Oh, my God, no! She’s crashing!
Two days before, Alik had worked to solve the problem of not being able to monitor his ill sister from different parts of the large house. That’s when he had designed and easily rigged an alert system that would sound if Meg’s machines went off. He was thanking God for his forethought because he was depending on the alarms to get help in here fast.
With alarms sounding in the living room, bedrooms, kitchen and patio, everyone in the entire house leaped to their feet and ran full-speed toward the lab. Maze howled and panted and howled again instinctively aware that something horrible was happening.
Knowing every second counted, Alik jumped on the table with his sister and began compressions. “One, two, three, four, five—breathe. One, two, three, four, five—breathe,” And even as his body jumped into action performing CPR on his sister, his mind was praying fanatically for more time.
Margo was the first person to arrive sprinting into the room, flush and panicked. She saw her son performing CPR on the frail body of her baby girl. “Oh, dear God! No!”
She ran to her children and took over the breathing part of the CPR while she and her son worked as a team, trying to revive Meg. Not thirty seconds later, Evan ran into the room, and without saying a word, turned on the defibulator.
“Charging!” he warned. Alik jumped off the table, and Margo stepped back.
“Clear!” he called out and placed the paddles strategically on his sister’s chest, one in the center and the other closer to her left arm pit. With a loud “WHOMP” the machine shot a jolt of electricity into Meg’s heart, trying to jump-start her like a dead car battery.
For a moment, everyone stopped and stared at the heart rate machine, willing it to begin beeping a rhythmic tone instead of the flatline scream it was sounding now.
Nothing.
“Again. Charging!” Evan called to the room now filled with two more doctors and Creed.
“Clear!” Evan called as he placed the paddles again and prayed over them. The jolt caused Meg’s body to spasm up and off the bed for a moment, then she flopped back down and lay as still as a rag doll.
The merciless machine screamed the dead monotone as everyone watched in abject horror.
“Charging,” Evan’s voice caught in his throat. He glanced at the clock and quickly calculated how long his sister had been without oxygen. Brain damage is likely after four minutes. It had been two minutes, thirty-six seconds. Meg’s lips were blue and her skin ashen. She already looked dead, he thought to himself and pushed the thought aside.
“Clear,” he pushed the paddles back into place and held the jolt an extra half second. “Come on, Meg!” he pleaded. “Wake up, Meggie! Come back to us! It’s not time to go yet. Not yet, Meg! Fight with me!”
The room was silent, except for the sound of the machine flatlining.
“Charging!” Evan called for a fourth time. Time was slipping away.
Beep,…beep,…beep,…
“Wait!” Margo yelled to Evan.
Beep,…beep,…beep,…
Evan looked back and forth from the beeping machine to his sister’s lips pinking-up.
“Oh, thank God! Thank you, God! Evan, she’s back!” Margo wailed in relief. And with the strength of a bear, Margo grabbed both her sons, pulled them tightly to her, and kissed both of their cheeks. “Thank you boys! Thank God for you!”
And then, as any mother would, she draped herself protectively over her daughter’s frame and cried for the preciousness of her life.
Minutes passed like this, everyone lost in private prayers and thoughts, still recovering from the rush of adrenaline. Margo stood up and locked eyes with Creed. When she spoke, her voice was strong and carried a tone of unwavering certainty. “Contact Williams now; tell him we’re willing to make a deal. If his scientists can cure Meg, I’ll give him the serum. Have him commission an ambulatory jet to leave immediately.” Her bloodshot eyes shown a resolve Creed recognized and respected.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Creed,” she called sternly.
“Ma’am?”
“I am trusting you with my daughter’s life. Please take care of her.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Creed said solemnly. He nodded once, turned and walked briskly out of the room. He had a phone call to make.
34 Conversations at the Edge of a Bed
“You can’t be serious.”
“I’m completely serious.”
“No. I am not letting you put yourself back in harm’s way.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Don’t you see how useless it is for you to go?”
“I only see that my daughter is dying, and I need to take her to get medical help. You would do the same if it were Cole.”
“Margo, this isn’t like you’re taking Meg to a regular hospital up the street or even in another country. This is Kenneth Williams’ hospital.”