Chapter Thirty
MAX FLEW through the hospital. Footsteps pounded the stairs behind him, but he didn’t look back. The corridors flashed past him in a blur. ICU nurses saw him coming and stepped out of his way.
He reached Jed’s room and came to a sudden halt in the doorway. A low cry escaped him. Faceless medical staff surrounded Jed’s bed, manually pumping air into his lungs and compressing his chest. The shrill alarm of the cardiac monitor pierced the air, signaling the absence of a heartbeat.
Jed’s heartbeat.
Max cried out again.
Glenn shot past him with an unnatural speed. A commotion behind him told Max that Dan had been prevented from doing the same.
Dr. Greene called for clear and pressed the paddles of a defibrillator hard against Jed’s chest. Jed jerked from the bed, his back arching in an unnatural, violent spasm. The world paused as every ear in the room strained to hear any sound of Jed’s heart restarting.
Silence.
Dr. Greene raised the paddles again and hovered over Jed. Beneath the paddles, he lay lifeless, his body at their mercy, to do with whatever they pleased.
Something inside Max protested. He started forward. Strong arms held him back.
Luke.
“Do it,” Luke growled. “Shock him again.”
The aggression in his tone broke through the horrified haze in Max’s mind. He didn’t know Luke from Adam, but his gentle Creole accent wasn’t made for anguish like that.
No.
Max lurched away from him and stumbled to the corner of the room. He slid down the wall and covered his ears.
This couldn’t be happening. Not now, not yet. He needed more time. He wasn’t ready for this.
He would never be ready for this.