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‘Sorry?’ Jenna jammed her feet into her shoes and sprinted after him, wondering how the tone of the afternoon could have shifted so quickly.
Glenmore, she thought, and its ever-changing moods.
Even the weather had changed. While they’d been talking the blue sky had turned an ominous grey and the sea a gunmetal-blue.
There was a storm coming.
‘Did you ever work in an emergency department?’ His mouth grim, Ryan was in the car and firing up the engine before she had time to answer the question.
‘Yes. But it was quite a few years ago. What do you need me to do?’ Her head smacked lightly against the headrest as he accelerated along the empty road, and Jenna felt the power of the car come to life around her. She felt a shimmer of nerves mingled with anticipation. What if she wasn’t up to the job?
To give herself confidence she cast a glance at Ryan, looking at his broad shoulders and strong, capable hands. He shifted gears like a racing driver, pushing the car to its limits as he negotiated the tight turns and narrow roads that led from the lighthouse. Even after a comparatively short time she knew he would be able to handle anything he encountered, and that knowledge gave her courage. ‘Tell me what’s happened.’
‘Group of teenagers tombstoning on the Devil’s Jaws. It’s close to here.’
‘Tombstoning?’ Jenna rummaged in her pocket and found something to tie back her hair. ‘What’s that?’
‘It’s when they stand on the top of a cliff and jump into the sea.’ Ryan slowed to take a sharp bend. ‘The problem is the depth of the water changes according to the tide. Even when the tide is on your side it’s a dangerous activity. And the Devil’s Jaws is the most dangerous place you could wish for. It’s narrow there—the cliffs have formed a tight channel, so not only can you kill yourself when you hit the bottom, if you get really lucky you can kill yourself on the way down.’
‘Kids are doing that? Can’t they fence the cliffs off or something?’
‘It is fenced off. The place is lethal. No one is meant to go within a hundred metres of it, but you know teenagers.’ He swung the car into a space at the side of the road and killed the engine. ‘We have to walk from here. Are you afraid of heights?’
‘I don’t know. I don’t think so.’
‘Watch your footing. To add to the fun, the rocks are crumbling.’ Ryan opened his boot and Jenna blinked as she saw the contents.
‘You carry ropes in your boot?’
‘I climb sometimes.’ Without elaborating, he selected several ropes and started piling equipment into a large rucksack. Then he opened his medical bag and added another series of items, including drugs he thought he was going to need. His movements were swift and economical, brutally efficient.
Jenna focused on the drugs. ‘Ketamine?’
‘I prefer it to morphine. It doesn’t produce respiratory depression or hypotension, and in analgesic doses it produces a mild bronchodilator effect.’
‘Translate that into English?’ A voice came from behind them and Jenna turned to see Nick Hillier, the island policeman. Only today he wasn’t smiling.
‘It means it controls the pain without affecting the breathing.’ Ryan hoisted the bag out of the boot. ‘Is it as bad as they say?’
‘Worse. Two in the water—one trapped halfway down the cliff. They’re right in the Jaws.’
‘Of course they are—that’s where they get the maximum adrenaline rush.’
‘The one stuck on the cliff might be all right, as long as he doesn’t let go, but he’s getting tired. Coastguard helicopter has chosen today to have a technical problem—they’re fixing it, but the cavalry isn’t going to be arriving any time soon.’ Nick sucked in a breath. ‘I don’t want anyone going near the edge. I don’t want more casualties. We’re going to wait and hope to hell they get that helicopter airborne in the next ten minutes. I think this is a rescue best carried out from the air or the sea.’
‘I’ll take a look at it. Then I’ll decide.’ Ryan lifted the rucksack onto his back and walked over the grass towards a gate. A sign warned the public that the area was dangerous. Dropping his rucksack onto the other side, Ryan vaulted the gate. Nick climbed over slightly more awkwardly, holding out a hand to Jenna.
She wondered who was going to have the last say on this one. The law or the doctor.
His mind clearly working in the same direction, Nick became visibly stressed. ‘Ryan, you know how risky it is. A climber was killed abseiling from here earlier in the summer—the rocks sawed through his rope.’
‘Then he didn’t have his rope in the right place.’ Ryan dropped his rucksack again, onto the grass a safe distance from the edge. ‘There are injured kids, Nick. What do you expect me to do? Leave them?’
‘My job is to make sure we rescue them with minimum further casualties—that doesn’t involve you abseiling down a sheer, crumbling rock face.’
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Listening to them, Jenna felt her heart race, and she wondered if she was going to be any use at all.
