Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
When she’d needled him about it, he’d given her a wry half-smile. “You know they build people up to tear them down, right? They’ll be on me like a pack of hyenas if I so much as stumble.”
That was the thing with Danny; he could be weirdly wise.
“Yeah,” Viliame murmured as he pulled out. “I mean, the doctors take oaths to keep things confidential, but there’s going to be a bunch of the public in ED.” Pulling to a stop at a red light, he added, “His team doctor is still in the city and is a good man, but I don’t know if he’d feel obligated to report this to the higher-ups. Especially with Danny having been selected for the national squad.”
Catie’s mind flashed. “Wait,” she said, digging out her phone from the small purse of glittery gold that she wore slung across her body. “I know a doctor here. Maybe she can help. Hopefully she hasn’t put her phone on silent and gone to bed.”
Dr. Priya Chauhal was thirty years Catie’s senior and a woman Catie had first met during her major surgeries as a child. They’d stayed in touch through the years, even after the doctor moved cities, and tonight she answered the call at once.
The noise in the background told Catie that Dr. Chauhal was on shift at the hospital. When Catie explained the situation, the doctor told her to bring Danny around to a back entrance of the hospital.
“I’ll get him into a private area for the assessment and make sure it’s a very small team that interacts with him. All of them far too old and dedicated to their careers to get starstruck and make a stupid decision.”
“Thanks, Dr. Priya.” It was what Catie had called Dr. Chauhal back when Catie had been a shocked and scared child; that it came out tonight was no surprise.
While Viliame got instructions from the doctor on how to find the correct entrance, Catie brushed back Danny’s thick hair with its slight hint of curl. Girls loved that midnight-black hair and so did all his sponsors.
No reaction from Danny. He was unconscious. And his skin didn’t feel right.
Face tight, Catie looked up after Viliame hung up the call with Dr. Chauhal. “Is it far?”
“No, we’re almost there.”
When they pulled up in front of the right entrance, it was to find Dr. Chauhal waiting for them with a stretcher and a couple of nurses. One of them was as big a man as Viliame, and together, they were able to get Danny onto the stretcher.
Catie stuck to Danny’s side while Vili went to park the Land Cruiser. Goose bumps broke out over her skin as they navigated the hospital corridors. She’d forgotten her jacket back at the table she’d been sharing with her friends, and her pretty, sparkly top, devoid of a back and sleeves, was meant for the heat of a club.
It was no match for this institutional building.
But they were in a warmer patient room soon enough—a room far from the hustle and bustle of the ED. Minutes later, Dr. Chauhal led another woman into the room. Tall, her golden hair threaded with the odd strand of silver that caught the light, she had the kind of elegant bone structure that made it impossible to pinpoint her age. Her expertise, however, was clear the instant she began to examine Danny.
“Drug reactions of this kind aren’t in my bailiwick,” Dr. Chauhal told Catie as they stood back and let the other doctor work. “Dr. Smitherson is one of the best in that area.”
“Thanks for doing this.” She was very conscious it wasn’t procedure. “I hope it doesn’t get you or Dr. Smitherson into trouble.”
Hands tucked in the pockets of her lab coat, Dr. Chauhal shook her head. “Perk of being extremely senior and actually willing to take night rounds. No one’s going to piss us off over something so small.”
Dr. Smitherson cracked a smile but kept her attention on Danny.
“And,” Dr. Chauhal added, “the only favor he’s received is a private way in. We’d give the same care to anyone who came in exhibiting the effects of a drug of this kind.”
“Is it very busy out there?”
Dr. Smitherson was the one who answered. “Not quite yet. We’ll start getting the weekend rush come eleven p.m. If this had happened then, I couldn’t have come up and Mr. Esera would’ve had to take his chances entering the public way.”
She rose from her examination of Danny. “His heart rate is a little concerning but nothing dangerous. I don’t like the fact he’s lost consciousness, however—I’m going to have the lab run his blood as a priority. He stays here with full monitoring in the meantime.”
Catie settled into the chair beside Danny’s bed after the medical staff vacated the room; prior to leaving, they’d drawn his blood, then hooked him up to various monitors. She was just pulling out her phone when Viliame walked in.