Page 104 of Viral Justice

“Yes, sir,” they said in unison.

“Good. Ali, I want you to hand me instruments and bandages. Hunt, I want you to monitor Nolan’s vitals and continue to hang blood. The rest of you...” He looked around, but they were alone in the OR.

Max let out a breath. “Let’s get to it.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Max kept Nolan coveredabove and below the wound, then cut the bandage off and revealed the damage. He used the only anesthetic he had—a local—injecting it around the injury. Blood welled up, but he ignored it. He made a careful incision and retracted the skin so he could see what was happening inside.

Blood obscured everything.

“Ali, I need a bunch of gauze pads.”

She handed him a pile and he used them to soak up the extra blood. He had to really look but finally found where the piece of shrapnel was buried near the top of Nolan’s left kidney. Blood oozed out of the wound. He removed the shrapnel, and found a tear in a small artery.

He grabbed the suture needle he’d prepared and began closing the tear. “Ali, can you use the gauze pads to get some of this blood out of the way?”

“Okay,” she said, moving closer with a handful. “Squawk if I do it wrong.”

He tied off the first stitch and waited while she cleared the area of blood. “Excellent, thank you.”

He stitched quickly. Even so, Hunt hung two more bags of blood before he finished. It wasn’t neat or pretty, but it was done.

Nolan began to shift restlessly and moan.

Special Forces soldiers sometimes claimed to be supermen. Maybe this time, this one was.

“He’s waking up,” Max warned. “Talk to him, Hunt. Hearing is usually the first sense to come back. Make sure he knows he’s safe or he could damage himself or us as he comes around.”

“Nolan, boss, it’s Hunt. Are you with me?”

“Be ready to help hold Nolan down,” Max said in an undertone to Ali. “Most people don’t react well to surgery without anesthetic.”

“Can we strap him down?”

“That might make things worse.”

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