Chapter 2 - The Patient No One Wanted Saved
Dominic had arrived twenty-three minutes earlier.
His convoy had been attacked near a private warehouse along the Chicago River.
One SUV struck a concrete barrier.
A second vehicle disappeared before police arrived.
Dominic was found in the back seat with a chest injury, dangerously low blood pressure, and an unknown substance in his bloodstream.
Two of his guards brought him into St. Catherine’s Emergency Center.
They claimed the nearest trauma hospital had been chosen by chance.
Cara noticed the first inconsistency before anyone else.
One guard kept checking the clock.
The other repeatedly asked how long a death certificate would take.
Dr. Hale took control of the case.
He was the hospital’s most respected trauma surgeon.
He also refused several standard tests.
When Cara requested a complete toxicology panel, Hale dismissed her.
“There’s no time.”
When she noticed a tiny injection mark beneath Dominic’s collarbone, he told her it came from treatment in the ambulance.
The paramedic denied giving an injection there.
Cara reported the discrepancy.
Hale told her she was becoming distracted by the patient’s identity.
Everyone knew the Russo name.
Dominic controlled nightclubs, private security firms, shipping contracts, and businesses rumored to hide far darker operations.
Several nurses refused to enter the trauma room.
One doctor muttered that a man like Dominic had probably earned whatever happened to him.
Cara did not argue about the life he had lived.
She looked only at the body in front of her.
A patient did not stop being a patient because people feared his name.
During resuscitation, Dominic briefly regained consciousness.
He grabbed Cara’s sleeve.
“Wine,” he whispered.
Then Hale injected medication into his IV.
Dominic’s pulse collapsed seconds later.
Hale claimed the injury had finally overwhelmed him.
Cara watched the doctor disconnect one heart-monitor lead while pretending to adjust the cable.
The green line flattened.
Hale announced Dominic’s death less than a minute later.
Now Dominic was breathing again.
The bodyguards who brought him had vanished from the hallway.
Hale immediately tried to regain control.
“This was temporary electrical activity,” he said. “He is not stable.”
“He needs a chest tube and toxicology treatment,” Cara replied.
“You are no longer assigned to this patient.”
Vincent Moretti entered with hospital security.
“Actually,” the lawyer said, “no one moves Mr. Russo until we know why a living man was declared dead.”
Hale looked toward the camera in the ceiling.
Its red light continued blinking.
Then every light on the emergency floor flickered.
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Someone was trying to interrupt the building’s power.
👉 The attempted murder had failed once, and the traitors were already preparing a second chance.
