In the Boss's Arms. Barbara Hannay

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СКАЧАТЬ impossible to put that night behind her. By the end of three days her nerves would be in shreds. How dared Liam trick her into this no-choice position?

      Keeping her eyes closed, she tried to relax, deliberately loosening her shoulders, her stomach, her hands. She wasn’t going to let Liam Conway upset her. After her divorce she’d vowed never to let another man undermine her confidence the way her husband had. She’d learned her lesson.

      The important thing to remember was that her boss recognised how good she was at her job and, more importantly, he understood how significant the outback was to the company. It would be a real coup to bring the outback tours back on board.

      Opening her eyes again, she sent a sleepy glance around the small cabin.

      Liam was still intent on the scenery below. She watched the pilot, Joe Banyo, flick one of the many buttons on his complicated control panel, and saw him reach into a pack beside him for a roll of antacid tablets. From beneath heavy eyelids she watched him tear the foil and pop one into his mouth.

      Joe turned, caught her watching him and sent her a quick, reassuring grin.

      The monotonous, throaty roar of the plane’s motor filled the cabin. She’d always found the surroundsound hum of small planes rather hypnotic and she let her eyes drift closed again. They were heading for Redhead Downs, about an hour and a half inland. Why not take a nap? It would kill two birds with one stone. She could get rid of her headache, and she could avoid the embarrassment of having Liam ignore her.

      Turning sideways, she nestled more comfortably into the padded upholstery.

      ‘Alice!’

      Liam was shouting at her, shaking her shoulder roughly. ‘Wake up!’

      She blinked. And then her eyes flicked wide. Liam had already moved on past her and was at the front of the plane. He was crouching over Joe, the pilot, who was—oh, good heavens—slumped sideways in his harness.

      Oh, my God, who was flying the plane? A blast of panic brought her fully awake.

      ‘What’s happened?’ she shouted.

      ‘He’s collapsed.’

      She stared in horror at Liam’s shocked expression and the pilot’s pale form. Oh, God. Flicking open her seat belt, she jumped to her feet. ‘Have you tried to wake him?’

      ‘Of course. He won’t respond.’

      ‘Is—is he breathing?’

      ‘Hard to tell. I don’t think so.’

      They were going to crash! She struggled beneath another slam of panic. ‘Is there a pulse?’

      Liam flashed her a quick, worried frown and then touched his fingers to Joe’s neck. ‘I—I can’t feel anything, but I’m not sure if I’m on the right spot.’

      She tried to remember what she’d learned in various first-aid courses. ‘Feel to the left of his Adam’s apple.’ Please, Joe, have a heartbeat! Her own heart was a sledgehammer.

      Liam tried and shook his head. ‘I’m not getting anything.’ He struggled with Joe’s harness. ‘I’ll have to get him out of this seat.’

      Alice sent a hasty, terrified glance out of the nearest porthole to the grassy paddocks and bush below. Miles and miles below. At least the plane wasn’t doing anything dreadful like spiralling downwards the way they did in war movies.

      ‘Do you think he’s had a heart attack?’ She knew she sounded panicky.

      ‘How the hell would I know?’

      She remembered seeing the antacid Joe had taken earlier. Had he taken it because he’d felt chest pain and thought he had indigestion? If he’d had a heart attack, they would have to get help fast or he would die. Oh, God, what was she thinking? They were all going to die if their pilot couldn’t land the plane.

      In the confined space it was a terrible struggle but at last Liam managed to drag Joe and together they set him in the tiny aisle, on his side in the recovery position.

      ‘You’ll have to look after him, while I try to get help on the radio,’ Liam told her.

      ‘OK,’ she said, thinking she would need to be a contortionist to attempt CPR in the available space. ‘I’ll do my best.’

      ‘Good girl.’

      She looked up quickly. Liam’s face was pale, his expression grim—just this side of terrified—but he managed a reassuring smile.

      ‘I don’t suppose you know how to fly a plane?’ she asked.

      ‘’Fraid not. But the plane must be set on autopilot. We don’t seem to have lost altitude, so that gives us a bit of leeway while we try for some help.’

      She gave a brief nod, an even briefer smile. ‘Good luck.’

      He was already climbing into the pilot’s seat, and she turned her attention to the unconscious man. He needed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and CPR. She hoped to God she could remember the procedure.

      She checked Joe’s airway and began to breathe for him. After the initial weirdness of putting her mouth to a stranger’s, she settled into the rhythm. One breath every four seconds.

      ‘Mayday! Mayday!’ Liam was shouting.

      How scary those words sounded. But at least he’d figured out how to work the radio.

      Alice wished she was braver. She knew she mustn’t think about the plane crashing, but horrific images of their tiny cabin smashing into hard earth kept jumping into her head.

       Don’t let your mind go there! Get a grip! Be disciplined. Focus on Joe, on the breathing.

      She could hear Liam shouting to someone, explaining about their pilot’s collapse. Thank heavens he’d made contact. She felt a tiny bit calmer. And remembered to pray.

      ‘We’re close to Redhead Downs,’ Liam was saying, and then he gave their position from a control-panel monitor and reeled off a string of numbers—something to do with the plane.

      She finished a round of breathing and checked again for the pilot’s pulse. Beneath her fingertips, she felt a tiny beat. Dear God, thank you. She wouldn’t need to apply CPR. But Joe still wasn’t breathing, so she began again on another round of mouth-to-mouth.

      ‘OK,’ Liam was shouting into the radio. ‘I’ve found the airspeed dial. It says we’re flying at—er—one hundred and twenty knots. Is that OK? It is? Great!’

      Alice kept up the rhythmic breathing. Surely Joe would revive soon? As she worked she could hear the voice on the radio explaining the basic controls to Liam, and the confident replies Liam gave to each set of instructions. Wow! How did he stay so calm?

      In the midst of terror, there was something commanding about his manner, something reassuring. Perhaps it was an illusion created by broad shoulders?

      But the illusion was destroyed when Liam yelled, ‘Brace yourself back СКАЧАТЬ