“Is anyone in your crew sick yet?”
Norah’s stomach churned, and bile rose into her throat. “One of the young privates on my team. He was hypoxic and ended up vented, but somehow he bounced back.”
“And that’s it? You’ve really lucked out so far then.”
“That’s not it.” Norah sighed. “One of my soldiers, my friend. She’s bad, Paul. She’s really bad.” A wave of tears assaulted her so fast Norah had no choice but to let them spill out, and she was simultaneously relieved that Chase wasn’t there and also desperately wished she were. “I need your help.”
“What can I do?”
“The trial. I read it. I read it a thousand times. But I just can’t decide if the risk is worth it. Cytokine storm? Cardiomyopathy?Flash pulmonary edema? Hepatic failure? I don’t know anything about this drug.”
“No one really does, Norah. It’s only been used experimentally in amyloid patients. All we know is that the data seems promising. Look, I can’t tell you what to do. But I can tell you that if your friend is already dying, this could be the miracle she needs.”
Norah let the silence hang on the line for a long time. She knew what she had to do. She couldn’t save her brother, but maybe she could save Jamie.
“Can you get it to me?”
“If you swear on your life you never got it from me.”
“Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“Just do me a favor and don’t get caught, okay?” She could nearly hear Paul smiling through the phone.
“You’re a lifesaver.”
Paul chuckled soberly. “I hope so. I really do.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Chase, I need you to wake up.” Norah didn’t want to wait until morning to tell Chase about her plan. She’d kept it from her long enough, and she hated having secrets from her.
“Huh? Is everything okay? Is it Jamie?” Chase bolted upright, snapping awake immediately. Her concern was nothing less than endearing to Norah, and she wished she’d come to Chase sooner for comfort.
“She’s okay. I mean, I haven’t heard anything. But listen. I need to tell you something.”
Chase’s shoulders visibly relaxed as Norah moved to the bed and sat beside her. Her hair was sticking straight up on one side, and she was still squinting in the darkness. A worn Alpert School of Medicine T-shirt hugged her shoulders and emphasized the sharp lines of her strong back. Norah hadn’t realized how scared she was. She hadn’t realized how much peace just being in Chase’s orbit brought her. When she blinked out of her momentary daze, Norah realized Chase had been staring at her expectantly.
“So what is it?”
“This.” Norah placed the now-tattered packet on Chase’s lap and waited.
Chase studied it intensely, one page after the other, seemingly trying to absorb every word. When she was done, she looked back up at Norah with what could only be described as contained hope.
“A monoclonal antibody. It’s brilliant.” The sleep cleared from Chase’s eyes, and she grew more animated. “It’s perfect, really. The cytokine storm is what’s killing most people. If the drug can reduce the autoimmune effects, we could significantly reduce the mortality rates.”
“Agreed. But it’s not risk-free.”
“No.” Chase’s brow narrowed sharply. “The complications are pretty massive. I can’t imagine the FDA is going to push this trial through with 60% of the patients dying from the drug alone. The cytokine storm from J1 is killing people, and the drug to treat it also causes a cytokine storm. Perfect.”
Norah sucked in a deep breath and closed her eyes, her heart pounding. She didn’t want to do this without Chase. But she would if she had to.
“I want to try it on Jamie.”
Chase jerked her head back in clear shock. “What? No. No way. That’s insane.”
“She’s going to die, Chase. You saw her today. If she’s not intubated by now, I’ll be amazed. You know what the chances of her bouncing back at this point are.”
“Stevens did.”
