The patient jerked at the needle prick. Ami quickly taped the second intravenous catheter into place, then adjusted the flow of the tube. Mr. Olment stared up at her now, his eyes wide above the hissing oxygen mask, his breath coming in short, desperate puffs.
“It’s all right, sir,” she felt compelled to assure him. “We’re going to take very good care of you.”
The doors suddenly burst open behind her and Dr. Mason, the thoracic surgeon on call, breezed into the room. “Bring me up to speed!” he snapped.
“Two gunshot wounds to the chest. The X rays indicate-”
Roland’s assessment was abruptly halted by the patient’s sudden scramble to get up and off the gurney. He grabbed at Ami, his left hand waving frantically for purchase.
Startled into action, she restrained his flailing arm, preventing him from reaching his target. He screamed something at her, his words muffled behind the oxygen mask. He elbowed Ami away with his right arm, almost tearing loose the IV tubes. Jane, Lonnie and Dr. Roland forced the man back down onto the gurney.
Olment tugged free of Lonnie’s hold, his desperate, muffled shouts clearly directed at Ami, his horrified gaze fixated on her. The whole team looked at her then, confusion claiming their faces. Rattled, she pulled back a step, her presence obviously somehow threatening to the man.
When Olment was fully restrained in a four-point hold, they all took a breath, including Ami.
“Get that blood to the lab,” Roland ordered, his tone weary. “This guy must be on something,” he added under his breath.
Ami carefully moved back into position and checked the IV connections, then the man’s blood pressure. One-ten over eighty. Well, at least, his numbers were up. His dark gaze, wild with unreadable emotion, never left her, trekked her every move. She resisted the urge to look directly into those accusing depths. Whatever this guy’s problem, it had nothing to do with her. And right now she had a job to do…helping to save his life.
“Let’s get him to the OR,” Dr. Mason announced, sending the team into another practiced routine of organized chaos.
AMI PULLED her navy sweater and purse from her locker and slammed the door. God, she was glad her shift was over. The ER had stayed unusually busy this afternoon, forcing a hectic pace for every staff member on duty. There must be something in the air today, she mused. Then again, tonight there would be a full moon. All the weirdos were likely warming up. Some sort of subconscious urging prompting them to drive recklessly, take nosedives out of buildings, and shoot at people they would at any other time consider friends.
She pulled the scrunchie from her hair, allowing the forever-unruly locks to fall around her shoulders. Just one more day of duty and she’d have a full four days off. Ami smiled. Four days with her little boy. And maybe some quality time with Robert. She felt as if she had drifted further from him the past few months. It was time she did something about it. He was too good to her and her son for her to continue to neglect him this way. It was time she got her act together and put the past behind her once and for all.
“That was some wild shit in the ER today, huh, Ami?”
She glanced up at Lonnie, the lab tech who’d been on duty with her. “Yeah,” she agreed. “A little too wild for my liking.”
He pulled his gym bag from his locker and dropped it onto the bench that flanked the row of gray metal storage units. Lonnie worked out every single day and it showed in his lean, athletic physique. She should start working out again. She’d really let herself go since becoming a member of the mommy brigade. But there was just never enough time.
“Tonight’s a full moon, you know,” he said almost as an afterthought. “The crazies must’ve decided to come out early.”
Ami nodded. “I’m glad I’m not on duty tonight.”
“That makes two of us.” Lonnie suddenly stalled, one hand on his locker door, the other on the handle of his gym bag. “That sheikh guy was a trip, wasn’t he?”
Despite her exhaustion, she had to laugh. “He’s not a sheikh. According to Jane, he’s some sort of aide to the Israeli prime minister.”
Lonnie closed his locker door and shrugged. “Whatever. He damn sure freaked out.” A grin slid across the tech’s freckled face.
When he smiled like that, he reminded Ami of Opie from the old Andy Griffith Show. Though she couldn’t imagine Opie spouting the kind of language Lonnie was known to use.
“What’d you do to him, anyway?” he teased.
Ami rolled her eyes and heaved an impatient sigh. She’d been asked that question at least a dozen times today. “I didn’t do anything to him. He probably forgot his lithium this morning.” She pulled on her sweater. “Or maybe he had too much of something else.”
“Actually,” Lonnie began, his face suddenly serious. “He was clean.” He shook his head from side to side as if he couldn’t believe it himself. “No scripts, no street candy. Nothing.”
A chill sank clear to her bones. “Oh.” It was all she could think to say. The patient had been drug-free…no reason why he hadn’t been lucid. No reasonable explanation for him to go postal. No reason for him to look at Ami the way he had. The uneasiness she’d barely kept at bay all day reared its ugly head. She told herself it was the combination of pain and fear, but why turn it all against her in particular? There had been several others present. Why her?
“See ya tomorrow.” Lonnie hefted his gym bag and gave her a little salute. “We’ve got the same shift again.”
Doing her level best to ignore the uneasiness, she waved him off. She liked Lonnie. He was good at his job and he could always be counted on for a laugh. She was glad he would be here tomorrow. If it turned out anything like today, they would need some comic relief.
Ami left the locker room and headed back to the ER. That was the most direct route to the parking garage. She was too tired to take the long way around. “Have fun,” she offered to Jane as she passed her in the corridor.
“I will when I get my paycheck,” her friend returned smugly.
Jane was working half a shift over since another nurse had called in sick. Ami was enormously thankful Dr. Roland hadn’t asked her to stay. She just wanted to go home. But Jane had her reasons for putting her mind and body through twelve hours of ER abuse. As a single parent, extra money was always handy.
Ami’s footsteps echoed in the deserted stairwell as she descended to the basement level. She trudged across the quiet parking garage, trying without success to not think about Mr. Olment and his strange reaction to her. Her busy shift had kept the disturbing thoughts away, but now, as silence closed in around her, the incident nagged at her again. It didn’t mean anything, she reminded herself. She would talk to Robert tonight. He was a psychiatrist, a damn good one at that. He would be able to explain away the episode. He always had an explanation for everything.
Ami climbed into her Volvo wagon and drove across town more or less on autopilot. She turned right onto Piedmont Street and slowed at the gate to allow the security guard to identify her. He motioned for her to continue and she entered the quiet neighborhood she’d called home for the past year. A sense of relief and contentment instantly started to melt away the day’s tension.
The first time Robert had brought her here and showed her the new, exclusive, high-security housing development she’d fallen in love. The homes and their small yards were stunningly picturesque. The well-planned, gated community had all the amenities one would expect in a ritzy neighborhood that catered to Chicago’s young professionals. But it was the security she’d loved most. With a new baby, safety was number one on her priority list, as well as Robert’s.