Page 95 of Day Shift

We arrived at a small house nestled in an unassuming neighborhood. It was surrounded by a fence and some thick hedges. Braxton and Lucian jumped out of the SUV first, moving to carry Nik inside. I slid from the vehicle as Angel dragged herself out of the third row and to the open door. She was about to hop down when I swept her up in my arms and carried her inside. She didn’t protest, just stared blankly ahead.

Nik had lost a lot of blood and was only semiconscious now. As much as I wanted to sit here and hold Angel, I needed to go help Braxton tend to his gunshot wound. I glanced around the small living room before gently placing her on a sofa. Her silence scared me more than anything. Braxton and Lucian disappeared into the back with Nik. I headed to the kitchen, rummaging around until I found a candy bar and a bottle of water. Returning to Angel, I offered them to her.

“Eat this,” I said firmly. “Something sweet will help with the shock.”

Her eyes barely flickered in response as I set them next to her on the table. I spotted a blanket and covered her with it, both for warmth and to cover the blood and guts on her dress. “Stay here with Lach,” I said, nodding toward him. “Keep a close watch on her and let me know if she needs anything.”

“Will do,” he said, his forehead wrinkling with worry.

When I went down the hallway in search of the others, I noticed that this wasn’t just any house. It was a sophisticated hideout. One room had a high-tech computer system and a lot of other expensive-looking equipment. Continuing down the hallway, I came to a room with the door open. Braxton was just telling Lucian to find some scissors. Once inside, I realized it was set up like a mini emergency department. Lucian and Braxton had already laid Nik on a gurney and were in the process of cutting his pants off.

“Holy shit,” I muttered. “What the hell is this place?”

Lucian shook his head, eyes wide. “Never seen anything like it.”

Braxton worked quickly to remove Nik’s shirt and then began prepping him for treatment, removing the gauze we’d wrapped around his thigh in the van.

Lucian’s eyes went wide. “Okay, I’m out of here. I’ll leave you two to take care of Nik, and I’ll go check on Ana.”

“Let’s get him cleaned up before infection sets in,” Braxton said. “Looks like we’ve got what we need here. You ready to play doctor?”

“I guess there’s no other choice,” I said, chuckling darkly and stepping up to help.

I looked around at the room again. This place was beyond anything I’d imagined, and we were lucky to have access to it. The supplies on hand would be crucial. I’d never expected such a place to exist, but then again, I wasn’t part of Nik’s world.

I rolled up my sleeves, washed my hands, and prepared to help. As I took stock of the myriad supplies available to us here, I wondered how often this place was used. Braxton and I gathered everything we could think of and placed it on a rolling table next to Nik or on the counter behind us.

Just as we donned gloves, Nik’s body went limp, and his eyes closed as he slipped into unconsciousness. Braxton and I sprang into action. I switched on the medical monitors, surprised to find them in top-notch condition. The equipment was state of the art, probably better than what we had at the hospital. I hooked up the pulse ox to Nik’s finger to monitor his oxygen saturation, watching the numbers stabilize around ninety-five percent. That was a good sign; at least his breathing wasn’t compromised.

“Braxton, hand me the BP cuff and the ECG leads.” He reached behind him and passed me the kit. After I wrapped the cuff around Nik’s upper arm, and attached it to the vital signs display unit, the automated monitor kicked in, inflating and then slowly deflating. The reading came back at 85/55. Not great, but not catastrophic. We needed to get it up at some point, but we had other things to focus on right now.

“His BP’s low but holding. Let’s keep an eye on it,” I said, glancing at Braxton, who was attaching the ECG leads to Nik’s chest. The machine started beeping softly, displaying the heart’s electrical activity. Nik’s heart rate was elevated, around a hundred twenty beats per minute.

I nodded to Braxton. “Let’s get an IV line in. We need to replace the fluids he’s lost.”

Braxton prepped the IV line while I located a suitable vein and then inserted the catheter and secured it with tape. We started a saline drip to help stabilize his blood pressure and replenish some of the volume he’d lost.

“Before we go any further,” I said, “we need to ensure he stays unconscious and doesn’t move during the procedure.” Reaching for a syringe, I filled it with the most conservative amount of propofol I thought would do the job, then injected it into his IV line, watching the medication flow in. “This will keep him sedated and ensure he doesn’t wake up suddenly.”

As I administered the drug, I couldn’t help but wonder how Nik’s company could acquire and have propofol on hand, considering it was a highly protected drug.

While Braxton kept an eye on the monitors, I checked Nik’s injury. The entrance wound on the back of his thigh was small and clean, but the exit wound on the front was larger, with jagged edges.

“Braxton, he’s getting paler. We need to check his hemoglobin levels,” I said, reaching for the portable hemoglobinometer I’d seen while gathering supplies from the cabinet behind me. Braxton wiped Nik’s finger with an antiseptic pad and then pricked it, drawing a small drop of blood. The machine beeped, displaying a reading far below the normal range.

“He really needs a transfusion,” I muttered. “Do we have any bags of blood in the supplies?”

“Yes, there’s some in the refrigerator. But we need to confirm his blood type.”

He grabbed a blood-typing kit, took another blood sample, and mixed it with the reagents. The results indicated he was O positive—a relief since it was a common type and we had a bag of it in the refrigerator.

“All right, let’s get this warmed up,” I said, pulling out the portable blood warmer. “This place is made for working on a person with a gunshot wound.” I was still amazed by all the gear.

Braxton handed me the bag of blood, and I placed it in the warmer, setting the device to bring it up to normal body temperature.

While the blood warmed, we monitored Nik’s vitals closely. His heart rate was still elevated, and his blood pressure remained low. “The blood transfusion should help stabilize him if he can just hold on,” I said, watching the monitors. After a few minutes, the blood was at the right temperature.

I set up the transfusion kit, connecting the line to Nik’s IV catheter. The rich, red liquid began to flow into his veins. After a few minutes, the blood pressure cuff cycled again, showing a slight improvement. His heart rate started to come down, and color began to return to his face.

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