Encounter with a Commanding Officer

Behind a desk wasn’t where he functioned best. All his career he had experienced the adrenalin kick, the fear, the buzz, and he’d been in control.

Now, as galling as it was to admit, he felt lost.

Suddenly, the heli filled with dust as it dropped, the rotor blades churning up the ground covering and drawing it into the back on the air currents, blinding them all. Ash buried his nose into his combat jacket like a filter so that he could breathe. And then they landed, rough and abrupt, and the dust was sucked quickly instantly out, leaving the aircraft clear again.

It took everything Ash had to fight his instinct to jump out of the back ahead of his QRF to help secure the area around the heli, safe zone or not. As two of his men secured the rear, where soldiers were already running across the open ground carrying a litter-bound casualty, the other two men leapt up to man the ramp-mounted and side-mounted machine guns respectively. They were smooth and slick and Ash nodded to himself in satisfaction. It was what he’d expected, but still, it was good to see.

‘RTA on the Main Supply Route,’ the young team medic for the soldiers’ unit rushed ahead to the heli to brief the MERT, yelling over the din. ‘Local guy driving a flatbed truck across the bridge running perpendicular above us when he suffered a tyre blow out and lost control. Nothing he could do, his truck jack-knifed and he crashed through the barrier and landed on our convoy. We’ve got three casualties.’

Even as he finished, the soldiers had already reached them with the first casualty and the Major and her team efficiently hauled the litter on board and began their medical care. Just behind, two soldiers were helping the injured local man to hobble to the heli, an open fracture to one arm and clearly shaken. Walking wounded, that was always preferable. The teams would settle him in a seat and then pass him on to the camp hospital for care. But, even from across the helicopter, Ash could see that the first victim had significant crush injuries. He wasn’t a doctor but Ash had enough experience to know. All vital signs were absent and, to all intents and purposes, the soldier was gone. But it wasn’t the MERT’s place to call time of death; they didn’t have the authority. That could only be done when they returned to Camp Razorwire and a team from the hospital came out.

Not that you’d know it from the Major’s poker face; there was no sign of defeat in her expression, nothing to knock the morale of the soldiers on the ground, who wanted her to save the life of their buddy. Instead the MERT were doing their job and starting care, the Major already checking the casualty’s airway and giving oxygen as the team began cardiopulmonary resuscitation. It meant a lot out here, in the middle of vast nothingness. Back on the front line, it would have been exactly the kind of mental boost the guys would need. A reluctant admiration sparked in Ash.

Suddenly, a movement in his peripheral caught Ash’s attention. A third team carrying a casualty, stretcher-bound like the first, was rounding the bend approximately one hundred metres away. Even from that distance there was evidence of heavy blood loss but what worried Ash more was the long metal rod protruding from the casualty’s abdomen. There was no way they would be able to get the soldier onto the heli like that.

In an instant, Ash had sprung out from his corner and jumped off the ramp to dart, body low against the downdraught of the rotors, across the open ground. There was definitely a sandstorm coming in; he’d spent enough time out in the field to be able to sense it before almost anyone else. Reaching the litter, he was relieved to find the casualty on his side, delirious but mercifully still alive.

‘Set him down gently, lads,’ Ash commanded quietly but firmly enough to counter their resistance out of loyalty to their friend. ‘He’s not going to get on board like that.’

Ash watched as, for a split second, understandable desperation to get their buddy to the heli warred with following a senior officer’s instruction. It was only when he heard the voice over his shoulder that he realised the Major had followed right behind him carrying an emergency kit bag.

‘The Colonel’s right, lads. I need to check your buddy out first and we’ll go from there.’

Pushing briskly through, the Major settled next to the litter and pushed lightly to encourage the soldiers to set it down on the level ground.

‘What’s his name?’ she asked.

‘Hollings.’

‘Corporal Hollings.’

‘Okay—’ she nodded, checking the lad’s vital signs ‘—and his first name?’

‘Oh, right. It’s Andy.’

‘Andy, can you hear me? You’ve got the MERT here now; we’re just going to get you ready for transport, okay?’

Ash watched as she began to administer oxygen, all the while calming the other soldiers and creating some space around them.

‘We’re going to need to cut the rod down to a more manageable size prior to transport.’ She lifted her head to look directly at him. They both knew the MERT wouldn’t be able to wait.

Quickly, Ash dropped down until they were close enough to murmur without broadcasting. ‘There’s a sandstorm coming in.’

‘We need to get him out of here as quickly as we can.’

‘I’ll handle it. How long do you need?’

‘Longer than we’ve got,’ she muttered grimly. ‘Radial pulse is weak, thready. He’s not moving air around and there’s pressure in the pleural space. I can carry out a needle decompression but it’s only a temporary measure. All the good kit is on the heli. Because of the location of the rod I can’t get him into a supine position. And that’s without knowing for sure what damage he might have caused internally.’

With a curt nod, Ash raced back to the heli to relay the information, telling them to leave now but to call in the other MERT. At least that way it would have the wait time. The Major had better be able to do what was necessary in that window. Once the storm closed in the helis wouldn’t be able to fly and travelling by road would take too long.

He had to admit, though, that he’d seen a lot of good trauma doctors in his time, but the Major had something extra about her, an edge, which he couldn’t help but respect.

‘Any sheltered locations around here?’ Ash demanded as he ran back to the casualty, which the Major had already moved further back in anticipation of the dust cloud the departing helicopter would raise.

‘There’s a couple of abandoned buildings about half a click away, but they’re boarded up. We’ll have to bust a way in.’

With any luck the MERT would be back before the sandstorm hit. But if they were unlucky, they were going to need a decent place to wait it out, especially with the casualty.

‘Grab any kit we might need and show me,’ Ash commanded one of the soldiers.

‘Okay, when we cut the rod the vibration could cause more internal damage, so you and you hold it absolutely steady,’ she was instructing firmly, calmly, ensuring everyone knew their role whilst still efficiently moving along the task. ‘And you cut right here, understand?’

‘Ma’am.’

Ash was quickly getting the impression that, once this was all over, he was going to owe the Major something of an apology.

CHAPTER THREE (#u483d267d-44cf-59a4-a4b7-21b2f37d13b0)

‘MAJOR.’ ASH STEPPED to one side in the corridor as the team filed out of the briefing room several hours later. ‘A word.’

‘Colonel?’

‘I wanted to say that was nice work this morning.’

She eyed him carefully, the corners of her mouth twitching before glancing around to ensure everyone had left.

‘Is that your idea of an apology?’

She was teasing him?

Something wound around Ash’s gut. Hot, raw. It pulled tight.

He fought it. Drew in a sharp breath.

‘No, it’s my idea of an acknowledgement. If you hadn’t leapt off the heli like that, prepared to be left in the middle of nowhere, Corporal Hollings would probably never have made it back here alive. Good work.’

‘He also might not have made it if you hadn’t secured that compound the way you did. We all played a part in that success,’ she breathed.

‘Well...’ His voice was huskier than usual and Ash consoled himself with the fact that she didn’t know him well enough to know that.

He silenced the voice that whispered it was a shame she didn’t know him well enough to know that.

‘So is that really what you stopped me out here to tell me?’

She held his gaze unwaveringly, drawing him inexorably down into those seductive and all too perceptive depths. He couldn’t recall if he’d ever wanted any woman quite as much as he wanted her. He kept trying to tell himself that it was just the shared experience out there which had bonded them in a way which wouldn’t otherwise have happened. It was hardly surprising. A few hours in such a hostile environment allowed you to see facets of a person it might otherwise take years to unearth.

He knew it was more than that. The chemistry had been palpable from the moment they’d met. It was what had caused him to react so strongly back in her CO’s office. Had he really thought that attacking her the way he had instead of getting her side of the story would prove that he hadn’t been standing there imagining what it would be like to have been in that office alone and claimed her as though they were teenagers behind the back of the school gym, instead of professional, responsible army officers?