Flight to Coorah Creek Page 22

  The storm that had been building all day over Coorah Creek broke as they flew away. She’d seen the lightning fade into the distance behind them. It hadn’t lasted long. Outback storms were quickly spent. But the storm she was facing would not be so easily diffused. Nor could she leave it behind. It was right there in the aircraft with her.

  On this flight there was no easy conversation. No shared laughter. The only noise was the steady hum of the engines. Jess kept her eyes steadfastly ahead of her, fixed on her instrument panel or the endless blue sky.

  Sister Luke had joined them on the flight. She was seated in the middle of the aircraft, her eyes darting from Jessica to Adam and back again. Her face was creased in a small, tight frown. She could obviously sense the tension between the two of them, but had no idea about its cause. Soon, Jessica was going to have to tell Sister Luke everything. To explain why she was leaving. Because leave she must. Adam didn’t want her to stay. That much was very clear.

  She would tell Sister Luke the truth. The whole truth. Jack, too. These people who had become her friends deserved the truth. Ellen knew the whole story, and hadn’t judged her. She was sure Jack and Sister Luke would be equally understanding. And Adam? He wasn’t ready to hear it. Maybe one day. Long after she’d gone and Adam had let go of his anger, perhaps one of them would tell him her side of the story. It would be too late for her, but she hoped he would hear it any way.

  The radio crackled. Clifton Downs was calling. It was the third such call since they’d left Coorah Creek.

  ‘Reading you, Clifton Downs.’

  ‘How far out are you?’

  Jess didn’t need to check her instruments. Without Adam by her side to talk to, she had been tracking their progress in minute detail, hoping it would stop her from thinking. It hadn’t.

  ‘Clifton we’ll be there in about thirty minutes.’

  ‘Can we talk to the doc again?’

  Jess turned in her seat. ‘Adam …’

  Adam’s eyes were hooded and unreadable as he made his way forward. He slipped into the co-pilot’s seat, taking extreme care not to even brush against her shoulder. It seemed he wanted the gulf between them to be as physical as it was emotional.

  ‘Doctor Adam Gilmore here, Clifton Downs.’

  ‘Doc. He’s not good. We did everything you said when we called earlier. But it’s not good.’

  ‘He’s still breathing?’

  ‘Yes. But Doc, it’s really ragged. And the head wound …’ Even over a radio, it was clear the person on the ground was deeply distressed.

  ‘Just make sure he doesn’t move,’ Adam said. Then to Jess, ‘Can we go any faster?’ He didn’t look at her as he asked.

  ‘I’m doing the best I can, Adam, but this plane can only go so fast. I’ll get you on the ground as soon as possible.’

  ‘Clifton Downs, make sure there’s someone at the airport waiting for me. Every second counts.’

  ‘Roger, Doc. There’ll be someone there.’

  Adam turned away without another word and returned to his seat at the back of the plane. Jess fought back the tears that threatened and checked her instruments to see if there was even the tiniest fraction more speed she could safely coax from the Beechcraft. No one was ever going to say she didn’t try hard enough!

  When she finally saw Clifton Downs, she banked and lost height as fast as possible. She may have shaved a few safety standards, but she also shaved a few minutes off the flight. A dusty brown station wagon was waiting at the end of the airstrip, and as she pulled up next to it, Jessica knew she had done everything humanly possible to get Adam to the injured man in time. No one could have done better. A sudden wave of pain lanced through her with the realisation that next time Adam hurried to help a patient, there would be someone else at the controls of the Beechcraft. Someone else at Adam’s side. Tears pricked her eyes at the thought, but she brushed them away. Tears would change nothing.

  While she was still shutting down the engines, Adam was on his feet, handing his medical bags out to the eager hands outside. He leaped down the aircraft stairs without even a glance at Jessica. Sister Luke was close behind, but she took the time to ever so briefly lay a comforting hand on Jessica’s shoulder.

  A few seconds later, the sound of a racing engine told Jessica they were gone. Slowly she slumped forward, rubbing her hands over her face. Her shoulders ached with tension. That had been the most difficult flight of her entire life. The day she flew back from Vietnam, with Brian and a load of drugs on board the plane had been difficult. But she’d had a co-pilot sitting next to her. And Brian was in the back of the plane with his associates, far away from her. Knowing that police and arrest were waiting for them in Sydney had made that flight hard. Knowing she’d been betrayed by Brian had made it even harder. But that flight was nothing compared to the difficulty of the past couple of hours. She had come to really love this job. To believe in the importance of her work. Ellen and her kids, Jack and Sister Luke had become like family to her. And Adam …

  Sitting at the controls of the plane, knowing he was behind her. Hating her and wishing her gone. Nothing in her life had ever been harder than that.

  The sound of another car engine caused her to lift her head. They couldn’t be back already? Quickly she unstrapped herself from the pilot’s seat. She climbed down the aircraft stairs to be greeted by an Aboriginal stockman just emerging from another dusty car.

  ‘Do you need to refuel?’ the man asked.

  Jessica glanced at her watch, and at the position of the sun. There was enough daylight left to fly back to Coorah Creek. Or to Mount Isa – which had landing lights on the strip. If the injured man was as seriously hurt as he sounded, she had to be ready for another fast departure.

  ‘Yes, I do.’

  The man led the way to a small rusty tin shed. Inside were several forty-four gallon drums of aviation fuel. With a powerful heave and a deep grunt, the man tipped one over and began to roll it towards the Beechcraft. Jess picked up the hand pump and followed.

  When Adam needed her, she would be ready.

  As soon as he walked into the room Adam knew there was nothing he could do. He crossed to the bed and looked down at the man who lay there. A rough, bloodstained bandage covered half his face and the back of his head, but it couldn’t hide the damage the shotgun blast had done. The man’s breath was ragged. As each shallow breath stuttered to its end, it seemed he would not take another. Then slowly his chest would rise again. Adam placed his medical bag on the end of the table and opened it. He was a doctor. He would do what he could, but he knew he was going to fail. This man was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it.

  He heard footsteps behind him. Sister Luke took up position at the other side of the bed, ready to assist. She looked at Adam and raised an eyebrow in question. He shook his head slowly. He saw acceptance cross Sister Luke’s face. She gently reached for the man’s large calloused brown hand and cradled it in hers. In the other hand, she grasped the plain wooden cross that hung around her neck. Her eyes closed and her lips began to move in prayer.

  Adam lifted the bloody bandage, wincing as he saw the extent of the man’s injuries. The shooting had been a terrible accident while the station staff were culling wild pigs. It was such a tragic loss of life, made even more so by the fact that the man had a young family. Adam carefully covered the wound with a new dressing. Taking some cotton wool, he began to gently clean the blood from the man’s face. Not that it would matter to his patient. The man would never wake. But his wife and children didn’t need to see him like this.

  He was disposing of the soiled dressing when he realised that the room had fallen silent. One glance at his patient’s face told him it was over. He looked at his watch to note the time for the death certificate he would soon have to sign. Sister Luke crossed herself, and then gently placed the man’s ha
nd back on the bed. A cotton bedcover lay on a chair in the corner of the room. Adam helped Sister Luke to lay it over the dead man, then took a deep breath and went to tell the family.

  The station manager drove them back to the airstrip.

  ‘Are you sure about heading back, Doc?’

  ‘Yes. I have patients in my clinic back at the Creek,’ Adam said. He’d given the distressed widow some sedatives. Beyond that, there was nothing more he could do here.

  ‘All right.’

  ‘The police will be here soon,’ Adam said. ‘I reported the shooting from the plane. I know it was an accident, but that’s the law. I had to do it.’

  ‘I know. We had word the sergeant is on his way. He won’t get here until later tonight.’

  ‘He’ll take it from here.’

  ‘Okay. Thanks Doc.’ The man parked the vehicle beside the Beechcraft.

  Adam slowly got out of the car. Jess was waiting in the shade of the aircraft wing. He saw the understanding in her face as she watched him approach. And the sympathy. He wanted none of it.

  ‘Do we have time to get back to the Creek before dark?’ he asked. The words came out harsher than he wanted, but that was not something he could change now.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then let’s go.’

  He walked past her and climbed the aircraft stairs. Again, where once he would have taken the co-pilot’s seat, he turned towards the rear of the aircraft. He dropped into the seat and clipped his seat belt tightly. Then he leaned back and closed his eyes. He was exhausted, but he knew he would find no rest on this flight. The rhythms of take-off and the gentle hum of the engines used to easily lull him into sleep. In the past, he’d slept away many a long, dull flight. Since Jess came, though, the flights hadn’t been dull. Nothing with Jess was ever dull, and he’d loved every minute spent in that co-pilot’s seat. Talking to Jess. Laughing with Jess while the great western plains had rolled away below them. She had a way of lifting the darkness inside him. She might even have been able to take away some of the pain that filled him on days like today – when his skill had not been enough to save someone.

  But he’d never know, because that Jess was gone.

  The Jess he thought he’d known cared about people. She was funny and caring and a good friend. All this time he’d known she had a secret … but he had not even begun to suspect it was drugs. Drugs! The healer in him hated drugs and everything and everyone connected with them. It wasn’t the illegality of it that shocked him so much as the disregard for the poor souls who lost themselves. How could Jess be involved in drug dealing?

  He obviously didn’t know her at all.

  It was going to be a very long flight back to the Creek. And then Jess would leave …

  ‘You’re not fooling me, you know.’

  Adam opened his eyes as Sister Luke slipped into the seat across the aisle from him. He couldn’t help but glance towards the front of the plane. He could see the outline of Jess’s head moving slightly as she did that thing she always did – the constant rotation of her eyes from the window to her instruments and back again. There had been a time when she’d looked at him too. But that was gone now.

  ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ Adam said, with very little hope that Sister Luke would leave him alone. The nun was like a dog with a bone sometimes.

  ‘There’s something wrong between you and Jess,’ Sister Luke said.

  It would do him no good to deny it. She knew him too well. ‘She’s leaving as soon as we get back.’

  ‘What? Why?’

  Sister Luke looked genuinely shocked. Adam felt his heart clench. Sister Luke deserved to know, but she should hear it from Jessica. If Jessica didn’t have the courage to tell Sister Luke … well … he’d make sure she did what she had to do. Sister Luke deserved that.

  ‘You’ll have to ask her to explain,’ he said.

  ‘Do not let her go,’ Sister Luke told him, her voice firm. ‘Whatever it is, you need to fix it.’

  Adam shook his head. ‘It can’t be fixed.’

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  ‘So, if you need me, I’ll just be a couple of minutes away.’ Ellen smiled at the young couple.

  ‘Thank you so much.’

  The girl, Andrea, was almost asleep. Ellen couldn’t blame her. She’d been through so much. The accident in the cave. The journey back to Coorah Creek with a broken arm must have been terribly painful. Not to mention having her arm set. Then her doctor had been called away. Normally Sister Luke would look after anyone at the hospital, but she’d gone on the plane too. Ellen didn’t know many details about the emergency. Adam had simply called her and asked her to look after the young couple until he and Sister Luke returned. It had been obvious from the tone of his voice that something was very wrong and she guessed that meant his patient was badly hurt. Ellen had been more than happy to make sure everything was all right at this end.

  Lachlan was sitting on the side of his girlfriend’s bed. The two of them would spend the night in the hospital. Apparently their camping gear and car were still out at the national park.

  ‘I’d like to say thanks to the guys who got Andrea out of the cave,’ he said. ‘They were pretty amazing. The ranger … and Jack.’

  ‘Yes. I imagine they were.’ Ellen smiled. ‘The doctor will probably want you to stay in town for a few days and I’m sure you’ll get the chance to say thanks. In the meantime, just relax. Try to get some sleep. I’ll be back later with something for you to eat.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Andrea whispered. Lachlan just settled more comfortably on the bed, taking his girlfriend’s good hand in his as she closed her eyes again.

  Ellen smiled as she walked down the hallway. They were such a nice young couple. And so very much in love. It was beautiful to see. It was almost enough to give her hope that one day she might find someone to love her that way. She opened the back door of the hospital and stepped outside. A short storm had passed through the town a few hours earlier. The rain had already soaked into the ground, leaving no trace of where it had fallen. But the air still retained a sharp sweetness. She closed her eyes to take a long, deep breath. When she opened them again, she saw Jack walking towards her from the direction of the house. He looked up and saw her in the doorway. Then he smiled. Ellen’s heart did a little backflip. That boy was right. Jack was pretty wonderful. They hadn’t had much time alone lately – ever. Maybe Jess was right. Maybe she should just say something … if only she could find the courage!

  ‘G’day, Ellen.’ Jack wasn’t wearing a hat, but still he gave the impression of tipping one at her. She felt her lips start to curl into a smile … and reached inside her and found her courage.

  ‘Hello, Jack.’

  ‘How are the patients doing?’

  ‘They’re fine. I’ll be back later to bring them some dinner.’ Ellen took a deep breath and before her courage could slip through her fingers she made a decision. ‘Would you like to come around for dinner tonight? With Jess and Adam gone it will be just us and the kids.’

  If only she was one of those women who could flirt. A toss of her hair. A flutter of eyelashes. Anything to let Jack know that this was more than a dinner invitation.

  ‘Sure. I can keep an eye on the kids while you look after the patients.’

  Ellen took a deep breath. She looked down at her hands. ‘Thanks. But that wasn’t what I was thinking. I thought it would be nice if you and I could … spend some time together.’ Ellen raced to the end of the sentence before her courage failed her. Fearfully, she glanced up at Jack’s face. He looked surprised … and … pleased?

  ‘That would be great,’ he said softly, and smiled. Ellen felt her heart race. Was it fear or pleasure? Or something entirely different?

  ‘Good,’ she said.

  For a few seconds they both stood there in
silence. Close enough to touch – but not touching.

  ‘I’d better pick up the kids …’

  ‘I have gotta get to the strip …’

  They said at once. Then they both laughed. Ellen thought she was going crazy, but Jack sounded almost as nervous as she felt.

  ‘I had best collect the kids,’ she finally said again.

  ‘And I have to get down to the strip,’ he added.

  ‘I’ll see you later then?’ Ellen asked.

  ‘You can count on it.’

  They both hesitated for just the merest fraction of a heartbeat, and then Ellen turned to walk back to her house. She heard Jack walking in the other direction towards his ute. Her heart was still racing – and this time it was definitely with fear. But she wasn’t going to listen to it. She was not! To silence it, she began to think about dinner. She had to prepare something for the young couple in the hospital. That would be easy. She didn’t imagine they would be very hungry. Or very fussy. She would cook up some beef and vegetables in a stew, with mashed potatoes. That would be fine for them. She would pick up some fruit juice when she went to collect the kids. Put it on Adam’s tab at the store.

  But what would she cook for Jack?

  He’d been coming to The Mineside every week for dinner – so she couldn’t cook one of her standard recipes. Steak was out too. But she wanted it to be special. The store had plenty of meat – lamb and steak mainly. She wondered if maybe they had some frozen salmon. There was a pasta recipe she could try – with a creamy lemon sauce. With a salad and some garlic bread. Or was that too much? She didn’t want him to think … or did she?

  ‘This is just ridiculous,’ she said out loud. ‘He’ll eat whatever I cook him. And I don’t want to make too much fuss. What will he think?’

  But as she walked towards the school, she started to wonder what she should wear.

  It was going to be hard to say goodbye. The hardest thing she had ever done. Jessica looked down at the vast expanse of desert beneath her. That’s how her life was going to be from now on. Empty. As empty as the co-pilot’s seat beside her. As empty as the Adam shaped space in her life … as empty as her heart.