Lights & Sirens Read online

  Lights & Sirens

  Copyright © 2011 by Jeanine Hoffman

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  About the Author

  Other Yellow Rose Books

  Visit Us On Line

  Lights & Sirens

  by

  Jeanine Hoffman

  Yellow Rose Books

  Copyright © 2011 by Jeanine Hoffman

  ISBN 978–1-61929-114-0 (eBook)

  eBook Conversion June 2013

  Second Edition

  First Printing 2013

  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Cover design by Donna Pawlowski

  Published by:

  Regal Crest Enterprises, LLC

  229 Sheridan Loop

  Belton, TX 76513

  Find us on the World Wide Web at http://www.regalcrest.biz

  Published in the United States of America

  Acknowledgments

  First, to Cathy, Cindy, Patty, and Lori—without you four, I wouldn’t have found a home where both my work and I are nurtured and supported. To the editing team, in this case, especially Verda: Thank you for making my thoughts come through with more clarity.

  I must also thank all those firefighters, EMTs, and Paramedics I served with and learned from over the years. You are all my brethren and though I’m medically retired, you are in my hearts— be safe out there!

  Finally, to you, the reader. Thank you for giving my story a try. Please, visit www.jeaninehoffman.com and let me know your thoughts. Without you, I’m simply telling stories to myself (actually, I haven’t stopped doing that either. ?)

  Dedication

  Heather, I can’t thank you enough for the support and understanding you’ve shown as you dealt with me going through the edits of my baby. You take great care of me while I’m writing, editing, and struggling with scenes. Thank you isn’t enough, but its all I have.

  Parker, you my son will always be too young to read this one. Perhaps someday I’ll let you read a story. It just won’t be this one. Let’s go fishing instead.

  Lights & Sirens

  by

  Jeanine Hoffman

  Yellow Rose Books

  Chapter

  TONY AND I had just finished our twelfth call of the day in a sixteen-hour shift, with five of those hours still left to go. It was a busy shift, but we had a couple of sign-offs so it was a little better than it could have been. Tony turned to me as he drove and started rehashing our day.

  “What did you think of that last call, Donny? Was I right to let them sign off?”

  “Dude, we can only do so much as medics. If the patient doesn’t want to ride on our rig or get checked out, it’s their call as long as we think they are alert enough. So, were they alert and oriented?”

  “Sure, but still...”

  “Nope, no buts. Simply put, if they’re alert and we force them, we’ve kidnapped them. Kind of the opposite of the healing thing we’re supposed to do here.”

  “I guess so.” Tony drove for another minute before talking again. “Can I ask you something? I mean something kind of personal?”

  “Tony, I may be your probation officer but we’re partners. It’s been months now. Ask and I reserve the right to ignore you.”

  “Why do you do it?”

  “More specific please?”

  “Why are you a medic? You’re smart. You could have been a nurse or a physician assistant. Hell, you could have been a doctor. Why did you stick with being a paramedic?”

  “That’s a good question and thanks for the compliment. I considered it, ya know? Maybe you’re too young for this but years ago there was a tv show, Emergency! I was lost in watching Johnny and Roy and the rest of the guys do their jobs. I never wanted to be one of the nurses in white, or the doctor who took over, I wanted the action.”

  “So, it’s the adrenalin rush?”

  “Not just that, there’s so much more. I’ll tell you what only a few people know. It’s the whole package. When we run with lights and sirens, there’s nothing like it on earth for me. It’s like running downstairs on Christmas morning and getting that perfect present. That’s how I feel when we catch a really good call, the kind where we can truly make a difference.”

  “Yeah?”

  The radio crackled to life and our pagers sounded. “Medic two two three, respond to an MVA at Thirteenth and Pine streets. One crew and fire already on scene. Command on band three. Switch over.”

  I grabbed the mike and flipped on the lights while Tony hit the sirens and headed us in the right direction. “Medic two two three responding and switching to three.”

  We pulled up on the scene of a bigger wreck than average. Three cars were involved, one crushed between two others. The fire crew was already on the scene, as well as another ambulance crew. We were the second crew on this one, which meant we don’t have as much paperwork since we didn’t run medical command. I hopped out and grabbed my turnout coat from the spot behind my seat, tugged on my helmet, and gloved up. I grabbed the trauma bag and headed toward the pile of crushed cars while my partner followed with the backboard and litter.

  I ran into the captain on my way to the wreck. “Hey, Cap, what’s the scoop?”

  “Got a good one for ya, Donny. Take that middle car. We’re about to peel the roof to extricate the vic. I got a guy in there holding C-spine, and we got the collar on already too. Had his seatbelt on, the collision was a good twenty miles per hour per side, and he got sandwiched in a double T-bone.”

  “Gotcha, Cap, we’re on it. Who’s the other crew?”

  “Spike’s got the rest, one sign-off and one for transport, once we get her out of her car.” I hefted my bag again and jerked my head toward the wreck for Tony to follow me.

  What a mess people make when they don’t pay attention. From the looks of things, our patient was either trying to beat the light or simply missed it and got crunched between two cars going straight through from the other sides at the four-way intersection. Hell, we got lucky. Only three out of four directions were involved. We nodded at the fire crews and waited while they pulled the roof off the small car, like the lid off a can of soup. Hmm, soup would be good right about now, oh well, maybe after the call we can score some dinner.

  Finally, they got the roof off and we looked in the car for the first time. The male patient was still gripping his cell phone like a vise, and looking none the worse for wear, if you ignored the air bag burns. Lucky bastard had one of those newer cars with airbags tucked in every damn spot possible, and it looked like they all fired this time. Shouldn’t be too bad, but you never know, so I always do a full exam, even if it’s a fast one. I climbed on the trunk and lowered myself in the back seat along side the firefighter who’d stayed with the patient while the roof was peeled.

  “Hey, can you hear me? What’s your name, buddy?”

  The patient opened his eyes and looked up at me. “Mike—Mike Bonds.”

  “Okay, Mike, I need you to talk instead of shaking your head. Are you feeling any pain or tingling anywhere? Remember to tell me, don’t try to shake your head.”

  “No, I’m okay, just shaken up.”

  “Well, I tell ya what, I’m going to help these guys get you out of here and onto a long board and
onto our bed. We’ll take you to the ER to be sure. You can arrange for a ride and stuff from there. Okay?”

  He mumbled a yes, probably still too stunned to speak.

  “Okay, I need the board in here. I’ll take C-Spine as we roll him out. Got it?”

  Everyone nodded or grunted at me, so I figured we were good to go. This is something we do all the time and unless there are trainees, probies, or strangers involved, we don’t need to talk much to get our job done.

  “Ready, one, two, three, roll. One, two, three, slide. Good job, let’s get him strapped and into the rig, guys.”

  We rolled him out and onto the board, slid him up into position, moving his body as one unit. Tony and the Rescue crew strapped and loaded the patient while I double-checked his car for any signs of trauma or personal items he might want with him. Finding nothing, I headed back to the rig.

  Tony was already getting a set of vitals, so I started a more comprehensive examination.

  “Mike, I’m going to poke and prod a bit, let me know if anything hurts or feels weird.”

  Tony finished, gave me his numbers, and climbed in the front to drive us to the closest ER.

  “I have good news, Mike, everything looks good. I’m going to put my heart monitor on you, but only as a precaution and part of our protocol. Still feeling okay?” I started peeling paper off the sticky backs of our monitor pads and applying them. White over right, smoke over fire. The white lead over the right side of the chest, the black opposite side of the chest, and the red lead, lower down on the left. A neat little trick I learned years ago, but I still think of it as I apply the leads.

  “I’m fine. Was anyone else hurt? Do you know what happened?” Mike asked.

  “Sorry, I really don’t know much. I know one person felt fine and refused treatment.”

  He was quiet the rest of the ride, answering questions I asked, but otherwise silent. That gave me plenty of time to do paperwork and call ahead to let the ER know we were coming in with a victim of a motor vehicle accident. We pulled onto the ramp of the ER about ten minutes after we left the scene, as Mike was starting to absorb what had happened.

  “This the MVA, Donny? Bed three.” Maria, one of the regular nurses greeted me and gave me a room assignment as she passed by us. We transferred Mike to a bed in a cubicle. While I waited for Maria to come over, Tony took the litter to clean and remake it.

  “Hey, Donny, sorry for the wait. What do you have for me?”

  “This is Mike, double T-bone MVA, belted, multiple airbag deployment, nothing remarkable on exam, vitals stable, no past medical history. No complaints, just stunned so far.” Maria signed my paperwork. I gave her a copy and headed out to the ramp.

  When I walked back outside, Tony already had the litter cleaned, remade, and loaded. The back of the rig looked all put back together. Sometimes it’s nice having a rookie around, they’re so eager to get things done. I looked over to the other rig waiting on the ramp and saw it was Spike, finished with the other patient from the scene. I walked over and bumped into her with my shoulder to say hello. Her partner was Pauline Connor, aka Pauli. Spike was, and is, one of the best medics in the whole county. She got the nickname because she has the most amazing gift for starting IVs. Give her the most spidery, tiny, collapsing vein and not only will she get the line in every time, but she could launch the catheter from across the rig and have it land in position.

  “What’s up, Spike?” She was also our senior medic, a supervisor with more experience than any of the other medics in our company. Spike is on the small side, a mere five-five with slightly shaggy brown hair and intense blue eyes. She has an amazing smile, which she flashed at me.

  “Nothing, Donny. Nice job on the extrication. I’m guessing Mr. ‘I’m in love with my cell phone’ is doing well?”

  I laughed and nodded. “Nothing wrong with him but stupidity. He never did let go of that thing. Yours okay?”

  She shrugged and a look of frustration crossed her face. “I guess so, what a shame that such a nice young woman is hurt ‘cause some jackass couldn’t put down a phone long enough to drive someplace.”

  I nodded in commiseration while our partners came up to us. “I guess we oughta get back in service. What time are you guys off?”

  Spike shrugged. “Supposedly, the same time as you. The third crew is swing today.”

  Swing crew was kept on the streets, theoretically to give the other crews time to turn over the rigs to fresh crews and head home. I say theoretically, because it’s a known thing through EMS that no matter how slow or busy the day has been, if you have plans after shift, there’ll be a last minute call.

  “Cool, if we meet up at the station, ya wanna grab a beer or something?”

  I try to hang out with Spike when I can. I keep hoping her medic skills will rub off through association or something. She nodded and tapped my shoulder in a friendly way, and then we grinned and split off to our rigs. Pauli gave a little wave in our direction as Tony pulled out around their rig.

  “Man, Donny, that Pauli is hot! Do ya think she’d go out with me?”

  Tony still hadn’t learned that unless you thought it could be serious, you didn’t date at the station house. Sure, people had coupled up that way. Our captain met his wife at a smokehouse class he was teaching. She was a recent transfer to our district and they kept running into each other. Eventually, he asked her out and things went from there, so we know it can work out. It’s still not encouraged. It is understood you keep playtime away from work, if you catch my meaning.

  “Tony, I keep telling you, if you want something real, then fine. Otherwise let it go, dude. Hit on another of those bar chicks you specialize in.” I gave him a grin to soften the words, but the rookie had to learn sometime.

  “She probably plays for your team anyway,” he said.

  The truth is, I had no idea what team Pauli played for, as I hadn’t ever heard of her dating. She was only two years out of probation and seemed to be shaping up as both a medic and firefighter. When she ran fire, she either ran rescue and still functioned in a medical capacity, or she was on the engine and ran hose lines. We’re in a system where the ambulances run out of the firehouses, and we’re all trained on at least basic level fire skills. Some areas have a separate fire and ambulance system, it depends upon the area you live in, I guess.

  Whatever, I really didn’t care about who dated whom at the house as long as they didn’t bring drama to our family. I get enough drama in the dyke world, and I sure as hell don’t need more.

  Tony brought up our interrupted conversation from earlier.

  “So, was that a Christmas call?”

  “Not even close. As much as I like a good trauma call, medical calls really get me going. When a family is surrounding a loved one and we walk in. I love the feeling of respect we get. You know how it is, right?”

  “Yeah, they hear our radios, see the uniforms, and most times, they get out of the way and let us do our thing. Like that?”

  “Exactly. We use our medical terms, make our choices, and we get our patient to the ER as fast as we can. Think about it, we deal in life and death every day. We make a real difference to those families and friends, not only to the patients.”

  “Yeah but what about the people we don’t save? Doesn’t that get to you after a while?”

  “Sure. I’m human after all. I talk about it with other medics or friends. We always have the critical incident debrief team to talk to also. Mostly though, we all go sometime but I love it when we can make the difference between life or death with good and quick skills.”

  Thankfully, we made it back into our area and Tony kept quiet the rest of the ride. I told him to take us to the local diner to grab some chow. It’s a cool little place that caters to a small group of locals. You almost never see a strange face in there unless it’s someone new to the police or EMS.

  However, we’re talking food now. Food is, at the most basic level, required for nourishing our bodies. I think good
food and good company can enhance the effects of nutrition. In other words, I prefer good food to shoveling down a fast food burger.

  Thankfully, this diner has a great cook, good prices, which they discount for cops and EMS workers on duty, and they keep our food warm, box it in a hurry, or even give us new food if we get called out during a meal. They know who we are and that we’ll come back so they never worry about us rushing out. The owners know they won’t get stiffed for the bill.

  They also make excellent soup. That was exactly the thing for a busy day with a chill in the air. I could already smell it as we walked in, heavenly potato soup with scallions, bacon and cheddar cheese.

  Of course, another rule of EMS, tones drop right when you’re hungriest and about to solve that hunger with a meal. As we walked in the door, the tones sounded from our radios. I really wanted soup, but I turned up the portable radio to listen to the dispatch. Thankfully, they were calling the third crew to a call and not us, so we grabbed seats at the counter and gave our orders. While we waited, we nodded at a few people and talked about mundane stuff around the station.

  “So, Donny, I was looking at this magazine last night and you wouldn’t believe the prices for some of the parts I need for my Mustang...”

  I kind of glazed over. I nodded occasionally and he never seemed to notice I really didn’t care. He figured since I was a dyke I should love cars as much as he did, but the truth was, I don’t care one bit as long as it can get me from point A to point B in one piece. I have a basic pick up truck I bought a year ago to replace my Rav-4. It works, I can haul garden stuff, and I’m happy.

  My cell buzzed so I grabbed it while spinning on my stool to face away from Tony. It was a back line from dispatch. I wondered what was going on until I remembered Caitlin was working this shift. Caity is Pauli’s older sister and a dispatcher with a lot of time in service. I’ve actually known her a lot longer than I’ve known Pauli. First, she was only a voice if I had to call into dispatch for information.