Sam stretched in the chair, wriggling to try and get comfortable, unable to ease the aches from her muscles. Abi had been asleep when the blonde woman had returned to the hospital and she hadn't the heart to wake her, knowing that there was nothing it would achieve. The nurses had assured her that the moment Abi awoke, they would get word to Sam, until then she was free to maintain her vigil by Jo's bedside. She lapsed into a fitful light sleep once again, recalling the panic and terror she had felt as the paramedics fought to keep Jo alive at the river and on the short trip into St Hugh's.
"One…two…three…four…five…" The paramedic paused the compressions on Jo's chest as his colleague squeezed the mask offering vital oxygen to their patient. He observed as the man placed two fingers against the woman's neck shaking his head slightly when he found no pulse. "One…two…three…four…five…" They repeated the same ritual a further three times before checking to see if there was any respiratory effort, needing to stabilise her before they could transfer her to the ambulance and begin the arduous task of warming her up. There was a blur of movement, the details escaped Sam as she watched, her full concentration on the words uttered at the third time of pressing his fingers against her neck.
"Ok, we've got a pulse, it's weak but it's back…and she's breathing on her own. Let's get her a mask on her and into the ambulance. The sooner we can get her to the hospital the sooner she can start thawing out." Sam followed blindly, climbing into the back of the ambulance, strapping herself in on autopilot, her gaze never wavering from the woman still lying so pale and motionless on the trolley. The paramedic not charged with driving tightened a ligature around the top of Jo's arm, fighting to find a vein which had buried itself deep beneath the surface due to her severe hypothermia. The heart monitor sprouting from white discs on her chest beeped intermittently. Finally finding a vein, the medic inserted a butterfly needle attaching a bag of clear liquid and encouraging a healthy dose into Jo's body, opening a second valve on the shunt embedded in the crook of Jo's elbow, emptying a syringe into her vein also. Adjusting the oxygen mask to make sure it was providing sufficient air flow, the paramedic gathered his clipboard, seating himself next to Sam.
"What's your colleague's full name, love?" His voice was tender and kindly, a man well used to dealing with frantic relatives and loved ones.
"Joanne Alice Masters. Date of birth: fifth of April 1964." Sam's voice was husky partly from repeatedly shouting Jo's name during the search for her lover and partly from her anxiety.
He smiled at her gently, thanking her filling in the relevant gaps on his form before asking, "Address?"
"55 Mountbatten Way, Sun Hill. SE5 6DJ."
"Ok, do you know the name of her GP and the surgery she's registered at?" He glanced at the monitor before returning his attention to the sheet in front of him.
"Erm, Dr Davrille, The Oaks Surgery on High Street, Sun Hill. I don't know the phone number sorry." Sam grimaced apologetically, her own complexion losing its colour as the heart monitor started showing signs of an erratic rhythm.
"Pull over Steve, she's in VF." Steve indicated, pulling into a bus stop a few yards further down the road. "I've lost the output again. I need you back here." Steve ushered Sam out of the ambulance as they worked on Jo, leaving her to pace nervously outside with no one to offer support or words of comfort.
After the paramedics had successfully delivered Jo to the hospital, doctors and nurses had worked tirelessly to stabilise the stricken sergeant, having to restart her heart on a further three occasions as warm saline was pumped into her veins to warm her slowly. Sam had been warned that Jo's condition was critical and that their first aim was to get her through the night before offering a longer term prognosis. 'Oxygen starvation', 'stroke', 'heart attack' and 'brain damage' had been introduced into the warning but Sam had been too overwhelmed to take in their context. She knew the situation was grave between the hypothermia and Jo's obvious head injury, vowing to have serious words with the sergeant about her heroic tendencies if she made it through this latest ordeal.
As she woke with a start, Sam whispered to the woman she adored lying motionless beneath layers of blankets and paraphernalia intended to warm her slowly, "Why did you try and save her Jo even though you knew Joey was safe? I can't keep doing this sweetheart; I can't keep almost losing you, it tears me apart. I need you, you make me whole." She drifted back into slumber, head resting on her arms propped on Jo's bedside, careful not to become entangled in the forest of wires and tubes surrounding the comatose brunette, dreaming of visions that she knew would haunt her for years.
Sam watched through the heavy plastic swing doors at the blurry outline of her lover being revived yet again. She felt her own heart thud wildly in her chest as the medics shocked Jo.
"Charging to 200. Stand clear." The comatose brunette arched off the bed as the current surged through her body.
"Still in VF." One of the nurses announced as another bustled past Sam carrying numerous bags of clear liquid, one of which was immediately exchanged for the empty one on the stand beside Jo's head.
"Charging again to 200. Clear." Again Jo's body jolted as the current was fired into her.
"No change, she's still in VF. Another cycle?" The doctor in charge of the defibrillator nodded his approval.
"Charge to 360. Everybody clear." Finally the monitor began to bleep in a more regular, healthy sounding fashion.
"How did the child come to be in your house?" Mickey sat back in his seat watching Jack question Lisa Carmichael, knowing his insistence on conducting the interview came from a misplaced guilt for Jo's condition.
"For the benefit of the tape, Miss Carmichael shrugged her shoulders," the young DC interjected, his own frustration mounting at the lack of co-operation.
"We have you on CCTV entering the café just after the child's mother and leaving later that same evening by the backdoor concealing something under your coat. After the explosion outside the café, my officers searched the building for the baby. He wasn't there. Neither were you. Where were you?"
"I must have already left by then." Lisa sneered at Jack, reigning her attitude in slightly when Jack slammed a photo down on the table in front of her.
"For the benefit of the tape, I am showing the suspect exhibit 3a. Look at the time on this printout, Miss Carmichael, this is several hours after the explosion. I'll ask you again, where were you just after the explosion when my officers searched the building?" Lisa sullenly refused to answer, shifting uncomfortably in her seat, ignoring the duty solicitor seated beside her.
"What did you mean earlier, when you told my colleague he'd kill you? Is that James King, the man we arrested at your house, were you referring to him?" Mickey tried a different tack, having overheard Lisa's final comment to Jo before she had tried to jump off the bridge.
"How is she? The woman from the bridge?" The question caught both men by surprise.
"She's critically ill in hospital. You could be looking at a charge of manslaughter if she doesn't make it, on top of the charges for abducting the baby." Jack answered honestly. "If you talk to us, we can maybe help. You don't strike me as the kind of person to get involved in something like this. We've spoken to your colleagues at the prison, they all spoke very highly of you, couldn't believe you'd consider taking a child off his mother."
"Shows what they know." The vitriol in Lisa's voice embittered her words. "They all see what they want to see, don't see what's right in front of them."
"What happened to your baby, Lisa?" Mickey tried to capitalise on her new found talkativeness.
"He was taken from me." Tears sprung to her eyes as she recalled her son.
"Who by, Lisa? Who took him?" Mickey persisted, leaning forward in his seat, resting his arms on the table, hands clasped together.
"I called for an ambulance but it never came. James told me I'd be sent to prison for killing him, that no one would believe it was an accident. I didn't mean to hurt him, he was my little boy but he wouldn't stop crying and then he did. He went so quiet and still." Tears flowed freely down Lisa's face, her arms cradling an baby only she could see.
"Did James take him away, after he stopped crying?" Jack probed gently. The young woman nodded, sobbing at the memory invoked. A knock on the interview room door caused Jack to let out a frustrated groan, the intrusion coming just as Lisa was beginning to offer them information.
"DS Hunter has entered the room. What is it Phil?"
"Guv, a quick word." Both detectives rose from their chairs, moving to follow their colleague out of the room.
"Interview suspended at 23.54." Mickey muttered into the tape before stopping the recording and exiting in Jack's wake.
"We've just had a phone call from Longmarsh. Hugh Wallis is climbing the walls. He and some other prisoners have taken four prison officers hostage in the rec room and won't let them go until Hugh sees Joey. He won't believe anyone that he's ok, says he has to see for himself. He's insisting that Sam take him there herself." Phil filled his colleagues in on the situation before asking, "you want me to have a word with Sam?"
"No, I'll do it. You take my place here with Mickey, we're just starting to get somewhere with her. Mickey can bring you up to speed but Phil, tread softly yeah? I know it's not your usual style but she's grieving for her own son. She's a victim too in all this."
"Tell that to Jo, or Sam for that matter who's sitting by her bedside worried sick that she won't pull through." Phil's temper sparked at the insinuation he couldn't handle the interview tactfully, his frustration at the situation finding a convenient escape route.
"Don't make me regret putting you in there Phil. You're a good officer when you use your head." Jack strode off before the DS could say anything further, grabbing his coat from his office before driving to the hospital.
"Sam?" Jack placed a hand gently on his DI's shoulder, reluctant to disturb her but knowing he had to talk to her about Hugh. A tousled blonde head shot off the bed, eyes wildly scanning Jo for any sign of change in her condition, taking in the readings off the monitors before registering Jack's presence.
"Jack what is it? What time is it?" Sam squinted at her watch, smoothing her hair down with shaking hands, knowing she must look a sight.
"I spoke to one of the nurses, they said Jo's doing well considering." Jack stalled for a few moments, acknowledging the officer lying unconscious in the narrow bed hooked up to numerous tubes and monitors. "Hugh Wallis has orchestrated a hostage situation at the prison and he won't negotiate the release of the prison officers until he's seen that his son is ok." Jack laid the facts out bare for Sam to digest.
"Talk to Abi, she's his mother, it's up to her whether Joey can be taken to see Hugh." Sam turned her attention back to Jo, glancing back over her shoulder as Jack made no move to leave. "What else?"
"He wants you to take Joey to the prison. He says he doesn't trust anyone else with his son's welfare. If you don't take him, the guards will be killed one by one until you do."