Chapter 2 - The Ride to Northwestern
|
The back of the ambulance smelled intensely of bleach, copper, and adrenaline.
Ellie’s vision swam in and out of focus, the harsh overhead lights blurring into halos. The siren wailed above them, a frantic scream tearing through the Chicago night. But the loudest sound in the cramped space was Jack Callahan’s breathing.
He hadn’t let go of her hand. His grip was entirely too tight, his knuckles white, his expensive tuxedo jacket discarded somewhere in the ballroom. His crisp white shirt was ruined, soaked in the blood he had desperately tried to keep inside her body.
“Pressure is dropping,” the paramedic shouted over the siren, tearing open a fresh gauze pack. “She’s losing too much from the exit wound. Sir, you need to step back.”
“I’m not moving,” Jack said, his voice absolute zero.
“I can’t work with you crowding her—”
“Then work faster,” Jack snarled, his eyes locking onto the young medic with a promise of violence. “If her heart stops in this rig, yours stops right after it.”
Ellie felt a weak flutter of panic. She tried to squeeze his hand, tried to speak, but her lips were numb.
“Leo,” she managed to wheeze out. The word tasted like copper.
Jack leaned down instantly, his ear inches from her mouth. “What? Ellie, what did you say?”
“My brother,” she gasped, the pain tearing through her abdomen like broken glass. “Insulin. Fridge is empty. Need… the shift money.”
Jack stared at her, the lethal mask slipping for a fraction of a second. She was bleeding to death on a stretcher, a bullet meant for his child lodged in her ribs, and she was worried about paying for insulin.
“I’ve got him,” Jack promised, his thumb brushing a damp strand of hair from her pale forehead. “Leo is taken care of. I swear it on my life.”
She wanted to believe him. She wanted to nod. But the edges of the ambulance began to dissolve into a thick, suffocating blackness.
May you like
“Ellie! Stay with me!” Jack’s voice sounded like it was coming from underwater.
The darkness finally pulled her under, and the last thing she felt was the desperate heat of his hand gripping hers.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2)/savannah-guthrie-family-2-1-0bac18c6e63544b4865f10ec5d2e16c1.jpg)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(753x298:755x300)/nancy-guthrie-savannah4-2626-92e92a233e444318b692e03163e84f8a.jpg)
