Page 84

‘Uh no, why would I do that?’

‘Fire chief here wants to bar us entry to the café.’

The man took off his helmet. ‘I just want you to wait until we get the experts and proper equipment here.’

‘Sounds sensible.’ Harry followed them round the side of the café and to the courtyard wall.

‘Harry.’ Liv rested her hand on his arm. ‘Sarah’s in there. Along with Cathy and Angela Turner, who we think are hurt and possibly unconscious. We might not have time to wait.’

‘Are you sure about this?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you both understand the risks?’

‘We do.’

‘I’m not happy about it, but what can I do?’ He shrugged. ‘I trusted you when Marie needed help to bring Oliver into the world. How can I not trust you when it’s your Sarah?’ He turned to the fireman. ‘I suggest you come up with a plan to get them in as safely as possible. Because with or without your help, I’m pretty sure there’s nothing that will stop this from happening.’

The fireman nodded abruptly and spoke into his radio briefly, a quick, crackly conversation with other members of his team. After a few moments, he beckoned for the two doctors to follow him. ‘All right, we have something . . . not much . . . but something approaching a plan. We think the car is holding up what’s left of the main support wall. When that came down, part of the ceiling did too. We’re going to try to clear the worst of the rubble from under the car, get the hydraulic jacks on the beam resting on it, and try and get access that way.’

‘You mean crawling under the car?’ Callum gaped.

‘I did say it wasn’t much of a plan. But access from the rear is even more compromised since the roof collapsed.’

‘Let’s do it.’

* * *

Callum watched as they raked out the worst of the rubble, and helped Liv step into the thick, heavy trousers that were supposed to protect her from the shards of glass everywhere. The jacket they handed her, despite being worn by a female firefighter, still dwarfed her, and he suddenly wondered what the hell he was doing, letting her put herself in danger like this. She looked so small and vulnerable, peering out at him from underneath the too big helmet and over the top of the mask they hoped would protect them from the worst of the dust. For a moment, she looked like a child playing dress-up.

He struggled to shake the thought as he pulled on his own jacket, and accepted the thick leather gloves offered.

‘Liv.’ He caught her by the arm. ‘You don’t have to do this.’

‘Yeah, I do. I’ve already argued enough with them. Don’t make me argue with you too.’ She tied her bag firmly round her waist before donning her own set of far-too-big gloves. ‘Come on. Our patients have waited for too long already.’

‘Fine, but I’m going first.’ He knelt down to peer underneath the car.

‘Actually, I think I should.’ Liv shrugged. ‘It makes more sense. If I get stuck at any point, you’re a lot more likely to be able to pull me out than vice versa.’ She flicked on the light on the top of her borrowed helmet and flattened herself against the ground to wriggle through the gap that had been created for them.

‘Liv, I . . .’ Callum wanted to say something, but he wasn’t sure what. Somehow, he needed to apologise and try and make things right between them. Even if she was still planning to leave.

‘Not now.’ She turned to look at him, half-blinding him with the torch. ‘This isn’t about us.’ With that, she wriggled between the wheels of the car, and disappeared into the dark rubble.

He sent a quick prayer to anyone who might be listening that they would be safe, and able to bring out everyone safely, before diving into the darkness himself. It was only a few feet, a distance he would have crossed in a heartbeat on any other day, but it felt like it took an eternity or two of careful wriggling and crawling on his elbows while dragging himself through to reach the area where his daughter would have been sitting. Liv came to a stop ahead of him, forcing him to a halt as well. He tried to keep his breathing calm, focussing on the task rather than the tonnes of building resting on top of a poorly balanced beam, scrap car and much-smaller-than-you’d-really-expect pneumatic jacks that the firemen had forced into place.

‘Is everything OK?’

‘Yeah, just . . . hush for a minute. I thought I heard something.’ Liv went completely still and silent ahead of him. ‘There it is again. Sarah, can you shout for me?’

‘Livvy?’ The little voice was muffled, but clearly her.

‘Thank God. We can hear you, munchkin!’ Callum shouted back as well as he could while on his chest with part of a car or building pressing him into the floor.

‘Daddy!’ The voice cut through him.

‘Just stay where you are, and keep talking to us! We’re coming to get you all.’ He lowered his voice so only Liv could hear him. ‘We are able to get to them, right?’