One Night To Wed

He raised his head and gave a curt nod, as though responding to an unseen message from someone else.

‘OK,’ he whispered, removing his finger. ‘We’re covered. But keep very still, Fliss, and speak very quietly.’

She simply nodded, still trying to take in the fact that Angus was here. It hadn’t felt exactly like protection, though, had it? Being tackled like that and hurled to the ground.

‘I thought you were him,’ she whispered, a long moment later. ‘That you were going to kill me.’

A gleam in the dark face showed as Angus smiled. ‘Same.’ His head moved as he scanned the woman he was still lying half on top of. ‘Are you hurt, Fliss?’

‘No. I’m fine. Just…scared.’

‘I know.’ Angus was still staring at her. ‘Why are you dressed like this?’

‘It was Jack’s idea.’

‘Jack? Who the hell is Jack?’

Fliss could feel something remarkably like a smile gathering somewhere deep inside her. Despite this conversation being rapid-fire and quiet enough to be almost inaudible, she could detect something that sounded astonishingly like jealousy in that question.

Did Angus still care?

He clearly cared enough to want to protect her and that was enough for the moment. He was still shielding her body with his own and Fliss couldn’t help her awareness of the familiar feel of his long legs over hers. Of his lower body in close contact with her own. It imparted a sense of security that was so incongruous to the setting it was confusing. And perhaps it was that odd sense of security that allowed something in Fliss to respond so acutely to hearing that soft lilt underlying the deep voice. To remember things that gave her a tingling down her spine that had far more to do with excitement than fear.

‘He’s a patient,’ Fliss murmured. ‘I was at his house when this started. We’re trying to get back to my surgery.’

She could feel the new tension in Angus’s body as his level of alertness suddenly increased.

‘Where is he now?’

‘He went a different way. There’s a little boy who might be hurt.’

The low moan from nearby reminded Fliss of a more urgent mission. Of someone who was definitely hurt.

‘There’s someone here!’ Fliss couldn’t stop her voice getting louder. ‘I was trying to get to her when you attacked me.’

‘I was heading for her myself,’ Angus responded. ‘And then I spotted you.’ He rolled sideways and Fliss sat up. Angus pulled her flat again instantly.

‘Wait,’ he commanded. ‘I’ll go first.’ He raised his hand and made some sort of signal.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Letting Seth know what the plan is. We don’t use our radios unless we have to.’

‘Seth?’

‘My partner. He’s armed and close. He’s going to cover me while I check out that woman.’

Fliss stared around her but could see nothing. Then she stared harder. A pinprick of red light showed behind a gravestone that was only a few metres away.

‘That light…?’

‘Sights on the gun.’

Good grief! Someone was pointing a weapon right at them at almost point-blank range and Fliss had had no idea he was even there. These guys were good at what they did and no mistake. She was quite happy to let Angus be the one to move and see what the situation was with the groaning woman.

The sound of distress grew louder a few seconds later.

‘It’s my leg,’ Fliss heard the woman say hoarsely. ‘I can’t move.’

‘Shh.’ Angus spoke too quietly for Fliss to catch any words but she could sense the reassurance in whatever he was saying. When the woman spoke again, she copied his inaudible volume.

Long seconds of silence followed and then a louder groan followed by an apology from his patient. Angus must be doing something that had increased her pain temporarily, Fliss thought. A rough splint, perhaps, or inserting an IV line.

She saw one of the dark shapes move and a moment later Angus was back beside her.

‘She’s been shot in the leg. It’s fractured her femur and there’s been heavy blood loss. I’ve got a dressing and pressure bandage on it and I’ve given her some pain relief, but she’s in shock. How far from your surgery are we?’

‘Not far.’ Fliss matched his whisper. ‘I was going to climb over the Carsons’ fence there to get to the street. My place is two houses down from there.’

‘I’m going to carry Maria.’

‘Maria?’ Fliss was shocked. ‘What was she doing here?’

‘Hiding, I expect. She’s not too big so I can carry her, but not over a fence.’

‘She’s pregnant,’ Fliss told him. ‘Thirty-six weeks.’

‘I did notice.’ Even the whisper sounded wry.

‘Her babies have come a bit earlier each time. This is number five.’

‘Definitely not over a fence, then.’

There was an undercurrent of amusement in the whisper now. And something else. A response to a challenge. Excitement, even.

‘I’m going to have a word with Seth. We might need some extra cover so we can go down the street.’

The consultation with the still unseen Seth took less than a minute. Then they waited for perhaps another ten minutes until they were given permission to carry out the planned rescue mission. Angus went back to Maria but Fliss was ordered to stay where she was for the moment. It was a long time to sit in silence, knowing that every minute could represent a deterioration in their patient’s condition.

She needs oxygen, Fliss thought. And fluids. Being in shock would be a danger to the baby whose survival depended on the oxygen supply it received from its mother’s blood.

Maria adored her children and after four girls she was convinced that a longed-for boy was due to arrive. Fliss had visited their alternative lifestyle block where they grew most of their own food and home-schooled their children. She had envied the contentment and solidarity of the self-sufficient family. She couldn’t let anything horrible happen to Maria or the baby.

The wave of anger towards the perpetrator of this violence shouldn’t have come as such a surprise to Fliss. It was people like that who shattered the lives of innocent people, including children.

The way hers had been shattered all those years ago. Sitting in the cemetery with the memories of her own losses made Fliss all too aware of what the repercussions of random acts of violence like this could be. The effects could be so far-reaching they could interfere with the rest of your life. They could put what you wanted more than anything out of reach. Could undermine and destroy relationships.

As hers had been.