Page 85 of Never Tear Us Apart
‘We sent for him, ma’am,’ Danny tells her. ‘He will come if he can, but likely not in time. A few pilots injured in that last show have his attention right now. The ambulance is here, though.’ He nods over to where a battered old van is waiting, filling the whole of the narrow street. ‘Got the road cleared of obstructions, so it will be a quick journey out. And I told ’em to park it just out of sight. Didn’t want to spook the kid.’
‘Thank you, Flight Lieutenant,’ Stella says. ‘You have been a great help.’ She turns her gaze to me. ‘Maia, come. David, let go of her hand. You must stay with your sister. Stay back as far as you can – do you understand me?’
‘Come with me, David.’ It’s Sal, pushing his way through the crowd. ‘You are home, Maia,’ he says quietly just to me when he reaches us. ‘We have much to discuss. After.’ Sal offers David his hand. ‘You and the baby come with me. We can look after each other, no?’
Nodding silently, David goes to Sal, who takes the handle of the unwieldy pram, dragging it backwards, out of thecrowds. Stella sends him a silent look of thanks. Now, all she has to think about is the job in hand.
‘So,’ she tells me and Danny, ‘the bottom of his right leg looks as though it is completely crushed. The pressure of the stone is all that is stopping him from bleeding to death.’ I glance over at the rubble where a woman crouches next to the boy, talking brightly in Maltese. ‘He is in shock and at risk of organ failure, but he is young, and the young have an amazing capacity to recover. So, I must amputate. I am not a surgeon, but I know enough and will not take too long.’ Her hands play out the procedure in the air, an unconscious rehearsal. ‘The bone is already crushed, you see. I must only cut what muscles and tendons remain. Two or three minutes, I should think. I have a little chloroform, Maia, which you must administer to him. I cannot tell you how much. He is small, so you will give a little, and then more until he sleeps. Too much at once might kill him.’
‘Right.’ Fear knots in my stomach, but never hesitation. I know that I can do what she needs me to do, even though I don’t know why.
‘You were good with Vittoria. You calmed her. You have the right temperament for this situation, yes?’
‘I can handle it,’ I assure her.
She nods in acceptance. ‘The boy is ten. His name is Raffa. He doesn’t know yet that his mother has been killed, and he must not know until we are sure he will survive. So you will go to him, lie with him. Talk a little, administer the chloroform, small, small, small. And when you are certain he is ready, I will operate. Most important is to remove him from the site and to stop bleeding, so I will use a tourniquet which I hope will stem the bleeding.’ She turns to Danny. ‘Flight Lieutenant, you must have two strong,nimble men ready with a stretcher to run him over the stones and into the ambulance, waiting for my word.’
‘Ma’am,’ Danny says, ‘there’s an awful good chance you, Maia and the kid could all end up under that ton of limestone that’s rocking back and forth up there. I don’t want Maia to get trapped under that. Now, I ain’t no doctor, but I am a big brother – How about I stay with the kid?’
‘No.’ Stella shakes her head. ‘You are needed in the sky, Flight Lieutenant. You are too precious to risk here. You fight to save the many, not the one. Maia is a capable woman.’
‘I can do it,’ I tell him. ‘I’m not afraid.’
‘That’s what scares me,’ he says, his eyes locking with mine. ‘Don’t die, you hear me?’
‘Enough of this talking.’ Stella gestures between us, rolling her eyes. She hands me a small brown bottle and a folded muslin cloth. ‘Maia, this is all I have. Please don’t drop it. Remember . . .’
‘I’ll be careful,’ I assure her. She holds my hands as she passes me the bottle, her eyes searching mine.
‘You are a brave woman,’ she says. ‘I have faith in you.’ She turns to Danny. ‘Once we begin, all must be done quickly, smoothly. I will travel with you to the hospital, Flight Lieutenant.’
‘Yes, ma’am.’ Danny nods. ‘We will be ready.’
‘My tools have been sterilised. I’ll fetch them, and then we begin.’
‘Right, then.’ I head into the ruin. Danny walks beside me.
Every step we take is observed by the pale, worried faces of dozens of people, my father amongst them. Danny’s warm arm brushes against mine. My face turns to his. He takes my hand, gently turning me until we face one another.
‘Maia, one thing.’ Danny dips his forehead to rest against mine. Our eyes meet; there are only the two of us. ‘You are gonna knock this out of the park,’ he tells me, before letting me go. ‘And I’ll be waiting for you when you’re done.’
Chapter Sixty-Two
Reaching Raffa is hard. I stumble and twist my ankle, banging my elbows on stone but managing to save the small glass bottle. So I crawl, flat on my belly, over the broken stones towards where the woman had stayed with him for as long as she was able.
A faint cry winds into the air, and I see the red of his mouth first. His teeth have been knocked out. One eye is completely closed and swollen. A small, thin hand reaches out towards me, fingers splayed. Something tears; my skin grates and bleeds, but at last I’m able to reach his hand. I hold it as I manoeuvre my body so that I am more or less lying alongside him. Looking up, I see the blue sky through slashes of broken timber that sway and groan under the weight of the slowly shifting stone.
‘Hello there,’ I say with a smile.
His face is sunken, skin grey. His eyes are wide with fear.
‘I’m Maia. I’ve come to keep you company while they get you out of here.’
‘Where’s Mummy?’ he asks. ‘I was asleep. And now . . . what happened? Where is my mother, please, miss?’
‘I’m not sure,’ I say. ‘But don’t you worry, because you will be out of there soon and on your way to the hospital in an ambulance.’
‘But I want Mummy,’ he tells me, his slight voice trembling. ‘Where is my mummy?’
