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‘Respiratory arrest.’ Tim had his head very close to the child’s face and one hand was now resting on her neck. ‘No pulse.’

Laura was ripping open the child’s pyjama jacket. It was made of pale pink fabric and decorated with little yellow ducks, rather like the ones on Megan’s blanket. Jason found he had to swallow a painful lump in his throat. This kid had a father. How would he be feeling if he were standing here right now? He focused on Laura’s actions. She clearly knew what she was doing, hooking up electrodes and pushing buttons on the life pack with deft, rapid movements. Jason sent another silent prayer in her direction.

You can do it, Laura. Save her. Please.

A line appeared on the screen of the life pack. A wiggle that even Jason knew was a long way from normal, but Laura actually looked excited.

‘She’s in VF,’ she told Tim.

‘Really?’ Tim sounded amazed. ‘Great.’ He inflated the small lungs again carefully with the bag mask. ‘We might be in with a chance here, then.’

Jason caught the shred of hope and clung to it. A chance was good. A hell of a lot better than seeing the team shaking their heads sadly or packing up anyway.

‘Does anyone know how old she is?’ Laura was opening a side pocket on the defibrillator’s case, pulling out some sticky patches.

‘She’s three.’ Jason didn’t recognise the strange hoarseness of his own voice.

Tim had inserted a plastic airway into the child’s mouth. The bag mask unit was connected to an oxygen cylinder. He reached for another pack and unrolled it. ‘I’ll get ready to intubate.’

‘We’ll need IV access as well.’ Laura stuck the pads on the girl’s chest and back. ‘Everyone stand clear,’ she instructed.

‘Clear,’ Tim responded.

The child didn’t give a dramatic jerk the way Jason had witnessed in some cardiac arrest situations. In fact, it didn’t look like those little patches and wires had done much at all. Maybe they should use bigger ones. There had to be some way of saving this kid. She was only three, for God’s sake. Would Megan still be this tiny when she was three? The thought hit Jason like a brick and the desire to protect his own child from anything like this was unexpectedly fierce. It was followed swiftly by an equally unexpected urge to get back to Inglewood station as quickly as possible and check that Megan was okay.

‘Still in VF,’ Laura announced. ‘Shocking again.’

Jason shut his eyes. This wasn’t working and he didn’t want to see what was happening to the poor kid. He was going to make damned sure nothing like this ever happened to Megan.

‘Stand clear,’ Laura ordered.

‘Clear,’ Tim responded instantly.

Except he wasn’t going to be in any position to protect Megan, was he? Any day now he’d be handing the kid back to its mother, coming to some hopefully amicable financial arrangements, and then the baby would be whisked out of his life and back to the other side of the world. Which was exactly what he wanted.

Wasn’t it?

‘We’ve got sinus rhythm.’ Laura sounded calm but Jason could feel the excitement in the air crank up several notches. Sinus rhythm was good. In fact, it was normal, wasn’t it?

‘Still not breathing,’ Tim said. He pressed the bag again gently and they all watched the tiny chest rise and fall.

‘Still in sinus rhythm.’ Laura seemed to be able to have one eye on the life-pack screen even as her hands were fully occupied ripping open packages and then inserting a needle into the child’s arm. Jason had never seen her working in such a tense situation before. This was life-and-death stuff and Laura looked completely in control. She was calm and clearly very, very competent. Jason suddenly felt rather proud to know this woman. Laura Green wasn’t just a very nice person. She was also very clever.

‘Spontaneous breath.’ Tim looked up at Laura and Jason could see the triumph in his glance. It was clouded by something still grim, however. ‘How long did that take?’

‘It’s less than a minute since we got a pulse,’ Laura responded. ‘But we don’t know how long she was in arrest for.’

‘Can’t have been too long if she was still in VF,’ Tim said. ‘We might be lucky.’

‘We’ll soon find out.’ Laura nodded. ‘Respiratory rate’s increasing. Get the pulse oximeter on, Tim, and let’s see what her saturation levels are. We should get the mother over here, too, and fill her in with what’s happening.’

Activity around the paramedic crew had continued. Jason checked his watch, astonished to find that only minutes had passed. It seemed longer. The house fire was now well under control. There were no visible flames and the thick smell of smoke in the air was dissipating already. He could see fire officers inside, damping down hot spots, but others were beginning to clean up. Hoses were being rolled away and water connections closed off. Jason knew he should move off and start helping with the clean-up but he stayed where he was. Hell, a life had been saved here, and he was part of the team. He had to know what the outcome was. Just like the kid’s mother did.

‘Vicky! Oh, my God… Is she going to be all right?’

‘She’s breathing on her own,’ Laura told the mother. ‘And her heart’s beating normally again.’ She put a comforting hand on the arm of the woman, who looked no older than herself. ‘What we don’t know at this stage is how long she was low on oxygen for. She’s still a very sick little girl.’

‘Oh, no…’ Vicky’s mother sagged against the other ambulance officer as she sobbed. ‘She’s still going to die, isn’t she?’