Chapter 17
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
DARBY
“Scalpel.”
Darby placed the tool into Dr. Fransten’s waiting hand as she kept a close eye on their patient’s vitals.
Heart rate, stable. Breathing, good. As long as we can keep her from losing too much blood while we remove this tumor, this should be a pretty simple case…which is good, because I don’t know how much longer I can keep standing.
“Shelton?”
She blinked, having completely missed whatever directive Fransten had given her. “Sorry, sir. What is it?”
“Vascular clamp.” He nodded with his chin in the direction of the tray of tools.
Darby quickly retrieved it.
“I’m making the final cut now. Attach the clamp as soon as I’m through.” Fransten kept his eyes on his hands as he talked. “Are you alright, Shelton? You look pale, and it’s not like you to be distracted.”
“I’m fine.” Years of ingrained habit made the lie come quickly. “Just a little worn down, but I can handle it.” She watched for the right moment to put the clamp in place.
“Hmm. And how is the captain? I heard he made an appearance here yesterday; I’m sorry to have missed him.”
“Recovery and rehabilitation seem to be going well. He has achieved almost full now mobility with both limbs, but it’s the—”
“Dr. Fransten!” A breathless, frantic nurse poked her head through the door. “We have an emergency in the recovery rooms on the second floor.”
The doctor looked from her to their patient. “I’ll be done here in just a few moments.”
The nurse shook her head. “It can’t wait that long.”
Fransten sighed and gave Darby a rueful smile. “It’s always something in medicine, isn’t it, Shelton?” He handed her the needle he had just prepared. “Finish up here and then wheel her into recovery.”
In a bit of a daze, Darby took the needle from him. “Alone?” Despite her previous experience, she was still surprised every time he allowed her to act independently.
“We have established that it is within your abilities, isn’t it?” He raised an eyebrow at her while hurriedly removing his surgical gloves and scrubbing his hands in the nearby sink.
She straightened. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Get up to the second floor as soon as you can.”
“Yes, sir.”
Fransten followed the nurse from the room, and Darby turned her attention immediately to their patient.
She worked as quickly as she dared, but keeping the sutures neat and even and ensuring the surgery was properly finished was a task that could not be rushed.
More time than she had expected had passed by the time she was finally done and the patient was being wheeled away to the recovery room.
I haven’t heard anything from upstairs. Hopefully that means Dr. Fransten has everything handled.
She gave her hands a thorough scrubbing and was just stepping out into the hall, when the sound of familiar footsteps caused her to freeze. She pulled a fake smile to her face as Lacey appeared around the corner.
“Shelton.” Lacey’s nose wrinkled with disdain. “I see you’ve finally been deemed competent to be away from Fransten’s side for once.”
“So it seems.” Darby worked to keep her voice cheerful and ignore the suspicions that Fitz and Henry had planted in the back of her mind.
Lacey wouldn’t try to kill me. It would be too much extra work, and she’s not the kind to get her own hands dirty.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” She folded her hands together to hide the trembling in her fingers that would not come under control.
“Like you’re—”
Lacey’s words were interrupted by the sound of crashing glass in the room behind them.
A second later, a fiery flash of light erupted with a bang from the room behind them.
Darby dove forward, knocking Lacey to the ground as the wall exploded in a barrage of debris and flames.
The sharp, acrid scent of burning chemicals filled the air, and a series of smaller, less violent explosions followed.
Darby threw herself over Lacey, shielding her as best she could while covering her own neck and head. The explosions were over in a matter of moments, but the roar of flames grew steadily louder. The air filled with smoke and heat.
She pushed herself up, crying out at a sharp pain in her calf. A glance over her shoulder confirmed that a piece of the debris had sliced clear through her skirts and into the muscle. She wiggled her foot.
If I can still move it, that means the damage can’t be too severe, thank Deus. But we have to get everyone out of here.
“Lacey!” She coughed as the smoke filled her lungs. “Come on, we need to go.”
“I—I can’t.” Lacey’s voice was tight with pain. “My leg is stuck.”
Darby turned, fully this time, and let out a soft curse. Lacey’s right leg was trapped under a large piece of twisted metal just inches from where Darby’s leg had been. The flames around them pressed closer, and in the distance Darby could hear the sound of the church bells.
She pushed herself to her feet, hissing in pain as she limped to the side just enough to give Lacey room to sit up. A maze of smoke and debris stood between them and the front doors.
“You’ll have to leave me here.”
Darby looked down. Lacey’s eyes were wide in her pale, drawn face. Beads of sweat that matched the ones on Darby’s own forehead dripped down onto her nose.
“I’m not leaving you.”
Even if she was the one who poisoned the chocolate, I can’t just let her die like this.
“There’s no point in both of us dying!”
“We’re not dying. I’m going to get you out of here.” Darby, shoving the pain from her leg to the back of her mind, squatted beside the metal debris and grabbed hold, gritting her teeth as the hot metal burned her fingers.
“You can’t; it’s too heavy.”
Darby barked out something between a laugh and a grunt as she lifted the metal and threw it to the side. “Not for my man arms.” She held out a hand. “Up you get.”
Lacey’s eyes watered, but she pressed her lips together and said nothing. She stumbled into Darby’s side as soon as she stood. “I can’t walk.”
Darby crouched in front of Lacey. “Climb on.”
“What? I’m not—”
The building creaked ominously.
“Just get on my back! If you don’t want us to die, stop arguing!”
Lacey did as Darby ordered. It took a few wobbly steps before Darby adjusted herself to the added weight, but then she was limping along through the debris-strewn halls as fast as she could.
Her throat burned and her eyes watered, and she nearly collapsed with relief when she finally saw the blue sky through the haze of smoke.
The street outside the hospital was filled with evacuees and on-lookers. The fire brigade was there as well, valiantly fighting the flames. Once they had reached a safe distance, Darby let Lacey drop to the ground and turned around.
From their position on the street, the fire looked much less frightening than it had from inside. The damage seemed to be primarily affecting the surgical wing, and already the team of fire brigade mages had done a decent job at containing the flames.
“Dr. Shelton! Dr. LeBlanc!”
Darby turned to see Merry’s roommate, George, approaching swiftly on a pair of crutches. His face was twisted with worry. “Is Merry with you?”
Dread pooled in Darby’s stomach. “I haven’t seen him. Wasn’t he in his room?”
George shook his head. “He was looking for Dr. LeBlanc. When I saw the two of you together, I thought that maybe…” His voice trailed off and he looked back at the smoking hospital. His face paled. “Do you think he’s still in there?”
Darby was already halfway to the door. “Merry!”
Fitz’s voice chased after her. “Darby! Stop! What are you doing?”
She ignored it, plunging into the thick smoke. She stopped just long enough to shrug her jacket off and hold it over her mouth and nose. “Merry!” she yelled again. “Merry, are you in here?”
If he had come down the surgical hallway, Lacey or I would have seen him before the blast. That must mean he’s somewhere between the general recovery rooms and the surgical wing.
She turned, avoiding the worst of the debris, and made her way down the long hallway of recovery rooms. Her leg ached, and she was beginning to feel the effects of blood loss.
The squeaking sound of metal wheels on the floor, the kind used on the transportation cots, drew her attention to a room on the far end. “Merry? Is that you?”
The noise immediately stopped, and Darby was surrounded by eerie silence.
The smoke from the fire had filtered through the halls, but the fire was far enough away now that the heat wasn’t unbearable.
She could hear the distant shouts and yells from the street, but they were drowned out by the sound of her own heartbeat.
“Merry?”
She cautiously approached the recovery room. “Is someone in here? Do you need help?”
The door was ajar, and she pushed it open with one finger. Metal hinges creaked loudly, echoing through the empty room.
Or, mostly empty room.
A single cot stood in the center, with a white sheet draped over a distinctively human shape.
An uneasy pit formed in the middle of her stomach, and Darby swallowed past the lump of fear in her throat. “Hello? Merry?”
There was a rustle of fabric behind her, and a strong arm wrapped around her neck, pulling her jacket away from her face, while a piece of sweet-smelling fabric was thrust in front of her nose and mouth.
Darby tried to struggle, but her already exhausted body slowly grew more and more lethargic until her arms and head hung limply and everything went black.