Morgan's Mercenaries: Heart of Stone (14 page)

“Maya? Maya? Do you hear me? We’re almost home. Home. You hear me? We’re almost home. You’re going to make it. Just hang on. I’ll get you help. Just hang on…”

There was no answer.

Son of a bitch!
He felt an arcing pain across his chest where his heart thumped wildly. It was frustration mixed with anxiety and something else…something so shadowed and hesitant that he couldn’t even name it as he flew the Apache toward the base.

Flying up to the Eye, Dane didn’t take a hesitant, slow approach. Instead, he used visual, because the clouds had dissipated, and plunged through the opening, quickly setting the Apache down on the right side
of the lip. He could see Dr. Elizabeth Cornell standing near Paredes, her paramedic, and a gurney. Heart pounding unrelentingly, Dane quickly cut the engines.

Without even waiting for the rotors to stop, which was protocol, he unharnessed himself. Shoving the cockpit door open, he climbed out on the side of the helo. The rotation of the rotors was causing a lot of air turbulence. It pounded at him. Gripping the handle to Maya’s shattered cockpit canopy, he jerked it open.

Someone else placed a ladder next to where he was crouched and was climbing up it. It was Paredes, her eyes slitted with concern.

Dane gasped as he shoved himself into Maya’s tight compartment. Blood was everywhere, on the floor and splattered throughout the cockpit. Maya was unconscious, her head sagging back against the window. Her arms were limp against her form. The left side of her uniform was soaked in blood.

“I’ll unharness her,” he called to Paredes, who had also climbed up on the fuselage area.

Reaching in, his hands shaking badly, Dane unharnessed Maya. She was a big woman. It was going to take every ounce of his strength to pull her out of that cramped cockpit. Reaching for her helmet, he loosened the chin strap and gently pulled it off her head. Her black hair spilled out across her shoulders and the chest armor. Her face was white. Frightened, Dane handed the helmet to Paredes’s outstretched, waiting hands.

Mouth dry, he angled his body so that he faced Maya. Slipping his hands beneath her armpits, he hauled her upward. Grunting, he balanced himself against the airframe and pulled her halfway out of the cockpit. Paredes was there to catch Maya’s head as it fell downward.

“I got her!” Paredes said urgently. “We need more hands!” she called to those below.

Another sergeant climbed the ladder. Between the three of them, they were able to pull Maya out of her seat. Dane untangled her feet from around the collective and hoisted the lower half of her body out of the cockpit. Free! She was free. Urgency drummed through him. He looked down. Tears stung his eyes. Every person on the base was standing below. He saw so many hands on either side of the ladder lift upward to receive Maya that it tightened his throat. The fear in their faces, the look in their eyes, touched him deeply as he handed Maya to the awaiting sea of helping hands below.

Wiping his mouth, Dane hunkered down on the fuselage as Maya was placed quickly on the gurney. He saw Cornell put a tight tourniquet above her left arm, which still had blood pumping out. Issuing orders, Cornell had Paredes push the gurney toward the cave. Once the ladder was clear, Dane jumped down. Looking back, he saw that the rotors were still slowly turning. The blood splattered on the front cockpit was Maya’s blood. Cursing softly, he hurried through the dissipating crowd after the gurney.

“Dr. Cornell!” he called, jogging up to her as she walked quickly at the gurney’s side.

The red-haired woman gave him a sharp, tight look. “Yes?”

“What are you going to do?”

With a grimace, Cornell managed to get a blood pressure cuff around Maya’s limp right arm and pumped it up as they moved into the cave. “I don’t know yet…give me a moment….” And she put her stethoscope to her ears and placed it on Maya’s arm.
Releasing the pressure, she listened as they walked quickly toward the dispensary.

“Eighty over forty,” she told Paredes in an unhappy voice.

Dane scowled and watched the paramedic’s copper features tighten.

“What’s that mean?” he demanded, jogging alongside.

“It’s bad. Her blood pressure’s too low. If we don’t get whole blood into her soon, her heart will cavitate and go into arrest.” Cornell looked directly at him for a moment. “She’ll die.”

“Blood? You’ve got blood on hand here, don’t you?” Surely, Dane thought, they would. Especially under the present conditions of daily warfare.

“Of course we do.” Elizabeth hurried forward and opened the door to the dispensary. Paredes shoved the gurney inside to a well-lit, white room that was crowded with medical equipment.

Dane slipped in before the door automatically closed. Anxiously, he looked at Maya’s slack features. Her once golden skin was washed out now. She looked dead already. Anguish soared through him. He stood helplessly as Paredes quickly followed Cornell’s orders to slit away the fabric of her uniform on her injured arm with a pair of scissors. He saw the doctor take scissors to the other arm and slit it from wrist to shoulder. In moments, they had an IV fluids going into her right arm.

Dane moved closer to get a look at the injury. It was a gash about two inches long, and he could see the artery was now dripping only slightly, thanks to the tourniquet.

“It had to be a piece of Plexiglas from the shattered
cockpit that cut into her,” he told the doctor. He saw Cornell’s face. She looked grim as she reached for a series of dressings.

“Doctor,” Paredes said, “what’s her blood type? I can go get the whole blood to give to her.”

Cornell hissed, “Dammit, I just realized we don’t have her blood type here, Paredes.”

Paredes paled. She halted halfway to the refrigeration unit where the blood was kept. “But…”

Cornell quickly cleaned the wound and threw the bloody dressings down at her feet. She worked like a madwoman.

Dane frowned. He looked at Paredes, whose mouth had fallen open. And then he jerked a glance at the doctor, still working feverishly over Maya.

“What are you talking about, Doctor? You just told me you keep blood on hand here.”

Cornell grimaced. “Major, what you don’t realize—” she swabbed Maya’s left arm with antiseptic “—is that we’re on a very limited budget. Maya handles what supplies we get in here. She opted to spend the money for O-type blood, the one that is most common, the one that nearly all our pilots have, instead of keeping any of her type on hand, instead.”

Running his fingers through his hair, he approached the gurney, his eyes slits. “You’re telling me the type she needs you don’t have?” His voice had risen in disbelief. Shock.

“That’s right, Major. Dammit! Paredes, take her BP again.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Paredes quickly moved between Dane and the gurney.

“Eighty over thirty-nine.”

“We’re gonna lose her….” Cornell whispered. “Dammit to hell!”

“What blood type do you need?” Dane demanded.

Cornell’s eyes were awash with tears. “AB positive, Major. It’s not the kind of blood you find just anywhere. It would have cost too much to get it and keep it here, and Maya knew that. She took a risk. She wanted the O on hand for the bulk of her pilots, in case they got injured.”

Stunned, Dane stood looking down at Maya. Her lips were colorless, her skin leaching out even more. His throat ached. She took a risk. That’s what Maya had done. She’d taken a calculated risk, thinking that she would not be the one to get hit or need blood. The looks on the two women’s faces made him feel their anguish.

“I’ve got good news for you, Doctor,” he told her quietly as he rolled up the sleeve of his uniform. “I’m AB positive. You can use my blood.”

Cornell’s head shot up. Her eyes widened. “You
are?
” Her voice echoed around the room.

“Yes!” Paredes shouted triumphantly, her eyes shining with hope. She quickly ran and got the supplies for a blood transfusion from a cabinet.

Dane grinned. “Maya is gonna be pissed off as hell about it, but right now, I’m her knight in shining armor coming to the rescue. Where do you want me to sit, Doctor? You can take as much as you need.”

Paredes quickly swabbed down his left arm and placed the needle into one of his large veins. She was smiling ear-to-ear.

Cornell pulled another gurney next to Maya’s. “Lie down on this, Major. Quickly. There’s no time left….”

Dane did as he was instructed. Paredes moved like
lightning, making the IV tube connection into Maya’s right arm. Relief flowed through him. The universe worked in strange and mysterious ways, he thought, as Paredes handed him a rubber ball to squeeze from time to time, to keep the blood flowing out of his body and into Maya’s. Finally, he’d found a way to connect with her. He wasn’t at all sure she was going to be happy about it. Watching as his dark red blood flowed through the tubing and into Maya’s receiving arm, he grinned lopsidedly. Cornell was listening intently to Maya’s heart after removing the chicken plate. Her brows were furrowed, her eyes half-closed. Her lips were tight.

Paredes hooked Maya up to a blood pressure gauge that was suspended on the wall behind her head. Both medical people watched it raptly.

“Ninety over fifty!” Paredes whispered. She clenched her fist and yelled, “Yes!”

Dane scowled. “What does that mean, Sergeant?”

Paredes glowed, her teeth white against her coppery skin. “It means that her blood pressure is rising, sir. It means your blood is making the difference.”

“It means,” Cornell whispered unsteadily, as she placed her arm on Maya’s shoulder, “that you’re saving her life. Literally. She’s lost over two pints of blood, Major. I’m going to take about one and half out of you. Normally, we take only a pint.”

“Take what you need!” he repeated fervently.

Cornell shook her head. “Depending upon how Maya’s blood pressure responds, I may take more—or less—I don’t know yet.” She watched the monitors fluctuating above Maya’s head.

“I’m not going to die with two pints gone,” Dane said.

“No, but you’ll definitely feel like a ton of bricks
hit you for a good two weeks, until your body can make enough to bring you back to your own healthy levels and needs,” Cornell warned.

“I can handle it,” he assured her with a grin. His heart soared. Maya’s life was going to be saved! Dane couldn’t recall when he’d ever felt as good about anything as this. Ever.

Cornell smiled hesitantly, her hand moving in a motherly fashion across Maya’s shoulder. “We’re treading on dangerous ground here, Major. Maya, judging from her blood pressure, lost closer to three pints of blood. I have to balance it out between you.” She began to sew the artery back together, with Paredes handing her the needle and thread. “This is a game of balance, Major. I can’t take too much from you, or you’ll have problems. And I’ve got to give Maya enough to recover without having to worry about her going into cardiac arrest. I don’t have any AB positive whole blood as backup if you go down on me.”

A warmth moved through Dane as he lay there watching them work on Maya’s left arm. He was beginning to feel the effects of blood loss from the transfusion. It must have been how Maya felt in the cockpit. Closing his eyes, Dane kept squeezing the ball every few seconds. Maya could have died. She almost had. His heart twinged with anguish. She was too beautiful. Too bold and brave to die. If anyone should live, it should be her, he thought as he placed his free arm across his eyes.

Just remembering the crowd of women surrounding the Apache, their arms stretched high to receive Maya and pass her down the line made his throat tighten again. There was something so special about her that instilled people to surround her and protect her. Hell,
even he had. What was it? What was that difference? He tried to figure it out as he lay there, his senses tumbling.

“We need to get ahold of Inca,” Paredes said to the doctor. “She can help us.”

“Maya’s sister? The healer?” Cornell asked.

“Yes, ma’am. When we’re done here, can I run over to comms and try to raise her?”

“She’s in Brazil.”

“I know that, ma’am, but maybe they can fly her over here? You know, she touches someone and they heal up.”

Dane frowned, listening to the intensely whispered conversation. He lifted his arm from across his eyes, twisted his head and looked at them.

“What are you talking about?”

Cornell continued to sew the ends of the artery together. “Maya has a fraternal twin sister who is a healer in Brazil. I can tell by the look on your face, Major, that you’re a little surprised by our conversation. Inca can lay her hands on a person and heal them. Right now, I could use everything possible, to get Maya stabilized. My bet is she’s lost three pints of blood. We’re putting only one and a half or maybe two back into her. If Inca can help, we’re going to explore that possibility, too.”

Stunned, Dane stared at them. “A healer?”

Paredes smiled gamely. “Major, this isn’t like other bases you’ve been at. We practice voodoo, too.”

“Paredes!” Cornell said sharply.

“Well, I’m just teasing, Major. It’s not voodoo, really. The Captain’s sister is well known down here for her healing abilities. She’s known as the jaguar goddess by just about everyone.”

With a shake of his head, Dane covered his eyes with his arm again. “You’re right,” he muttered, “this is one hell of a strange place.”

“Angel, when I’m done here, get to comms. Make the call.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Paredes glowed with excitement as she handed the doctor a sponge.

Feeling a little floaty, Dane took in a deep breath. Tiredness was beginning to creep through him.

“Ninety over sixty,” Paredes crowed triumphantly. “It’s working, Major. Your blood is stabilizing her real well.”

Dane nodded. “Good, Sergeant. I’m glad.” And he was. The adrenaline he had felt was beginning to ebb away, leaving him feeling shaky in the aftermath. The urgency was still with him, though. Maya wasn’t out of the woods yet, according to Cornell. More than anything, he wanted Maya to live. As he lay there, his heart ached with that same feeling he’d felt before, in the cockpit, after Maya had started losing consciousness.