her gaze, then shrugged. “It’s nothing much. A few burns.”

“She pulled Deo out from under the stuff that was on fire,” Joey announced. “She saved her.”

“Then I owe you thanks,” Nita said. “More than I can say.”

“No you don’t,” Reese said. She scanned the area, her gaze landing on the activity around the stretcher. “How is she?”

“I don’t know yet.” Nita couldn’t think about what was happening behind her. She couldn’t think about Deo lying so still, blood on her face. She couldn’t. “Is there anyone else injured?”

Reese shook her head. “Just bumps and bruises. Nothing major.”

“You need that hand looked at,” Nita repeated.

“I’ll have Tory do it,” Reese said. “I want to let her know I’m okay.”

“Yes. Yes, you should do that. Go find her.”

“Nita, you okay?” Reese peered at her with concern.

“Yes. Fine. Go ahead. Tory needs to see you.”

Reese hesitated, then stepped away as Pia returned with a blanket and wrapped it around Joey’s shoulders.

“Can you irrigate out that laceration on his cheek,” Nita asked, “and steri-strip it closed. I don’t think he’ll need sutures.”

“Sure. I’ll change that splint too.” Pia gripped Nita’s arm. “Why don’t you go see what’s happening with Deo. Maybe KT can give you an update now.”

“Thank you. I’ll do that.”

Nita didn’t recognize herself. She’d been in the midst of more medical emergencies than she could count. She’d taken care of the young and the old, victims of horrifying car crashes and brutal assaults and senseless accidents. She’d handled it all, calmly, even remotely. And now, she was terrified. The very thought of Deo being hurt left her disoriented, as if she were cast out to sea, far from land with no idea which direction led to safety.

She had to get to her.

The chaos around Deo had settled down to a controlled flurry of activity, and Nita was able to get close enough to see her. She wasn’t awake, but her eyes moved restlessly beneath closed lids. A white sterile cloth with a hole in the middle covered her stomach, and just as Nita looked down, KT made a two-inch vertical incision below Deo’s belly button.

“Is she bleeding internally?” Nita felt an icy hand grip her heart.

“Don’t know,” KT responded without looking away from what she was doing. “Her blood pressure’s been a little bit up and down, and I want to make sure nothing is going on inside. We can’t rely on X-rays or CT, since we don’t have any.” She tossed Nita a grin. “So we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way and look.”

“What about her head?” Nita asked.

“She’s got a good bump on her temple.”

As KT talked, she slid a clear plastic IV tube into Deo’s abdomen through the incision she’d made, and Sally hooked up an IV bag to the other end. The clear fluid ran into Deo’s abdomen. Nita knew that in a few minutes, they would lower the IV bag and let the fluid run out. If it was clear, there was a good chance there was no internal injury. If Deo was bleeding inside, it would be pink or red. If that happened, Deo might very well die there, because as good as KT was, she couldn’t operate in the middle of Town Hall.

“The scalp laceration’s no big deal,” KT went on. “Her pupils look fine. With luck, it’s just a concussion. Reflexes are normal, so I think her neck’s okay, too.”

“Thank God.”

“You want to assist here?” KT asked.

“I’ll get Tory if you need help,” Nita said, her legs suddenly weak. “I can’t. I…she’s…we’re lovers.”

“Hell, Nita, why didn’t you say something.” KT shook her head. “I’m okay here. You should go sit down until I can fill you in the right way.”

“I’d rather stay.”

“Okay, then pull up a chair and hold her hand.”

“What?”

“Hold her hand. It will be good for her, and it’ll be good for you.”

“I might be needed if we have more injured.”

“If Tory needs you, she’ll let you know.” KT deftly inserted a series of sutures closing the incision in Deo’s abdomen. “Right now, just be her lover.”

“Yes.” Nita reached for an unoccupied chair and pulled it close. She sat down and took Deo’s hand. It was cool and still. She held it to her cheek. “That’s just exactly what I want to do.”

Tory assured herself that KT had things under control with Deo and that none of the firefighters or paramedics were suffering from smoke inhalation or other life-threatening problems. Then she went in search of her lover.

“Nelson,” Tory said sharply, coming upon Reese and Nelson in a huddle at the perimeter of the activity. “You’re supposed to be sitting down monitoring communications. Not briefing with your officers.”

“I was just—” Nelson began.

“And you,” Tory said, grasping Reese’s sleeve, “require medical attention. Now. I don’t have time to go through our usual song and dance about this.”

Reese took one look at Tory and said, “Chief, I’ll check in with you later.”

Nelson’s eyebrows rose, but he merely nodded and hastily made himself scarce.

“Sit down right here, darling,” Tory said more quietly, guiding Reese to a wooden folding chair. Her initial relief at having seen Reese walking in under her own power had given way to alarm when she’d seen the smudged bandage carelessly wrapped around her hand and forearm.

“How are you doing?” Reese asked, obediently sitting.

“I’m not the one who’s injured.” Tory pulled on gloves and carefully removed the gauze. “How did this happen?”

When Reese hesitated, Tory pulled off her gloves, squatted down in front of her, and braced her hands on Reese’s thighs. Looking up into her face, she said gently, “I already know that you’re all right. I won’t be frightened by hearing how you got hurt. It’s important for me to know. I’m your lover.”

Reese brushed her fingers over Tory’s cheek. “I keep wanting to protect you, but I can’t, can I?”

“You do protect me.” Tory smiled wearily. “But not the way you think. I don’t want to be protected from the truth, especially not when it’s your truth. But you shelter my heart, and that makes me strong. That’s the gift you give me.”