Angel Kate Read Free Page B

needs … A low reading, to be sure, but as yet not disastrous. Blood pressure is resilient, she reminded herself, the last thing to go. But when it can hold out no longer the drop will be sudden and Tom Galvan will be minutes from death.
    As she replaced the blanket her fingers grazed the damaged arm and the man's lips moved in silent protest. Gently she touched the swollen hand in comforting reassurance. 'No one is going to move your arm.' She spoke very distinctly, bending close to his ear.
    Another sigh escaped the bruised lips and he drifted deeper into unconsciousness.
    The ambulance crew were not in the least offended by this angry and curt young staff nurse issuing orders right left and centre. They quite agreed: where the hell were all the bloody doctors? Yes, they would transfer their gravely injured patient with due care and speed to the Emergency Room while Kate Wisdom personally dragged the duty surgeon screaming and kicking out of theatre.
    Hard-bitten after years of experience, O'Reilly and Piggott looked grimly at each other.
    They sympathised with the nurse's desperation. Lose Tom Galvan? It was unthinkable…
    But when the chips were down even a neuro-surgeon was only human. And they both knew the score. This one wasn't going to make it. No one could save Tom Galvan now.

 

Chapter Two
    T he senior consultant in General Surgery fished out his Blackberry and rang home.
    'I'm leaving in five minutes.'
    'Do hurry up, darling, you're going to miss the Pavlova.' Mary sounded annoyed and he couldn't blame her, single-handedly holding the fort with their guests, four visiting American VIPs.
     Pavlova, his favourite pudding! Wretched woman, interrupting his evening with her neurotic bowels. But the Night Sister had been right to call him: it might have turned out to be an early obstruction and Mrs Lah-di-dah was paying the earth to be sure of Professor Davy's personal attention.
    And St Crispin's benefited, Frank saw to that.
    For a man of his age the Professor was in fair shape. Ignoring the lift, he came nimbly down the   stairs leading to the main foyer of the Maynard private wing. It was surgery that kept him so spry at sixty-three. He loved his job. Not one of them had dared hint at the looming spectre of Frank Davy's retirement. Let 'em dare!
    Glass doors glided open at his approach. A shallow bank of steps flanked the entrance and lent a certain grandeur to the private wing. To the side was the slope of a wheelchair ramp.
    The Professor paused, filling his lungs with a deep draught of night air. The last niggle of irritation wafted away on the breeze which was now teasingly revealing the bald spot in his thinning hair. Definitely a touch of spring tonight. Pity he'd had to refuse the offer of a coffee with that charming Night Sister upstairs …
    Now if I hadn't told Mary I was on my way I could have taken Sister Lewis up on that coffee. 
    But there was a raspberry pavlova waiting. And, of course, the visiting American consultants.
    The Bentley was parked close by. Elderly but well-preserved, mused Professor Davy fondly, and that goes for the two of us. Never given me a moment's trouble, have you, old girl. Not in fifteen years.
    He turned the key in the polished walnut dashboard  and immediately the engine purred as if it ran on cream. Humming 'Love Me Do', he drove slowlyg along the one-way system, past the mortuary and the chapel, turning right when he reached the exit road. Then all of a sudden, 'What the devil!!' he exploded.
    Out of the shadows raced a tall nurse, right into the Bentley's path - arms waving wildly, grasping the handle even as he slowed to a halt, wrenching the driver's door open and urgently clutching at his  sleeve.
    'Professor Davy!' the nurse gasped, 'come quickly, quickly! Mr Galvan's very badly injured. We may be too late.'
    The words tumbled from Kate's lips in an urgent gabble, but with immediate effect. 'Hop in, lass!'
     Ignoring the 10 mph limit he sped round to A&E,