Archer #2
She relaxes her face, lowers her shoulders, and releases a long breath.
Then she tilts her head to the side, allowing me to massage a new angle.
“Power went out, which means drivers got dumb. Eighty-seven-year-old male vic suffered an acute MI behind the wheel, which led to rear-ending the car in front of him. Then half a dozen cars behind piled up, bringing traffic to a standstill. I extracted the patient from his vehicle and started chest compressions immediately.”
“He’s the one you saved?”
She shakes her head, hissing as the doctor slips a new stitch through her flesh.
“While Aubree and I worked on him, Fifi was checking the other cars and discovered a little girl suffering what was probably severe heatstroke and dehydration. I left Aubree to continue with the male vic, while I took the little girl. Stripped her down, cooled her down, brought her back. Dad was freaking out, and the little girl was,” she brings her hand up, blindly holding her fingers close together, “this close to a really unfortunate end. She’s okay.
She’s…” She uses that hand to wave out at the buzzing ER.
“Here somewhere. I expect she’ll stay a night.
Maybe they’ll release her today.” She allows her hand to flop back to the bed.
“Male vic will end up at the morgue sometime soon.”
“He was gone before she even got him out of the car,” Aubree murmurs.
She creates a scene of tranquility, lazing with her feet crossed at the ankles.
And since there’s so much of it, white fabric hangs over the side of her bed, trailing halfway to the floor.
“I’d bet the autopsy shows it was a complete blockage.
He had no chance. Vic was old. He was obese.
The heat probably shoved him over the edge, forcing the organ to work too hard, and in the moment he needed it most, it gave out.
Doctor Mayet and I continued cardiopulmonary resuscitation for more than twenty minutes before we handed off to paramedics.
But he was gone. He’d have died even if he were already inside the hospital at the time of failure. ”
“I think you did a good job, Doctor Mayet.” The young doctor looks up from his low perch. “I think most people would’ve stopped once they knew he’d died. You didn’t.”
“I didn’t stop, because I didn’t want to be the one who declared death.
” She keeps her eyes closed, her long lashes resting on the top swells of her cheeks, and when I dig my thumb into the side of her neck, she tilts her head the opposite way to make room.
“His wife was watching us the whole time. She was distraught and little and old and at risk of any number of medical episodes of her own. If I’d called it, she might’ve screamed herself into an emergency.
It was no skin off my nose to keep going. It was the easier option.”
“Meanwhile, you’re out there on a hundred-degree tar in a gown that weighs twenty pounds, tearing up your knees and sweating yourself into a headache.” I grab her barely touched water and bring it to her lips. “Drink.”
“I don’t want—”
“Drink, or you’ll be checking in for the night and enjoying a nice little IV cocktail for fluids.”
Unimpressed, her eyes snap open, and her bad mood returns.
“I don’t wanna do it, Minnnka. And I especially don’t wanna deal with the marital turmoil that’ll come of it. But you need to drink, especially since you’ve had your factor, too.”
“Tim said the power’s only out to two-thirds of the city,” Aubree mumbles, tilting her top foot left, then right. Left. Right. “Basically, the entire business district and half residential.” Left. Then right. “He said our house is still good, so if you guys wanna stay the night…”
“I’d like to, if that’s okay, Aubs.” Fletch leads Fifi and Mia this way, his rage gone and his terror abated. “I don’t mean to be an imposition, but there’s no way I can make my baby sleep in a hot apartment again tonight. It was already bad last night, and that was when we still had cooling.”
“It’s fine with me.” Opening her eyes, she reaches across and strokes Mia’s back. “The house is only half furnished, but we’ll make it work. Mia had a big day today, and I heard she saw some kinda scary stuff, so…”
“She was very brave.” Fifi fixes her arms under Mia’s butt, jostling the girl and soothing her with a gentle pat. “She got to watch Auntie Minka save a life.”
“Where is Tim, anyway?” I lean forward, the stretcher creaking under my moving weight, and peek into the rest of the bustling ER. “He told you to lie down, but he’s not here?”
“He and Eli went to get us food.” Aubree exhales a breathy sigh. “I think Eli’s gonna talk to him about babies.”
I settle back again and frown. “Eli’s gonna talk to Tim about babies?”
“He asked if I’d consider being a surrogate for him and Curtis.
” Her lips curl into a soft smile. “I said I’d seriously think about it, but that I’d want to talk to Tim first, since…
ya know.” She shrugs. “It’s kind of a big deal, and he had plans for my uterus first.” She coughs out a soft snicker.
“I’m not ready to be a mom yet, but I’m not morally opposed to helping Eli and Curtis become parents. ”
Minka slits her eyes open, hitting me with a glare. “I told you they were talking about babies.”