Living Stones by Lloyd Johnson Read Free Book Online Page B

Their C-4 provider in Butte had no idea who they were except friends of the imam and would have hidden his own participation. Any fingerprints would be burned up along with the backpack. And no one saw him. Well, no one except the girl, and then only a bit of his face. He frowned with some nagging concern, but put it out of his mind. She probably died from the blast or would have no memory of the event if she lived.

Chapter 12
    With siren screaming and red lights flashing, the Medic One van charged into the ER receiving area and backed up to the door. The medics rushed Ashley on their wheeled stretcher into Harborview Medical Center, oxygen mask covering her face and IV solution pouring in at a rapid rate. She lay on the gurney under a large light in a treatment room with a tile floor and glass cabinets lining the walls. Several people in scrub clothes gathered around her. A nurse and physician stripped off her bloody clothes under a hospital gown and began to examine her injuries while hearing the medics’ story of the explosion and finding her on the sidewalk, bleeding.
    While examining Ashley, Dr. Eric Thompson shouted orders: “Stat blood draw and emergency lab profile! Type and cross-match six units of blood, stat chest and abdominal X-ray! Push in lactated ringers’ solution as fast as possible. Bring me a central venous catheter kit and a chest tube insertion tray and water seal with pump.” A team of several nurses and two surgical residents sprang into action. An X-ray tech and lab person appeared.
    “Alert the OR,” Dr. Thompson ordered. “Any family with her, Melanie?”
    “No, she’s by herself. I’ll check her purse here on the stretcher,” the nurse responded. She found Ashley’s wallet, which contained emergency contact information—Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wells in Oklahoma City, with their phone number.
    “Get them on the phone and I’ll talk with them. Stay on the line, Melanie, to monitor the conversation and verify permission to take her to the OR.”
    Melanie grabbed two wireless phones and soon had Mrs. Wells on the line. She handed one to Dr. Thompson, who stripped off his bloody gloves.
    “Hello,” Mrs. Wells answered.
    “Mrs. Wells, this is Dr. Thompson at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. We have your daughter here in the emergency room. She’s been injured. Our nurse Melanie is also on the line.”
    “Oh, no! What happened? How is she? You sound so calm. Is . . . is she OK?”
    “We hope she will be, Mrs. Wells. But she has multiple injuries and—”
    “What kind of injuries? Frank, get on the line!”
    “Frank Wells here. You’re saying that Ashley had an accident?”
    “Yes, sir. Pieces of a building from a bombing struck her in the back, breaking some ribs, causing a collapsed lung and bleeding into her abdomen and chest. She does not seem to have a severe head injury or any brain damage as far as we can tell. But she needs a chest tube to re-expand her lung and blood replacement. Then—”
    “Oh God, help her! Will she live, Doctor?”
    “We think so, sir, but she needs to go to the operating room. We suspect she is bleeding from a ruptured spleen, and if so we’ll probably have to remove it. There could be other injuries, including in the chest, that need repair as well. So we would like to have your permission to move her to the OR and take care of any problems we find.”
    “Can she get along without a spleen?”
    “Yes. There is a small increased risk of some kinds of infections in the future, but they are rare and can be prevented for the most part with an immunization. Right now she needs an operation, and shecould have complications, further bleeding, infection, and she could die. Do you understand?”
    Dr. Thompson waited for a reply. Finally Mr. Wells spoke. “Yes, we do. Does Ashley understand the situation?”
    “No sir, she’s in shock and doesn’t know what has happened.”
    “Do what you need to do to save her life, Doctor. Do you agree,