"Yes Lizzy?" Luke turned round to face her careful not to let his frustration and annoyance show, it wasn't her fault it was a hectic day.
"There's been a mining accident. Dr Weatherall is out on a house call, Dr Goodwin is still with patients and I can't find Dr Omerod." Luke held up his hand and smiled briefly.
"Say no more Lizzy, I'm on my way."
"Thanks doctor." Luke didn't reply as he hurried back along the corridor the way he came to Jeff's office. He knocked and barely waiting for a reply opened the door.
"Dr Goodwin sorry to bother you." Luke smiled his apologies at the patient sitting in front of Jeff's desk. "There's been a mining accident and I've been tapped to go. Can I borrow your medical bag and car?" Jeff nodded and reached into his desk drawer for the car keys with one arm, gesturing with the other arm to his medical bag which was sitting in the corner.
"Sure." Jeff tossed Luke his car keys which he caught deftly. Luke then reached down and quickly picked up the medical bag before rushing back out past reception. Mining accidents were serious affairs and you never knew what you would find when you got there. Lot's of people hurt or just a few, it could be a crisis situation, he just didn't know. He'd know when he got there though, which would be soon.
Luke arrived in record time, he'd always had a liking for driving fast and it served him well in times of need. When he got there he jumped out of the car, a man with a white helmet ran over to meet him.
"You the doc?" he asked.
"Yeah," Luke nodded. The man handed him an old, obviously well used helmet.
"Put that on and follow me." Luke did as he was told, struggling to keep up with the miners long stride despite the fact that he himself was tall. "We've evacuated the mine, there were a few minor injuries but they'll keep. Pete's still down there, one of the props fell on him. He's in a bad way doc, we haven't moved him just in case you know." Luke nodded taking a deep breath before he walked in the mine entrance.
He'd suffered from slight claustrophobia and a fear of the dark since childhood, his last call out to a mine hadn't exactly alleviated that fear. Still he walked in anyway, he was a doctor and somebody needed saving, it was what he'd signed up for.
"You did good," Luke managed to reply after a minute, his throat had seized up.
"He's just down there doc." The man gestured for him to go ahead, something that Luke really did not want to do, there could be anything down that dark tunnel, any number of pitfalls or anything.
He swallowed hard and with much reluctance made his way down the passageway. It wasn't as bad as he thought, the ground was smooth underfoot and the angle wasn't steep. A minute later he arrived at the bottom. There were two men already there, one was clearly unhurt and the other was pinned under a wooden beam. Luke knelt down next to him, placing his borrowed medical bag beside him.
"Pete I'm Dr Hardy. Can you hear me?" Pete didn't reply, not that Luke had expected him to, he'd taken a nasty bang to the head, in addition his breathing was erratic and laboured. "Ok Pete I'm just going to check you over, ok? Then we can see about getting you out of here." Luke quickly and skillfully examined Pete and determined that he was suffering from an acute head injury, several cracked ribs and a punctured lung. They needed to get him to the surface now. "Alright you," Luke pointed to the man that had been sitting with Pete, "You and me are going to lift this beam thing here. You," Luke pointed to the man who'd shown him down there, "You drag Pete out, he doesn't appear to be suffering from any spinal injuries but be as careful as you can be."
"You got it doc," the man replied getting ready to pull Pete free. The other man took up a position opposite from Luke and got ready to lift.
"On my count. One, two, three." Luke and the other guy heaved as hard as they could on the beam, it budged a little but not enough. "Alright let's try that again." Luke wiped a dirty hand across his brow, the last thing he needed right now was for a drop of perspiration to fall in his eye.
"Need a hand?" Gordon asked, stepping out of the shallow tunnel. Luke looked seriously at him.
"Sure, just come right here." Gordon set down his medical bag next to Luke's and took up a position by the beam. "Right let's try this again. On my count. One, two, three." All three men heaved, the beam moved, the man pulled Pete clear and then the rest of the mine wall collapsed.
Meanwhile at The Royal everything was peaceful. The last patients had been dealt with and now the staff were looking forward to a nice relaxing lunch. Meryl went and found Frankie out in the ambulance bay, they were going to have lunch down at the seafront. It had been tough getting over his betrayal. Not only with her friend, Samantha, but also the fact that he had a whole other family. However, she guessed that if two people were truly meant to be together then they could overcome all obstacles. She felt that about her and Frankie.
At the same time Jeff walked out of his office, he turned and locked the door before heading down to reception where he hoped to find Stella. Ever since she'd arrived he'd liked her and he was pretty sure she'd liked him. She'd asked him out for a drink, he'd turned her down. At the time it was because he needed to space because of the whole Samantha fiasco, now he hoped it hadn't scuppered his chances. He was going to ask her to lunch.
Back at the mine things were not looking good.
"We're trapped aren't we?" Luke asked shouting even though nobody was more than three feet away from him. Perspiration beads dotted his forehead and he was clutching compulsively at something under his shirt, Gordon noted.
"Calm down Luke, it'll be fine, don't worry." Gordon attempted to calm Luke down, it appeared to just make things worse.
"Calm down! We're stuck down a bloody mind shaft! The air's running out! Is it me or is it getting warmer in here?" Luke gabbled, wiping with his free hand the sweat from his face, Gordon looked at him knowing immediately what the problem was and also knowing that Luke should have refused this assignment, you couldn't be a good doctor if you were to preoccupied with your own fears.
"It'll be fine Luke. How's the patient doing?"
"Er." Luke moved slightly and looked over at Pete. Gordon could practically see him switching mental gears. "He's not looking good, if we're down here much longer we'll have to do an emergency operation."
"An operation doc?" the white hatted man, Dave, inquired. Luke nodded.
"Yeah a simple procedure really, just open to lot's of complications. I'm a surgeon though so it'll be fine." Luke mopped his brow again and tugged at his shirt. After sighing a few times as his attempt to cool down failed, he started to unbutton his shirt and soon shrugged it off. Gordon frowned as he watched him, it wasn't that hot in here but then Luke was hyperventilating.
"You got a tattoo?" Gordon noticed in surprise, while Luke had struck him as not your average doctor it still surprised him. Luke looked down at the tattoo emblazoned on the side of upper right arm.
"Yeah. I was a little worse for wear when I got it," Luke admitted. 'His whole expression changed Gordon noted 'when he cast his mind back to that time.'
"What is it of?"
"It's the cross of St Jude, same as this." Luke held up his medallion, it twinkled slightly in the dull light of the lamp.