Chapter 6 - The Pelican CaseBack inside Hawthorne House, the double doors flew open with a deafening bang.
Leo burst into the dining room, soaked head to toe from the freezing Manhattan rain, clutching a heavy, matte-black Pelican case against his chest like a shield. He was panting so hard he could barely stand, his legs buckling slightly as he reached table fourteen.
“I got it!” Leo gasped, collapsing against the edge of the table and sliding the case across the pristine white linen. “The trunk opened on the second click. It was right there!”
Avery didn’t hesitate. She popped the dual latches of the Pelican case with a sharp click-click, flinging the lid open to reveal a sterile medical kit nestled in custom-molded foam: a digital vial scanner, sterile syringes, rapid-acting beta-blockers, and a specialized auto-injector stamped with Swiss pharmaceutical seals.
“Dr. Vance,” Avery said, holding the phone up closer. “I have the case open. Serial number verification?”
“Verify the green holographic seal on vial three,” Dr. Vance instructed quickly.
Avery scanned the row of medical vials, her eyes darting across the labels. “Found it. Green seal matches.”
“Good. Load the auto-injector with exactly two milligrams of nitroprusside and one milligram of labetalol. Administer it directly into his right lateral thigh muscle through his trousers. Do not waste time trying to find a vein—his peripheral circulation is collapsing too fast.”
Grant stared in absolute horror as Avery snapped the syringe into the heavy auto-injector device. “Wait! Are you sure? If you dose him wrong, his blood pressure could bottom out completely and his heart could stop!”
“If I don't dose him right now, his aorta will split vertically and he will drown in his own blood within sixty seconds,” Avery retorted, her voice hard as steel. “Choose your risk, Mr. Keller.”
Grant clamped his mouth shut, raising his hands in surrender.
Avery pressed the tip of the heavy auto-injector firmly against Nicholas’s right thigh through his tailored wool trousers.
Hiss-click.
The mechanical device delivered the life-saving cocktail of drugs straight into his muscle tissue.
Nicholas gasped sharply, his entire body shuddering violently as the powerful medication flooded his bloodstream, instantly working to force his violently spiking blood pressure down and relieve the crushing pressure on his tearing aorta.
For three agonizing seconds, nobody breathed.
Nicholas’s eyes rolled back slightly. His grip on Avery’s wrist went limp.
“Nicholas!” Grant screamed, lunging forward.
“Quiet!” Avery ordered, pressing her fingers back against his neck.
One beat. Two beats. Three beats.
The frantic, hundred-and-forty-bpm hammer in his throat began to slow down, easing into a steady, controlled rhythm. The violent flush of red draining from his face stabilized into a pale, natural skin tone.
Nicholas let out a long, shuddering sigh of relief, his eyelids fluttering open. He looked up at Avery, his dark eyes no longer clouded by panic, but filled with absolute, profound astonishment.
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“You… saved my life,” Nicholas whispered, his voice steadying.
Before Avery could reply, the heavy front doors of Hawthorne House blasted open, shattering the heavy silence of the dining room.
