Chapter 25
Maggie was still going through her seizure when Parker and Teddy returned with the first aid kit. John was busy keeping her still while Parker and Teddy emptied the kit.
“She’s going into shock,” John said. “We need to stop the bleeding. Look for a clot kit.”
Thankfully, Parker had some training in first aid with his position at the FBI. He collected all the required triage equipment and brought it to John.
“Did you already sterilize the wound?” Parker asked.
“I did, but you’ll need to do it again and make sure all of those tools are wiped down, too,” John answered.
The first aid kit came with some sterilizing wipes, and once the wound and equipment were cleaned, Parker handed John the tweezers to get the bullet out.
“Hold her still and keep her steady,” John said. “Make sure she remains conscious, too. If she stops breathing, you need to let me know.”
“Got it,” Parker replied.
John focused on the bullet wound. Based on the size of the hole, John believed it was a twenty-two-caliber bullet, which would be difficult to find because of its small size.
John wasn’t squeamish about blood, but the fact that he was operating on his wife added an extra layer of nerves. But if he didn’t get the bullet out, then it could lead to an infection, and once an infection spread, it could kill her.
“I think I’ve got it,” John said, and then he pinched down hard on the tweezers and slowly removed the bullet from the wound. He dropped it on the floor and then immediately started to patch up the wound. “We need to get it sterilized and covered up. Hand me that gauze.”
Teddy assisted John, and then John patched up his wife. Luckily for him, the bullet wound wasn’t big, and some butterfly stitches worked fine. Once the stitches were in place, John covered them with a fresh bandage to keep the wound sterile.
“Let’s keep her on her side for a little bit,” John said. “After all of that blood loss, this position will be easier on her heart.”
Teddy nodded, and then he took John’s place as John stepped back to take a breath. He stared down at his hands, which had been steady for so long, but now they were finally shaking.
“John,” Parker said. “I need to go.”
“You want to go after Dillon?” John asked. “I need the army truck to drive us to the cabin.”
“I have a motorbike,” Teddy answered. “Would that help?”
“I’ll take the bike, and you keep the truck,” Parker answered, and then there was an awkward pause. “I don’t mean to leave you, John, but if I don’t catch up with him now, I don’t know if I ever will.”
“It’s all right,” John said. “I’ll figure something out.”
“Good luck to you,” Parker said.
“You too,” John replied.
Teddy walked Parker out to the bike, and John stayed inside with his wife. He walked around to the other side so he could see her face, and she was quietly breathing, eyes closed.
“You’re strong,” John said. “Stronger than anyone else I know. You can pull through this.”
Maggie did not respond, but John leaned closer and kissed her lips. He just wanted all of this to be done with and have his family be all together again. There was nothing more frustrating than having been separated from his children. He knew Maggie felt the same way.
Teddy’s motorbike fired up, and then John listened as the engine faded as Parker drove away from the farm. When Teddy walked back inside the house, he leaned against the nearest wall in the dining room, barely able to keep his eyes open.
“So, what do we do now?” Teddy asked.
“We need to get her to the truck,” John said. “But first we need something to carry her.”
John nodded. “That seems like as good of a place to start as any.” John turned back to his wife. “Maggie, I don’t think that—” John frowned when he looked back at Maggie, noticing how still she was. He reached for her neck and checked her pulse.
When John didn’t feel a beat, he quickly moved Maggie onto her back.
“What’s wrong?” Teddy asked, perking up from the shift in John’s body language.
“She’s not breathing,” John answered, and he immediately started CPR. “Teddy, get on the other side of the table.”
Teddy followed John’s instructions, and he stood there, wide-eyed and worried.
John followed a steady rhythm of thirty compressions and then blew two breaths into his wife’s mouth, watching as her chest rose with each breath, then restarted the compressions. But John was already feeling the fatigue.
“Teddy, I need you to take over,” John said.
Teddy stiffened with fear. “I don’t know how to do any of this. I don’t know how to save somebody’s life.”
John finished the compressions and breaths, and then he grabbed Teddy’s hands and positioned them over Maggie’s chest. “You want to push here and push down hard, go,” John said.
Teddy started, and then he grimaced at the sound of bones crunching beneath him, and he stopped, but John was there to keep him on track.
“Don’t stop. Keep going. One and two and three and four,” John said, clapping his hands in rhythm so Teddy could follow along.
Teddy continued under John’s watchful eye, allowing John to rest until it was his turn to take over again.
Without an AED device, this was the only way to keep Maggie alive and try to restart her heart. But even between them, they wouldn’t be able to work on her forever.
The pair went back and forth, relieving each other when they got tired and continued to pump life into Maggie’s heart.
After five rounds of CPR, John stopped and checked Maggie’s vitals. He felt the faintest bump of a pulse, and Maggie was breathing again.
“Okay,” John said, motioning for Teddy to stop before he started compressions again. “She has a pulse.”
It was so strange for John to say that phrase aloud, especially talking about his wife. The woman he loved more than any other was currently lying on a table, fighting to stay alive.
But John wasn’t about to give up on her. She was going to make it through this, no matter what happened.
“We need to get her to the cabin,” John said, and then he glanced around the room. “We need to make her a stretcher, something we can carry her with to get her to the army truck. We need a long, flat board.”
“I saw something that might work in the barn,” Teddy said.
“Get it,” John said.
While Teddy sprinted out toward the barn, John walked closer to his wife. They had a nice medical setup at the cabin, something Maggie had insisted on when they had decided to build it. They would have everything they needed there. They just needed to get there before it was too late.