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Laura checked her phone but the reception had been patchy enough on the road when she had first alerted the emergency services. It had gone completely now and she would not be able to give them an update on the situation. Turning back to the accident victim, Laura ran her hands over the middle-aged man in a body sweep for any obvious bleeding.

‘He’s got a fractured femur,’ she told Jason, pointing to the obvious misalignment of the man’s leg. She carried on with a rapid secondary survey. ‘Pelvis is stable, that’s good.’ She was ripping open a woollen bush shirt as they heard a call from above.

‘Do you need any help?’

‘Have you got a phone?’

‘Yes.’

‘Call triple one,’ Laura directed. ‘Tell them we have one patient. No entrapment. Ask them how long it will be before they get here.’

‘And check on our baby, would you?’ Jason yelled. ‘She’s in the back seat of our car.’

Our baby. Our car. But Laura couldn’t afford to take the time to savour the feeling the words gave her. Her patient was regaining consciousness and groaning loudly.

‘Don’t try to move,’ Laura said. ‘It’s all right. You’ve been in an accident but you’re safe now.’

The reassurance in Laura’s tone was enough to attract the fat black dog, which lay down on its stomach and then wriggled forward like a snake until its nose was right beside Jason’s hand.

‘Hello again,’ Jason said. ‘You all right, dog?’

A long, curly black tail wagged in an embarrassed fashion.

The groans from the dog’s owner were becoming intelligible words. Laura hung her stethoscope around her neck, satisfied that her patient did not have a chest injury severe enough to interfere with his breathing.

‘Keep still,’ she said again. ‘You may have hurt your neck or back.’

‘I… I’m fine,’ the man groaned. ‘Let me sit up.’

‘Not yet.’ Laura kept a restraining hand on the man’s shoulder. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Bill Treffers. What’s yours?’

‘I’m Laura. I’m a paramedic. And that’s Jason, holding your head. He’s a fireman.’

‘Hi,’ Jason said. ‘Must say I’m impressed. It’s not everyone that makes sure they’ve got representatives around from the emergency services when they take their car for a flying lesson.’

‘Oh… God,’ Bill groaned. ‘My car. Is it wrecked?’

‘Were you the only person in the car, Bill?’ Laura queried.

‘Yes. It was just me and that damned dog. The stupid mongrel fell on top of me when I was going around the corner. It’s all his fault. I hope he’s underneath the car.’ Jason caught Laura’s glance but she was glad he didn’t voice his obvious reaction to the statement. The ‘damned dog’ had slithered back to sit on Jason’s foot again as soon as Bill had started talking.

‘Take a deep breath for me, Bill,’ Laura instructed. ‘Does anything hurt?’

‘No. I’ve already told you I’m fine. Let me get up.’ Bill tried to move and then swore profusely. ‘My leg,’ he groaned.

‘It’s broken,’ Laura informed him. ‘An ambulance should be here shortly. They’ll be able to give you some pain relief.’

She could make contact with someone who would give her permission to put an IV line in even though she was off duty, which might speed up the man’s analgesia, but Laura’s professional empathy for him was much less than it had been before he’d mentioned his dog.

‘I’m going to check your neck and back out now,’ she told him. ‘Try and keep still.’

The new arrival to the scene slithered part way down the bank. ‘Your baby’s fine,’ he called. ‘Seems to be sound asleep, and they said the police and ambulance would be here in about ten minutes.’

It was almost an hour later that Jason and Laura finally clambered back up the steep bank as they assisted with carrying Bill’s scoop stretcher. He was taken away in the ambulance and a young female police officer reluctantly handed Megan back. ‘She was crying,’ she explained. ‘So I picked her up. She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?’

Megan was happy enough to go back into her car seat. ‘I’ll put it in the front seat this time, shall I?’ Jason asked. ‘I’ll sit in the back with Oscar.’