Maid for the South Pole

Part 4

FOUR

"Hi, I'm Doug. Are you the nurse?" a harried-looking crewman asked.

Audra hesitated. "No. I'm a meteorologist, but I've trained as a surgical assistant in case there's a medical emergency."

"That's better than the rest of us. We've got first aid and that's it. I'll take you to your patient." Doug reached for her bag and Audra let him take it. "This way."

She followed him to a part of the ship she hadn't seen before, but then, she'd only been aboard it for two weeks on her voyage south. Not long enough to injure herself so badly she'd needed medical assistance, anyway. Admittedly, she'd worked at Romance Island Resort for months before one of the other maids had attacked her. Audra rubbed the back of her head in memory of where Penny had hit her hard enough to knock her out. It was nice to have a job where violence or guys who pressured girls into s*x weren't part of a normal day's work. Antarctica was so...civilised.

Or maybe it was because she was officially a meteorologist here, not a maid.

"We talked to the doc at Casey Station as soon as we picked this guy up. She said to give him some intravenous medication as soon as he wakes up. I wrote down the dosage for you and everything." Doug ushered her into sickbay and grabbed the patient chart at the end of the curtained-off bed. "Here."

Audra scanned the sheet. "He's on morphine? What's wrong with him?"

"Some pretty nasty fractures. Want to see?" Doug reached for the blanket.

Audra shook her head. "No! I'm good, thanks. I just need to put an IV in, right?"

"That's what the doc said. There's a phone there, and we have a videoconferencing hookup here, if you want to call her to check." Doug hefted her bag onto his shoulder. "Do you need anything out of this, or do you want me to take it to your bunkroom?"

"That'd be great, thanks," Audra said, still puzzled by the patient's notes. "When did you give him his last dose of medication?"

Doug paused in the doorway. "Oh, we didn't. He did."

"He did?" Audra turned her gaze on the patient. "What is he, SAS? Who breaks bones and then administers their own first aid?"

Doug shrugged. "Nah, not SAS. He's American. They have Special Forces or something like that. He dosed himself, but he smashed the bottle, so we don't know how much he took. That's why the doc said to wait until he wakes up, so you can ask him. Good luck." He left.

Wonderful. Her first real patient was a war hero, and she got to stab him with a needle. No wonder they wanted him awake first. God only knew what the American military trained their soldiers to do to someone stupid enough to stab them in their sleep. Nothing good, that's for sure.

She sighed, picked up the phone and called Casey.

Ten minutes later, she ended the call, none the wiser. Yes, the man had radioed for help. When the ship arrived, he was unconscious in his hut, lying beside a patch of damp carpet and a smashed morphine bottle. No one knew how much he'd taken, or when, or whether he'd taken more than one dose. So she had to sit and wait.

Audra wished she'd brought a book.

Sighing, she settled in a chair beside the mystery man's bed.

Unlike most of the men at Davis Station, he hadn't grown a beard. The dark stubble across his face said he'd been cleanshaven before his accident. His hair was shaved short, too, like a military regulation haircut.

Audra pulled back the sheet that covered his torso, baring his chest and his upper arms. Very well-muscled arms, like he might have quit the military, but he still trained daily. Now she understood why no one could say how many doses he'd taken – the man's statuesque body was covered in bruises, hiding the injection site.

"That'll teach you to wrestle with elephant seals," Audra remarked, trying to work out which arm was less bruised, and easier to find a vein in. She patted his hand gently. "You won't do it again, though, I bet."

He didn't even twitch under her touch. Maybe he was too deeply under with the morphine he'd taken. In that case, perhaps she should try to slide a cannula into a vein while he was unconscious and wouldn't feel it. Especially as this was her first.

Audra took a deep, shaky breath. She had to do this. But first, she'd just check the IV stand, to make sure everything was hooked up properly ready to go, with the correct dosage programmed in. Yes, of course it was. She just had to stick a needle through his skin, tape it in place, and connect the IV line. Simple.

She marched over to the sink and washed her hands with particular care. He wasn't going to get an infection from her.

"Please don't try to kill me for this," she said in a tone she hoped sounded calm, "but I'm going to place a cannula in your arm so we can give you medication to help with the pain. It might hurt a bit at first, and if it does, you just tell me, okay?"

No answer. Did a snore count? Audra didn't think so.

She slipped a tourniquet around his arm, tightening it until it cut off circulation and made his veins stand out. She continued to tell him what she was doing, though she knew he couldn't possibly hear her. If anything, it kept her from throwing the needle down and saying she couldn't do this. She'd trained to look at weather and wind and storms, not bodies.

Yes, she had trained for this, Audra reminded herself. An emergency surgical assistant, that's what she was, qualified to stab people in an emergency. And it was.

"You might feel a sharp scratch," she murmured, biting her lip as she angled the needle.

Just like she'd practised. Just like she'd practised. Just like...

The needle pierced the skin and the clear reservoir at the top of the cannula filled with blood. Was that supposed to happen? She racked her brain and couldn't remember.

That tiny bit of blood didn't matter, she decided, swallowing. She finished inserting the cannula, removed the needle bit and taped it all off.

"There. When you wake up, I'll be able to give you your medicine right away," Audra said, lifting her head to smile at the unconscious man.

Blue eyes regarded her. Not unconscious any more. Had he been watching her all this time?

"I...um...didn't realise you were awake. I hope I didn't hurt you," she said. "Look, you were my first, but it's better than waiting until we reach a proper doctor at Casey. At least now you'll be all right for pain relief and stuff. If it knocks you out like the last dose did, you'll be home before you know it."

"Home," he said indistinctly, like he was drunk. Or drugged, which of course he was. "Darling, I'm home." At least, that's what she thought he'd said.

Audra didn't have time to think before he grabbed her, wrapping both arms around her so she couldn't escape. He sure was strong for a man lying in a hospital bed. He pulled her closer, forcing her head down. Her lips met his, and while she pressed hers firmly together, his tongue darted out of his open mouth to pry a way in.

"Darling, it's baby-making time," he said, more clearly, dragging her forward so she nearly fell on top of him on the bed. It took her a moment to realise that was what he intended.

Audra reached behind her, groping for the IV stand. If she could attach the IV line to his arm, maybe it would knock him out again. Soon. It had to be soon, because he was holding her so tightly it was getting hard to breathe.

"No. Let me go!" she insisted.

"Baby-making time, darling," he insisted, moving in for another kiss.

There! Her hand found the table where she'd left the medical supplies, and her fingers closed around something cold and hard. Audra jabbed the needle into his arm and the madman released his grip just enough for her to squirm free.

"Darling!" he protested.

"I'm not your darling," Audra snapped, brandishing the needle.

The man struggled to get up, but when he did, his legs bent...wrong. Broken, Audra realised. Both of them. No wonder he'd taken so much morphine.

He made a sound that strangled in his throat before he passed out, presumably from the pain.

"Now, do you want pain relief, or don't you?" Audra asked.

No response. He could be pretending, though.

"You try that again and I'm going to let you go without any drugs until we get to Casey," she told him, reaching for the IV line. She edged closer to him, ready to drop the line and run if she had to, but he didn't move. She forced herself to take her eyes off his face to connect the line to the cannula, then felt her breath hiss out as it was done without him waking. Maybe he truly was unconscious.

Still, she wasn't taking any chances. Audra scooted back out of his reach to turn on the pump.

The man might be worse than Jay Felix when it came to demanding s*x, but he hadn't grabbed her again, so she owed him his medicine.

"Is he awake?" Doug appeared in the doorway.

"Not any more," Audra replied. She considered telling Doug about what the man had done, but decided it didn't matter. Besides, what if Doug didn't believe her? She hardly believed it herself. Talking about it wouldn't help her forget, like she wanted to. "He roused for a bit, but he's out again. The doc at Casey said to keep him medicated until we reach the station. Probably a good idea." Then he couldn't grab anyone else. She peeled off her gloves and threw them in the bin.

"Aren't you going to do that?" Doug blurted out.

And risk r**e? Not b****y likely. "Anyone with first aid training can do it. Just hook up the next bag when the pump beeps. Easy." Audra started scrubbing her hands in the sink. She wanted to wash her whole body.

"Thanks, then. I'm sure Sean here would thank you, too, if he could," Doug said. "Or his next of kin will, when we get hold of her. We haven't been able to reach his wife."

Audra felt bile rise up in her throat. Lovely. Not only had Sean tried force her into bed with him, but he wanted to cheat on his wife. The arsehole deserved both broken legs.

"Where's my room?" Audra asked, not wanting to discuss the patient any more.

"Oh, I stuck you in Bunkroom Three. Figured you're here first, so you get the porthole. The staff at Casey can fight over the rest." Doug grinned.

Audra shut off the tap and wiped her hands dry. s**t, they were shaking. "Thanks. Hey, do you have anything to drink on this ship? I could really do with one."

"Sure do. What's your poison?"

Audra wet her lips. "What've you got?"

She followed Doug out to the dining hall. In two days, she could hand Sean over to the doctor at Casey, happy in the hope of never seeing him again.