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Kai grimaced but wiggled his toes while letting out a low yelp.
‘Allergic to anything?’
Kai shook his head.
‘How old are you?’
‘Fourteen.’
‘Any medical conditions I should know about? Or any regular medicines you need to take?’
Kai shook his head to both questions.
‘Do you know how much you weigh?’
‘Why?’
‘I’m going to give you something to ease the pain. We’re going to have to help you onto the stretcher, then carry you out through the waterfall. There’s no other way out of here.’
Kai shook his head. ‘No way. I can’t stand the water pounding on my leg.’
Rhuaridh pulled out some kit. ‘There’s a metal hoop that fits on top of the stretcher. This plastic can go over the top of the hoop. It will keep the water off your leg, and hopefully protect you.’ He looked at the water cascading past his shoulder. ‘There is no other way out of here. We can get you in the stretcher, but we couldn’t manoeuvre it upright to slide you through the space at the side.’
He shook his head as he looked at it. ‘I had to imitate a spider to get in here, and I still got soaked by the waterfall on the way in.’ He turned to Des. ‘You’ve been around here just as long as me. Can you think of any other way to get him out?’
Des shook his head too. ‘Not a chance. He’s almost the same size as you and me. There’s no way we could manoeuvre him. We just need to go straight through the waterfall.’
Rhuaridh calculated how much pain relief to give Kai and administered it quickly. ‘We’ll give it some time to take effect before we get you onto the stretcher.’
The radio at his waist crackled. ‘Rhuaridh? Rhuaridh, are you there?’
Kristie’s voice echoed around the cave. ‘Who’s that?’ asked Des.
Rhuaridh pulled the radio from his waistband. ‘What’s up, Kristie?’
‘They’re not here yet and he’s starting to wake up.’
‘The ambulance crew haven’t arrived?’ He was surprised. He’d expected them to arrive a few minutes after he left.
‘No.’ Her voice sounded kind of strained. ‘Gerry’s here. He got dropped back at our car and came himself. Apparently the ambulance had to stop at a road accident. They’ve taken the people to the hospital.’
Rhuaridh shook his head. Typical. Everything happened at once. The ambulance hadn’t been used at all in the last week and now two simultaneous calls.
‘Kristie, tell me the numbers on the monitor.’
There was silence for a few seconds, then her voice came through. ‘The P is eighty-six. That’s his pulse, isn’t it?’
‘That’s fine. What’s the other one?’
‘It’s ninety-seven.’
‘That’s his oxygen saturation. That’s good. It means his breathing and lungs are okay.’
‘Uh-oh.’
Rhuaridh sat up on his knees. ‘What do you mean, “uh-oh”? Kristie?’
There was a crackle. Then a rumble of voices—all muffled. It was hard to hear anything with the constant background roar of falling water. Rhuaridh exchanged a look with Des. He’d never met the other instructor at the centre. Throughout the year many instructors from different countries came to help at the centre—Des was the only real constant. ‘Your guy. Anything I should know about him?’
Des’s brow wrinkled. ‘Ross?’ He shook his head. ‘Don’t think so. He’s been here about three weeks. Worked in a similar place in Wales.’
‘Any medical history?’
Des pulled a face. ‘To be honest, I can’t remember. But if there had been anything major it would be on his initial application form.’
Rhuaridh knew that all the paperwork for the centre would be up to date. Des’s wife dealt with that. But he also knew that Des wouldn’t recall a single thing about it. He’d never been a paper person.
‘Rhuaridh!’ The shout came through the crackling radio and made all three in the cave start.
‘Kristie, what’s wrong?’
Even though it was difficult, he was on his feet, crouching in the cave. Staring at the rushing water that was currently between Kristie and himself.
