okay?
I’m okay, but Finch is not okay.
Swedish, can you help Finch?
Finch is slumped over the wheel. Duncan has crawled out into the street.
Dripping blood, Julian helps Wild drag Finch from the truck. They lay him on the ground next to Duncan. An enemy incendiary has dropped into one of the nearby houses to let there be light. As the alley burns, Julian pulls shard after shard out of Finch’s face and neck. Wild lies on top of Duncan to stop his convulsions. Mia keeps pressing her soaked wool hat and then her headscarf against Julian’s forehead as he continues to work on Finch. Julian’s coagulating blood drips thickly onto Finch’s head and into Mia’s hands.
From the back of the jeep, Wild gets what bandages they have while they wait for Phil to arrive in the HMU. Mia wraps the gauze around Julian’s head. Tighter, Mia, tighter.
I don’t want to hurt you.
You want me to stop bleeding, don’t you? Tighter.
Duncan is moaning. He has stopped shaking, which is a good sign. But the HMU isn’t coming, and they can’t hear the siren of the fire brigade or the police, only the siren of the enemy.
That’s a good sign, too, says Mia. That means someone out there needs Phil more than us.
Julian doesn’t know if that’s true. Finch’s neck just above the collarbone has been opened by a piece of glass. It didn’t hit his carotid, or he’d be dead, but it must have nicked the external jugular vein. Julian is having a hard time stopping the bleeding.
Maybe we can try to get him back into the jeep and find a Fixed Unit, says Mia.
He needs the hospital, Julian says. He knows the portent of the word “hospital.” He wouldn’t say it if he didn’t mean it.
Mia, Wild, and Duncan gasp. Everyone knows most injuries are dealt with at the HMU, all suturing, splinting, cleaning, bandaging, tracheotomies, even some amputations, are dealt with right on the field. The Fixed Medical Unit takes care of the larger abdominal and head wounds, open fractures, blood transfusions, people unconscious for more than fifteen minutes. There’s a surgeon on staff at the Fixed Unit. But the hospital? The hospital is where you go when there is almost no hope.
Mia’s right, let’s get him back in the jeep, Wild says. Maybe you can drive it to Royal London, Swedish.
The Rescue Squad needs a rescue.
But before they move him, the Heavy Mobile Unit finally arrives. Phil, Shona, Sheila, and Frankie jump out.
I guess we needed help after all, says a flattened Mia.
Phil and Sheila attend to Finch. Everyone else tensely watches. They manage to compress his neck wound to slow the blood loss. They lift him into the truck.
“You need the hospital, too, Duncan,” Phil says, and everyone shudders.
“Fuck no,” Duncan says. “I’m not going to the hospital. I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. After Shona drops off Finch, she’ll take you to the Fixed Unit if you really insist.”
“I’m fine, I said.”
Duncan is not fine. He is walking funny. Phil says he may have a cracked vertebra. One of his legs is dragging; it’s a tell-tale sign. The big man doesn’t want to hear it. The squad needs him. Plus, he’s got to be at the Docklands by one.
“Dunk, don’t be daft,” Shona says. “What Docklands? Phil’s right. You can’t walk, how are you going to lift things?” The worry for him on her face surpasses professional interest.
“Well, you know what they say,” Duncan says, “don’t lift with your back.”
Shona gets him to put his arm around her as he stumbles around, trying to get his legs to cooperate. “Come on, Dunk, you mule, come with me and Finch,” she says, looking up at him. “Not the hospital, just the Fixed Unit. Let them X-ray you. Please.” She looks relieved when he agrees. Seconds later, she’s off with both Duncan and Finch in her truck.
While the fire brigade works on putting out the flames, Phil sutures Julian’s brow, and Sheila wraps his head, expertly, tightly, and without fear of hurting him—either without fear or without care.
Julian didn’t think anyone could walk away from a head-on collision with a bomb, but he, Mia, and Wild walk away on their own two feet. Wild is dizzy and wobbles as he walks. He might have whiplash or a concussion. And Mia limps and can’t flex her left elbow. Phil has wrapped her ankle which might be sprained or broken and put her arm in a sling. Julian’s eye socket is turning black