Page 123 of Whispers in the Dark
The team turned Alex onto his back.
“He’s still in V-fib,” Paul called out. “Push another round of drugs. Get those pads on.” The team scrambled and placed the defibrillator pads on his chest. The machine began to charge.
“Shocking… all clear. Shocking.”
Alex’s body jumped. “Sinus tachycardia. 500 ccs. of saline going in wide open.” Paul worked with the anesthesiologist.
Everyone took a breath. “Let’s roll him again,” James said.
The team repositioned Alex. “Good,” James breathed. “Now we keep moving.”
7:42 a.m.
The final wire on the top node slipped free, but the lower spinal implant was worse. “It’s rooted along the cauda equina,” Tristan muttered.
“Tactile sensory bundle. If it fractures—he won’t walk.” James worked faster now, more aggressive but no less precise.
“Then we don’t let it fracture,” Tristan said in a tone only one brother could say to another.
The moment his scalpel touched the second node, Alex seized again. Alarms screamed. The rhythms on the monitors jumped.
“Full-body neural cascade,” Paul said. “He’s being shut down.”
James didn’t hesitate. He sliced the wires cleanly, and the implant was tossed into a sealed containment can. Alex’s body twitched once. Then, all the monitors flatlined.
The room exploded into a frenzy.
“Code blue!” James covered the exposed spine and worked with the team to flip him again.
Tristan started chest compressions. The pads used a few minutes earlier came free from his sweat-soaked body. James grabbed the paddles, breaking sterility. “Fine V-fib.”
“Clear!”
They shocked him once, followed by two minutes of CPR and more cardiac drugs. After shocking him the second time, two more minutes of CPR and more drugs.
Nothing.
Third shock.
Beep… beep… beep. His rhythm returned.
“Sinus bradycardia.” Weak. Barely there. But there. The anesthesiologist pushed more meds.
James exhaled, his shoulders slumping forward, mask soaked in sweat, gloves soaked with blood. “Both implants were removed. Flip him again. Let’s see if I can control the damage to his spine and remove the wires.” He stepped out and rescrubbed.
He looked through a surgical loop, inspecting the openings to Alex’s spine. “Damn. He’s leaking spinal fluid. I need to pull these wires, and I’m going to try a blood patch. This just worsened his meningitis. Add an antifungal to his cocktail.”
“We need to keep him heavily sedated and keep him flat.” Tristan’s mask puffed out with a breath.
Paul let out his own shaky breath. “I’ll notify the ICU to have a bed ready.”
Charlotte’s knees nearly gave out. She had no idea when she had stood up. Noah wrapped his arms around her. “Sit back down, honey.”
James continued to extract the wires and performed the blood patch to control the spinal fluid leak.
10:45 a.m.
Tristan turned to her, pulling his mask down. “James got the last wire. He’s got a chance.”
