Chapter 1 - The Nurse They Should Never Have Fired
Five black SUVs surrounded Clare Sullivan on a deserted Chicago street, and the man who stepped out had blood on his hands and a gun at his side.
“Where's the nurse from St. Jude's?” he demanded.
Clare backed against a brick wall.
Twenty minutes earlier, St. Jude's Memorial Hospital had fired her for saving a dying patient.
Nine years of double shifts, missed holidays, and sleepless nights had ended because she'd performed an emergency procedure while Dr. Weber stood frozen.
“You violated protocol,” Administrator Davis had told her.
“He would have died.”
“The board has made its decision.”
Clare signed the termination papers and walked into the rain carrying her spare scrubs and battered stethoscope.
Then the SUVs appeared.
The tall stranger introduced himself as Dominic. His expensive charcoal suit couldn't hide the fresh blood soaking his cuffs.
Through a tinted window, Clare spotted a bloody hand sliding down the glass.
“Who's hurt?” she demanded.
Dominic opened the rear door.
A young man lay across the seat, barely conscious, with two gunshot wounds in his thigh.
“His name is Tommy,” Dominic said. “Save him.”
“He needs emergency surgery.”
“He can't go to a hospital. The police are watching every emergency room.”
Clare climbed inside.
As the convoy raced through Chicago, she pressed fresh dressings against Tommy's wounds and fought to keep him conscious.
Dominic watched her with an intensity that frightened her more than his gun.
“We heard what happened at St. Jude's,” he said. “About the man you saved.”
Clare looked up.
“How?”
Before Dominic could answer, Tommy grabbed her wrist.
His skin was cold. His breathing was shallow.
But his next words made everyone in the SUV fall silent.
“Clare?”
She leaned closer.
May you like
Tommy looked desperately toward Dominic.
“They shot me because I wouldn't tell them where to find you.”
