The man looked up in a panic and grabbed Mrs. Creed by the arm. Just before Victor could reach them, he pulled his mother from his back and tossed her in the corner like a sack of laundry.
Victor tackled the man in black and punched him in the face before he could catch his bearings. He kept hitting him until the Secret Service stepped in and dragged him away. Even then, he was able to connect his foot with the man’s head. While being held by several members of the Secret Service, the man grabbed the windowsill, trying to pull himself to his feet. But before he could make it to his feet, a shot rang out. Because the secret servicemen piled on top of him, Victor was unable to see where the had shot came from or where it’d landed.
“My mom!” he screamed at the Secret Service.
“She’s fine,” s someone yelled from beneath the pile. “She’s okay.”
Victor struggled and pushed through the bodies. “Get the fuck off me!” he demanded.
One by one, they piled off. When he was finally free, Victor scanned the room for his mother. She was crouched down in a corner with one hand over her mouth and the other white knuckling the grip of a handgun.
Victor took long-legged steps to get to his mom. He grabbed the gun and handed it to one of the Secret Serviceagents. “You're okay,” he whispered as he lifted his mother from the floor.
She was hyperventilating and shaking uncontrollably. Victor pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay, Mom. Take a deep breath. It’s okay.”
She nodded. “O-okay,” she whispered on a shaky breath. “I’m okay,” she reassured, seemingly more to herself than her son.
Once she calmed, Victor finally looked around. The man in black was dead on the floor with a gunshot wound in the center of his torso. But to his complete shock, no more than two feet from him was Bella’s lifeless-like body. “Oh, my God!” Victor yelled. “Get help!”
Victor released his mother and dropped down to the floor. He grabbed Bella’s wrists to see if she had a pulse. He nearly panicked when he couldn't feel anything. “Oh, God! Somebody help!”
Seconds later, the agents allowed healthcare workers in the room. Victor was pushed to the side when a nurse climbed over Bella and placed her fingers on the side of her neck. She whipped around and yelled at another member of the staff. “I got a pulse! We got blunt force trauma to the head! I need a portable CT! Page neurology and get a doctor in here!”
“You’re not a doctor?” Victor asked with a frown.
“Close. I’m a PA, but I’m still gonna need some help here!”
CHAPTER 14
NIYAH LEE
“Mario!” Niyah cried.
She dropped to her knees crawled over to her intern. With not much else that she could do, Niyah pressed her fingers against his neck and kept the pressure on the artery while fishing her pocket for her phone. “It’s okay, Mario. I got you,” she assured.
With one hand on Mario’s carotid artery, Niyah dialed the hospital operator. After a series of automated commands, she finally got the operator. “I need help in the ME’s office!” she yelled into the phone before the woman finished her greeting.
“Ma’am, if you have an emergency, please hang up and…”
Niyah blew out a frustrated breath and cut the woman off. “I do have an emergency! My name is Doctor Niyah Lee Reed! I’m the director of the ME’s office. I need an emergency team down here immediately. Also, I need you to page the on-call vascular surgeon.”
“Dr. Reed, can you tell me what’s happened?” the operator asked.
“Get me some help down here, now!” Niyah screeched.
She tossed the phone on the floor next to Mario and tried to assess his wound. But when she removed her finger, the blood splatter from his neck left the area impossible to see. The only thing she could do was try to control the bleeding and ensure that Mario stayed calm. “You’re okay, Mario. I got you.”
Mario tried to nod, causing Niyah’s fingers to slip. “Keep still. Help is on the way.”
Within a few minutes, that felt like hours, a handful of medical personnel rushed into her exam room. Theyimmediately took in the scene and sprang into action. “Let’s get him on a gurney!” a young ER physician shouted.
Niyah kept her fingers in place while the small team lifted Mario and carefully placed him on the gurney. “Do you wanna switch?” she asked the young doctor.
“No,” he responded abruptly. “Keep your fingers in place.”
He turned to a nurse. “Call the ER and tell Dr. Cherry that we’re headed to the OR. explain the situation and tell her that we need a room, right now.”
“Okay, the nurse responded with a nod.”
