For once it had been a quiet night. Only two alcohol related cases, one suspected heart attack, an eye injury and dash over to paediatrics with a limp and non-responsive three-week-old baby.
Ellie's own heart was saved by the baby recovering quickly, a digestive upset the culprit. Fortunately, the alcohol related cases were of the quiet kind.
It had her suspecting some kind of tsunami of injury was on its way. The ED was rarely quiet and it made her uneasy.
So, she was almost unsurprised when they were alerted that International Rescue were inbound with two casualties.
The coincidence of being on staff for their arrival after the day's conversation with Virgil Tracy was not lost on her. As the department mobilised for the expected incoming, she wondered if she had jinxed them.
The report said one man and one woman injured, one possible spinal, both unconscious.
She was assigned to an ambulance. Apparently, the aircraft was too big to land closer than the Domain and they had to meet it.
The emergency vehicle's siren got them onto the main road and around to the massive park that was usually a jewel at the centre of Auckland, now no more than a deeper shadow in the darkness.
They parked in the darkness of the trees around the edges of the rugby field. She took the moment to climb out and look expectantly up into the sky as her team leader requested an arrival estimate on her phone.
They heard it before they saw it. A roar swelled up over Waitemata Harbour and a bright dot in the sky fast became the shadow of a massive aircraft. The air literally vibrated with its roar as the Thunderbird lived up to its name.
It darted into a fiery hover as VTOL lit up the entire rugby field beneath it in yellow and orange. A bluster of hot wind blew over them and rattled the trees as Thunderbird Two, the number glowing on its tail, settled down on the lawn with a heavy mechanical thump.
It was massive, its navigation lights sketching out its true size in the dark.
She took a split second to marvel at the sight, and then they were moving.
A hatch lowered down from under the Thunderbird's nose, light from within the cockpit illuminating three figures. As she ran, she registered the blue of an IR uniform, but paid little attention as medical stats were thrown at the team in a clipped, professional voice.
Ellie was directed to the male who turned out to be quite young, blond, barely an adult and bound up on a spinal board. The remains of an International Rescue uniform peeked through the emergency blanket.
Shit.
But she didn't have time to follow the implications of that piece of information.
Impact injuries to his left side. Unconscious, accelerated heart rate, possible spinal injury. Scan results of a detail she had never encountered were flicked to her reader. His spine was intact, but there was swelling.
And internal bleeding. Far too much internal bleeding.
Her team leader directed fast evac and they were moving again. She was vaguely aware of a hiss of closing hatch and mechanical whirring as she ran the hoverstretcher back to the vehicle under the trees.
The stretcher had IR branding on its side, but it slid easily into dock inside the ambulance. Her hands moved automatically, securing the young man for transport.
"I'm going with him." And there was another blond young man in a blue uniform, this one slashed in yellow. He climbed in beside her team leader.
Ellie plugged the stretcher into the onboard scanner and alarms started blaring almost as loud as the sirens on the roof as they started moving.
The IR operative spoke up, voice raspy. "His name is Alan Bartlett Tracy, age eighteen." The voice was calm, but unlike before, Ellie could hear fear under that professionalism. He swallowed. "I have his medical history and any further detail you may need."
Two minutes and they would be at the hospital.
Those two minutes gave her enough time to think of Virgil Tracy and the fact that she likely had a member of his family under her care.
The ambulance ate enough road to pull up to the ED in one minute forty-five.
Then they were moving again.
The IR operative moved with them.
The familiar lights of the emergency department were a relief. She wanted nothing more than to see the young man to safety. They ran him into an assessment cubical.
The IR operative was still with them.
"Sir, I need to ask you to wait in the waiting room."
"I have information-"
She flipped the patient's terminal. "We've received all the data." She frowned. An odd graphic was spinning in the top right corner of the screen, a circle of dots. That was unfamiliar. She poked it and it disappeared.
The information about the patient was extensive. Behind her, the shift doctor was doing the initial examination. Cecily was removing the young man's clothes in preparation for surgery.
"But I have to stay with him."
Ellie frowned, her eyes tracking the operative's features. "Sir, you can't stay."
"He's my little brother. I…promised." It was said with such desperation, her heart bent.
But unfortunately, he wasn't the only relative she had had to usher away from a loved one.
She faced him. "He is receiving the best care, sir. You got him here fast. He is in good hands. You need to let us do our job."
His eyes were a warm brown and Ellie suddenly saw the resemblance between him and Virgil. Those eyes were glistening and she realised the man was trembling.
Pale.
"Sir, I think you should sit down." The next cubicle was occupied by the woman who had been brought in with Alan Tracy, but Ellie grabbed a plastic chair and dragged it to the edge of the curtains. She ushered the operative towards it. A guess. "Mr Tracy?"
Those eyes latched onto her. "Gordon."
"Gordon. Sit down."
He did. And it was just as well, because the doctor called it and Alan was pushed past them and rushed off to surgery.
Gordon tried to stand up again, but he wobbled and Ellie had to steady him with a hand. "Stay seated, sir. Alan is getting the care he needs." A frown. He wasn't telling her something, she was sure of it. "Sir, are you injured?" She could see nothing obvious, but that didn't mean anything.
"Thunderbird Four, status!"
She jumped. Gordon startled, but his fingers reached up and hit the glowing IR logo on his yellow sash. "Scott…"
"What is Alan's status?"
"In hospital care…I'm…I'm sorry..."
His voice sent alarm bells ringing in her head.
"Sir!"
She barely caught him as he slid boneless off the chair.
-o-o-o-
TBC