Chapter 17 - THE WHISPER OF LIFE"No! NO!" Alejandro roared, maintaining his grip on the steering wheel with one hand while using his free hand to begin chest compressions on the tiny girl in the backseat. "You don't die on me! Do you hear me, Emma? You survive!"
Elena sobbed hysterically, holding Emma’s cold feet, whispering prayers into the howling wind.
The SUV smashed through the emergency room bay gates of St. Jude Central Hospital, sliding to a halt in front of the sliding doors. Alejandro leaped out, carrying Emma’s limp body like a storm, bursting through the doors into the trauma unit.
"CODE RED! PEDIATRIC RESUSCITATION!" Alejandro yelled, his voice echoing across the entire hospital wing with an authority that brought every doctor to their feet.
The medical team swarmed the gurney. Defibrillator pads were attached to Emma’s tiny chest.
BEEP... BEEP... BEEEEEP—
The heart monitor flatlined into a continuous, terrifying tone.
"Injecting 0.15mg Epinephrine intravenously! Charge to 50 Joules!" the chief surgeon ordered. "Clear!"
THUMP.
Emma’s small body jolted on the table. Nothing. The line remained flat.
"Again! Charge to 70 Joules! Clear!"
THUMP.
Alejandro stood against the wall, the most feared man in the city, feeling completely powerless. Tears he hadn't shed in thirty years tracked lines through the soot on his face. He pressed his forehead against the cold glass of the observation window, whispering under his breath: "Come back, little rabbit. Uncle is right here."
A long, agonizing five seconds passed.
BEEP...
A faint spike appeared on the monitor.
BEEP... BEEP...
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"We have a pulse!" the nurse shouted in relief. "Oxygen levels are rising! She's back!"
Alejandro closed his eyes, slumping against the wall as a profound wave of relief washed over him.
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