Secret Son to Change His Life
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Alison Roberts
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CHAPTER ONE
THE ADDRESS WAS in an ordinary street, in an ordinary suburb towards the northern side of Bristol, a three-bedroom, end-of-terrace house not dissimilar to the one Brianna Henderson lived in herself.
As she pushed open the gate to the straight, narrow concrete path that led towards the front door with its honour guard of tidy rose bushes on either side, there was nothing to suggest something very unordinary was happening inside this house.
Nothing to warn her that a split second could change everything...
This felt more like a dream come true, in fact. This was Brie’s first callout, on her first official shift as a newly qualified paramedic—the achievement of a dream that could so easily have been seen as completely dead in the water not that long ago.
Okay, so maybe it was only an activation of a personal medical alarm—the kind that so many elderly, frail or disabled people could use to summon assistance. Her senior crew partner, Simon, had actually rolled his eyes when the call came through.
‘Don’t get too excited,’ he’d warned. ‘Bet you they’ve pressed the button on their pendant by accident. Either that or they’ve fallen out of their chair and need some help to get up off the floor.’
‘But don’t they usually contact family members or neighbours first unless there’s something really wrong? This is a priority call.’ Brie was already several steps ahead of Simon now. The vehicle they were heading for was parked in the garage at the back of one of Bristol’s largest ambulance stations.
‘They will have forgotten to put their hearing aids in so they won’t have heard anyone calling through the loudspeaker to find out what’s going on.’
‘What about the banging noises they could hear? And the scream?’
‘I bet the telly’s on in another room. Really loud because of the no hearing aids.’ But it must have been very clear to Simon that Brie was not about to dismiss this call as a waste of time and resources. ‘You can drive,’ he’d told her with a smile. ‘It’s a good chance for you to play with all the bells and whistles.’
Apparently it was also a good chance for Brie to take the lead in assessing the situation and she took a big breath as she climbed the couple of steps at the end of the path and knocked on the door that was slightly ajar.
‘Ambulance,’ she called as she pushed the door open. ‘Hello...? Where are you?’
Simon was right behind her, the handle of the defibrillator in one hand and an oxygen cylinder in the other. This might turn out to be a false alarm but protocol made it necessary to carry whatever they might need if they found themselves faced with something as serious as a cardiac arrest.
The silence that met Brie’s call was the first sign that something wasn’t quite right. Someone who was alone and waiting for help would always answer that call if they were able to. If they weren’t alone, there would probably have been someone waiting at the door, or the gate, to direct them to where they were needed. Or was the explanation simply that someone couldn’t hear the call because they had forgotten to put their hearing aids in?
They were in a small hallway that had a staircase leading upstairs to where bedrooms and a bathroom would most likely be. Brie assumed that the door ahead of them on the right would lead to a living room and kitchen dining area, like her own house and, given the time of day, it was more likely that the elderly or disabled occupant of the house would be downstairs. With a glance over her shoulder to confirm that Simon agreed with her choice, she walked forward, knocking on the interior door again before pushing it open.
‘Ambulance,’ she called again. She didn’t want to give an elderly person a horrible fright by barging in without any warning. ‘Is anybody here?’
It only took that split second, after stepping into the room, to capture what she could see but it took another beat of time to process something so unexpected.
An elderly woman was sitting, bolt upright, on a couch in front of the bay window that faced the street. Brie could see the ambulance she’d been driving less than a minute ago, parked on the road outside. She had turned the siren off well before turning into this suburban street but the blue lights were still flashing on the roof.
The woman looked terrified and she was clutching her chest as if she was in the kind of pain a heart attack could cause but she wasn’t looking back at Brie. She was staring straight in front of her to where a much younger woman was being strangled. Her face was bright red and her eyes were bulging as she clawed desperately at the two hands around her neck. The man who was doing the strangling was the only person looking at Brie and she’d never seen such a look of sheer rage.
Training told her she needed to get out of there as fast as possible. Her own and her crew’s safety was paramount because if they got hurt they wouldn’t be able to do their job and help anyone. But Simon was right behind her, blocking the door, and he was still taking in what he was seeing in what seemed like a frozen scene in front of them.
Suddenly, it wasn’t frozen. The younger woman crumpled and fell to the floor as the man let go of her neck and shoved her away with a vehement curse. The elderly woman on the couch cried out in fear as he began moving but he was heading straight for Brie, who instinctively stepped out of his path. Her training in self-defence was kicking in and she slipped the backpack off her shoulders and held it in front of her as she moved, ready to use it by throwing it at the man or as a barrier in case of a knife attack.
But it seemed that the angry man was more intent on escaping the room and he rushed to the door, pushing Simon out of the way with such force that the senior paramedic’s feet almost left the floor as he hurtled backwards. Brie could actually hear Simon’s head strike the wooden edge of the staircase with a sickening crunch.
It was Brie’s turn to freeze for another moment. The crumpled woman on the floor was moving, pushing herself up to a sitting position. The woman on the couch was crying and still clutching her chest. It was the groan from Simon outside the door that had to take priority, however. She found him sitting, holding his head, his eyes shut.
‘Call for backup,’ he told Brie. ‘And get out of here.’
‘I’m not leaving you,’ she said, dismayed to hear her voice shake.
‘He might...come back...’
Brie swallowed hard, her mind racing. Having her own life in potentially immediate danger on her very first shift was the last thing she’d expected. How would her mother cope if the worst happened? How on earth had she thought that following the dream of this career had been a good idea? Back in the days when she’d been working as a triple nine call taker and dispatcher for the ambulance service, she’d always been so frustrated by trying to assist with critical situations from the other end of a telephone line. Coaching people to provide CPR or, ironically, advising them to try and find a safe space if they were in a situation where their own lives could be in danger. She’d never forgive herself if chasing that dream of doing what she’d wanted to do so much—being the person who took over when the telephone contact was no longer needed—ended up ruining the lives of the people she loved the most. Her mum. And her son...
But she’d never forgive herself if she ran away from people who needed help either. Brie knew she had no choice, but she did have to think fast and the first thing she needed to do was to try and prevent the situation getting any worse. She slammed the front door shut and locked it. She’d check the back door next but, first, she had to get backup on the way. She reached for the radio clipped to her shoulder and pressed the button to transmit her voice, which wasn’t shaking nearly so much now.
‘Unit Four-Zero-Three to Control,’ she said clearly. ‘Code Black. I repeat... Code Black.’
A code she’d never dreamed of having to use. One that would alert any emergency vehicles nearby that assistance was urgently needed for a situation that was dangerous enough to be a threat to life.
‘Roger that, Four-Zero-Three.’
‘It’s a violent assault,’ Brie added as she crouched beside Simon. ‘At least two victims. Paramedic down. Attacker still in the area.’
‘Roger that, Four-Zero-Three. Standby... We’ve got assistance on the way.’
Simon was trying to get up but fell back with another groan. ‘Too...dizzy...’ he said.
‘Don’t move,’ Brie ordered. ‘I’ll be right back. I’ve got to check on the others and make sure the back door’s locked.’
Fear for her own safety had evaporated as an adrenaline rush galvanised Brie. She raced back into the living room. The older woman hadn’t moved from the couch and still looked terrified.
‘Is he gone?’ The words wobbled. ‘Really...gone?’
‘I’ve locked the front door,’ Brie assured her. ‘Help’s on its way. I’m going to check the back door now. Who was he—do you know?’
‘My husband...’
It was the younger woman on the floor who spoke, as Brie moved past her into the kitchen. Her voice was croaky and Brie could hear a whistling sound as she grabbed a breath after speaking. How much damage had that near strangulation caused? Was she in danger of losing an airway that was only just patent?
Brie could see that the back door of the house was ajar and then, to her horror, she caught the ominous shape, in her peripheral vision, of someone moving fast down the side path through the kitchen window. With shaking hands, she pushed the door shut and heard the snib lock catch just as the handle got rattled. A volley of swear words followed.
‘I’ll get you!’ the man shouted, banging on the door. ‘Just you wait...’
The pane of glass in the top of the door shattered and Brie pressed her hand to her mouth, waiting for the hand to reach in to undo the lock. Instead there was more profanity from outside.
‘I’ve cut myself... This is all your fault...’
Brie held her breath. In a sudden silence outside she could hear the sound of a siren, which could well be the first available unit responding to her Code Black. She hoped it would be the police responding first. With a violent offender still present, the scene would have to be secured before any other medics could be allowed in and she needed help as fast as possible. Simon was out of action, the elderly woman on the couch might have chest pain that could indicate something serious like a heart attack, but the younger woman who’d been attacked was in respiratory distress so she needed the most urgent care. It was the top of the list in the ABC of assessment. Airway, Breathing and Circulation.
The high-pitched whistling sounds of obstructed breathing were even louder as Brie dropped to her knees beside the woman, who was now sitting and leaning forward—another sign of respiratory distress.
‘My name’s Brie,’ she said. She unzipped the pack she’d carried in and then opened a pouch inside it. ‘I’m going to put a mask on you and get some oxygen on, okay?’
As she picked up the oxygen cylinder that was lying by the door where Simon had dropped it, Brie could see that her crew partner was still holding his head in his hands.
‘I’m okay,’ he told her. ‘But if I try and move I’m going to throw up.’
‘I heard a siren,’ Brie said. ‘Backup’s not far away.’
The woman on the couch was watching what she was doing. ‘Her name’s Carla,’ she said. ‘She’s my daughter. She came here to try and get away from her husband. I didn’t know what to do... That’s why I pushed my button...when he wasn’t looking...’
‘You did exactly the right thing,’ Brie said. She pulled a plastic mask from its packaging and unfurled the tubing to attach to the oxygen cylinder. She had the mask in one hand and the elastic to pull over Carla’s head in the other but, even before she could get the mask near her patient’s face, Carla’s head slumped as she lost consciousness and she toppled sideways.
In the same moment, she heard glass being broken again in the kitchen and then the unmistakable sound of a door opening. Brie could feel her heart actually stop for a split second as she looked up, but the first impression of the uniform this man was wearing was enough to reassure her that this wasn’t Carla’s violent husband back for another go. It was, unexpectedly, a critical care paramedic—part of an elite squad that worked alone, as part of an air ambulance service or a general station like the one Brie had been fortunate enough to get a position at. The critical care paramedics had well-equipped vehicles with gear and skills that enabled them to respond to major, life-threatening events to provide the highest level of pre-hospital care.
It was the best backup that Brie could have hoped for but that didn’t stop her heart skipping another beat as she saw the man’s face clearly for the first time.
It couldn’t be...could it?
Jonno?
The man who’d changed her entire life in the space of a single night?
The last man she’d thought she would ever see again?
‘What’s happened?’
The query was crisp but he wasn’t looking at Brie. He’d dropped to his knees beside Carla and he gripped and shook her shoulder. She didn’t have time to answer him before he spoke again, but she still wasn’t the focus of his attention.
‘Can you hear me?’ he asked Carla loudly. ‘Can you open your eyes for me?’
Getting no response, he tipped Carla’s head back to open her airway and then touched the red marks on her neck to assess any injuries and find her pulse, focusing on what he could see and hear of her breathing at the same time. He slid a rapid sideways glance in Brie’s direction.
‘So what’s happened? I was just round the corner when the Code Black alert came through.’
‘Attempted strangulation,’ Brie responded.
Did he recognise her voice? Was that why he fired that sharp glance at her face? Brie was desperately trying to bury her own recognition of this man and not only the visceral response her body was generating but what the potential repercussions in her own life could be. She couldn’t let herself go there. Not yet.
‘She was conscious and talking but the stridor got worse,’ she added quickly. ‘And...she just lost consciousness a few seconds ago.’
‘Grab a bag mask for me, would you?’ His gaze was back on their patient and his voice was calm. ‘I need both an oral and nasal airway as well, and how ’bout cranking that oxygen up to full tilt. Fifteen litres.’
He looked over his shoulder to where Carla’s mother was staring at him. Brie saw him frown as she handed him the curved plastic oral airway, the soft rubber tube that was the nasopharyngeal airway and the mask with the ventilation bag and a soft reservoir bag attached. He slipped the devices intended to keep airways open into place and then snapped open the compressed ventilation bag, taking another concerned glance at Carla’s mother.
‘Have you got chest pain?’ he asked.
She nodded.
‘Have you had it before? Do you get angina?’
She nodded again.
‘Is this pain the same as normal?’
‘Yes... Should I use my spray, do you think? It’s in my pocket.’
‘Yes, please do.’
Jonno smiled at the elderly woman and if Brie had been in any doubt that this was the man she remembered all too well it vanished in that moment. She’d spoken to Jonathon Morgan via radio transmission for years when she’d worked in the control room. More than long enough to hear about the charismatic paramedic’s exploits and develop rather a serious crush on him, but it wasn’t until she’d met him at that party and he’d smiled at her—just like that—that she’d really fallen for him. Hook, line and sinker. Head over heels. A brief fantasy that had been fulfilled beyond her wildest dreams. For one night. Because that had been the first and last time Brie had seen Jonno. Nearly seven years ago now.
‘We’ll look after you just as soon as we can,’ Jonno told Carla’s mother.
Then he looked back at Brie and she saw the flash in his eyes that was the moment he had definitely recognised her. Not that he was going to acknowledge it in any way. He knew better than she did that this was most definitely not the place or the time and, to his credit, Jonno was ultimately professional. He didn’t miss a beat in his focus on what was going on around them.
‘Are you working alone?’ he asked.
‘No—my partner, Simon, got attacked. He’s in the hallway. Conscious, but he’s had a hard knock to his head and he’s too dizzy to move.’
As if to back up her explanation and add to the feeling of chaos, they could hear a groan from Simon and then the sound of him being sick.
‘The guy that attacked him might still be around,’ Brie warned. ‘That’s why I called a Code Black. He tried to break in through the back door just before you arrived.’
Jonno’s eyebrows rose a fraction and Brie could almost see him processing all the implications and assigning priorities. There was a frisson of something like respect in there as well. Because she hadn’t run away from a terrifying situation herself? Or did he realise how huge a fright he must have given her by breaking in through the back door the way he had?
‘The police won’t be far away,’ he said. ‘Don’t worry about what might or might not be going on outside. It could mean that we’ll have to work by ourselves in here for a while, though, until they get the scene secured. You okay with that?’
Brie nodded but she bit her lip. ‘I’m just glad you’re here,’ she murmured.
‘Same.’ Jonno raised his voice. ‘Simon? Can you hear me?’
‘Yeah...’
‘Hang in there, mate. We’ll come and have a look at you in a sec.’ He lowered his voice to speak to Brie again. ‘He’s conscious and talking so he has a patent airway. Our first priority has to be here.’ He squeezed the bag he was holding to pump more oxygen into Carla’s lungs. ‘Those marks on her neck suggest some soft tissue injury that could start causing enough swelling to close her airway.’ He shifted his glance to where the life-pack Simon had been carrying had been abandoned by the door. ‘Can you get a pulse oximeter on and some ECG dots? A blood pressure would be good too. I’m going to get IV access and I think we’ll be looking at intubation sooner rather than later.’
Taking basic vital signs was something Brie was more than confident to do. She stuck the sticky dots for monitoring Carla’s heart into place and clipped the oxygen saturation probe onto her finger while the trace on the screen settled. Then she wrapped the blood pressure cuff around one arm and pushed the button for an automatic reading to be done. Jonno was unrolling pouches from his own kit between delivering puffs of oxygen to Carla and Brie felt a beat of nervousness as she saw the instruments and drugs that it would be years before she could become qualified to use. Was she even capable of being a useful assistant with something as invasive as intubating a patient?
Maybe Jonno could see those nerves as he glanced up because his gaze was reassuring and his tone still perfectly calm.
‘Can I get you to come and take over the bagging while I get IV access, please, Brie?’
The subtext to his request was just as clear.
We’ve got this. I know you’re scared but it’s okay... I’ll talk you through anything you need to do...
And...he’d remembered her name. Brie scrambled to kneel above Carla’s head, holding the mask firmly over her mouth and nose with one hand to make sure the air couldn’t leak out and squeezing the thick plastic of the bag with her other hand to force the oxygen in.
But...wow... There was a tingling sensation in Brie’s body that was impossible to ignore. After so many years and having only really met her on that one occasion, Jonno remembered her name. Did he remember anything else about that night? With something like desperation, Brie shoved the memories that were so keen to surface aside. She knew that they had the potential to be overwhelming.
Not now, she told herself. Please...not now...
Jonno was working swiftly and smoothly, sliding a cannula into a vein in Carla’s arm and attaching it to a bag of saline. He was keeping a close eye on the numbers the screen of the defibrillator was displaying and Brie could see that it wasn’t looking good. The heart rate was increasing steadily and the level of circulating oxygen was dropping. What they were already doing to try and keep Carla’s airway open and her breathing adequate was clearly not working well enough.
If Jonno could hear the more than one approaching siren outside that Brie was aware of, he didn’t acknowledge them. Instead, he looked completely focused on what was directly in front of him as he caught Brie’s glance.
‘I’m going to draw up the drugs I need and set up for a crash intubation,’ he told her. ‘I’ll need your help, so try and ignore whatever else might happen, okay?’
Like the shouting that was happening outside only seconds later?
‘Come out with your hands in the air,’ she heard a male voice command. ‘We’ve got the shed surrounded.’
‘Oh, my...’ Carla’s mother had got to her feet to stare out of the window. ‘They’ve got guns, those policemen.’
‘Sit down, love.’ Jonno’s instruction sounded like a casual invitation but Brie could hear a thread of steel beneath it. ‘You don’t want to distract anybody from doing their job out there and it’s probably best to stay out of sight. Have you had your spray now?’
‘Yes.’
‘How’s that chest pain?’
‘Better.’ She sank back onto the couch. ‘Why isn’t Carla waking up? What are you doing?’
‘She’s having a little trouble with her breathing so we’re going to help her by putting a tube into her throat.’ Jonno caught Brie’s gaze again. ‘Ready?’
Brie nodded. She was. What was happening outside to secure the scene so that more emergency personnel could come into the house became a background hum. Even any concern for Carla’s mother or for Simon was temporarily shelved. They had one job to do here that could very well save this woman’s life and that one glance from Jonno had been enough for Brie to summon the confidence she needed.
She could do this.
Technically, she knew that a crash intubation was a way to rapidly sedate and paralyse a patient who needed airway protection because they couldn’t maintain or protect their airway themselves.
‘Right...’ Jonno picked up a loaded syringe. ‘Can you put some cricoid pressure on, please?’
Brie had done this many times, but only in training. Only on a mannequin. It felt very different to be doing it on a real person but she knew she was feeling for the hard, ring-like structure beneath the cricothyroid cartilage. She also knew that the manoeuvre was used to avoid aspiration of stomach contents that was the complication of airway management that carried the highest risk of fatality. She held the ring between her thumb and forefinger and applied pressure.
‘That’s the rocuroniumin,’ Jonno murmured moments later. He picked up another one of the syringes he’d prepared. ‘We wait fifteen seconds and then it’s time to push the ketamine.’
We. They were a unit. A team. Brie liked that.
She knew to increase the pressure once the drugs had taken effect. Then Jonno tipped Carla’s head back and, with the same smoothness and confidence with which he’d gained IV access, he inserted the laryngoscope into her mouth to get a view of her airway. Then he reached down, without taking his eyes off what he could see, and put his fingers over Brie’s. She knew what he was doing even though nothing was said and she was aware of a fleeting memory of the jokes in training about doing BURP. Jonno needed backwards, upwards and to the right pressure on the cartilage, to help him see what he was doing more accurately. He was going to find the best position and then it would be her job to maintain it until the endotracheal tube was placed and the cuff inflated to keep it secure.
It seemed to be only seconds after Jonno had put her fingers in the right place that he pulled out the bougie wire from inside the tube, emptied the syringe full of air to inflate the cuff and then attached the bag mask to the end of the tube. He held the mask out for Brie to take and then picked up the earpieces for the stethoscope hanging around his neck.
‘Give her a few breaths while I check we’re in the right place and then we’ll get it all secured. Sounds like we’re about to get company.’
The background hum suddenly came back into focus. The banging on the front door and someone calling and Simon’s voice telling them he could unlock the door for them and yes...he thought it was safe to come in. There was someone coming in through the back door at the same time, calling to reassure them that they were the police and not a returning offender.
There was another paramedic crew coming in as well but, while Jonno acknowledged them, it was Brie he was talking to as he looked at the screen of the defibrillator.
‘Still tachycardic at one twenty-two and her BP’s still lower than I’d like, but her oxygen saturation is going up and her end tidal CO2 is sitting at forty-two, which is just where we like it.’ He smiled at Brie. ‘Good job.’
It was then he turned to the new crew and began to bring them up to speed. Another ambulance crew arrived and then more police officers and the house became so crowded it was overwhelming. Carla’s mother was being attended to, having a twelve lead ECG taken to rule out an evolving heart attack. Simon was being carefully assessed as well, but Brie was relieved to see that he was looking better than he had earlier. She stayed where she was, supporting Carla’s breathing, until the chaos settled a bit and the new crew took over.
‘Looks like your partner’s got a good concussion,’ a paramedic told her as she got to her feet and stepped out of the way so they could lift Carla onto a stretcher. ‘He’s going to need a scan and observation for a while. Are you going to be okay on your own to get your truck back to your station?’
Brie nodded. ‘Of course. What about Carla’s mother?’
‘She’s stable. No sign of an infarct and her chest pain’s resolved. We’ve got another crew coming to transport her for a more thorough checkup, though. Jonno, are you okay to follow us in? We’ll be heading for the Central Infirmary.’
‘Sure thing. Right behind you.’ He was packing up his kit but glanced up at Brie. ‘Where’s your station?’
‘Not too far. I’m with Westwood Ambulance EMS.’
‘No way. That’s where I’m based at the moment. How come I haven’t seen you around?’
Brie blew out a breath. ‘Maybe because this is my first shift?’
A huff of breath that sounded very close to laughter escaped Jonno. ‘Well, you’ve certainly jumped in at the deep end, haven’t you?’ He zipped up his kit and got to his feet. ‘But you used to work in Control, didn’t you? Ages ago? Before I headed offshore?’
‘Mmm...’ How hard would he need to rake through his memories to find what was demanding attention again inside Brie’s head right now? That totally unforgettable night that still haunted her dreams—in a very good way?
Apparently not that long.
‘I remember you,’ Jonno said softly.
A flash of something in his eyes was gone as fast as it had appeared, but it had still been long enough for Brie to register that that attraction that had led to the most memorable night of her entire life might very well still be there on his part. There was no doubt it was still there on her side of the equation. The tingle that had been sparked by him remembering her name was nothing compared to the spear of sensation she was experiencing now. And she knew it had to be her imagination but her knees really did feel weak for a heartbeat.
Jonno seemed to be trying to hide a smile as he refocused and turned to follow the crew taking Carla from the house. ‘How ’bout I come and find you back on station so we can catch up properly?’
He was gone before Brie could respond, but what on earth would she have said, anyway?
Good idea—it’s been far too long? Or perhaps, No, I don’t think that would be a good idea at all. I didn’t think you were ever coming back and now I’m not at all sure I want you finding out that you’re the father of my son...
