Page 4 of Ice Princess

“What was the cause of death?”

“He was shot in the back of head execution-style,” Charlie says and Blade feels numb.

“I will have a team readied in case the threat is identified to a specific location.”

“Appreciated. I will keep my ear to the ground and if we get any specifics, you will be my first call.”

“Thanks, Charlie, give Sandra my love.”

“Will do. You met anyone yet?”

“No, you know me this job and the military is my life.”

“Eventually you are going to have to get back out there in the real world and find yourself, someone man.”

“You know me, Charlie, I am a lone wolf.” Blade tells him, leaning back in his chair. This was an old conversation with Charlie and the few other people that Blade is close to. They don’t understand that he is ok with this job being his life and he doesn’t want to leave a widow behind when something happens to him on the job.

“Alright keep your phone on and near you, be ready to jump on a plane at a moment’s notice I don’t have to tell you the seriousness of Kraken loose on American soil.”

“We will be ready.” Blade tells him before hanging up.

Blade needs to get a team on standby and the equipment packed and ready to go. If this disease was to get out in the general population, it would be catastrophic and that would be before it might mutate.

He starts getting things into motion and his adrenaline spikes, this was the worst and the best part of the job. Blade crosses his fingers that the man is either found before he can infect someone or that the threat is bogus because the U.S. is not ready to deal with a pandemic on this scale.

Chapter 3 ~Raven

“Dr. Ballenger, we need you to ER stat.” Raven sits up and rubs her eyes, swinging her legs off of the on-call bed. She is at the end of a long shift and hopefully this will be her last call of the night.

She walks swiftly down the hall to the elevator, pushing the button for the ER. When the doors open, she walks into chaos.

“Dr. Ballenger we have a gunshot wound to the abdomen, he is losing blood rapidly and is combative we will have him ready and waiting in OR 4.”

“I am on my way.”

“Doctor! Doctor!” Raven turns to see a man covered in blood standing in the lobby.

“I need to tell you something it is important.”

“No, time if you want your friend to live, I need to get him to surgery now.”

The man continues to scream at her, but she ignores him, walking into the triage room.

“His BP is falling.” The nurse calls out as Raven is gowned and gloved.

“Push one milligram of epi and get him hooked up to O negative Stat,” Raven calls out as the nurse puts on my face shield.

She walks up to the table and takes a deep breath. Gunshot wounds are hard, and she digs deep for that ice princess calm that she is famous for. During her ER rotation, she was assigned to one of the inner-city hospitals. While assessing a man with a gunshot wound a rival gang member came in and shot him as well as the other doctor working on the victim.

Raven was only grazed, but Dr. William Wolfe her mentor and friend didn’t survive his injuries. She tries to stay away from gunshot injuries, but as a surgeon, it wasn’t always possible.

Her hands try to shake, and she takes a deep breath to steady her nerves.

“Let’s get him stable and up to an operating theater.” She looks at the gaping wound in his side and sees where the bullet had ripped out a good part of the man’s intestine.

She focuses on the wound and not what caused it. The team works in concert with each other, each member performing their duties until the man’s blood pressure and vitals are stable.

“Alright he is stable let’s get him up to the surgical floor so I can remove this bullet and repair the damage.”

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