Remote Rescue by George Ivanoff Page B

waiting. Your sisters aren’t alone. They’ve got Burt and Gwen, who seem like pretty seasoned travellers. If anything has gone wrong –’ seeing the panic in this eyes, she added quickly ‘– and I’m not saying that it has, I’m sure they can handle it. Even if they’ve had car trouble – remember, they’re in two vehicles, so they can still follow on.’
    â€˜If they haven’t shown up by the time your dad is loaded onto the plane and ready to go, I’ll contact the RFDS base,’ Jen added. ‘They’ll have the number for the couple. And if worse comes to worst, I can always drive back to them after your dad’s on his way.’
    Dawson crossed his arms over his chest and sunk down into the seat, trying hard to quell the butterflies in his stomach.
    â€˜Okay?’ she asked quietly.
    He nodded, then suddenly sat up straight again. ‘Can I use the phone to ring my mum? I tried before you arrived but got voicemail.’
    â€˜Sure,’ said Jen.
    Dawson picked up the phone and dialled Mum’s number.

    â€˜Hey Mum, it’s Sam. Did you get Dawson’s messages? We’ve got more problems. Dad and Dawson are in an ambulance on the way to the airport. Em and I were following in Dad’s car, which is being driven by this old guy who’s helping us.’ Sam saw Burt cringe when she said old, and blustered on. ‘Um. He’s really nice. His name’s Burt andhe’s been really great. Anyway. We’ve had a flat tyre. We’re fixing it now. Then we’ll get to the airport. Can you ring as soon as you get –’
    Beep!
    Sam sighed and handed the phone back to Gwen. ‘Thanks.’ She turned to Burt, who was now jacking up the car. ‘Can I help?’
    â€˜It’s okay,’ said Burt. ‘The old guy’s got this.’
    Sam went red.

The ambulance passed the turnoff to Leigh Creek and slowed down, swerving left into Leigh Creek Aerodrome Road.
    Dawson found it hard to believe that there was a town all the way out here. Leigh Creek was a far cry from his busy home city of Adelaide, but at least it had an airport.
    There were fewer than a thousand peopleliving in this coal mining town. When they’d passed through it a couple of days earlier, Dad had told them that the coal mine was scheduled to be closed in a few years. Dawson wondered if it would become a ghost town like Farina.
    The ambulance pulled into a car park close to a cluster of small buildings surrounded by a few trees.
    â€˜We’re here,’ announced Jen.
    As soon as the ambulance came to a stop, Dawson jumped out and ran around to the back. There he stood and bounced on the balls of his feet as he waited, looking around anxiously for the other cars.
    Jen came out and joined him, opening the doors. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘They’ll be here soon enough.’
    Dawson stood back as Jen and Bruce slid the stretcher from the ambulance, the legs and wheels extending out.
    â€˜Is he all right?’ Dawson demanded. Dad was unconscious.
    â€˜Ya dad’s fine,’ said Bruce. ‘The painkillers have kicked in and he’s sleeping now.’
    Dawson noticed that there was a drip attached to the stretcher, with a tube going into Dad’s right arm. And there was a splint attached to his injured leg.
    Bruce and Jen rolled the stretcher towards the gate in the wire fence that separated them from the runway. Dawson saw a plane waiting out beyond the fence. Just one little plane with a propeller on its nose.
    It was the smallest airport Dawson had ever seen. It was just two intersecting runwayssurrounded by … nothing. A seemingly endless stretch of desert. It felt like such a lonely place.
    As they went through the gate, two people walked out from the main airport building. A woman named Maddy introduced herself as the RFDS nurse. She seemed very businesslike and spoke in what Dad would