Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 677(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 451(@300wpm)
His face was rapidly becoming a monstrous mask and Steph knew if it was this bad on the outside, that terrible swelling was happening inside, too. It was happening inside his throat, cutting off his air supply.
“No, they won’t,” Taggart said quietly. “Steph, there’s a huge fire downtown. They’re having to bring an ambulance in but traffic is blocked coming out of the city. They told me it would be a while.”
“Does anyone have an EpiPen?” She tried to get her hands to stop shaking. This wasn’t a random patient dying on the ground. This was Liam.
This was Avery’s husband and she couldn’t lose another.
“No, we don’t have one.” Adam shook his head. “I can try the neighbors.”
It would be too late. His airway was closing. He couldn’t breathe. This was the kind of freak accident that usually ended with the patient dying because there was nothing anyone could do.
Unless there was a trained surgeon who happened to be close by.
Unless that surgeon was used to working in the field where she had very little equipment.
Unless that surgeon had trained all her life to be cool and calm and to do what she’d promised that day when she’d stood in Avery’s hospital room.
You owe me two lives.
Time seemed to stop and the truth of her life lay out in front of her. Now she could look back and see the path that had led her to this moment, to this man dying on the ground. Perhaps she’d always been on this path. Perhaps from the moment she’d been born this was where she’d been going.
If she hadn’t been on the road that night, she would have been a plastic surgeon somewhere, happily fixing noses that didn’t need fixing and making plenty of money. She wouldn’t have been standing in Serena’s kitchen pleading with Brody. She wouldn’t have ever gone to Africa where she’d learned how to save a man without an operating room.
“I’m going to need a knife, something sharp with a smaller blade.” She tilted Liam’s head back. “Sterilize it please. I’m also going to need a plastic tube. Serena, get me one of Tristan’s sippy cups. The biggest one you have.”
Serena ran off.
She looked down at the man who’d become a big brother to her and the world shifted into place. Meaning. Kai had told her to find meaning in what had happened to her. This was her meaning. Yes, this was worth the pain. This was worth the years of guilt. She would do it all again so she could be here. Something lifted in that moment and she was lighter than she’d been before.
And she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she would win this battle.
“Liam, I’m going to perform a tracheotomy. I need you to understand one thing. I will not let you die. That doesn’t happen today. Not on my watch.”
“Here you go, luv.” Brody passed her a knife. He must have given Nate to someone else because he was alone and seemed ready to help her any way he could. Like he had several times in Sierra Leone. “Ran it over a flame and doused it in vodka. Works in the field. How can I help you?”
She felt him kneel beside her, giving her strength. “Do what I tell you to. Let’s begin.”
Steph took a deep breath and did what she’d been born to do.
* * * *
Brody paced, unable to sit down. He was anxious, his hands shaking a bit now that the initial rush of adrenaline was gone, and he had to wonder how Steph was doing. He could still see her, see how frightened she’d been, and then something had happened. A calm, cool competence had taken over. She’d relaxed and started issuing orders like a general in the midst of battle.
She’d been the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“What a crazy fucking day.” Taggart passed out coffees before he slumped into the waiting room chair beside his wife. The entire room was filled with McKay-Taggart people. They milled around, comforting each other as they waited for news. “First we have to wage war in the middle of a downtown factory that smelled an awful lot like feet and then Li gets killed by a bee.”
Charlotte slapped her husband’s chest. “Don’t even joke about that. He did not die.”
He put an arm around his wife and hauled her close. “You’re right, baby.” He glanced up at Brody and whispered. “We’re never letting Li live this down, but dude, your girl is a badass.”
“I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my time,” Case said with a shake of his head. “But that was some heroic shit. I have no idea how she did that. It was amazing.”
Even the EMTs had been shocked at what she’d managed to do. She’d gotten in the ambulance with them, unwilling to let go of her patient for a moment.