Chapter 58
No.1
The morning sun broke over the Belmont Resort,casting long, sharp shadows across the manicured lawns.
Down on the main grounds, the estate was hosting a massive charity half-marathon. The air was filled with the sound of cheering crowds, upbeat music, and the sharp blasts of starting horns.
Elisa stepped out of the lobby doors. She was dressed in a sleek, black athletic zip-up and dark leggings, a black baseball cap pulled low over her eyes. She needed the cold morning air to clear the lingering stench of August from her lungs.
She walked along the stone path that curved beneath the towering balconies of the penthouse suites.
She didn't mean to look up, but a flash of movement caught her eye.
On the balcony directly above her-Allena's balcony-stood August and Allena. They were both wearing
plush white hotel robes. August had his arms wrapped tightly around Allena's waist from behind,burying his face in her neck, kissing her in the morning sun.
Elisa's heart rate didn't even spike.
She looked at them with the detached, clinical disgust one might reserve for two flies mating on a piece of garbage. She lowered her head and kept walking toward the marathon route.
No.2
Near the finish line, a cluster of large, white medical tents had been erected, marked with massive red crosses.
Elisa walked toward the hydration station near the tents to grab a bottle of water.
Suddenly, a horrific, blood-curdling scream ripped through the ambient noise of the crowd.
It came from the VIP viewing bleachers fifty yards away. The crowd instantly fractured, people backing away in sheer panic.
Elisa's brain instantly shifted gears. The cold,calculating Al architect vanished,replaced entirely by
the adrenaline-fueled trauma surgeon.
She dropped her water bottle and sprinted. Her sneakers tore across the grass.
She pushed violently through the wall of panicked spectators.
Lying flat on his back on the turf was a powerfully built, elderly man in a bespoke tweed suit. It was Arthur Vance, the notoriously ruthless founder of a multi-billion dollar private equity firm and a major player in global finance.
No.3
Vance's hands were clawing desperately at his chest.His face was rapidly turning a horrifying shade of bruised purple. His eyes were rolling back into his skull.
Three massive bodyguards in black suits were hovering over him, completely paralyzed by panic,screaming into their radios for the estate's medical team, who were stuck on the other side of the marathon route.
Elisa's eyes scanned the man. Massive myocardial infarction. Cardiac arrest.
Golden window: Four minutes until irreversible brain death.
She didn't hesitate. She ducked under the velvet VIP rope.
To avoid the bodyguards tackling her as an attacker,she grabbed a bright red volunteer medical vest draped over a folding chair. She shoved her arms through the armholes as she ran, instantly establishing visual authority.
Elisa dropped to her knees beside the dying billionaire.
She didn't check for a pulse; the cyanosis in his face told her everything. She grabbed the lapels of his expensive tweed shirt and violently ripped them apart, popping the buttons into the air.
She locked her hands together, placed the heel of her palm dead center on his sternum, and locked her elbows.
No.4
She began chest compressions. The force was brutal, precise, and rhythmic. One, two, three, four.She pushed down two full inches, forcing the blood manually through his failing heart.
"You!" Elisa roared, not looking up, her voice cracking like a whip at the largest bodyguard. "Run to that medical tent! Bring me the AED and a crash kit with epinephrine! Move your ass!"
The sheer, terrifying authority in her voice broke the bodyguard's paralysis. He turned and sprinted toward the tents.
Two minutes passed. Elisa's shoulders burned with lactic acid. Sweat beaded on her forehead under the black cap, dripping down her nose. Vance's face remained purple.
The bodyguard crashed to his knees beside her,shoving the yellow AED box and a red medical bag onto the grass.
Elisa didn't stop compressions. "Open the AED! Turn it on! Peel the pads!"
The machine beeped to life. Elisa snatched the sticky pads and slapped them onto Vance's bare, sweaty chest.
Analyzing rhythm, the machine's robotic voice announced. Shock advised. Charging.
"Clear!" Elisa yelled, throwing her hands up.
No.5
She hit the flashing orange button.
Bang. Vance's torso violently arched off the ground as the electricity slammed into his heart.
He dropped back down. Elisa instantly checked his carotid artery. Nothing. The portable EKG monitor on the AED showed a flatline.
Elisa's eyes went dark. Standard protocols were failing. She needed to go extreme.
She ripped open the red crash kit. She bypassed the IV needles and grabbed a massive, terrifyingly long syringe of epinephrine.
The bodyguards gasped in horror as Elisa uncapped the needle. She wasn't looking for a vein.
She placed two fingers on the left side of Vance's sternum, finding the exact intercostal space. Without a millimeter of hesitation, she drove the long needle straight down, plunging it directlythrough the chest wall and into the muscle of his heart.
She slammed the plunger down, injecting the adrenaline directly into the core.
She pulled the needle out and threw it aside.
No.6
"Clear!" Elisa screamed, hitting the shock button a second time.
Bang.
The body convulsed.
For three agonizing seconds, there was silence.
Then, the AED monitor beeped. A jagged,beautiful spike appeared on the screen. Then another.
Arthur Vance's chest heaved. He sucked in a massive, ragged breath of air. The purple hue in his face slowly began to recede, replaced by a faint,sickly pink.
He was alive. She had literally dragged him back from the gates of hell.
In the distance, the deafening chop of helicopter blades filled the air. The Medevac chopper was landing on the lawn.
Paramedics rushed toward them with a stretcher.
No.7
Elisa stood up, her chest heaving, her hands shaking slightly from the adrenaline dump.
She looked at the approaching medical team. She looked at the bodyguards. If they realized who she was, her identity as Faye and her medical background would be exposed to August's inner circle before the summit.
She couldn't let that happen.
Elisa quickly stripped off the sweaty red volunteer vest. She tossed it casually onto the empty folding chair.She pulled the brim of her black baseball cap down lower over her face.
As the first paramedic reached the scene, Elisa grabbed his arm, her voice a low, urgent whisper."V-fib, shocked twice. One of intracardiac epi. He's back, but unstable." The paramedic nodded, his professional focus instantly shifting to the patient.That split second of information transfer was all the cover Elisa needed. While the bodyguards and paramedics swarmed Vance, forming a massive,impenetrable physical wall of broad shoulders and medical equipment that completely blocked the spectators' line of sight, Elisa took a step back. She didn't hesitate for a fraction of a second. Utilizing the brief, chaotic window created by a passing catering cart being violently shoved aside by another medic,
she turned around, and slipped away dlown the secluded service pathway toward the rear of the estate.