Chapter 5 - The Flatline
""Code Blue, Room 412! Crash cart now!"" Dr. Reyes shouted, barging past Miller as two ICU nurses rushed into the room with defibrillator paddles and emergency drug trays.
""Get them out of here!"" Reyes ordered. Miller pulled the screaming, manic Vanessa out into the hallway while an orderly guided Marcus backward into the corridor.
Marcus stood paralyzed against the glass partition. Through the window, he watched doctors tear open Nia’s gown, plastering electrode pads against her chest. The monitor let out a continuous, high-pitched whine—a flat, unbroken line running across the black screen.
""Asystole! Charging to two hundred!"" Dr. Reyes called out. ""Clear!""
Nia’s torso arched off the mattress as the electric shock jolted through her muscles. Her body fell back limp.
""No response! Resume compressions! Give me one milligram of epinephrine!""
Marcus pressed his forehead against the cold safety glass, tears stinging his eyes. ""Fight, Nia. Please, please fight. Don't leave Maya. Don't leave me.""
In the hallway, two police officers dragged Vanessa toward the elevators. As she passed Marcus, she didn't look remorseful; she looked triumphant. Her mouth curled into a mocking smile. ""You lose, Marcus. You always lose.""
Inside the room, the mechanical rhythm of CPR continued. Thirty compressions, two breaths. The nurse’s arms pumped up and down with relentless force. Dr. Reyes checked the carotid pulse again. ""Nothing. Charging again. Three hundred! Clear!""
Thump.
The body jolted a second time. Silence hung over the room, broken only by the hum of the ventilators and the harsh panting of the medical staff.
Marcus held his breath, his hands gripping the metal doorframe until his knuckles cracked.
Then, faint and unsteady, a blip appeared on the monitor. A jagged spike. Then another.
""Sinus rhythm restored,"" Dr. Reyes breathed, wiping sweat from her brow. ""Heart rate fifty-eight. Pressure is stabilizing at eighty over fifty. Get her on a continuous dopamine infusion, right now!""
Marcus sagged against the wall, slipping down until he sat flat on the floor, burying his face in his hands as quiet sobs wracked his body. She was alive. Barely, by a thread of pure luck and medical skill, but she was alive.
Detective Miller returned down the corridor, his face grim despite the medical victory. He knelt beside Marcus. ""Vanessa is in custody. She won't be getting bail.""
Marcus lifted his head, his eyes cold and devoid of fear, replaced only by a dark, relentless resolve. ""And Julian?""
Miller pulled out his tablet, showing an aerial surveillance feed. ""Federal agents just raided the private hangar at Montgomery Airfield. The hangar was empty. The plane took off fifteen minutes ago, bound for an unlisted private airstrip in the Caymans.""
Marcus stood up slowly, dusting off his trousers. ""He won't make it to the Caymans.""
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""Marcus, don't do anything reckless,"" Miller warned, standing with him. ""Let the feds handle extradition.""
Marcus shook his head, pulling his personal tablet from his briefcase. ""Julian used my company credentials to access the flight clearance. Which means he's flying a Gulfstream IV registered under Vance Logistics' tail number. And every Vance corporate aircraft has an encrypted satellite flight-management kill switch that only I have the master key for.""
