Uncle Henry turned toward him. “Then gather it faster. My son is back there fighting for his fucking life.”
The officer didn’t respond, and for a second, I watched my uncle stare him down before turning his attention back towardthe trauma doors. Anybody looking at him would’ve seen exactly what I saw—a father scared he was about to lose his son.
I looked at Mace and tilted my head toward the other end of the hallway. “Come here.”
He followed me far enough away that neither Uncle Henry or the officer could hear us.
“You find out anything?”
“Not yet.”
His answer came quick, but something about him felt… different. He wouldn’t hold my stare for long, and every few seconds, his eyes moved toward the trauma doors like he was waiting for them to open.
Mace had always been good under pressure. I’d seen him handle situations that would’ve made most men fold, but tonight he looked like he was forcing himself to stay focused. If I hadn’t known him as long as I had, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it.
A nurse stepped out from behind the station carrying a clipboard. Before she could walk away, I stopped her.
“My cousin came in not too long ago. Samuel Jones.”
She glanced at the computer before looking back at me.
“Are you family?”
“I’m his cousin.”
“One moment.”
She disappeared through the double doors, leaving me standing here with Mace beside me. Neither of us spoke. There wasn’t much to say until somebody came back with answers.
A few minutes later, the doors opened again, and a doctor stepped into the hallway, pulling his mask down as he looked around the waiting area.
“Family of Samuel Jones?”
Uncle Henry moved before I did. “I’m his father.”
The doctor’s eyes moved from him to me. “Come with me.”
I followed Uncle Henry down the hallway while Mace stayed behind with the police. The doctor led us into one of the consultation rooms, where my aunt sat with her hands clasped tightly in her lap. The second we walked in, she looked up at us, and the fear on her face told me nobody had given her any real answers yet.
Uncle Henry went straight to her, sitting beside her and reaching for her hand. She held on to him with both of hers as I took the chair on her other side.
The doctor closed the door before turning toward us. “I’m Dr. Peterson. Samuel lost a significant amount of blood before we were able to get to him, and while we were working on him, his heart stopped.”
My aunt made a sound beside me, and Uncle Henry immediately tightened his hold on her hand.
“But you got him back?” I asked.
“We did,” Dr. Peterson said, nodding his head up and down. “We were able to get his heart beating again, but he’s still in extremely critical condition. He isn’t breathing well enough on his own, so we’ve placed him on a ventilator. Right now, his body has been through a major trauma, and the next several hours are going to be very important.”
“Is he going to make it?” Uncle Henry asked.
The doctor hesitated, and that hesitation told me more than I wanted to know.
“I can’t promise you that…”
My aunt broke down before he could say anything else. Uncle Henry pulled her against him, holding her while she cried in his arms. I sat here staring at the floor, trying to process the fact that Sam’s heart had already stopped once and could stop again at any fucking minute.
I rubbed my aunt’s back while the doctor gave us a few more details that I’d barely heard. My mind was somewhere else.