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.That’s why they didn’t waste a doctor on the trip.He could keep the Marine stable.He wasn’t really sure why they’d decided to send an armed guard with him, but he gathered it had something to do with the terrorist attack the night before.He was lucky.He’d been off-base on a twenty-four-hour pass.He came back to the blood and the bodies, and nobody would talk to him.Partly out of guilt, partly out of shame, he volunteered to babysit the Marine when the Archer/Andrews guy offered a ride.The guard was getting even more worried than Noonan.The Marine thrashed in his stretcher, and his skin looked shiny and tight.“Can’t you do something?” he demanded.Noonan shook his head.He was scraping the limit of his knowledge.He went to the cockpit, to ask the pilot to hurry again.Maybe it was just because he was an Archie—he was probably earning more in a month than Noonan saw all year—but the pilot didn’t seem particularly sympathetic.Noonan picked up the passenger headphones so he could talk.Then he saw the answer to his prayers out the starboard windscreen, practically glowing like a beacon in the morning light.A hospital ship.There was no missing the bright white hull and the massive red crosses painted on its top.Noonan remembered something from the base bulletin about a humanitarian mission passing through the gulf.In his joy, he whapped the pilot on the side of the helmet.“There! Dude, right there! Set us down! They can help!”The pilot looked at him, eyes cold.“Not my orders.Colonel Graves said the carrier.”“Are you nuts?” Noonan shouted.“We won’t make it to the carrier.He’s circling the drain right now! You’ve got to—”The pilot turned in his seat and shoved Noonan back.Noonan stumbled and landed on his ass.“I told you: not my orders,” he said.“Now sit down and shut the hell up.”Noonan noticed the pilot had the holster of his sidearm unsnapped and ready.Bewildered, he took off his headphones and headed into the back.Noonan, as a corpsman who went into the field with a red cross on his back, could not carry a weapon on active duty.One of the burdens of being the good guys, playing by the rules.As soon as he explained what the pilot had said, the guard was ready to back him up.He stepped into the cockpit again, put on the headphones once more.He heard the pilot growl in frustration.“Look,” Noonan said.“I’m not threatening you.I can’t.It’s the first thing they teach us.‘Do no harm.’ I swore an oath to preserve all life.”The pilot turned, opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t speak.Behind Noonan, the guard had his pistol aimed right between the pilot’s eyes.“But here’s the thing,” Noonan said, “he didn’t.”The pilot closed his mouth.“What do you say, Archie?” Noonan asked with a grin.“Want to land this bird?”IT WAS SUPPOSED to be her day off.The USNS Virtue had assisted with emergency relief operations after a massive quake in India.Dr.Nina Prentice had been working around the clock for two weeks on victims pried from dirt and rubble.Now they were supposed to be headed home to Virginia by way of the Suez.But her pager sounded and Prentice ran for the casualty reception area.Someone outside gave her the bare-bones details.A chopper carrying a Marine from Lemonnier, hit by a stray bullet.He started to go into convulsions and they were still a long way from their destination.Virtue was closer.Just a stroke of luck.Nobody could tell her what exactly was wrong with the kid.Basic facts: nineteen, in good health and dying from a minor GSW.Great.Nothing like flying blind.The Marine had already been off-loaded and a nurse and two orderlies were trying to get him prepped.At first glance, just another day at work.But she could already feel it.Things were sliding out of control.This wasn’t the amplified rush of an ordinary trauma.The edge in the room felt uncomfortably close to panic.Unlike most of her colleagues, Prentice wasn’t on board because she owed the government for her tuition and fees.In fact, her student loans were accruing interest at a truly impressive rate while she worked as a civilian trauma specialist with the Navy.She was here because she’d seen the devastation in New Orleans, Haiti and in the Middle East on TV [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.That’s why they didn’t waste a doctor on the trip.He could keep the Marine stable.He wasn’t really sure why they’d decided to send an armed guard with him, but he gathered it had something to do with the terrorist attack the night before.He was lucky.He’d been off-base on a twenty-four-hour pass.He came back to the blood and the bodies, and nobody would talk to him.Partly out of guilt, partly out of shame, he volunteered to babysit the Marine when the Archer/Andrews guy offered a ride.The guard was getting even more worried than Noonan.The Marine thrashed in his stretcher, and his skin looked shiny and tight.“Can’t you do something?” he demanded.Noonan shook his head.He was scraping the limit of his knowledge.He went to the cockpit, to ask the pilot to hurry again.Maybe it was just because he was an Archie—he was probably earning more in a month than Noonan saw all year—but the pilot didn’t seem particularly sympathetic.Noonan picked up the passenger headphones so he could talk.Then he saw the answer to his prayers out the starboard windscreen, practically glowing like a beacon in the morning light.A hospital ship.There was no missing the bright white hull and the massive red crosses painted on its top.Noonan remembered something from the base bulletin about a humanitarian mission passing through the gulf.In his joy, he whapped the pilot on the side of the helmet.“There! Dude, right there! Set us down! They can help!”The pilot looked at him, eyes cold.“Not my orders.Colonel Graves said the carrier.”“Are you nuts?” Noonan shouted.“We won’t make it to the carrier.He’s circling the drain right now! You’ve got to—”The pilot turned in his seat and shoved Noonan back.Noonan stumbled and landed on his ass.“I told you: not my orders,” he said.“Now sit down and shut the hell up.”Noonan noticed the pilot had the holster of his sidearm unsnapped and ready.Bewildered, he took off his headphones and headed into the back.Noonan, as a corpsman who went into the field with a red cross on his back, could not carry a weapon on active duty.One of the burdens of being the good guys, playing by the rules.As soon as he explained what the pilot had said, the guard was ready to back him up.He stepped into the cockpit again, put on the headphones once more.He heard the pilot growl in frustration.“Look,” Noonan said.“I’m not threatening you.I can’t.It’s the first thing they teach us.‘Do no harm.’ I swore an oath to preserve all life.”The pilot turned, opened his mouth to say something, but didn’t speak.Behind Noonan, the guard had his pistol aimed right between the pilot’s eyes.“But here’s the thing,” Noonan said, “he didn’t.”The pilot closed his mouth.“What do you say, Archie?” Noonan asked with a grin.“Want to land this bird?”IT WAS SUPPOSED to be her day off.The USNS Virtue had assisted with emergency relief operations after a massive quake in India.Dr.Nina Prentice had been working around the clock for two weeks on victims pried from dirt and rubble.Now they were supposed to be headed home to Virginia by way of the Suez.But her pager sounded and Prentice ran for the casualty reception area.Someone outside gave her the bare-bones details.A chopper carrying a Marine from Lemonnier, hit by a stray bullet.He started to go into convulsions and they were still a long way from their destination.Virtue was closer.Just a stroke of luck.Nobody could tell her what exactly was wrong with the kid.Basic facts: nineteen, in good health and dying from a minor GSW.Great.Nothing like flying blind.The Marine had already been off-loaded and a nurse and two orderlies were trying to get him prepped.At first glance, just another day at work.But she could already feel it.Things were sliding out of control.This wasn’t the amplified rush of an ordinary trauma.The edge in the room felt uncomfortably close to panic.Unlike most of her colleagues, Prentice wasn’t on board because she owed the government for her tuition and fees.In fact, her student loans were accruing interest at a truly impressive rate while she worked as a civilian trauma specialist with the Navy.She was here because she’d seen the devastation in New Orleans, Haiti and in the Middle East on TV [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]