The Doctor’s Rescue Mission

push themselves to reach harder and harder places. When he told Lucy what they were doing and she threatened to tell Christine, Hamish said it wasn’t really dangerous because there were rocks at the bottom and they could climb around from the beach on the south side. It was only the birds that worried them.’

‘Only the birds?’ Morag drew in her breath in horror, thinking of the birds with their razor-sharp beaks and fierce claws, attacking the little boys as they defended their young. ‘Only the birds? Marcus, they… How…? When…?’

‘Apparently they’ve been telling you and Christine that they’ve been going to the school playground,’ he said ruefully. ‘With their skateboards.’

She closed her eyes. A nine-year-old, to be putting himself in this sort of danger. What sort of a guardian was she? What sort of a-?

‘Hey, Morag, I did it,’ Marcus said ruefully, eyeing her with concern. ‘My dad caught me and my brother at it when I was their age and we got what-for. I’d forgotten about it. But apparently they’ve thought of it again all by themselves. And maybe… If Hamish’s alternative was to spend his Sunday afternoon doing homework or practising his new skill by himself-well, I know what I’d have done.’

She looked at him as if he were mad. There was even a hint of admiration in his eyes. He had to be kidding! Admiration at such a time. When a little boy could be stuck… Could be washed off.

One little boy?

Or two?

Where was Robbie? On that awful cliff?

For one awful moment she thought she might faint. The world wavered, but just as she started to sway a man’s hand gripped on her shoulder.

Grady. It was Grady, still in his theatre gown. He held her, steadied her and waited for the dizziness to pass.

‘What’s happening, love?’ he asked gently, and she winced. But somehow the feel of him was enough. Somehow she collected herself. Love… What on earth did he think he was doing, calling her love?

‘Don’t call me love,’ she whispered, and it was all she could do not to burst into tears. She turned her attention frantically back to Marcus. ‘Marcus, surely those cliffs have been searched?’

‘Maybe not,’ he admitted. ‘I mean…hell, Morag, you know how rough they are. Why would we look there? But now… I was just coming to find you. I thought-if you didn’t mind-we’d take Robbie out in one of the fishing boats and get him to show us exactly where they climbed.’

‘But Robbie’s gone,’ Morag said blankly. ‘He’s gone to find Hamish. He ran away from Hubert about an hour ago. Dear God, if he guessed where Hamish might be, he’ll have gone to the cliffs.’

‘He can’t have,’ Marcus told her, while Grady watched in concern.

‘Why not?’ he asked.

‘The base of the cliffs, where they’d usually scramble around…the force of the wave knocked it into the sea,’ Marcus told them. ‘I’ve noticed the collapse on our way in and out of the harbour as we’ve been searching. That’s what makes me think, if Hamish was up on those cliffs when the wave struck-if he was high enough to be safe from the wave-there’s a possibility that he might not have been able to get back. He might be stuck. It’s just a small hope but it’s worth a look.’

‘Well worth a look,’ Grady said firmly. He put his arm around Morag and pulled her hard against him. She couldn’t pull away. She’d have fallen over if she had. ‘I overheard what Marcus has been saying,’ he told her. ‘So we have two missing boys-one of whom might be on the cliff face.’

‘But Robbie?’ She was past thinking coherently. ‘If he was trying to reach Hamish…’

‘He’d see pretty fast that he couldn’t get round from the bottom,’ Marcus said.

‘He wouldn’t try and climb down from the top?’ Grady demanded, and his hold on her firmed as she winced in disbelief.

‘He’d be a damned fool to try,’ Marcus said bleakly.

‘But if he thought he knew exactly where his friend might be…’

‘I’m taking the boat around now,’ Marcus told them. He hesitated, looking at Morag’s bleached face in concern. ‘The fastest way to look is from the sea. Maybe…maybe I can take you-or Grady-in case.’

‘OK.’ Grady moved straight to operational mode now. This was what he was trained for, and it showed. ‘Marcus, can you send a team of locals overland to check the clifftops, then organise your boat to play floodlights over the cliff face? I’ll bring the chopper from overhead. It’s hard to search cliff faces from the air, but we can do it. I’ll scramble the team now.’

‘Not with Hubert…’

Too much was happening too fast, but there was still the medical imperative. Briefly Morag outlined what was happening to Hubert, and Grady’s face grew more grim.

‘OK,’ he conceded. ‘Morag, you stay here.’

But that was too much. ‘I’m going.’

‘But-’

‘I’m going!’ Enough was enough. Medical imperatives had just been overtaken by the personal. ‘If it’s Robbie… You must see that I need to.’

Grady searched her face and came to a decision. ‘OK. Maybe that’s for the best anyway. Jaqui will only be minutes while she’s reversing Mary’s anaesthetic. Then she can take over Hubert’s care. Marcus, you take Morag on the boat-with a decent complement of competent people. With life jackets. I’ll check Hubert and hand over to Jaqui as soon as I can. Tell me who I can take in the chopper to direct us.’

‘May’s outside, waiting,’ Marcus told him. ‘She’s Hamish’s grandmother. There’s not a lot of people know the island better than May, and she’s desperate to help.’

He’ll refuse, Morag thought wildly. May was an elderly lady. To take her in the helicopter in the dark on such a mission as this…

But Grady was made of sterner stuff. ‘Tell her to be ready in five minutes,’ he told them. ‘Meanwhile, you two go. We’ll be right behind you.’

Then, before Morag could react, before she could begin to guess what he intended, he bent and he kissed her.

Her world stilled. The panic inside her froze. For these few short seconds… Everything else disappeared.

For this was no light kiss of reassurance. This was the kiss of a man who was giving a message to his woman. His woman. It lasted for long seconds, communicating information that was as unmistakable as it was real.

I love you. You’re mine. I’ll be with you in this, my heart.

The words were unspoken yet unmistakable, and for those few seconds, Morag felt herself surrendering to his kiss. Surrendering to her own desperate need. She was taking as well as receiving. Laying a claim of her own.

I need you, now and for always. Stay with me?

There could be no such claim-no such question. This man was here only as part of a medical team, to save lives and then use his medical knowledge to declare this island unfit for human habitation. The tough decisions would be made and he’d move on to the next crisis. To the next need.

But for now that need was hers. She clung and took her strength here, where it was offered. She melted into him for this one harsh kiss, this kiss that must end…

They knew it.

It tore Morag apart. It seemed in this overwhelming chaos that all she had between her and madness was the touch of Grady’s mouth.

He’d stay with her whatever it took, the kiss said, but she knew it wasn’t true.

He’d stay with her only until tomorrow.

Reality was all around them. Someone pushed back the canvas divider between Reception and the makeshift operating theatre, and somehow she reacted. She pulled back from Grady’s arms and gazed at him with eyes that mirrored his own gravity, his own uncertainty-maybe even his own fears? Competent and tough as he was, maybe Grady had no answers.

Answers…

She needed so many answers. Somewhere out there in the dark was her own little Robbie. Maybe he’d walk in the door at any minute, frightened about his friend but safe. But Morag no longer believed he was making his way to