Chapter 6 - Poison in the Veins
The news of the kidney match brought an electric wave of hope to the estate.
The surgery was scheduled for 6:00 AM the following morning at St. Jude Central Hospital—now under the absolute management of Carter’s private medical director. Ethan was prepped and transported under heavy security escort to the top-floor surgical unit.
Cynthia spent the night sitting by Ethan’s bedside in the pre-op room, holding his hand while he slept.
At 4:30 AM, while Carter was downstairs in the hospital's command center reviewing perimeter security with Dominic, a nurse entered Ethan’s room carrying a tray of IV medications.
She wore a standard blue scrub uniform, her paper surgical mask pulled up high over her nose, her cap pulled low over her forehead.
"Time for the pre-surgical antibiotic rinse, Nurse Quinn," the woman said, her voice slightly muffled behind the mask.
Cynthia, who had spent eight years working in hospital wards, automatically looked up at the IV bag.
She scanned the label.
Cefazolin 2g in 100mL Normal Saline.
Standard protocol. But as the nurse reached up to spike the IV bag into Ethan’s line, Cynthia’s sharp eye noticed something wrong. The liquid inside the bag had a faint, cloudy yellow tint—not the crystal-clear transparency of pure saline and Cefazolin.
Furthermore, the nurse’s hands were shaking violently, and she was spiking the port from the side instead of the main rubber stopper.
"Wait," Cynthia said, standing up quickly from her chair. "Let me double-check that lot number."
"It's already verified by pharmacy," the nurse said hurriedly, pushing Cynthia’s hand away and trying to slide the needle into the IV line.
"Stop!" Cynthia commanded, her nurse instincts taking over completely. She grabbed the woman’s wrist with surprising strength. "That solution is precipitated! What did you put in that bag?!"
The fake nurse cursed, dropping the tray! She pulled a hidden syringe from her pocket, trying to thrust it directly into Ethan’s neck port!
"Ethan, get down!" Cynthia screamed.
Cynthia threw her body between the syringe and her sleeping brother. The needle plunged into Cynthia’s forearm, injecting the cold liquid into her muscle.
Cynthia gasped, fighting through the sudden, burning pain in her arm. She grabbed the heavy metal IV pole with her good arm and swung it full force against the attacker’s side!
The woman crashed into the heart monitor, her mask slipping off.
Cynthia froze in shock.
It was not a mob hitwoman. It was Nurse Brenda—Dr. Preston Vance’s head clinical coordinator from the outpatient clinic.
"You ruined everything!" Brenda shrieked, her face contorted in madness. "Dr. Vance lost his license because of you! His life is destroyed! He paid me fifty thousand dollars to make sure your brother never left this operating room!"
Brenda lunged at Cynthia again with a scalpel!
BANG!
The door of the room was blown off its hinges.
Carter rushed in, his silver gun raised. In a fraction of a second, he assessed the scene, saw the syringe on the floor, the blood on Cynthia’s arm, and Brenda holding a scalpel over Ethan.
Carter didn't hesitate. He pulled the trigger once.
Brenda dropped to the floor, disarmed and neutralized instantly.
"Cynthia!" Carter roared, dropping his gun and sliding across the floor to catch Cynthia as her knees buckled.
The nerve agent inside the syringe was acting fast. Cynthia’s vision was blurring, her breathing turning shallow and ragged as the poison hit her bloodstream.
"Carter..." she gasped, clutching his shirt. "Ethan... check the IV..."
"Ethan is safe! He's untouched!" Carter screamed frantically, picking her up in his arms. "MEDIC! GET THE TOXICOLOGY TEAM IN HERE NOW!"
Dominic sprinted into the room, grabbing the fallen syringe. "It's Potassium Chloride mixed with a paralytic, Boss! We need the reversal agent!"
Carter held Cynthia tightly against his chest, tears finally spilling from his cold grey eyes as he rocked her back and forth.
"Don't you dare leave me, Cynthia!" Carter sobbed, his voice raw with pure agony. "You fought three bullets! You fought the world! Fight this!"
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Cynthia looked up into the face of the man who loved her so fiercely. She forced her hand up, resting her fingers against his jaw.
"I'm... not going... anywhere," she whispered weakly, before her eyes closed and her world went dark.
