Flight to Coorah Creek Read online

  ‘All right,’ he said, after giving the girl a pain killing injection. ‘You’re going to be fine. We have to get you to hospital so I can set that arm.’

  The ashen-faced girl nodded. Both her hands were bandaged, but that didn’t stop Lachlan cradling one of them in his own battered hands.

  ‘It’s a long ride, but we’ll make you as comfortable as we can in the back of the Jeep.’

  ‘I want to stay with her,’ Lachlan said firmly, as if expecting an argument.

  ‘That’s fine,’ Adam said. ‘You can ride in the back together.’

  The Jeep’s rear had been modified to take a stretcher and there was room for a passenger to ride with the patient. Lachlan took that seat. After making sure both his patients were fine, Adam climbed into the front beside Jack and they set out on the long haul back to town. In the rear-view mirror, Adam saw the park ranger lift one arm in farewell, as he was lost in the dust kicked up by their swift departure.

  They rode in silence for a while. The road out of the national park was graded dirt and very rough. Despite Jack’s best efforts, all of them were jostled about, and from time to time Andrea cried out in pain. Adam glanced back. His patients seemed to be coping. He couldn’t give Andrea any more painkillers yet. Lachlan just sat and stared into the girl’s face, as if his salvation lay there. Every now and then she smiled up at him, seeming to take some strength from his presence.

  ‘This is a bit unlike you, Doc,’ Jack said, as they pulled off the rough dirt park road onto the smoother surface of the highway leading back to town.

  ‘What is?’

  ‘Riding up front. You’re usually in the back with the patient.’

  ‘They’re both going to be fine. They don’t need me there.’ Adam glanced back again at the young couple. ‘In fact, I think they are both better off this way.’

  ‘Really?’

  Adam looked at Jack, whose eyes were firmly glued on the road as he drove. Was Jack smirking?

  ‘Being together reduces their stress,’ Adam said defensively. ‘And that keeps their blood pressure down.’

  ‘Sure, Doc.’

  Jack was definitely smirking. ‘What’s got into you today, Jack?’

  ‘Nothing, Doc. I was just thinking how nice it is to see a couple of kids who care like that.’

  ‘If they took a bit more care, I wouldn’t be about to set a broken arm,’ Adam said tersely.

  Jack took no notice. Adam wasn’t entirely sure the man wasn’t humming softly to himself as he drove. Jack was certainly cheerful these days. Adam wasn’t blind. He’d noticed how often Jack seemed to be at The Mineside of late. He’d noticed how Ellen seemed to almost blush whenever Jack was around, not to mention the number of small repairs Jack seemed to find at the house where Ellen and her kids lived. Sister Luke didn’t need to send him there any more – he went for reasons of his own. Well, good luck to them both, Adam thought. It must be nice to feel like that.

  He couldn’t, of course. There would be no ‘bam’ moment for him. That chance had been lost to him a long time ago.

  They were entering Coorah Creek when Adam saw her. He’d turned around to reassure Andrea and Lachlan that they were just minutes from the hospital. When he turned back, there she was … just walking along the road towards them. She was wearing pale blue jeans and another of her seemingly inexhaustible supply of plain white tops. Her face was a little red from the heat, but her arms swung loosely at her side as she walked with that lovely long, free stride. There was something about the way she moved. Adam could watch her walk all day.

  Adam smiled, as he always did when he saw Jess. She turned at the sound of the vehicle.

  ‘Pull over,’ Adam told Jack. ‘I need to tell Jess we won’t need her this time.’

  Jack did as he was told, and Jess’s face creased in question as she drew near.

  ‘Do you need the plane?’ she asked.

  ‘No. I just wanted to let you know that everything is fine. We don’t need a transport.’

  Adam loved the relief that flashed across her face. It showed how much she cared. It was just another thing they had in common.

  He nodded to Jess as Jack slipped the vehicle back into gear. As they pulled away, Adam glanced in the rear-view mirror … and saw Jess looking after them. She was frowning. Adam wondered why. He instinctively wanted to wipe that frown away. He could do that. That was the great gift she had given him – that he could make her smile.

  And he understood now – that smile was for him.

  There was no ‘bam’ moment. The sudden pounding of his heart was something that had been creeping up on him for weeks. Since the day he’d run up those aircraft stairs and come face to face with a woman who was smart and sexy and just as strong and difficult as he was. It wasn’t just that she was beautiful … although she was. It wasn’t just the memory of her body lying soft and golden in the sunlight. It was watching the sunset together in silence. It was laughing together as they flew. It was desire and so much more. Jess knew about the scars on his back. She knew about his past. But when she looked at him, she just saw him. The man he was. And she looked at him just the same way that Andrea looked at Lachlan. Those kids shared a love strong enough to ease the pain of a shattered bone. What he and Jess shared was stronger than that. It was strong enough to wipe away his scars. Strong enough to wipe away whatever haunted Jess. He had been clinging to a slowly building hope. Hope had now become belief. And certainty.

  Adam started to hum along with Jack.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  There were clouds on the horizon when Adam emerged from the hospital. The air had that crisp electric feel that comes right before a storm. He could almost feel the hairs on his arm tingling. A storm was strange for this time of the year, but Adam wasn’t in the mood to question it. He was in a good mood. Since coming to Coorah Creek, he’d been content with his life. Now he was more than simply content. For the first time in a long, long time, he was happy. Actually happy.

  He’d set Andrea’s arm. The break was clean and the girl was going to heal just fine. He’d left the young couple getting settled into the room where they would both spend the night. Sister Luke was there to take care of them. As long as there were no other emergencies, he was free for the rest of the day. Please, he thought raising his eyes to the sky, can no one do anything stupid or dangerous for the next few hours.

  He glanced down at his watch and was surprised to find it was only midday. Could it be that he had been involved in the rescue, set a broken arm, treated a multitude of scrapes and bruises all in just a morning? He pursed his lips and tried to whistle. It sounded a bit strange – music was not his talent. But it sounded good all the same. He sounded like a happy man.

  He glanced towards Jessica’s house. She might be there – or she might be down at the airstrip with her aircraft. She just loved that plane. Either way, he had something to do before he went looking for her. He would stroll over to the pub and see if Syd or Trish had a nice bottle of wine they could let him have to share over dinner tonight. Maybe he could convince Ellen to cook something special. He was due to check on Steve and Nikki’s new baby later today. The one he and Jess had delivered together. Perhaps Jess would want to go with him. She seemed to like the baby and her young parents. Then if Steve still had flowers in his garden … Or would flowers be too much? It was a long time since Adam had … what was the word … courted a woman. He really wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do.

  He had a feeling, a hope at least, that Jess wouldn’t judge his efforts too harshly.

  He was halfway to the pub when the smile on his face suddenly faded.

  ‘Hello, Doc,’ John Hewitt said, as he drew near.

  ‘Hello.’ Adam was not at all pleased to see the journalist. He angled his steps to avoid the man, but John held up a hand to stop him.

 
‘Can you spare me a minute, Doc?’

  ‘Well, actually, I am on my way somewhere.’ Adam brushed past.

  ‘It’s about Jess,’ the voice behind him spoke the only words that would stop Adam in mid-stride.

  Adam took firm control of himself, and slowly turned to face the reporter. He didn’t like the look on Hewitt’s face.

  ‘I was wondering just how well you knew her.’

  Adam felt his gut clench. He didn’t know what was coming, but his intuition told him Hewitt was out to make trouble.

  ‘I know everything I need to know,’ Adam said firmly. He turned around and kept walking, hoping deep down inside that he could still avoid what was coming. He’d taken three steps when Hewitt spoke again.

  ‘So you do know about the drug smuggling?’

  Adam stopped. With every fibre of his being he wished he had never heard those words. He wished he could keep walking. But it was too late now. Slowly he turned to face the journalist. The look of triumph on the man’s face made Adam clench his hands into fists. The desire to hit the man was almost overwhelming. He’d always known that something haunted Jess. That she was keeping something secret from the people who had become her friends. From him. He’d thought it had something to do with a man. A past lover. But this? Drugs?

  No. Not Jess!

  ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said. ‘You’ve made some mistake.’

  ‘I’m not the one who is mistaken,’ Hewitt said, unable to hide the glee in his voice. ‘Didn’t you ever wonder why someone like her was flying an air ambulance way out here in the middle of nowhere?’

  Adam couldn’t answer – because he had asked himself that very question more than once.

  ‘Let me tell you about Jessica Pearson,’ Hewitt continued. ‘Her boyfriend was Brian Hayes. You must have heard of him. Heroin Hayes they called him. It was in all the papers. Jet-setting playboy – and drug smuggler. He imported the drugs on board his fancy private jet. And his pilot was – you guessed it – none other than your Jessica.’

  ‘If that was true she would have been charged,’ Adam said.

  ‘But she turned him in. Maybe they had a lover’s spat. She handed him over to the feds in return for immunity. How’s that for loyalty?’

  ‘You’re lying,’ Adam said, turning away, trying hard to believe that it really was a lie.

  ‘Really?’ The reporter pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. He unfolded it and waved it triumphantly in front of Adam. ‘Then I guess this is a fake?’

  Adam didn’t want to look. He wanted to go back in time and erase the last few minutes from history. Take back the words that were now seared into his brain. But he couldn’t do it. Any more than he could stop his eyes from turning towards that piece of paper. It was a printout from some internet news page.

  Drug Baron GUILTY screamed the headline, but it was the name that leaped off the page. Jessica Pearson. The photo wasn’t very clear. The woman’s face was hidden behind an unexpected mane of long dark hair, but he didn’t need to see her face to know it was Jess. His Jess. Nothing as simple as changing her hair or where she worked would ever disguise the woman he had come to … The words began to dance in front of him – drug plane pilot … escaped charges … evidence against her lover …

  ‘So, Doc. Have you got a quote for me about your pilot?’

  Adam looked into the man’s face. For the first time in a very long time, he hated another human being. Anger, disappointment and above all an overwhelming sense of losing something indescribably precious boiled over. He clenched his fist and swung at the sneering mouth. Pain shot up his arm as his fist connected, but that was nothing to the satisfaction of seeing Hewitt fall flat on his back in the red dust.

  ‘If I ever see you anywhere near my hospital, or the houses on the hospital grounds or the airport, I will call the cops. So why don’t you just crawl back under whatever rock you came from.’

  Adam was shaking as he spun on his heel and walked away. He never lost his temper. Never. He knew only too well what happened when a person lost control. But that reporter had been asking for it. Telling lies like that. And enjoying it! What sort of a person took glee from destroying another person. Or trying to. A drug smuggler? Jess would never get involved in something like that.

  If he repeated the words often enough, it might take away that horrible doubt that was roiling in the bottom of his gut.

  He glanced over to see Jessica’s car pull up outside her house. With his anger driving him, he strode across the parched earth. He would put an end to this right now. He’d tell Jessica what the reporter was up to. Then he’d help her stop that story being published. Because it was all lies. It had to be lies.

  When he reached the house, Jessica was on the veranda, digging in her pockets for the key to the front door. She was wearing those same blue jeans and white top that such a short time ago had sent his heart pounding. She turned as she heard him approach, and as always her face broke into a smile when she saw him. Then the smile faltered. She frowned.

  ‘Adam?’

  In two quick leaps he was up the stairs, standing in front of her. Her eyes grew wide as they searched his face, and her face went a deathly shade of white.

  The suspicion he’d been trying to deny suddenly grew into a monster.

  ‘Jess … tell me it’s not true?’

  Jess opened her mouth to speak, but the words just would not come. She tried to draw a breath, but couldn’t. All she could see was Adam’s face. He was begging her to deny something he already half-believed. Part of her died because she couldn’t deny it.

  For an eternity they stared at each other – so close Jess could reach out and touch him, but for the wall between them that was growing higher with each passing second. Adam’s face changed. The question vanished and she saw an emotion that may have been disappointment … or anger … or hate.

  ‘It’s true?’ His words were little more than a whisper, but the depth of feeling in those two words tore a hole in her heart.

  ‘I was going to tell you, Adam. I went to the hospital this morning, but you weren’t there.’

  He shook his head. ‘That was today. What about yesterday? And last week. All this time, Jess, you were lying to me.’

  ‘No. Not lying.’

  ‘You didn’t tell me the truth. That you were part of a drug ring.’

  ‘I wasn’t …’ The words caught in her throat. She couldn’t deny it. Her plane. Her responsibility. The look on Adam’s face was destroying her. She felt her knees start to give way.

  Adam reached out and grabbed her. As she felt his strong fingers grip her arms so tightly it hurt, she realised this was the first time Adam had ever reached out to touch her. The first … and the last.

  ‘You weren’t what? Jess. Talk to me. I’ll believe you, Jess. Just tell me you didn’t do this. Not drugs, Jess. Anything but drugs.’

  She could hear the pleading in his voice. He wanted her to deny it. Almost as much as she wanted to speak the words. But she couldn’t. She was who she was. In coming to Coorah Creek she had been running away. There was nowhere left to run. She had to face up to what she had done.

  ‘Adam, I am so sorry.’

  His hand dropped away. ‘It’s true. You brought drugs into the country on your plane?’

  Her throat was too constricted to form words. She nodded.

  ‘And you gave evidence to save yourself from prosecution?’

  It wasn’t like that, she wanted to say. But she couldn’t find her voice. She could barely breathe. She nodded again.

  ‘And this drug baron – he was your boss? He was your … lover?’ As he spoke the last word, his voice broke.

  She nodded again and watched as his face closed over and became like stone. He took a step back, opening a gulf between them th
at Jess knew could never be crossed.

  Of all the moments in the nightmare of her life, this one hurt the most.

  The day she found the white powder. The drug agents tearing apart her beautiful plane. Not even the nights in prison had hurt one fraction as much as the look on Adam’s face right here and now.

  It was over. Jess knew in her heart of hearts that there was no coming back from this. In a moment, Adam would speak the words that would send her away from Coorah Creek. Away from the friends who had come to mean so much to her. Away from him. He was sentencing her to a different kind of prison.

  His chest rose as he took one long, deep breath.

  ‘Adam!’ The loud shout came from the direction of the hospital. ‘Jessica!’

  They both dragged their eyes away from each other and turned to find Sister Luke hurrying in their direction. ‘You need to get in the air. There’s been a shooting.’

  Adam was the first to speak. ‘Where?’

  ‘Clifton Downs.’

  Jess saw Adam’s shoulder’s sink. She had no idea where Clifton Downs was, but she knew what was coming. Adam turned back towards her.

  ‘Go to the airport. I’ll get my gear and be right behind you.’

  She nodded. Whatever problems lay between the two of them, the job came first. Someone needed help and that was her job. Once she was in the air, in that vast blue expanse where everything had always seemed so easy, she might find an answer. A way to talk to Adam and tell him that he was wrong. Because if she didn’t this would be their last flight together.

  And that thought was just too terrible to bear.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The cabin of the Beechcraft was a little less than ten metres long. Jess could feel Adam’s presence as keenly as if he were right next to her. But he wasn’t. When they had boarded the plane, Adam had chosen a seat as far away from Jessica as he could be. Apart from the necessities of their work, he hadn’t spoken to her. He had even avoided looking at her. The co-pilot’s seat seemed very empty without him in it.