Saving Maddie's Baby

‘Hettie’s called the mining authorities in Cairns. We need expertise. They’re sending engineers and equipment now.’

From Cairns. It’d take hours.

Maddie was down there.

Keanu was adjusting a drip, watching the guy’s breathing like an eagle watched a mouse. A tiny thing, the rise and fall of a chest, but so important. ‘So you’re the ex-husband,’ he managed.

‘Yeah.’

‘Yeah, well, we all love Maddie, but she’s in there now and it’s up to the experts to get her out. Meanwhile, sorry, mate, but there’s more work here than we can handle. We’re still trying to stabilise. We have a suspected ruptured spleen, a guy with an arm so crushed he might lose it, a fractured leg with shock and breathing problems and more. Could you look at the spleen for me?’

And somehow Josh had to stop thinking of Maddie underground, Maddie trapped, Maddie deep in a mine where there’d already been two major rockfalls. He needed to focus on the here and now.

Triage …

He headed across to the guy with the suspected ruptured spleen. As long as he wasn’t going into shock—which he could be if the rupture was significant—then the arm was the first priority. If he could save it.

Four underground. Including Maddie.

‘Who’s the mine manager?’ he snapped, asking it not of Keanu, who was committed to the patient under his hands, but of the miners in general.

‘Ian Lockhart,’ one of the men ventured. ‘At least, he’s supposed to be in charge but he lit out when the debt collectors started sniffing around.’

‘Was he in charge of day-to-day running of the mine?’

‘That used to be Pete Blake. Max Lockhart owns the island but he’s never here. He put Pete in charge but Ian reckoned he knew it all. He sacked Pete last year and took over the day-to-day stuff himself. Reuben Alaki’s acting supervisor now but …’ He hesitated and his voice cracked. ‘Reuben’s one of the guys stuck down there.’

‘Is Pete still on the island?’

‘He’ll probably be out fishing.’

‘Get him,’ Josh snapped. ‘Use one of the island choppers to bring him here—do an air drop.’

‘What, pluck him off his boat and drop him here?’

‘Exactly,’ Josh snapped. ‘We need expertise now.’ He bent over the guy with the fractured arm. Compound. Messy. ‘Okay, mate, let’s get you assessed and see if we can do something for the pain. Meanwhile let’s get things moving to get your mates out from underground.’

And then a nose wedged its way under his arm and he almost froze with shock. It was a great, bounding golden retriever.

Bugsy.

It was so long since he’d seen the dog it was all he could do not to shed a few tears into his shaggy coat. The big dog recognised him. That was amazing all by itself.

He’d given Bugsy to Maddie after their honeymoon, just before he’d gone back to work. His job was search and rescue. He spent days at a time in remote places, coping with emergencies like this one.

He’d been aware just how alone Maddie had been—that was one of the reasons he’d married her. Puppy Bugsy had been a great idea. He’d been their one constant when things had fallen apart, but when things had really fallen apart it had been logical that Maddie take him.