Winning The Surgeon's Heart

They lifted Ben onto the bed, and Sophie folded the ambulance stretcher, ready to take it back out to the vehicle. Matt was talking to Ben as he quickly examined him, and Hannah readied the ultrasound machine, handing the probe to Matt as soon as he turned around to look for it.

‘Great, thanks.’ Even that small approbation meant more than it should. Matt was studying the screen on the ultrasound carefully, his brow furrowing for a split second before he made his decision. ‘You were right, this is a tension pneumothorax. I’m going to do a thoracostomy—can you assist?’

Hannah nodded. Ben was conscious and Matt had undoubtedly left out the word emergency in describing the thoracostomy for his benefit. But they had no time to lose now. Hannah had taken Ben’s shirt off in the ambulance, and now she raised his arm, smiling at him as she placed it behind his head.

‘What’s...happening...?’ Ben began to move restively. Breathlessness and agitation were two of the symptoms that Hannah had already noted.

‘The doctor’s going to do a small procedure that’ll help you to breathe more easily. We need to you stay as still as you can.’ Hannah tried to reassure Ben and hold him still without getting in Matt’s way. She’d never before felt so conscious of the touch of another body, working next to her.

Ben flinched as Matt swabbed the area at the side of his chest, moving again so that he could see what Matt was doing. Hannah couldn’t blame him, but he had to keep still.

‘Ben, this will be over soon. I’m going to inject an anaesthetic now. Look at Hannah, not me.’

Matt’s voice was relaxed and calm. The kind of voice that you needed to hear when you were afraid and in pain. Ben quietened, his gaze fixed on Hannah, and she gave him a reassuring smile.

‘Very still now.’ She heard Matt’s voice behind her and leaned forward, preparing for the inevitable reaction when the needle went into Ben’s chest. Matt was working quickly and deftly, but no amount of skill could render the procedure painless.

Ben groaned, gripping her hand tightly, and Hannah heard a tell-tale hiss of air as the tension in the pleural cavity was relieved. Matt withdrew the needle carefully, taping a plastic cannula in place.

‘All done. You did really well.’ Matt smiled at Ben as he started to examine him again, to check that the procedure had relieved his symptoms. ‘Hannah and I are a team, you know. We’re entering a competition to win money for the hospital.’

This wasn’t just idle talk. Matt was assessing Ben’s ability to understand and reply.

‘Yeah? You’re lucky to have her.’ Ben’s face was less ashen now.

‘Don’t I know it.’ Matt smiled, and tingles ran down Hannah’s spine. She reminded herself that Matt’s sudden impulse to chat was for Ben’s benefit, not hers. ‘I’m rather hoping that she’ll keep me in line.’

Keeping Matt in line felt like a delicious and yet difficult prospect. Hannah shot a smile in Ben’s direction. ‘It looks as if I’m going to have my work cut out for me.’

‘Just let me know if he gives you any trouble.’ Ben’s hand found hers again and Hannah gave it a squeeze. ‘I’ll sort him out for you.’

‘Thanks. I might take you up on that.’

Matt chuckled, and his glance of approval told Hannah that he’d seen exactly what she had. Ben was much less breathless now, and he was more alert. As Matt set about checking Ben’s blood pressure, one of the A and E doctors arrived with a nurse, ready to take over from them.

Matt briefed the doctor, while Hannah said goodbye to Ben. When she left the cubicle, she saw that Matt was already at the far end of the busy space outside but he’d stopped by the door and was waiting for her. Hannah stripped off her apron and gloves, and went to join him.

‘Spotting the early signs of a tension pneumothorax isn’t easy in the best of circumstances, let alone in the back of an ambulance.’

Hannah nodded. Matt’s easygoing humour had given her no clues about what he thought about the course of action she’d taken, but she was pleased that he approved.

‘We were close to the hospital, and the symptoms were inconclusive. Doing a thoracostomy in the back of an ambulance isn’t ideal, and I decided it was better to keep going so that Ben’s condition could be properly confirmed...’ She bit her lip. Matt’s gaze was making her feel very nervous.

‘You don’t need me to tell you that you made the right decision, do you?’

‘No, I don’t.’ She really wanted him to, but that had more to do with his blue eyes and his smile than it did with any medical considerations.

Those eyes, and the thought of how it had felt working next to him, were playing havoc with her senses. And Ben wasn’t here to concentrate her mind on other things. Suddenly it felt as if she was standing too close to Matt, but stepping back now was only going to betray her embarrassment.

‘I should be getting along now. Sophie’s probably waiting for me, with some lunch.’

Matt nodded amiably. ‘I’ll see you on Saturday.’

‘Yes. Saturday.’ Hannah tried to think of something friendly and encouraging to say, and came up empty.

As he walked away, she couldn’t resist watching him, telling herself that assessing the width of his shoulders was something to do with deciding on Matt’s ability to handle whatever they were confronted with on Saturday. She jumped, as Sophie seemed to appear out of nowhere and caught her staring.

‘I’d say you don’t have too much to worry about on the teamwork front.’

Hannah shrugged. ‘It’s different. We both knew what had to be done...’

‘Yeah. Keep telling yourself that. You two looked as if you were reading each other’s minds.’ Sophie grinned at her. ‘Come on. Let’s take our break while we can. I could murder a cup of tea.’

Hannah nodded. There was a lot to do before Saturday rolled around, and she could begin to feel nervous about that later.

The four teams had started to gather on the open space behind the hospital building at seven thirty, for the first of four Saturdays that were intended to single out one team to represent Hertfordshire in the finals of Hospital Challenge. Many of Hannah’s friends and workmates were there to watch, and the other teams had brought carloads of their own supporters.

Hannah had been issued with three red T-shirts, with the name of her hospital emblazoned on the back, and she was wearing one. The other teams were wearing blue, green and yellow, so that they could be picked out easily by the cameras. There was a large marquee that no one was allowed access to, and everyone was eyeing it with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension.

Matt was nowhere to be seen. Hannah had greeted the other teams, shaking hands with them and keeping her eye out for the splash of red that she hoped might announce his arrival.

Finally she saw him. Strolling across the grass towards her, wearing the same red T-shirt, with a pair of cargo pants and trainers. They hadn’t been told what to expect, other than that anything might be thrown at them today, and Hannah had made the same decision.

‘Hello.’ She wanted to ask where the hell he’d been, but that might not be the best start to this new partnership.

‘Hi. Sorry I’m late.’ He looked at his watch. Matt wasn’t late, it was just that everyone else had been half an hour early. ‘I stopped by my office...’

‘Doing real work, then.’ Hannah tried to smile.

Matt shrugged. ‘This feels surprisingly real at the moment.’

One hint that he wasn’t as laid-back about all of this as he made out. ‘I’m a bit nervous, too.’

He laughed suddenly. ‘Did you get the pep talk from Human Resources?’

‘The one about how everyone’s going to be watching, and the good name of the hospital is on our shoulders? And how much the hospital can do with the cash prize, if we win?’ Hannah quirked her lips down. ‘Yes, I got it.’

‘And of course we both feel a great deal better after that.’ There was a twinkle in his eye, and Hannah felt herself relax.

‘So much better. Nothing like the weight of expectation to give us wings. I wonder what the other teams have up their sleeves.’

He nodded, motioning quietly away from the groups of people that surrounded them. Hannah followed him to a quiet spot in the shadow of the hospital building.

‘My office window is just up there.’

Hannah followed the line of his finger. The windows of the second-floor surgical suite looked out over the people milling around the marquee. It occurred to her that Matt hadn’t been up there, working.

‘What have you seen?’

‘I reckoned that the first thing we needed to do was assess the competition. We’re not the only team who don’t know each other all that well. Look at the blues and the greens.’

Hannah looked. The two green T-shirts were giving each other a high five, which she’d seen them do before, and it was obviously for the benefit of the people around them.

‘I’d agree with you about the greens. Too demonstrative.’

He nodded. ‘And the blues have their backs to each other most of the time.’

‘The yellows seem pretty tight.’

‘Yes, they are, I know them. Jack and Laura crew an ambulance, working out of Cravenhurst Hospital.’

Matt looked suddenly uncomfortable. Hannah had tried to hide her feelings but he must know that she’d wanted to be partnered with Sophie.

‘So we reckon that two of the other teams are like us, and don’t know each other too well. But the yellows are already very used to working together...’ Matt’s brow puckered in thought. ‘Maybe we just pretend we have a tension pneumothorax to contend with. We did pretty well there.’

Looking beyond the personal, and functioning as a team. A self-contained unit, relying on each other and seamlessly compensating for each other’s weaknesses. That was so easy to do with Sophie, and so very challenging with Matt. Relying too much on him seemed like stepping into a vortex, which would claw her down into the kind of relationship that she’d promised herself she’d never have with a man again.

So don’t look at him as if he’s a man. He’s a person, a fellow competitor.

As soon as the idea occurred to her, Hannah dismissed it as ridiculous. Matt was all man, and every nerve ending was urging her to be all woman in response.

‘Perhaps for a start we should tell each other our greatest weakness.’ Hannah puffed out a breath. You couldn’t just ask that of someone without being willing to go first. ‘I’ll start—’

He shook his head, laying his hand on her arm, and suddenly her greatest weakness wasn’t her tendency to plan everything down to the smallest detail. Her greatest weakness was Matt’s touch...

‘Why don’t you tell me what my greatest weakness is? When you find it. In return, I’ll tell you yours.’

That was a great deal more challenging. But this was supposed to be a challenge after all.

‘Okay. That could work.’

‘And in the meantime, concentrate on our strengths. We’ll need those if we’re going to win.’ He gave her a gorgeous smile. ‘And we are going to win, aren’t we?’

‘Yes, we are. Do you want a high five?’ Hannah had just seen the greens do it again, and this time it seemed a little less confident than it had before.

‘Is that your thing?’ He turned his gaze on her, and she shivered as the vortex seemed to beckon her once more.

‘No, not really.’

‘Right, then. Let’s disappoint Human Resources and dispense with that.’

She liked his quiet humour. The way he looked for real answers, and didn’t just follow what everyone else did.

Then she saw it, glistening in his eyes. Despite all of his outward unconcern, Matt wanted to win too. He wanted to make them into a team that could win together. She’d been too quick to jump to conclusions about him.

‘How long do you suppose we’ll have to wait?’ There was obvious activity going on amongst the production crew, but no one seemed very interested in rounding up the contestants yet.

Matt chuckled. ‘Probably until our nerves are just hovering around fever pitch.’

He didn’t seem to be anywhere near fever pitch at the moment. If Hannah hadn’t known better it would have infuriated her, but Matt was obviously working things through in his own way. Maybe they’d just taken the first step in their team-building exercise.

Matt was used to waiting. The quiet, measured activity of the operating theatre, where lives hung in the balance and the slightest slip could make a world of difference to a patient, had taught him that being ready wasn’t a matter of straining at the leash.

The competitors had been called to a roped-off area to one side of the tent, but it didn’t look as if anything else was going to happen any time soon. Matt sat down on one of the benches that had been provided and Hannah sat next to him, fidgeting. He could almost feel the tension radiating out of her.

‘The little boy you were with last week. He’s your son?’ Maybe talking would calm her a little.

‘Yes.’ She smiled suddenly, that wide open, joyful smile that he’d seen last week. ‘His name’s Sam.’

‘How old is he?’

‘Six.’

That got the basics over. ‘Where is he today? With his father?’

Hannah’s smile slid from her face. That clearly hadn’t been the right thing to say, and Matt wondered why on earth he’d made the assumption. He should have just come out and asked if Hannah had a partner, if he’d wanted to know so much.

‘No, with my mum. She’s going to bring him along here later to hear the results announced. It’s just me and Sam. His father isn’t on the scene.’

‘I’m sorry... I didn’t mean to pry.’

‘That’s all right.’ Mischief kindled suddenly in her eyes. ‘If we’re going to be a team we should get to know each other.’

Matt laughed. ‘Okay. Matthew Robin Lawson. Thirty-six years old, born in Newcastle, single. I’ve been here for a year, and before that I was working in Glasgow.’

‘You’ve moved around a bit?’ Matt shot Hannah a questioning look and she smiled. ‘You don’t have a Newcastle accent.’

‘Yeah. The only family I’m in touch with is my mother, and she lives in Devon. I go wherever there’s a great job that will challenge me.’

It sounded suddenly as if the life he’d made for himself was missing something. The vital ingredient that Hannah seemed to possess, a family and good friends. But this was what he knew. He’d grown up as an outsider, and that was how he felt comfortable now.

‘And you watch people.’ It came unerringly out of the blue, and combined with the warmth in Hannah’s eyes it carried a momentum that almost knocked him backwards.

‘I guess so. We used to move around a lot, and I found it pays to sit and watch for a while when you’re the new kid in school.’

She seemed to see more in that then he’d said. It felt good to be accepted, but Matt knew that being accepted wasn’t everything. Being safe was everything, and he didn’t want Hannah to know about that.

‘And you?’

‘Ah. Hannah... Do I have to tell you my middle name?’

‘You do now. How bad can it be?’

She grinned. ‘Hannah Eloise Greene.’

‘What’s wrong with Eloise?’ It suited her softer side perfectly.

‘It’s...well it’s a bit girly, isn’t it? I’d prefer something a bit more...’ She waved her hand, as if she were groping for the right word. ‘Adventurous, maybe.’

‘Flash? Jet?’

Hannah laughed, and Matt warmed to his theme. ‘How about Olympia, if you want to go classical? Or Juno?’

‘No! Olympia and Juno are far too elegant for me. And one of my friends called her little boy Jet.’

Matt chuckled. ‘Flash it is, then.’

‘Okay. Hannah Flash Greene...it’s got a ring to it. Twenty-six years old, born right here in this hospital. My father died six years ago, and Sam’s father and I split up before he was born. My mum and I bought a house together, and she looks after Sam when I’m at work. I’m lucky, because it’s a good arrangement for both of us.’

‘I imagine it’s great for her to be able to spend time with her grandson.’ Matt hadn’t had too much contact with his family. Staying below the radar had meant that his mother had considered it unwise to visit either set of grandparents, and his aunts and uncles had been just names to him.

‘Yes. She didn’t know what to do with herself when Dad died. I was away, and...’ Hannah shrugged. There was something she didn’t want to say, and Matt didn’t intend to press her. This had just been something to talk about, he hadn’t meant to share any secrets.

‘Contestants! This way, please.’ One of the production assistants called out suddenly and they both jumped.

They’d been told that there would be cameras in the tent, and that they should do their best to ignore them. Inside, there were four sections, each screened off from the others. A smiling woman handed Matt an envelope.

‘Everything you need is in here. Follow the red markers.’ She gestured towards the canvas door that bore a red flash. ‘You can go now.’

Hannah unzipped the doorway, and Matt saw trestle tables, piled high with medical equipment. He watched as another canvas door at the far end of the tent was opened, revealing a carport with a small red car parked in it. They stepped inside and someone zipped the doorway closed behind them. It was an odd feeling, being completely alone with Hannah, but knowing that they were being watched by cameras. He opened the envelope, sorting through its contents.

‘Car keys and a map... Phone... Ah. Instructions.’ He handed the sheets of paper to Hannah, craning over her shoulder to see.

‘Okay...’ She scanned the paper quickly. ‘We’ve got to take the things we think we might need, and wait for the phone to ring. The red car’s ours, and we’ll use it to get to a medical emergency that’s happening somewhere inside the red ring on the map. We don’t know where yet, or what kind of emergency...’

‘Sounds like a normal day for you.’ Matt grinned at her, spreading the map out on top of one the boxes that were heaped on the trestles.

Hannah studied the map, frowning. ‘The red ring’s a good thirty miles from here.’

‘Which means we have to make a decision. We can’t get everything here into the car, so we either take what we think we’ll need and make a start, or we wait here for the phone call and risk being delayed in traffic.’

Hannah nodded, looking up at him. Perhaps she was waiting for him to make the call.

‘What do you say, then, Flash? This is your area of expertise, not mine.’

She grinned suddenly. ‘I say we go. We can open up the boxes and take just the amount we might need from them.’ She pointed at the large box of dressings. ‘Even if we need all that, there are only two of us and two people can’t apply that many dressings.’

‘Agreed. Why don’t you make a selection and I’ll put everything into the car.’

She raised an eyebrow. ‘You’re sure about that?’

‘Positive. I’m used to having whatever I could possibly need within reach. I’ll go with your best guess over mine.’

‘All right, Robin...’ He raised his eyebrows and Hannah chuckled. ‘You asked for that. You can start with the defibrillator and the oxygen kit—we should definitely take those.’

Fifteen minutes’ concentrated work, and they were ready to go. Hannah had used plastic bags and torn wrappers to contain reasonable amounts of as many different things as possible, repacking boxes and labelling them with a marker pen. She’d added a couple of large zipped bags to their provisions, commenting that they were obviously there for a reason, and picked up the bag of sandwiches and the six-pack of water bottles, stowing them in the footwell of the car.

‘Can you see what the others are doing?’ Matt drove out of the carport, and he caught an enticing trace of her scent as she craned round in the passenger seat, trying to see what was going on behind them.

‘Yep. Yellows have gone already. Since they’re an ambulance crew I wouldn’t be surprised if they haven’t done the same as us. Blues and greens look as if they might be staying put.’ She twisted back round in her seat, surveying the road in front of them. ‘I hope we’ve done the right thing.’

‘We’ve done it now. We look forward, not back.’ Matt could feel a tightening excitement in his chest. This wasn’t just about winning, not even just about bringing home the cash prize for their hospital. Suddenly, it was Flash and Robin, on the road together. Ready to face whatever was thrown at them.

CHAPTER THREE

HANNAH HAD PICKED a spot that gave easy access to main roads in all directions, and was approximately at the centre of the circle. They got out of the car, stretching their legs, and even though it was only ten thirty, she broke open one of the packets of sandwiches. Who knew when they’d get a chance to eat later on? After ten minutes, the phone rang. Matt answered it, listening carefully and scribbling notes on the back of the map.

‘It’s at Lloyd Court. Apparently there’s someone who’s collapsed. No further details at the moment.’

Hannah rolled her eyes, spinning the crust of her sandwich into a nearby waste bin. ‘What, like where he is or what might be wrong with him?’

‘I suppose they think that’s far too easy. They’ll pass further information through to us in the next half-hour. Do you know Lloyd Court?’

She nodded. ‘Yes, it’s a country park. And it’s huge, it’ll take us all day to find someone there.’

Matt handed her the car keys. ‘We’d better get a start, then.’

As Hannah turned into the wide avenue that led to the heart of the country park, he got another call. He listened carefully and then turned to her.

‘Apparently our patient’s had a heart attack. There was one phone call from him, he couldn’t give his exact location but he said he’d been walking on the estate here for around half an hour, and that he was surrounded by trees. His name’s Justin Travers and they’ve given me a phone number for him, but apparently he’s not answering.’

The spike of adrenalin made a clear summer’s day move into even sharper focus. ‘Why give it to us, then?’

‘That’s what I’m wondering...’ Matt was fiddling with the phone as she drove, and Hannah concentrated on the road ahead, turning into the car park that sprawled to one side of the visitors’ centre. She got out of the car, opening the hatchback.

‘What are you doing?’ She started to unload the boxes, sorting out what they would need for the walk ahead of them.

‘Just looking...ah! Got him!’

‘What?’ Matt didn’t seem to appreciate that this was an emergency situation. Okay, so it was a fake emergency situation, but they had to pretend it was real.

‘I did an internet search for the number. There’s a business connections page for a Justin Travers and he’s obviously a walker. Look...’ Matt held out the phone and Hannah glanced at it, then went back to unloading the boxes from the car. She grabbed the two rucksacks and started to fill them with the things they might need.

‘He’s a made-up person, Matt. He’s not going to have social media.’

‘Or they’re testing us. What would you do if you were in this situation for real? You’d try to find out who he was if you could.’ He handed her the phone and Hannah scrolled through the page that was displayed. The guy was a self-employed computer consultant, and his hobby was walking. He’d been on a recent expedition to Mount Kilimanjaro, and his contact number was clearly shown. When she scrolled down a little, his other hobby was listed as ‘Watching Hospital Challenge’. That couldn’t be a coincidence.

‘I was wrong...’ She suddenly felt very small. Matt hadn’t underestimated the complexity of the challenge the way she had. He hadn’t dismissed her experience either. She hadn’t shown him that respect.