After trying the call again, Martin's pulse pounded in his ears. He kicked the door in. "Elizabeth!" The house was still. "Clear the downstairs. I'm heading up."
Martin went straight for her room. Not seeing anything unusual, he surveyed the bathroom and froze. She was lying in a heap, her hair matted in a slick of blood. "Up here. Hoist, call an ambulance. Jockey, grab the medic bag."
Martin tuned out everything but his training. He listened to her breathing and reached for a pulse. "Sunshine, wake up." He ran his hands along her body, looking for the source of the bleeding. She was dry and hot to the touch. Her bowels had emptied on the floor, and he spotted the full wastebasket. Both fluids were blood-tinged.
Kenny, Bravo team's medic, initiated care with what little supplies he had available. "Ambulance is en route," Josh said as he held her head steady.
Elizabeth was unresponsive, her breathing and heart rate slow. Kenny tossed Josh a mask from the bag and Martin some gauze. "Help her breathe. Martin, direct pressure to her brow." By rote, Martin stopped the trickling blood. Kenny's expression turned ominous when his fingers slipped behind her head. "Where's the damn ambulance?"
"Jockey, what's going on? I'm here, Sunshine. Stay with us," Martin's voice lowered to a whisper.
"Her mouth and lips are red; she's drooling, and her nose is pouring. Her pulse is in the fifties. Possible she ingested something poisonous."
"What do you mean ingested something? Did someone give her something?" A bead of sweat formed on Martin’s upper lip.
"I don't know, Martin."
Two police officers ran up the stairs with a defibrillator and oxygen. "Silverton PD," Shaun Murray announced. "Marty, what happened? This is Elvis Donner."
"We found her this way. Where's the ambulance?" Martin's voice was strained.
"Lieutenant, my name is Ken Clarke; I'm a paramedic. I need you and your partner to go downstairs and find anything she ate or drank in the last day and bag it up. I think she was poisoned. Be careful and wear gloves."
Martin washed her blood off his hands and grabbed his phone. Pete Walter answered on the first ring. "Pete." Martin gulped, "Pete, it's Elizabeth. She's unconscious."
"Did you call an ambulance?"
"Yeah, Jockey is here and Hoist."
Pete was firm. "Put Jockey on."
"She’s unresponsive. There’s a one-inch lac above her left brow. I also palpated a firm dip in her occiput, no crepitus. She lost bowel and bladder. Both fluids bloody. Pupils are dilated; her mouth is red. She's drooling. She's hypotensive and heart rate is in the fifties. Possible heart block. She is dropping beats. No radial or pedal pulses. Skin, hot and dry. I'm waiting on the ambulance. All I have is O2 and a pocket mask. Josh is assisting her breathing."
"Ambulance is here." Shaun walked back into the bathroom.
"The ER will be waiting." Pete hung up.
"I need a small c-collar and a longboard," Kenny barked orders at the two EMTs. The young female pursed her lips, moving closer to the patient.
Shaun Murray enforced Kenny's order. "Do what the man says. I don't care what your protocol is. I'll take responsibility." She headed to get the equipment, then they moved Elizabeth into the ambulance.
Kenny spoke to the two EMTs, "Listen, I'm a paramedic on the national registry. I'll talk to your medical director if I have to. I need access to your medic kit and drug closet."
Emerson shifted the vehicle into gear, and the ambulance lurched forward. "Fifteen-minute ETA."
The female EMT gave Kenny access to the necessary equipment. "Martin, listen to me. Find the atropine." Kenny initiated an IV, and Elizabeth started to froth at the mouth. "Clear her airway," he ordered the EMT. His demeanor was calm and focused.
"Got it." Martin held up a purple box.
"Push two doses." Kenny hooked up the monitor, flattening his expression. "I need to secure her airway and then pace her. She's not responding to the atropine." He aimed the tube between her vocal cords and into her trachea. "Got it." Pink froth filled the tube. The male EMT was setting up the pacer. Kenny smiled a thank you. "You assist a lot?"
He helped him place the pads on Elizabeth's chest "I'm one of Dr. Reed’s fourth-year med students. Two shifts a week pay the bills. You're maxed, but she's capturing only a few beats. The rate picked up a little. NG tubes are in the blue bag. They just got them approved."
Kenny asked the med student, "Can you set up a dopamine drip?" Kenny measured the stomach tube and slid it through her right nostril into her belly. A brown, bloody liquid filled the canister. Her heart slowed more, and without warning, Elizabeth seized. With another drug, he quelled the seizure. "Martin, how much atropine is left?"
"Two more boxes." Martin opened the seal. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion.
"Push them.”
