Page 45 of Valor

Had he lost too much blood? She glanced over at the ambulance, willing the EMTs to get there faster.

They jumped out and ran around to the back of the bus. After grabbing medical supplies, including a portable automatic external defibrillator, the male and female team hustled over with a gurney.

“What happened?” The older male wore a name tag identifying him as Jerry.

“Gunshot wound to the right flank.” She was surprised at how easily she slipped into her role of an emergency nurse. “It’s a through-and-through injury, but he’s lost a lot of blood. He probably has a lacerated liver.”

The younger female EMT’s name tag read Sharon. She set about placing an IV as Jerry slapped EKG patches on Owen’s chest and connected the wires to the external defibrillator. Emily swallowed hard when she saw Owen’s pulse racing across the small screen at a rate of nearly 160 beats per minute.

He’d definitely lost too much blood. She eyed the IV Sharon had placed, then addressed Jerry. “My name is Emily, and I’m an ER nurse from Cody. Will you please run those fluids wide open? I know most ambulances don’t carry any blood products.”

“We don’t.” Jerry gave her an appraising nod as he wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Owen’s other arm, the one that didn’t have the IV tubing attached. “Sharon, I agree with Emily that we need to run those fluids in as fast as possible.”

“Got it.” Sharon quickly opened the clamp so that the IV fluids could run freely into Owen’s veins.

“Thank you.” She was relieved they’d gone along with her suggestion. When Owen’s blood pressure flashed on the screen, her heart sank. “Do you see that? A BP of 90 over 60 is too low. Can you start a second IV?”

“I think it’s better if we get him on the gurney,” Jerry said. “We’re not that far from the hospital. They’ll have blood products there.”

“Okay.” She decided not to waste time arguing. “But I’m coming with you.”

“Fine with me.” Jerry collapsed the gurney, then eyed her and Sharon. “Ready?”

She took Owen’s legs while the two EMTs lifted each side. Jerry stepped around the gurney, then they carefully set Owen down. She held the IV bag as Jerry and Sharon strapped Owen onto the gurney, then lifted it upward so they could wheel him to the rig.

She ran alongside the gurney, then glanced back at Doug. “Meet us at the hospital, okay?”

Doug nodded, cradling Bear in his arms. “Right behind you.”

She nodded and stood off to the side as the EMTs lifted Owen’s now-collapsed gurney up into the back. Jerry leaned over to take the IV from her, clearly intending to stay with Owen in the back while Sharon ran around to get behind the wheel.

Emily jumped up to join Jerry. She took Owen’s hand in hers and prayed as Sharon drove away from the ranger station.

As promised, the trip to the local hospital didn’t take long. It didn’t look as big as the one in Cody, but at least they had one. And she could also see a large helicopter landing pad off to the side, which meant they could send complicated cases to a larger hospital.

When the three of them entered the emergency department, a doc rushed over to join them, and soon they were in one of the curtained bays. “Is this the GSW to the abdomen?”

“Yes. It’s a through-and-through injury, but I believe his liver was hit.” Emily locked gazes with the provider. “His blood pressure is low, and he’s tachycardic. He needs blood and a trip to the OR. That is, if you’re able to perform surgery here?”

“We have an OR suite, but whether we keep him here or not depends on how bad the wound is.” The doc lifted the gauze as the EMTs along with another nurse worked on getting Owen connected to the hospital equipment. Owen’s blood pressure had risen to a whopping 96 over 52 with the IV fluids. “Yeah, I think we can handle this.”

Emily was glad to hear it and forced herself to step back to give the team room to work. To the provider’s credit, it didn’t take him long to make the arrangements. “Let’s get him prepped. We’re heading to the OR in five.”

“What about the blood?” Emily couldn’t help worrying.

“It’s being sent to the OR.” The provider, whose name she didn’t catch, flashed a reassuring smile. “We’ve got this.”

As they wheeled him away, Emily knew Owen’s fate was in God’s hands.

And the only thing she could do now was to wait and pray.

CHAPTERTWELVE

Pain reverberated through his body.A strange sense of urgency had Owen pushing through the pain to open his eyes. He couldn’t just lie there; he had to make sure everything was okay. He struggled to see. His surroundings were blurry at first, but then an angel’s face hovered over him.

Not an angel, but Emily. He stared up at her for a moment, wondering if he was dead. Wait, no, that didn’t make sense. Dead men didn’t feel pain.

And if Emily was there, he couldn’t possibly be in hell either. He swallowed hard, his dry throat scratchy. “What happened?”

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