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'If you need to stuff
the toes of the boots
with another pair of socks, let me know,' Mitch stated.

'Yeah, and if you want to
clean
your boots,' Steve-o added, 'just rub them on
Mitch's
face.' They
all
laughed and Mitch joined in. 'Doing your commando routine again, mate?'

'Did you go in through the window again?' someone asked. It appeared Mitch's antics were widely known.

'Nah. Imogen wouldn't let me. She said I made too much mess last time.' Again there was a round of chuckles as they continued to pull out the equipment they'd need and loaded it into their vehicles.

'All right, how are we doing?' a loud voice boomed. Elizabeth turned and came face to face with Pierre Knowles, the man who'd been drunk the night Mitch had kissed her at the bar. 'G'day, Doc.' He nodded to her before walking past. It was then she realised he was dressed the same as she was— in the mine rescue squad's 'uniform'. She hoped he was sober. She glanced at his hand where Mitch had stitched it but he was wearing gloves so she couldn't tell if it was still bandaged or not.

Pierre walked over to the others and was handed a clipboard. 'Right. Listen up. We've been notified that a woman by the name of Tanya is down the bottom of a mine-shaft out near BlueSky. Her husband has raised the alarm and is out there, waiting for us. Let's go down the checklist.' He began to rattle off the equipment that was needed and when everything had been accounted for, he split them up into groups.

'Steve-o, you lead the way. Mitch, take the new doc with you. Grozer, do the marking. I'll be driving the equipment truck and the rest of you guys can follow behind. Let's move it out.'

Elizabeth went with Mitch to his ute and climbed in, slowly getting used to the way she needed to open the door. 'Sorry about not helping you,' he stated as he climbed in. 'Valet doesn't work when there are emergencies.'

Elizabeth smiled. 'I quite understand.' She waited until they were pulling out behind Pierre in the equipment truck before she glanced at Mitch. 'Would you mind running through things with me, please? I confess I'm a bit nervous and I have no idea what's going on.'

'Sorry, Lizzie. I keep forgetting this is your first time. As Pierre said, a woman is trapped in a shaft. Pierre is the coordinator so once we get out to the site he's the one calling all the shots.'

'Is he sober?' she asked, voicing her earlier thought.

'I hope so. I
really
hope so.' They soon turned off the main road and made their way out to the mine.

Elizabeth glanced over her shoulder. 'Why does that other ute keep stopping?'

'Hansel and Gretel, Lizzie. He's marking the way we're headed. It means when Ryan brings the ambulance out, 'he knows exactly where we are. When we arrive, just stick close to me.'

She looked at him and, feeling bold, decided to test him. 'Why? I thought we'd decided just this morning to be friends.'

He turned sharply to look at her, his eyes surprised. 'Are you teasing me, Lizzie?'

She giggled, feeling silly and foolish and wonderful.

'I'll take that as a yes. Actually, there are a few reasons why you should stay close to me but the main one is so you don't fall down a shaft yourself. There are several holes out in the middle of nowhere and they're easy to miss.'

'And the other reasons?'

'Fishing?'

'No. Merely curious.'

They were slowing down now. 'Well, I'm the person you know the best out of everyone here. We're the doctors so if I require medical assistance you're the one I'll be calling on. Also, because having you close means I can drown out the grubby smell of the people around me and concentrate on the refreshing and revitalising scent you seem to exude regardless of whether you're hot or not. Hot as in body temperature, I meant,' he quickly clarified as he stopped the ute. He turned and gave her that heart-melting smile she was becoming familiar with. '
Not
that you don't have a hot body, you do,' he added, and before she could think of anything to say he'd climbed out and was walking towards Pierre.

Elizabeth sat where she was for a minute, subliminally aware of the activity around her but also stunned to learn that Mitch thought she had a 'hot' body. A smile crept onto her lips. No one had ever told her that before and she realised it was something she liked hearing. What woman
wouldn't
want a desirable and sexy man to tell her that?

'Lizzie,' he called, and beckoned her over. She climbed out and, mindful of his words, checked carefully where she walked. 'Chances are we're going to need you to go down the shaft,' he said, and watched as her eyes appeared to protrude right out of her head.

'Down
there?'
She pointed to the shaft.

'You don't suffer from claustrophobia, do you?'

'No...er, no. It's just I've never done anything like this before.' As they spoke, people were busy setting things up— things which looked as though they belonged on another planet. Other people set up barriers around the area to protect everyone.

'They're rigging up the hand windlass now,' Mitch said. 'It's the winch that will take us down.'

'You seriously want me to go down,' she stated.

'Yes. Nervous?' He handed her a harness and helped her to secure it before putting on his own.

'Yes.'

'So am I and I've done this before. Nervous is good. It means you're not over-confident and therefore shouldn't make silly mistakes, because you're constantly questioning and double-checking. They'll send the phone system down first so communication lines are open immediately. Then I'll go down and check things out. If the woman needs to be dug out then a few more people will come down and we'll start digging. You'll only come down if I need you. Chances are, I may not.'

'I wouldn't mind going down, actually,' she heard herself say, and realised it was true. Mitch was looking at her as though she'd grown another head. 'It's just that I'm here now, ready to go, and in some ways I'd rather get it over and done with, if you know what I mean.'

'I do, but if I don't need you I won't be calling for you.'

'I realise that. I was just telling you how I felt.'

Mitch looked at her closely. 'Thanks, Lizzie. Thanks for sharing your feelings. I appreciate it more than you know.' Mitch took a step towards her, reaching out to lightly brush his fingers across her cheek, his gaze intense. The rest of the world seemed to disappear at that moment and he wanted nothing more than to kiss her and kiss her good and proper.

'Mitch,' Pierre called, and like a flood the fact that they weren't alone came rushing back. He stepped away and walked over to the MRS controller. 'We're ready for you to go down.'

'Right.'

Elizabeth watched as he was hooked up to the winch and slowly lowered down the shaft. His gaze met hers and his smile encompassed her once more. Her nervousness increased as he disappeared completely from view.

The few minutes were agony but finally the report came through that he'd reached the bottom of the thirty-metre shaft. Elizabeth shifted the mining helmet on her head and swatted a fly. At least it wasn't night-time but the bright morning sun was beginning to shine warmly down on them. She doubted anyone else here felt the heat, but in the MRS overalls she was definitely feeling it. Or was it her concern for Mitch that was heightening her body temperature?

Mitch soon reported that he'd found Tanya and she was conscious. 'There was a bit of rubble on her but nothing I couldn't get off. She said the edge of the seat attached to the winch cable caught on the metal emergency ladder on the side of the shaft as she was descending this morning. She made the mistake of reaching out to stop it and subsequently caught her thumb. The winch kept sending her down and a section of ladder came away from the wall completely, landing on top of her head. When I got down here, the ladder was still on top of her and she hadn't long regained consciousness.'

'What are her injuries?' Pierre asked.

'Probable concussion, right thumb has almost been completely ripped off and will need a lot of work, and right leg feels fractured. Send down the first-aid kit, paraguard stretcher and a cervical
collar. I'll need Lizzie down here to help me strap her
leg then we can get her out of here.'

'Right. Sending down equipment now.' Pierre barked out directions left, right and centre and Elizabeth realised that even if he was rolling drunk, he was a man who knew how to do his job and she was thankful for that. The equipment went down to Mitch and Pierre signalled to Elizabeth.

'Ever done this before, Doc?'

'No.'

He grinned. 'First time for everythin', then.'

She was hooked up to the winch and then told to edge herself into the hole. Elizabeth stopped and said a quick prayer before digging up the courage from somewhere to follow through on an aspect of her job she hadn't realised she'd be doing so soon.

Elizabeth closed her eyes at the first sickening lurch as the winch began to lower her down.

'Open your eyes, Doc, otherwise you'll get dizzy. The last thing Mitch needs right now is a pile of vomit landing at his feet.' The rest of the rescuers laughed but Elizabeth merely obeyed.

The light started to fade as she left the top and she was glad for the light attached to her helmet. The smell became dank and musty. It took a while to accustom herself as she continued to descend. Soon she started noticing other things, such as the groove marks the drill had made as the shaft had been sunk and the ladder Mitch had mentioned on the wall. It was obviously for the miners to climb out in case the winch stopped working. Thankfully, that wasn't happening today because she'd just passed the section of wall where the ladder had broken off. The piece below it didn't look too stable either and she made a mental note to mention it to Mitch when she reached the bottom.
If
she ever reached the bottom.

Just when she thought the ride couldn't get any longer, she heard Mitch's voice from below. 'She's almost down,' he was saying, and it was true. Within another second she could feel the ground beneath her feet.

Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief and almost collapsed into Mitch's arms as he freed her from the winch and took her away from underneath the shaft opening. 'Never stand beneath the shaft,' he advised. 'Tanya's over this way. I've checked her for spinal injuries and, apart from her right leg, she can move quite well. We'll get her on the stretcher directly but first I would like you to check out her leg. Feels to me as though the right tibia and fibula are fractured. Then could you have a look at the thumb?'

Elizabeth crouched down beside the woman. 'Hello. I'm Elizabeth. How are you holding up, Tanya?'

'Better since the two of you arrived,' she said, her voice radiating exhaustion and mild anger. Mitch had secured the cervical collar around her neck in order to keep her still. 'It was a foolish thing to do, touching the ladder like that, but it was just instinct. Pure instinct,' she said.

'How's the pain?' Mitch asked as he opened the medical kit and started setting up an injection.

'Excruciating,' Tanya told him.

'I can imagine.'

Elizabeth took off the thick, heavy-duty gloves she'd been given and pulled on a pair of medical gloves before starting with her examination. 'Yes. Right tib and fib feel fractured.' She continued to run her hands over Tanya, checking for other broken bones. 'Does it hurt anywhere else?'

'My thumb and my head,' she said.

Elizabeth tenderly unwrapped the large handkerchief which was around the thumb. She looked before quickly wrapping it up again.

'Doesn't look good, eh?'

'My guess would be that your thumb will require microsurgery. You're lucky it hasn't come off completely.'

'I thought it had to start off with,' Tanya confessed, as Elizabeth felt the woman's skull for any swelling. 'Then I realised it was still there so I held it together as tight as I could, but I don't remember much after that until Mitch came down.'

'Understandable,' Elizabeth replied.

'We're going to splint your leg, Tanya, wrap your hand and then get you into the stretcher so we can get you out of here,' Mitch said.

'Sounds good,' Tanya whispered. 'Do you have anything for my pride?'

Mitch smiled. 'Sorry, I don't, but it's a good thing you can joke about it.'

'It was a foolish accident and one which could have been avoided,' Tanya said bitterly.

'Stop beating yourself up. We all make mistakes,' Mitch pointed out.

Elizabeth and Mitch did exactly as he had said they were going to and Elizabeth was highly impressed with the portable stretcher.

'What did you say it was called?'

'A paraguard stretcher. It's lightweight and versatile and a joy to work with on these types of rescues. They use them in other areas of rescue such as from caves and things like that. The fact that it can be folded into two parts means it's far more portable than any other type of stretcher.'

Elizabeth watched and assisted where necessary as Mitch bound Tanya onto the stretcher. There were tapes and flaps and each one had a specific purpose to ensure the patient was secure.

'OK. Now, the next step is getting her upright. Then I'll attach myself to the stretcher and up we'll go. We're almost there, Tanya. How are you feeling?'

'Better. Whatever you gave me is working a treat,' she said, and Mitch laughed.

'Glad to hear it.'

'I'm sorry. Did you say you'd go up with her?' Elizabeth needed to clarify this.

'Yes. She can't be left alone as the winch might swing her, she might hit her head, she might lose consciousness, scrape herself. She's completely immobilised so I need to go with her.'

'But I'll be down here by myself.'

Mitch gazed into her eyes and smiled reassuringly. 'You'll be fine. The worst part was letting the winch take your weight, wasn't it,' he added rhetorically, but Elizabeth still nodded. 'See, you've conquered that. You can do anything. Clip the first-aid kit to your harness and that can come up with you.'