– Miss, please, when will the ambulance arrive? Her temperature is almost “forty” and just won’t come down…
– All our teams are currently out on calls, – a weary female voice replied. – Please wait.
Holding back tears, Lucy hung up and rushed to her daughter. Little Sophie lay on the couch, covered with a light sheet, breathing heavily. The five-year-old’s body was burning with fever: her temperature stubbornly neared the forty-degree mark, refusing to drop.
The doorbell rang unexpectedly loud. Lucy sprang up, nearly stumbling, and ran to the door.
– The temperature is going down, “the trio” is working. The little one has wheezing on both sides. I’d recommend hospitalization. – A tall, gray-haired man wearily rubbed his brow, watching as a young nurse put a syringe back in the kit.
– Can’t we manage at home?
– You can’t. We’ll go to the hospital for observation.
Lucy, holding her passport and a bag, stepped into the hallway:
– I’ll get Sophie dressed and… Oh, who are you?
Through the open door, an ambulance team came in: a stocky, bearded doctor around forty, a slender thirty-two-year-old paramedic with glasses carrying a medical bag, and a freckled, redheaded intern.
– Did you call the ambulance? – the bearded doctor asked.
– Yes, but… There was another doctor. – Lucy said, confused.
– What other doctor? – the young intern joined in.
– Well… Tall, gray-haired. He lowered Sophie’s fever and said we need to go to the hospital… – the young woman stammered.
The doctor and paramedic exchanged glances:
– Stevens!
– Two teams sent to one call? – the intern exclaimed.
The bearded doctor turned to the young woman:
– Dress the girl. We’ll take you to the hospital.
Lucy went back into the room. The puzzled intern asked the doctor:
– Aren’t we even going to examine her?
– Stevens never makes mistakes!
– Who even is this Stevens?
The paramedic chuckled:
– Stevens was the most experienced specialist on the ambulance service… once. Even London wanted him, but he always refused, saying his job was to save people, not to sit around in an office.
A year ago, Stevens’ team was rushing to an emergency call. But some idiot decided to cut in front of the ambulance.
The paramedic fell silent, looking at the floor. The bearded doctor patted his shoulder and continued:
– In that accident, there were no survivors. Then, forty days later, strange things started happening around the city.
A young man was stabbed on the street. An anonymous call came to dispatch: a stab wound to the liver. We were on duty then. We arrived, and the guy was lying on the asphalt with a bandage, and some chap was holding an IV line. We asked him, “Who provided first aid?” The guy shook his head, saying: “The ambulance was just here, a tall, gray-haired doctor and a young nurse. They provided the aid and told me to hold this like so… I only glanced away for a minute to check on the lad’s breathing, and there you arrived. Where’s the gray-haired man?”
We got chills because the description matched Stevens and his team, who’d provided the first aid. We took the lad to the hospital, noting the initial aid before our arrival in his records, but we didn’t mention Stevens. It was afterward that people at the station openly started talking about him. That day, we were in shock.
– And no one would have believed us! – the paramedic chuckled. The bearded doctor adjusted the stethoscope on his neck and continued:
– A few days later, a worker fell at the warehouse: a stroke and head trauma. By the time the city ambulance arrived, “the tall, gray-haired doctor and young nurse” had provided first aid: started an IV, gave oxygen, and stated the diagnosis. “Then they disappeared as if into thin air.”
– And do you remember the delivery at the traffic light? – the paramedic smiled, adjusting his glasses.
– What, ghosts delivering babies too? – the redheaded intern asked incredulously.
– Watch your words, – the doctor frowned. – I don’t know what the “Stevens team” has become, but they’re certainly not ghosts. More like guardian angels for the town.
– Sorry… – the intern blushed, even his ears flamed. – So, what happened with the birth?
– Well, a taxi driver was taking a woman to the hospital: she was thirty-four, her second pregnancy, thirty-nine weeks along. He stopped at the traffic light, and she went into labor prematurely. The driver panicked, left the car on hazard lights, called the ambulance, but didn’t know what to do, just ran around the car shouting for help. The dispatcher told him: “Sir, calm down, put me on loudspeaker, and I’ll guide you.” But the man was hysterical, couldn’t think straight.
That’s when Stevens and his nurse came to the rescue. The baby was breech, and the cord was wrapped around the neck. Basically, if not for them, the baby wouldn’t have survived.
Well, the ambulance got there, took the happy mom and the healthy, crying baby. So many such cases in a year— too many to remember. The “Stevens team” only appears for the most severe cases. If not for Stevens, many of those patients wouldn’t have made it until the city ambulance arrived. That’s how it is.
– We’re ready. – Lucy, with her little girl, came out into the hallway. The bearded doctor took the bag from the woman and smiled at the girl:
– Now everything will be alright!
