Chapter Fifty-Two Jack and Delima’s House
Chapter Fifty-Two
Jack and Delima’s House
Evie felt as though everything happened in slow motion after that.
She was still holding on tight to little Hari and stood rooted to the spot.
She saw Andrzej rush forward. Ross was lying on the ground, a heap of twisted limbs, blood seeping from his head.
She looked at his face. It was chalk white and he wasn’t moving.
Andrzej felt his neck. “There’s a faint pulse,” he said. “But I’m afraid to move him. I don’t know how badly injured he is. I’m calling for help.”
Evie stumbled over to him. Little Hari was clinging to her and sobbing quietly. “Ross,” she said, desperately. “Ross, please stay with me.”
Suddenly, the sky was filled with light and a deep rumbling. They were blinded for a moment by a helicopter flying overhead. As it came into land, the downdraft whipped Evie’s hair across her face and blew Ross’s jacket across his body, making him look as though he was trying to get up.
Andrzej was frantically waving his arms to let the pilot know where they were. As soon as the propellers stopped moving, Delima leapt from the chopper and tried to take in the scene before her.
“What’s happened?” she gasped, her face the colour of spoiled milk. “Where’s Ola? What’s happened to Ross?” She took Hari from Evie and held him as though she would never let go.
“Ola’s safe,” Evie said, her eyes wild. “She’s inside. But Ross, Amelia was driving the van and she hit him deliberately. I think she might have killed him.”
Iain, the pilot, was right behind Delima. Working for the hospital, he’d seen some terrible accidents, especially on the offshore rigs, and he was cool-headed in a crisis. He quickly appraised Ross.
“I’m going to call the hospital again, we need to get him help right away. It will be quicker in the chopper, but we need the paramedics to help me move him.” He ran to get a stretcher from the helicopter.
With Hari clinging to her chest, Delima ran inside to check on Ola. Evie kept talking to Ross, although she wasn’t sure he could hear her. She felt Andrzej’s reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Listen to the sirens, lass. The paramedics are almost here.” Evie felt as though she was in a nightmare.
“Why hasn’t he come round?” she sobbed. “There’s so much blood.”
“He’s taken a bad blow to the head,” said Iain. “You just keep talking to him. It’s the best we can do for now.”
After what felt like an eternity, two paramedics came running up beside them.
To Evie they looked just like the men who had tried to save Brodie over twenty years before.
They speedily and efficiently transferred Ross into the helicopter.
His lips looked blue and the dressing they’d put on his head was soaked with blood.
There was room in the helicopter for Evie, and Andrzej told her he would drive to the hospital and meet her there. It was a race against time.