Page 91 of Hot Damn
“Yes. Do it,” Natalie commands. “Let’s clear everyone from the corridor first. The EMTs are still a few minutes out. There was some sort of brawl outside the arena and they’re all attending to fans with various injuries.”
Putting her words to action with her usual GM force, Natalie has the corridor reduced to me on the floor with Cami in my lap, Dr. Kerns and Dr.Wendall, and Cami’s mom, in less than a minute.
I have no idea when Cami’s mom arrived, or where her father went, and I don’t have time to voice my questions before the Rogues GM is giving orders again.
“Do what you need to,” Natalie directs.
“I’m not putting her on the floor.”
“You don’t have to. If you can turn her to expose her right side, I can lift her shirt and check her. From the video I think he may have gotten her around the waist area, possibly right above her hip,” Dr. Wendall explains.
It’s easy to move Cami—she weighs less than my hockey bag full of gear. Once I have her rolled to her left, her front turned toward me, I’m comforted by her even breathing, the rise and fall of her chest against my stomach.
“How will you—” Air sucks through my teeth. “Fuck.”
“Yeah. There’s no doubt he got her with the syringe,” Dr. Kerns says, the frown dragging his mouth down one I’ve never seen. “The question is what was in it.”
“I’m thinking a sedative. Something not too dangerous. Her pressure is still one-ten over seventy.”
“What do you think it was?” I ask. The thought of Cami being injected with anything makes me feel physically sick and I have to swallow the bile rising in my throat.
“Hard to say. Could be a number of different drugs. Off the top of my head, I don’t know what’s available here in Florida.”
“And we can’t rule out he brought whatever he used with him from out of state,” Dr. Kerns adds.
“True, but?—”
“Are any of them dangerous?” I interrupt.
“Yes and no. It depends on what drug he used and the dosage.”
Dr. Wendall lowers Cami’s shirt. “I don’t think the syringe he had could hold enough to be dangerous.”
“Even though she’s small?” I look at the woman in my arms. She might be tall but there isn’t an ounce of fat on her anywhere.
“At a guess, and at this point that’s what we’re doing, I’d say she’ll be out a few hours at most.” The conviction in Dr. Wendall’s voice gives me no relief. Because her words are true. Right now we’re all guessing.
“EMTs are coming in now.” Natalie crouches beside me. “You want to stand up and put her on the gurney?”
“Yes.” I’m not sure I can bring myself to let Cami go, except if I don’t, we can’t get her to the hospital and the care she needs. “What will happen now?” My question is directed at no one in particular.
“We get her to the hospital where they’ll take some blood, run a few tests, keep an eye on her until she wakes up,” Dr. Kerns explains as he gets on one side of me to help steady me as I get to my feet. “They’ll probably want to keep her overnight, depending on when she wakes and what they find in her system.”
Looking at Natalie, I ask, “Can we get them to release her into Dr. Kerns’s care once they run tests?”
“What are you thinking?”
“We’re out of here first thing. If they keep her overnight, they won’t release her in time for her to travel home with us. Unless someone can stay here.”
“Either way we’ll work it out, right, Dana?” Natalie speaks to Cami’s mom for the first time since I noticedher.
“Yes. As soon as we hear what the doctors at the hospital say.”
The words don’t reassure me. I want to stay with Cami, but I know her mom or dad should do that. “You’ll let me know?—”
“Why don’t you go with her to the hospital?” Cami’s mom puts her hand on my arm. “Fenton and I will take care of Whitney.”
“Oh, you don’t want?—”
