Page 16 of Shielding Instinct

Hawkeye knew he was asking for a role, not a name. He went to the first thing he could think of to make sure he could stay with Petra. “First responder. I noticed the change in her pupillary response.”

“How long ago?”

“Undetermined. She was fine at the beginning of the flight but slept the whole way here.” Hawkeye handed out his notebook with respiration and pulse rates that he had taken every five minutes. The numbers had held steady.

“Instead of a gurney, since you’re conscious, we can bring up a wheelchair, then carry you down that way. Do you feel like you can’t hold yourself upright for that long?”

“I could carry her in my arms,” Hawkeye offered. He turned to Petra, “If you’d be comfortable with that. It might be safer than risking an event happening while you’re in the chair.”

“Event happening…” Petra’s voice wobbled. “Like I go unconscious?”

“In the unlikely event that you have trouble staying upright while you’re on the stairs.” He pronounced his words clearly and spoke just a bit slower to make himself as understood as possible.

“The stairs are steep,” the paramedic cautioned Hawkeye.

“We train on them. One of my team could go in front in case of a missed foot.” He turned to Petra. “Would that be all right with you? Do you want to make decisions here or would you prefer I make them?” For his sister, Cora, especially under stress, decision-making was mentally and therefore physically exhausting. Cora’s brain was constantly going, going, going. Not to say Petra was exactly like Cora—as Cora liked to say, “Once you’ve met someone who is neurodivergent, you’ve met one person who is neurodivergent.” But Hawkeye did have the advantage of knowing and loving Cora, and maybe his livedexperience could be helpful here. “Or we can make the decisions together.”

Petra squeezed his arm and said with relief, “You, please. Down the stairs and decision making.” She sniffed. “Please.”

He hated the fear in her eyes. “All right, you just let me know if you change your mind.”

Having listened to them, the paramedic asked Hawkeye, “Do you want to go with her in the ambulance then, in order to provide continuity of care?”

“If I’m able. I can give the emergency department staff the available information.”

The paramedic gathered his equipment and made his way to the door, where he called the plan down to his crew.

“Do you have a bag with you?” Hawkeye asked.

“Black backpack.” She pointed up.

“Is there anything in there that you need now?” He was careful to ask one direct and simple question at a time.

“No.”

“Halo will bring it to you later. Come and slide over into my seat.” Before he could stand up, Levi slipped out of his seat and toward the door.

Levi had been on a rescue in Namibia where he had to carry his fiancée down a hillside with a teammate in front ready to break a fall should Levi trip. Levi brought that experience back to the team, where they talked through the different issues, like the areas that had been too tight to get through with someone in his arms; what it felt like to race downward on uneven terrain without being able to see ground hazards.

So, they trained an exfil where the person was carried in the operator’s arms when it was counterproductive to do a fireman’s carry.

It was one of the ways that Team Charlie knew Petra’s friend Avery Goodyear.

Avery, a romance editor, was contracted with Iniquus so when a scenario was presented by an operator, she could think of dozens of ways that the scene could go wrong. “After all,” she’d said, “that’s what authors do all day long to make a living.”

The teams would then test their skill under the circumstances she imagined.

A medical event on a plane was one of those scenarios that Avery had listed.

Hawkeye was grateful that she’d imagined this one.

Hawkeye stood as Petra scooted over to him, then he stooped to scoop her into his arms. The passage being as small as it was, Levi reached under her knees while Hawkeye held her under the arms, her head resting on his shoulder. Levi backed up until they reached the door, where Levi helped shift Petra back into Hawkeye’s arms.

It was seamless, and Hawkeye hoped that they had kept Petra comfortable. She didn’t need a racing heart right now.

Slow and steady.

Calm and professional.

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