Read Online Masquerade by Nicole Flockton - Free Book Online Page A

not from his injury but from concern for Tim.
    “We have to do all we can to save that hand,” she whispered. By the way Alex nodded his head, it was clear he’d heard the determination in her voice.
    Tim moaned and he started to thrash his head from side to side. Sophie quickly grabbed the neck collar from her bag to stabilize his head. She still didn’t know what injury he had suffered to his head from the fall.
    His moans were getting louder as the pain from his burns became stronger.
    “Tim. Tim, can you hear me?” Sophie spoke firmly and loudly. His eyes flicked open, then fluttered shut with a grimace. “Tim, I’m Sophie and I’m a nurse. You’ve had an accident, but Dr. Scavoni and I are doing everything we can to help you. We need you to stay still. Can you do that for me, Tim?”
    “Yes.” The word came out on a long, guttural cry.
    “Good, Tim, that’s great.” Sophie flicked her gaze up to Alex, about to ask if she should administer some pain relief when Alex spoke.
    “Sophie, until we know the extent of his head injury, give him five milligrams of morphine, please.”
    “Did you hear that, Tim? I’m going to give you something for the pain. You’ve burned your hand and hit your head.” She quickly measured out the dose and showed it to Alex. On his nod, she inserted it into the IV she’d established earlier.
    The wail of the siren was a welcome sound. Within moments, two teams of paramedics came rushing in.
    Sophie stood up. “Hi guys, we’ve got one male with a deep laceration to the left arm. Second male has severe burns to right hand, fingers, and forearm. Possible head trauma as well. He’ll be stable enough to transport to hospital in a few minutes.”
    The paramedics set up backboards to enable the transfer of each patient to a gurney for conveying to hospital.
    She knew Alex would want her to travel with him in the ambulance taking Tim. The paramedics knew better than to question Alex. He was the head of the emergency department they would be transporting the patients to. At least the paramedics knew they wouldn’t get turned away.
    Within minutes, they were boarding the ambulance and heading to the hospital. Sophie checked Tim’s pressure, pleased to see it was stable and his pulse had settled down. She could hear Alex on the phone to the director of the burns unit. The sooner they got Tim into specialist care, the better their chances of saving the hand and keeping most of the movement.
    She withstood the good-natured joking from the staff when she and Alex turned up at the hospital, passing off the reason they were together as a coincidence. Neither wanted their staff to know they’d been about to embark on a dinner date. Fortunately, another emergency came in and all thoughts of the director of emergency and NUM turning up in an ambulance together were quickly forgotten.
    After Tim and Josh were handed over to the staff on duty, Sophie headed for the sanctuary of her office. She sank down in her chair, closed her eyes, and leaned back, letting the quiet of the room wash over her.
    What a night.
    Opening her eyes, she glanced at her watch — it was just after ten P.M. Time to go home. She reached for the phone and started to ring for a cab when Alex strode into the office. He looked deliciously rumpled and she wanted to enfold him in her arms.
    “Hey, how’s Tim doing?”
    Alex wiped a hand tiredly over his eyes and again Sophie fought against the urge to comfort him.
    “He’s settled into the burns unit. The extent of the injury will be known once the swelling has settled down. But it’s going to be a long road to recovery for him. Fortunately, he only suffered a slight concussion from his knock to the head.” He stopped next to her and leaned his hip against her desk. “What about his mate, how’s his arm?”
    “Josh? He’s doing okay, he was lucky. The knife sliced through muscle. Although it was deep, it didn’t hit any major blood vessels.” She hung up the