Chicago Med fic: Restitution (7/10)
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
PART SIX
PART SEVEN
PART EIGHT
PART NINE
PART TEN
-o-
He helped get Grace cleaned up, carefully inspecting her bruises and bandaging the only weeping cut. Her nose wasn’t broken, and nothing needed to be set or mended, but he gave her two Tylenol and a clean pair of shorts and a t-shirt to sleep. While she showered -- after her promise that the violence had been entirely to her face -- Will gathered whatever blankets he had left for the couch and made it up for her.
She came out of the shower looking refreshed, but still somewhat worse for wear. He assured her again that she was safe, that everything would be okay, and that they would deal with it in the morning.
Grace, being emotionally worn, fell asleep quickly, but Will found rest a little harder for himself. He cleaned up the kitchen and retreated to the bedroom, contemplating his options here.
He’d promised Grace they’d deal with it in the morning?
But how?
What exactly did Will intend to do?
One option was to do nothing. He could take the easy out and wash his hands of responsibility. Grace wasn’t his girlfriend, and she wasn’t his sister. He had no actual obligation to help her.
But there was no way he could do that.
As a doctor, he was compelled to help people. If Grace had showed up with that story in the ED, Will would have taken all necessary proactive measures. She had come to his house, though, which just made his need to help her more pressing. She wasn’t his family technically, but Adam was like a brother to him. He cared about Grace because he cared about Adam.
Which meant doing nothing was not an option.
That led him back to the point he started with: what was Will going to do?
Admittedly, if Grace had shown up in the ED, it would have been simple. Despite her requests, he would have called the cops and figured out -- something. Here, though? This was a personal matter. He could track down the asshole himself right now and make things right.
It wouldn’t be that hard, either. He knew where Grace lived, and he knew her favorite bar. If she had been dating this guy for a month, she would have been seen with him -- especially if he was a local cop. Getting a name would be a matter of course -- everyone loved him down there now. They wouldn’t tell him no.
And Will had justification in this.
What had happened to Grace was wrong. If going to the cops wasn’t a viable option, then he still had to find another way to ensure that Grace was protected. Most attackers didn’t expect to be confronted. It could be an effective tactic to bring them to task. At the very least, maybe he could scare the guy enough to give Grace the space she needed.
Will could solve the problem, then. Just like that.
But, he hedged.
He might solve the problem and be justified. Justified or not, however, the solution might just create more problems. Will had to think it through, the consequences of his actions. If Will did this wrong, Grace could be at more risk. Will could even go and get himself killed -- or worse, get Grace killed. It was a reckless course of action -- big risks, big rewards.
The deciding reality was a lot simpler, though.
Will was creating a dichotomy in his mind, but the either/or didn’t exist. There was another option. There was a more measured, proactive approach -- and Will didn’t need to make this decision in a vacuum. He needed perspective.
Grace didn’t trust her cousins -- fine. She didn’t trust the cops -- okay. But she did trust Adam. The only reason she hadn’t gone to her brother was because he was out of town. Will had just been the closest proxy.
That gave him responsibility, but within limits. Wasn’t this the lesson he was supposed to be learning? You had to know when to play by the rules and when to bend them. If there are viable options that existed within the policy framework--
Well, then that was what you had to do.
And, by those standards, Will had a straightforward, if slightly less satisfying, course of action on the table.
He started by texting Adam -- it was late, but it wasn’t that late, especially for a guy like Adam who seemed to sleep very little. If he knew his friend, Adam was probably out schmoozing it up -- attempting to leverage more connections to build up their income revenue at the hospital.
Adam, as expected, replied quickly, and when Will explained in brief text-speak what happened, his reply was exactly as Will expected.
I will be on the first flight home. Keep her there until I arrive.
Will put the phone aside, and realized just how effective this would be. With Adam present, Will could ensure that Grace was safe and that the matter was handled properly with no further violence or threat. After all, if anyone could convince Grace to go to the cops -- it was Adam. And if anyone could find an avenue to work with the local cops against one of their own -- that was also Adam.
Adam provided safety and legitimacy.
Sure, it wasn’t dramatic, and it didn’t guarantee instant gratification, but it was a reasonable choice with less risk involved. If Will did this on his own -- as his instincts had suggested -- he likely would have made a bigger mess than there was right now.
By all accounts, Will had just made a smart choice. Calm, measured, thoughtful.
He was not a slave to his worse impulses. He did not have to defer to his emotions all the time. It was possible for him to have and maintain restraint, even when personally involved in the situation.
In short, Will wasn’t totally sure he’d saved Grace tonight.
But he had to hope that for once he might have saved himself.
-o-
Will was pretty sure he’d made the right choice, but certainty was a bit of a luxury for him these days. He hadn’t felt sure of much of anything these days, and he had gotten used to living in a state of perpetual self doubt. Usually, such things could be assuaged quickly by a second opinion at work or a quick drink with Adam, but he had to live with them for the night.
He tossed and turned on the bed, trying not to think about Grace in the next room. He resisted the urge to go check on her -- it wasn’t quite his place, he had to think, and he didn’t want to give her any sort of wrong idea. She needed her space, and Will had to maintain his own.
But he still thought of her. He thought of her coming to him, of all people. He had come to accept his place in the community here, but he hadn’t really allowed himself to consider the implications. For him, going out was sort of a rote activity. It was a necessary task as determined by the social hierarchy of the hospital and the ED.
And Adam had been an important connection, and he’d done what he could to be worthy of Adam’s trust. He’d tried to repay Adam’s kindness at every turn, and only now, with Grace here, did Will realize the depth of what was being built. In his mind, this had all been professional.
But it wasn’t.
Will was making a life here.
These people were his friends.
These people were his family -- just as much as the staff at Chicago Med had ever been.
The idea of it was a little terrifying to him. When he’d left Med, he’d had very few friends left. Connor had left a few years ago. He and Ethan hadn’t been close since the promotion. Any camaraderie he might have built up with Crockett had been strained by their mutual affection of Natalie.
And what about Natalie?
He’d risked everything for Natalie -- and why? He hadn’t been harboring aspirations of reconciliation -- not really. If anything, he’d been hoping to get back in Sabeena’s good graces.
But what was it about Natalie?
It was family, that was what it was.
He couldn’t help it, and he probably wasn’t going to shake it. Some family came and went -- the coworkers he could move on without. But Natalie had been something else. He had made a commitment to her, and even though she’d given the ring back and he’d turned her down, that bond was there. That bond that had them living happily ever after and raising Owen together.
Some dreams didn’t die hard.
Some dreams didn’t die at all.
Together or not -- no matter who she was with -- he would always care about Natalie and want the best for her.
That had compromised his judgment -- which was suspect to begin with. It was easy to pretend like it was just Natalie -- he had been willing to compromise the trial before when it was convenient for him. Natalie had pushed him past the point of no return, but Will’s issues ran deeper still.
He had always struggled with rules and how he didn’t want them to always apply to him.
And when family was involved?
All bets were off.
Ironically, his desire to save everyone had cost him everything.
He’d been so afraid of making the same mistakes with Grace. He couldn’t pretend that coming to Africa was all about his professional reformation. It was also a personal transformation, and he had to grapple with that sooner or later.
Honestly, he had to grapple with it now.
Natalie was around the globe, but Grace was here in this moment.
If he could do this -- if he could help Grace in a way that actually worked -- then maybe he could do the rest. too.
Maybe -- just maybe -- he could do anything.
-o-
Will wasn’t sure what kind of flight Adam caught, but he was there, knocking on Will’s door first thing in the morning. Grace had just gotten up and was sleepily looking through Will’s pathetic selection of breakfast foods. At the sound of the door, she was still and rigid, but Will quickly intervened.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s just Adam.”
Her eyes widened with a look of betrayal. “You called him?”
Will didn’t need pretense with this. “Grace, of course I called him. He was the one you wanted to see, right?”
Her mouth fell open, revealing her not-quite honesty. She trusted Adam, but she’d been afraid to tell him. Embarrassment, fear, resentment -- Will wasn’t just a convenient proxy, but he’d been a disarming one. “But--!” she protested, not sure what else to say.
Will knew the protests would be short-lived anyway. “Grace, you know Adam. I already told him everything, and he wants to be here for you.”
Her face trembled just slightly, and she looked younger than he’d ever seen her. “But he will be mad.”
But Will shook his head, moving closer to her. He took her by the arms, and he looked her in the eyes. “He’s not mad,” he told her. “He cares about you, just like I do.”
The knocking resumed again, more insistent now. “Halstead! Open up!”
Will looked at Grace, bobbing his head toward the door. “Should we?”
She drew a breath and let it out. Then, with more resolve than resignation, she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “But you promise me you’ll stay?”
“As long as you need me,” he promised, taking her to the door so they could answer it together.
-o-
Grace was anxious, and Adam sounded apoplectic, but the instant the two saw each other, Will knew he’d made the right choice. Adam reached for his sister, pulling her into a hug, and Grace melted into him with a sob. In their emotion, they both reverted to their native tongue, and Will couldn’t make out but bits and pieces.
But you didn’t have to speak the language to understand what they were talking about.
Grace was confessing everything, and Adam was offering her his unconditional love and support. They eventually retreated to Will’s couch, and he joined the on the chair while they went over the details. Adam double checked Grace’s injuries -- the bruises looked worse this morning, but there were still no signs of complication -- and then he confirmed Grace story, jotted down a few names, and told Grace it was time to go.
This seemed to startle her. “Go where?”
“Home,” he said. Her face screwed up with panic, but he held up a hand. “My home. You will stay with me until this is settled, and if you are worried about being alone, then I will simply take time off work.”
“And I can help, too,” Will offered. “Until it’s resolved.”
Adam gave him a grateful look. “Is that acceptable?” he asked Grace.
She still looked distressed, but she nodded.
“I can take care of this,” he promised his sister. Then, with a glance to Will, he said, “May we speak in private for just a moment?”
Will shrugged, only too willing to comply. They left Grace to finish making herself some breakfast, and Adam withdrew with Will into the bedroom.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” he said, looking at Will. “For what you have done here.”
“I haven’t done anything,” Will said. “I’m glad you were able to come home. Do you know what you’re going to do?”
Adam nodded, though his expression was grave. “I know this man who did this, and Grace was right to be scared,” he said. “There would be no local cop who would believe her.”
Will shook his head, hating the thought. Jay had talked about police corruption in the past, how a few bad apples could sour the whole batch, and his brother had always wanted to take a proactive approach at justice. If Jay were here, he’d be a staunch ally, but Jay wasn’t here, and Will felt a little helpless. “So what are you going to do?”
“Fortunately, my position has required me to be quite friendly with community leaders,” he said. “The police wouldn’t listen to a single woman and her brother. However, with the right community pressure, I am sure I can make sure there are consequences.”
“This guy deserves to be in jail,” Will said. “This is assault.”
Adam used his hands to press down in the air, trying to pull back Will’s sense of justice. “Of course it is, but I must be realistic,” he said. “I would like to see him fired, but I think a transfer is most likely.”
Will scoffed in protest. “But how is that fair?”
Adam gave him a quizzical look. “Fair is a privilege, Halstead. Saving lives is not about fairness. My priority must be to protect my sister, and if that means letting the man who did this walk free, then that is what I will do.”
Will sighed, trying to put back his frustration. “It’s just not right.”
“It’s not,” Adam agreed. “But we cannot afford to work only in black and white. Some choices are right and wrong all at once. All we can do is ask if we are serving the better good. That is what I am doing here. I am serving the better good.”
It wasn’t an answer Will particularly liked, but this was why he’d called Adam. Will’s problem solving skills typically left something to be desired when he was emotionally compromised, and Adam did have a point. Will wanted to protect Grace as much as Adam did. If that meant letting the bastard go, then maybe it was a necessary price to pay.
He’d killed an entire clinical trial for Natalie’s sake -- and he hadn’t even gotten the outcome he’d intended.
Will nodded in acceptance. “Is there anything you need me to do?”
Adam looked surprised. “You have done more than enough already, Halstead,” he said. “You were here, you listened to her, you believed her. You got her to trust you, and by that, you have saved her.”
“But I didn’t do anything,” Will said.
“I just told you what you did -- and moreover, you called me,” Adam said. “Grace could have picked up the phone at any time and I would have come, but she went to you because she felt safe. And you called me. This is what will save her life, and it is thanks to you.”
Will leaned back, embarrassed by the thanks. “I just wish I could do more.”
Adam smiled, reaching out to clap him on the shoulder. “You have become family to her, just as you have to me,” he said, and something inexplicable twinged in Will’s chest as he started to understand. “That is more than enough.”
-o-
It didn’t take Adam long to get Grace ready to leave, and Will helped as he could -- but there wasn’t much for him to do. That wasn’t something he was good at -- ceding his control -- but it was what he was called to do. Sometimes, in order to fix things, you had to give that control to someone else -- someone more qualified, someone better positioned. It wasn’t Will’s natural impulse, but then, that really was why he was here.
Instead, Will went to work, covering Adam’s shift in the ED as best he could. He didn’t have much previous leadership experience outside of his year as chief resident, but he’d spent so much time around Adam that it wasn’t too hard to remember the necessary daily tasks needed to operate the ED. He found that he could fill the role easily enough, and though people asked where Adam was, no one seemed to need him.
Will went over to Adam’s place that night, just to check in. He found Grace resting, and Adam smiled.
“It will be worked out,” he said. “I had to call in many favors, but it will be worked out.”
“So he’s out?” Will asked. “You got rid of the guy?”
“The paperwork must be finalized, but he is getting a transfer,” Adam said. “I was not pleased that it was a promotion, but the captain he will be serving under is across the country -- and better, he is known for his uncompromising commitment to valor. The promotion comes with accountability, and it is enough, I think.”
“As long as Grace is safe,” Will said. He nodded along with Adam. “Then, yeah. It’s enough.”
Adam smiled at him warmly now. “Thank you again, Halstead,” he said. “This matter will take several more days to resolve. I would like to stay with Grace if I can. Do you think you can continue on at work in my place?”
The request, for some reason, caught Will off guard. “But that’s your ED.”
“That you know quite well,” Adam said. “You will be fine.”
-o-
And, the funny thing was, Will was fine. Running the ED was a lot of work, and it meant a reduced patient load, but he was still good at it. He started to see it all from a bigger perspective, seeing how the pieces fit together.
Mostly, he was able to see how he fit in.
One cog in the machine, important for its role but miniscule in the grander scheme of things. Will just had to keep doing his job, keep doing his one job -- and trust that the machine would keep chugging away as necessary.
Will could do that.
Will would do that.
For the next few days, the next few weeks -- for as long as Adam needed him.
-o-
When the situation with Grace was squared away, Adam did come back to work, and things mostly returned to normal. There was something different, though -- something subtle that Will couldn’t always quite place. But the little things were starting to add up, and Will wasn’t really sure what any of it meant.
Adam started trusting him more to cover the ED. People started coming to him, not just for his medical opinion, but for regular ED operations.
Then, Adam started including him on meetings. He started going along to ED evaluations with Dr. Salvo, the chief of staff. Adam had him tag along to department head meetings. One day, Will even went in Adam’s place, and as out of place as Will felt, no one questioned it.
In fact, they seemed to welcome him. They were happy to see him and more -- they wanted to hear his ideas. Soon, he wasn’t just learning policy -- he was debating it. As Dr. Salvo droned on about big picture concerns, Will kept the conversation grounded in the practical realities. It didn’t matter so much about their shipment sourcing. They needed to focus on increasing the schedule and supply access. While other people fretted about fundraising, Will made sure they talked about admitting protocol as well.
It wasn’t an either/or, though. Will wasn’t that naive. It was both. Practical and theoretical, big picture and little picture.
And Will learned.
-o-
With his newfound responsibilities, Will’s time was more scarce than ever. He was working the longest hours yet, and he often found himself in the ED on Saturdays and Sundays just to play catch up with his charting. His social life took something of a hit, but Adam made sure to keep him balanced.
Maintaining connections back in Chicago, however, was growing increasingly difficult.
He still texted Maggie, but he reduced his frequency to once or twice a week. Anyone else at Med was lucky to hear from him at all, though he made an effort for April or Ethan once or twice. Natalie called sometimes, but Will never got himself to answer. He was always sure to reply to her texts with as much gusto as he could muster with a deep ache gnawing at his chest.
Of course, then there was Jay.
Not communicating with Jay was always an option, but it wasn’t one he was willing to try. He’d neglected his brother far too much over his life, and he wouldn’t do it again. He’d ruined everything in his life back in Chicago -- except Jay. He would fight for that until the end, even if he was on another continent.
Over the last few months, they’d managed to find a pretty good rhythm. They had worked out the timezones along with their schedules, and they were in daily contact with phone conversations or video chats every few days. Will thought it was generally going pretty well, until one day, Jay started texting him like crazy.
Like, actual crazy. Will went to bed and woke up with a dozen text messages from his brother. All of them said variations of the same thing: call me.
There was no additional guidance, no indication that something was actually amiss. There was no 911 or emergency, and if Jay was texting, then he probably wasn’t dead. So Will couldn’t quite imagine what might actually be that important, but he resolved to call his brother during breakfast.
That plan, however, was foiled by an early morning call. He had to get dressed with his hair still wet, barely having time to give himself a once over in the mirror before rushing to get out the door. He was fumbling around in the kitchen when Jay called the first time. He didn’t make it to his phone in time, but that was fine. Within two minutes, Jay was calling him again.
This time, Will answered.
“Hey! Good! I’m glad I caught you!” Jay said, and Will could hear the genuine relief in his voice.
“Yeah, sure,” Will said, still distracted as he got ready for work. He had to be in surgery in 20 minutes; he didn’t have time to waste. “Usually you call later. So, what’s up?”
“I know,” Jay said. “But I was reading the paper this morning--”
“Jay, no one still gets the newspaper--”
“And there was, like, this article,” Jay continued, pretending like he hadn’t heard Will. “It was talking about the country you live in right now.”
“There’s always something with corruption or political instability,” Will said with a dismissive shrug as he poured himself a cup of coffee to go and reached for his keys. “It’s nothing new.”
“I don’t know, man,” Jay said. “This sounds new. The article was talking about your city by name.”
Will frowned a little, letting himself out the door. He had to balance the coffee in one hand as he turned back to lock it. “It is one of the biggest cities--”
“And apparently, the hotspot for gang activity,” Jay clarified for him, even though he hadn’t asked. “It sounds like it’s a powder keg about to explode.”
Will smiled politely at once his neighbors as he exited down the stairwell to the lobby. “That’s kind of dramatic.”
“Because it is dramatic,” Jay said, and he sounded on edge now. “I went and looked up more information online. Will, there’s a ton of stuff going on there. The whole government in your region is completely unstable.”
“Oh, please,” Will said, dismissive. He was at the lobby now, still smiling benignly to anyone he happened to cross, pretending like he wasn’t casually discussing the breakdown of civil society. “It’s not more unstable than it’s always been.”
Even from across the ocean, Jay’s incredulity was pretty easy to her. “Um, have you watched the news? There’s talk that the government is falling.”
As a matter of fact, Will hadn’t watched the news -- he didn’t have the time. Still, he’d heard rumors. People were always talking at the nurse’s station, congregating in little groups in the lounge.
But he’d heard rumors for months now. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. Gang activity, government corruption, faulty infrastructure, infection control. Will had simply come to the point when he didn’t care what was coming at him. He just had the stolid knowledge that he could face it.
He’d accepted that for awhile now. Jay, apparently, was a harder sell. “Seriously, Jay, it’s not as big of a deal as you’re making it out to be. The situation here -- it’s not new. It’s nothing.”
The more he talked, the less convinced Jay seemed. “It doesn’t seem like nothing, Will,” he said shortly. “I mean, you’re working on a provisional visa. Your group barely has non-profit status there. If the government falls--”
Will was already shaking his head. “It’s not going to fall.”
As it turned out, repeated, blanket denials were effective with precisely no one. “But if it does--”
Will rolled his eyes, even if his brother was an ocean away. “And even if it does, so what? My job here stays the same. They’re going to need doctors no matter who’s in charge.”
“And who’s going to pay you? Who’s going to keep the institution accredited?” Jay asked, volleying the series of logical questions with too much speed to interject. “Hell, Will, think it through. You’re an American. We already have tense relations there. What do you think a new government would do?”
It was conjecture, and it was the kind of positing Will lacked the attention for, especially now. Power plays, power structures -- it didn’t matter. Will had come here to do a job, and that job didn’t involve covering his own ass. “Jay, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“And I’m not!” Jay snapped, his tone reverberating over the line. “Will, you need to look out for yourself.”
Exasperated, Will let himself out the front door and into the street. He’d gotten a late start that morning; he was going to have no choice but to take the bus if he wanted to clock in on time. “I need to do my job.”
Jay audibly groaned, the sound so loud it buzzed in the receiver. “Dude, what are you even talking about?”
Will dug into his pocket for his bus pass, cutting across the dingy alley to make it to his stop on time. “It’s just work, Jay. I signed on to do this, to do it here, no matter what,” he said. He shrugged. “Besides, you go out in unstable situations all the time.”
“Yeah, in Chicago,” Jay said plainly. “Stop acting like it’s the same thing. There’s a support system in place here. As messed up as the city can be sometimes, I can at least be confident that the government isn’t going to fall.”
“There are support systems here, too,” Will countered.
“Are there?” Jay returned just as quickly. “And you’re 100 percent positive the government is stable?”
Will was going to scoff once more, but he found himself somewhat unable. After all, he didn’t watch the news. He didn’t read the headlines. All he knew was what he heard around the hospital, and he’d done his best to steer clear of gossip. Was it possible that things were worse? Was it possible that it was all about to fall apart?
Of course, and Will had plenty of experience with that. It was just that usually the impending disaster was entirely his own fault.
That was his rallying point, ultimately.
Instead of scoffing, he drew a breath, picking up his pace. “I’m here to do a job, and that’s what I’m going to do,” he said. “Until Adam is telling me to get the hell out, I’m here.”
Over an ocean away, he could hear his brother sigh. But this time, there was a noticeable sign of resignation in his voice. It was clear that Jay didn’t like this situation, but Jay seemed to acknowledge that he couldn’t do anything about it. And maybe -- just maybe -- he respected that Will needed to stay.
Duty and honor were two things that Will had never been strong with. Jay was a soldier. To have those tables turned now was mildly ironic.
“Look,” Jay said. “I’m just giving you a heads up. You need to be careful. I need you to be careful.”
That last sentence faltered, moving from an invective to a request. Almost a plea, in the most understated Halstead way imaginable.
So many miles from home, so many miles from family, Will couldn’t forget who he was or where he’d come from.
“Hey,” Will quipped, looking down as he walked. “Isn’t that my line?”
Jay snorted, and the sound garbled up the line for a second. “Yeah, but that was before you decided to work in one of the most dangerous regions in the world.”
That was a point -- maybe. He had reached his bus stop, and he stood on the curb, looking down the street. “It’s not like I can quit,” he said.
“Yeah, but you can be safe,” Jay said. “I mean, just keep your head down. Know what’s up.”
“I guess,” Will said. He bounced on his heels as his bus turned the corner. “Look, I got to run.”
“I’m serious, Will--”
“I know, I know,” Will said. “I’ll call you later -- bye!”
He didn’t wait for a salutation before he hung up. Jay had his worries, but Will had more practical concerns. Jay had the luxury of worrying about the big picture. As for Will, he just needed to get through another day.
And besides, Jay was overreacting.
Political discord.
Threats of violence.
Gang activity.
Whatever.
Jay was really overreacting.
100 percent, completely overreacting.
-o-
Except Jay was not overreacting.
Will tried to downplay it as best it could, shoving the notion of political instability to the back of his mind, but it was a pretty difficult task. Now that he was listening to it, he could hear the chatter he’d been ignoring. It wasn’t gossip. People were making plans about what to do if things got worse.
And then, things did get worse.
Within a week of his phone call, some of the local governments were falling. Mostly in the suburbs, and a string of small towns in the outer provinces. Gang activity was picking up, and the lack of unified movement between the groups seemed to be the only reason a larger strike hadn’t happened.
Yet.
Some people were already starting to leave. The city streets were tense, and people seemed to be staying inside more. Hospital employees were starting to disappear, transferring out of the region or up and up quitting with little to no notice. They were running on a skeleton staff, and Will had given up trying to go home. He was living at the hospital now, feeling as though the outside world was starting to press in on him from all sides.
He would normally call it paranoia.
It wasn’t.
After another few days, even Adam drew him aside, looking gravely concerned. Alone in the locker room, Adam sat Will down, poised across from him on one of the benches.
“So,” Adam said. “Another two doctors quit.”
Will’s brows drew together as he mentally did the math on that one. “Who?”
“Gilles from pediatrics. Agumi from radiology,” Adam said. He inhaled with a slow certainty, and he looked fully at Will. “What about you?”
The question hardly computed. He tilted his head to the side. “Me?”
“Will I be fielding your resignation soon?” Adam asked, getting straight to the point. There was no humor in his voice. There was no lightness in his expression. He was serious.
Although the situation was hardly new by now, Adam’s sudden shift in tone still caught Will off guard. It wasn’t a question he’d considered, and now that it was posed to him, he wasn’t sure what to think. “Should I?” Will asked in return.
Adam inclined his head. “Well, no one would blame you do,” he said. He shook his head sadly. “As much as I would hate to see you go, I, too, would understand.”
Adam was being gracious, but there was real tension to the query. Adam was worried about his safety; Adam was worried about how to operate his hospital without his right-hand man.
Will oriented himself on that. “Well, you’re staying,” he said. “So, I mean, things can’t be that bad.”
“Oh, do not let me deceive you. It is that bad. The organization board met earlier today, and they wanted to close the hospital due to the increasing threat. I refused because I cannot leave these people. I will stay as long as I must, but the risk is real,” Adam explained. “This is a real risk for me. But you? You are an American. You must know what that means. As things get worse, you will become a target. There is no guarantee of your safety.”
The warning was dire, then. The threat was real. Will thought of Jay, half a world away. His brother had implored him to stay safe, but what did that mean? When there was still a job to do? Friends to stand by?
Was Will making the same mistakes?
Or was he finally finding the right place to stand his ground?
It was hard to be sure -- Will lacked faith in his own judgement. He had started to let himself be happy again -- from time to time -- and maybe that was part of the problem. Maybe he was fooling himself. Maybe he was letting himself get weak again.
Disaster was his instinct, it seemed.
So how did he make the right choice? How did he know what was right?
To put himself last. To take the safe, the comfortable, the convenient -- and do it the hard way.
“Then, I’m a target,” Will said with a certainty tinged with desperation. “I mean, it doesn’t really matter, does it? This, what we’re doing here, this isn’t about me. I’m here to serve. I’ll follow your direction, no matter what.”
“I cannot give you this order,” Adam said. “You are my friend, and I will not put you at risk--”
“But you’re not,” Will said. “I’m finishing what I started. Until you tell me the job is done, I’m here, okay? I’m here.”
“I admire you, my friend,” Adam said with an earnest nod. “I will stay with you.”
Will laughed at him. “This is your home. Where else are you going to go?”
Adam winked back with his trademark mischievous grin. “Well, you know better than I do how tempting it is to run away from home, hm?”
Enough time had passed -- enough friendship had been built -- so the jab wasn’t painful but familiar like it was intended. It was the kind of banter he might have shared with Jay back in Chicago. It was good. In the midst of everything bad, that much was good.
“Well, I’m still here, aren’t I?” Will asked coyly. “So we know anything is possible.”
-o-
Another week passed. It was quieter, uneventful. Though understaffed, things were operating smoothly, and there were no signs of growing turmoil in the outside world. If anything, things seemed better.
And then, one day, they didn’t.
-o-
There was nothing particularly auspicious about the day. Will had been working almost nonstop in the last week. With reduced staff, it was hard to keep the ED running, and all the remaining attendings were forced to cover the extra shifts to make up the difference. It was busy and stressful, but Will had never really minded. Since coming to Africa, he still felt at his best when he could put his head down and just work.
So that was what he did.
He worked.
That morning, it had been an uneventful shift. There were a few patients held over from the night shift, but Will and Adam managed to get them discharged as a few morning stragglers started to come in. Someone with food poisoning. A kitchen accident with a sliced finger. Will had pulled the case of a young woman with a broken arm. He was just finishing splinting the broken limb, readying her for casting, when he heard the commotion.
Now, when you worked in an ED as long as Will had, you were used to commotion. Trauma always came with a little bit of chaos; it was part of the game. In Chicago, the ED had used a robust security checkpoint system to keep most of the worst craziness from breaching into the trauma area, but even then, things still went down.
In Africa, Will had quickly acclimated to a level of increased insanity. Fights were common as gang members crossed paths, and security had had to disarm people more than once. It happened enough that Will recognized the sound of gunfire immediately.
Ducking down, he pulled his patient with him, mindful of her arm. “Just keep low, back in the corner,” he said to her, guiding her to the most secure location as per protocol. “I’ll see what’s going on.”
She looked scared, but not terrified. This wasn’t out of the norm for either, apparently. Edging along, Will kept low to the ground, keeping out of sight from the windows. Usually, the gunfire was over as quickly as it started. This time, however, the initial pop was followed by another series of pops. By the time Will got to the window, he could hear the yelling outside.
Yelling.
And wails.
More gunfire followed, splintering the window above him. It cracked but didn’t shatter, and Will saw the bullet hole lodged in the wall above the exam bed as more yelling ensued.
Concerned, he shifted back, trying to keep his profile low while still getting a glimpse of the open area near the nurse’s station and reception desk. To his surprise, the area had been all but abandoned. He saw two men, both clad in local gang colors and heavily armed, strutting by. There was more yelling -- someone in scrubs scurried past, ducking into a room out of view -- and then three more men in similar garb were visible.
They were poking another man, a man in a white coat and scrubs.
It was Dr. Salvo -- Chief of Staff. Dr. Salvo was the hands-off leader of the hospital and Adam’s direct boss. Adam didn’t love Dr. Salvo’s style, but since the man gave Adam a lot of leeway to run the ED as he saw fit and necessary, it seemed to be an acceptable arrangement. Will didn’t know the guy well -- he wasn’t particularly accessible, and he didn’t make a strong impression. Also, Will’s entire professional goal was to stay off his boss’ radar as much as humanly possible.
That said, he felt some relief knowing that whatever was going down, Dr. Salvo surely would have it under control. Adam talked a lot about what went on behind the scenes to mitigate the violence. Hospital leaders were in constant talks with gang members to try to quell the violence -- from the hospital’s walls, at least.
Dr. Salvo put his hands up, and Will could see him launch into a diatribe.
A diatribe that was quickly cut off by a bullet to the head.
Despite himself, Will flinched. He had worked in the aftermath of violence for most of his adult life, but seeing it happen? Up close and live? To someone he knew?
It felt like a bullet hit him as well, he jolted so badly. Shock flooded his system, washing hot and cold down his spine as he broke out into a sweat. His stomach threatened to turn, even if he wasn’t squeamish. He hadn’t felt this way since Tim Burke held a gun to his head and told him to turn around.
For a moment, his mind went blank as he reeled. Salvo had fallen to the ground, and from his obscured vantage point, Will could still see his wide, sightless eyes. The back of his head was gone.
Behind him, the girl was starting to cry. “What’s happening?” she asked in terrified, fragmented English. “What’s happening?”
Will had gone numb, but people out in the lobby started screaming again. The unexpected display of violence sent people taking shelter into a panic. Frantic to find shelter now that safety was not guaranteed, they scurried out of their cubby holes and corners. Will was horrified when he saw the leader take his gun and start to pick them off.
One of the nurses went down; so did a visitor. The desk clerk took a round to the chest and fell back abruptly, and Will saw one of his fellow attending come out with his hands up, just to be blasted back as well.
The sudden eruption fo violence seemed unexpected to the rest of the gang members as well. They started arguing against themselves, and one of them shot another. As the chaos erupted in earnest, Will saw his chance. Creeping to the door, he opened it. He saw another nurses scampering by, and he beckoned her in. Another CNA followed suit, and so did a visitor he didn’t recognize, dragging the bleeding form of another one of the nurses.
Will hurried them inside, closing the door quickly. There was no locking mechanism on the doors, and it would have been pointless anyway. The windows were too easy to break, and if the bad guys wanted in, they would get in.
The only saving grace -- temporary though it would probably be -- was that the attack was strong but not well organized. As the gang members vied for the right to dictate what happened next, Will could see that they hadn’t fully thought this through. The fact that they hadn’t decided that it was going to be a straight-up massacre might work in their favor.
If they played their cards right.
But who was they?
Dr. Salvo was in charge -- and he was dead. Technically, down in the ED, that would put Adam as the next in command, but he was nowhere to be seen. Will had seen him in the lounge earlier in the morning, but that had been a while ago. There was no sign of him out in the melee.
Then, just because things weren’t crazy enough, the rest of the security team showed up. Will wasn’t sure where they’d been when this started, but they were there now, and Will barely had time to duck back down when fresh gunfire started up once more. This time, it was more rapid and more erratic.
“Back -- back,” Will said, shoving the new arrivals as far away from the window as possible. It still wasn’t enough cover. Will flipped the gurney over with a crash, positioning in front of the small group he’d collected for as much protection as he could muster on short notice.
Most of them were crying now, and Will could smell blood -- at least one of them was bleeding. He could only hope that it wasn’t life threatening for the moment, because it was all he could do to keep his cool at a moment like this -- he wasn’t sure he could throw triage on top of that.
The firefight was still intensifying, and Will saw the wall above them riddled with bullets. He pulled down one of the nurses even more, almost pressing himself on top of her just in case.
“Just stay down,” he coached them all, as if that was going to be enough. “Stay down, stay quiet.”
He’d never been in combat before, and usually in these situations, he was trusting the guidance of someone else.
Except there was no one else.
He could almost feel Jay’s intense disapproval from all the way in Chicago. When he found out about this, he was never going to let Will hear the end of it. You were working in a warzone, Will. An actual warzone.
Jay would tell him to look for an escape -- one exit, currently under siege with gunfire -- and if that wasn’t possible, he would tell Will to stay low and remain sheltered until help arrived.
Except Will wasn’t sure help was arriving.
At least, not the kind of help he was going to need.
The girl still had a broken arm. One nurse looked fine, but one of the visitors had a gash on his forehead. The other guest seemed to be nearly hysterical, and the second nurse had been shot in the leg.
People were scared and hurt.
And Will was a doctor.
In a hospital.
There happened to be gunfire going on outside, but there was nothing Will could do about that.
What he could do, however, was start helping people.
He grappled across the floor, finding the overturned medical tray. He poked through it, coming up with a piece of gauze. He handed it to the nurse who wasn’t hurt. “Cindy, can you use this to apply pressure to that man’s head?” he said.
She looked at him like he might be crazy.
“I know,” Will said. “But you can do it right here. Keep low, keep very low.”
The gunfire had become intermittent outside, but there were still pockets of intense exchange while security and gang members vied for position.
Will pulled the rest of the kit with him, looking to the nurse he had pushed beneath him. “Hey, Moni,” he said, trying to smile. “How are you doing?”
Moni was a local girl, but she was young. Breathing rapidly, her eyes were wet. “Those idiots came and shot me up,” she hissed angrily. “How bad is it?”
Will plucked gently at her scrubs, trying to get a look. “Through and through, to your side,” he said. “Obviously, we can’t do a scan right now, but it looks like it probably missed your vital organs.”
She grimaced, clearly trying to work through her pain. “And the blood?”
“Well, let’s work on that right now,” he said, trying to sound casual, even as a few more stray bullets punctured the wall above them.
The girl with the broken arm was sobbing again. Will turned back, still crouched as low as possible. “Ma’am, do you think you can comfort her?” he said, nodding to the second visitor. She was more shellshocked than hurt, by the looks of things, but Will would have to make sure she got a once-over later. “You two can just sit together, but be mindful of her wrist. She broke it.”
The woman grunted, clearly not well versed in English. “But those men--”
“Are outside for now,” Will said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, so I’m not going to lie to you. But we can help each other. We can help each other right here, right now.”
It wasn’t clear how much she understood, but the sentiment was plain enough. The woman nodded gruffly, inching her way to the girl. The girl tensed, but as the woman leaned in, she leaned back. Within seconds, they were wrapped in one another.
Will turned back to Moni. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s take a look at that wound.”
The situation was tense, to be sure, so his bedside manner had to be impeccable. With a gentle smile, he coaxed Moni to allow him to lift the hem of her shirt for a closer look at the bullet wound. It was as he’d expected, a through and through to the side. It was bleeding, but not copiously. He took a numbing agent to help dull the area before grappling for something to clean it out. Without scans, it was impossible to tell if she needed something more substantial, but bandaging the wound would help slow the bleeding even more and reduce the risk of infection.
He had just gotten an IV hung for Moni while the others sat tight. He was turning back to the man with a head wound when the door opened.
Will startled, trying to keep himself in front of the others, but he quickly recognized Ahmed from security.
He looked like he was having a worse day than Will.
“Dr. Halstead? We are here to clear the room,” Ahmed explained. He had a gun at the ready, but he was careful not to point it in their direction. Will had spent enough time around Chicago PD to know it was loaded -- and that Ahmed had probably been using it recently.
Will got up, pulling away from the small crowd of others he’d been caring for. “Clear it? So the hospital is safe?”
Ahmed’s expression was dark. He glanced at the others anxiously, and lowered his voice to Will. “No,” he said. “Armed forces are still outside, but we’ve established a line in the lobby. It’s holding for now, but our security forces have been thinned out -- and there’s no way for police backup to get inside. We can keep them out -- and keep everyone else out as well.
Will had to grimace. “And we can’t get out either,” he surmised.
Ahmed didn’t contradict him. “What do we have here?” he asked, nodding at the group cowered behind them.
“Two nurses, one with a minor gunshot wound to the side. It needs further evaluation, but she seems stable,” he said. “One patient with an unset broken arm. Another with a head lac. The last is a visitor, I think. She’s overwhelmed, but fine physically.”
Ahmed nodded. “There are several casualties so far, mostly security forces, a few staff, and a few civilians,” he said. “Have you seen Dr. Salvo?”
“Dr. Salvo is dead,” Will said, nodding grimly to the body just outside the door. “Has anyone seen Dr. Goshit?”
“No,” Ahmed said. “You’re the first attending we’ve found. How do you want to proceed?”
Will stared at him for a moment, taken aback. “How do I want to proceed? But I’m not in charge.”
“Dr. Salvo is dead. Dr. Goshit is not present,” Ahmed said. “I’m here as a security presence, but you are the only attending I can find. So how do you want to proceed?”
Standing there, Will was momentarily dumbfounded.
How did he want to proceed?
What kind of question was that?
Who was he to do this? To make these calls? What authority did he have? What right?
The problem was, he was the only one to do this, to make these calls. His authority came because he was the one who knew what to do. He’d studied the protocols, and he’d honed his skills in strife and chaos. What right did he have not to act when he had the capability?
That was it, then.
Will nodded his head, eyes on Ahmed once more. “Okay,” he said. “Follow me.”
PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
PART FIVE
PART SIX
PART SEVEN
PART EIGHT
PART NINE
PART TEN
-o-
He helped get Grace cleaned up, carefully inspecting her bruises and bandaging the only weeping cut. Her nose wasn’t broken, and nothing needed to be set or mended, but he gave her two Tylenol and a clean pair of shorts and a t-shirt to sleep. While she showered -- after her promise that the violence had been entirely to her face -- Will gathered whatever blankets he had left for the couch and made it up for her.
She came out of the shower looking refreshed, but still somewhat worse for wear. He assured her again that she was safe, that everything would be okay, and that they would deal with it in the morning.
Grace, being emotionally worn, fell asleep quickly, but Will found rest a little harder for himself. He cleaned up the kitchen and retreated to the bedroom, contemplating his options here.
He’d promised Grace they’d deal with it in the morning?
But how?
What exactly did Will intend to do?
One option was to do nothing. He could take the easy out and wash his hands of responsibility. Grace wasn’t his girlfriend, and she wasn’t his sister. He had no actual obligation to help her.
But there was no way he could do that.
As a doctor, he was compelled to help people. If Grace had showed up with that story in the ED, Will would have taken all necessary proactive measures. She had come to his house, though, which just made his need to help her more pressing. She wasn’t his family technically, but Adam was like a brother to him. He cared about Grace because he cared about Adam.
Which meant doing nothing was not an option.
That led him back to the point he started with: what was Will going to do?
Admittedly, if Grace had shown up in the ED, it would have been simple. Despite her requests, he would have called the cops and figured out -- something. Here, though? This was a personal matter. He could track down the asshole himself right now and make things right.
It wouldn’t be that hard, either. He knew where Grace lived, and he knew her favorite bar. If she had been dating this guy for a month, she would have been seen with him -- especially if he was a local cop. Getting a name would be a matter of course -- everyone loved him down there now. They wouldn’t tell him no.
And Will had justification in this.
What had happened to Grace was wrong. If going to the cops wasn’t a viable option, then he still had to find another way to ensure that Grace was protected. Most attackers didn’t expect to be confronted. It could be an effective tactic to bring them to task. At the very least, maybe he could scare the guy enough to give Grace the space she needed.
Will could solve the problem, then. Just like that.
But, he hedged.
He might solve the problem and be justified. Justified or not, however, the solution might just create more problems. Will had to think it through, the consequences of his actions. If Will did this wrong, Grace could be at more risk. Will could even go and get himself killed -- or worse, get Grace killed. It was a reckless course of action -- big risks, big rewards.
The deciding reality was a lot simpler, though.
Will was creating a dichotomy in his mind, but the either/or didn’t exist. There was another option. There was a more measured, proactive approach -- and Will didn’t need to make this decision in a vacuum. He needed perspective.
Grace didn’t trust her cousins -- fine. She didn’t trust the cops -- okay. But she did trust Adam. The only reason she hadn’t gone to her brother was because he was out of town. Will had just been the closest proxy.
That gave him responsibility, but within limits. Wasn’t this the lesson he was supposed to be learning? You had to know when to play by the rules and when to bend them. If there are viable options that existed within the policy framework--
Well, then that was what you had to do.
And, by those standards, Will had a straightforward, if slightly less satisfying, course of action on the table.
He started by texting Adam -- it was late, but it wasn’t that late, especially for a guy like Adam who seemed to sleep very little. If he knew his friend, Adam was probably out schmoozing it up -- attempting to leverage more connections to build up their income revenue at the hospital.
Adam, as expected, replied quickly, and when Will explained in brief text-speak what happened, his reply was exactly as Will expected.
I will be on the first flight home. Keep her there until I arrive.
Will put the phone aside, and realized just how effective this would be. With Adam present, Will could ensure that Grace was safe and that the matter was handled properly with no further violence or threat. After all, if anyone could convince Grace to go to the cops -- it was Adam. And if anyone could find an avenue to work with the local cops against one of their own -- that was also Adam.
Adam provided safety and legitimacy.
Sure, it wasn’t dramatic, and it didn’t guarantee instant gratification, but it was a reasonable choice with less risk involved. If Will did this on his own -- as his instincts had suggested -- he likely would have made a bigger mess than there was right now.
By all accounts, Will had just made a smart choice. Calm, measured, thoughtful.
He was not a slave to his worse impulses. He did not have to defer to his emotions all the time. It was possible for him to have and maintain restraint, even when personally involved in the situation.
In short, Will wasn’t totally sure he’d saved Grace tonight.
But he had to hope that for once he might have saved himself.
-o-
Will was pretty sure he’d made the right choice, but certainty was a bit of a luxury for him these days. He hadn’t felt sure of much of anything these days, and he had gotten used to living in a state of perpetual self doubt. Usually, such things could be assuaged quickly by a second opinion at work or a quick drink with Adam, but he had to live with them for the night.
He tossed and turned on the bed, trying not to think about Grace in the next room. He resisted the urge to go check on her -- it wasn’t quite his place, he had to think, and he didn’t want to give her any sort of wrong idea. She needed her space, and Will had to maintain his own.
But he still thought of her. He thought of her coming to him, of all people. He had come to accept his place in the community here, but he hadn’t really allowed himself to consider the implications. For him, going out was sort of a rote activity. It was a necessary task as determined by the social hierarchy of the hospital and the ED.
And Adam had been an important connection, and he’d done what he could to be worthy of Adam’s trust. He’d tried to repay Adam’s kindness at every turn, and only now, with Grace here, did Will realize the depth of what was being built. In his mind, this had all been professional.
But it wasn’t.
Will was making a life here.
These people were his friends.
These people were his family -- just as much as the staff at Chicago Med had ever been.
The idea of it was a little terrifying to him. When he’d left Med, he’d had very few friends left. Connor had left a few years ago. He and Ethan hadn’t been close since the promotion. Any camaraderie he might have built up with Crockett had been strained by their mutual affection of Natalie.
And what about Natalie?
He’d risked everything for Natalie -- and why? He hadn’t been harboring aspirations of reconciliation -- not really. If anything, he’d been hoping to get back in Sabeena’s good graces.
But what was it about Natalie?
It was family, that was what it was.
He couldn’t help it, and he probably wasn’t going to shake it. Some family came and went -- the coworkers he could move on without. But Natalie had been something else. He had made a commitment to her, and even though she’d given the ring back and he’d turned her down, that bond was there. That bond that had them living happily ever after and raising Owen together.
Some dreams didn’t die hard.
Some dreams didn’t die at all.
Together or not -- no matter who she was with -- he would always care about Natalie and want the best for her.
That had compromised his judgment -- which was suspect to begin with. It was easy to pretend like it was just Natalie -- he had been willing to compromise the trial before when it was convenient for him. Natalie had pushed him past the point of no return, but Will’s issues ran deeper still.
He had always struggled with rules and how he didn’t want them to always apply to him.
And when family was involved?
All bets were off.
Ironically, his desire to save everyone had cost him everything.
He’d been so afraid of making the same mistakes with Grace. He couldn’t pretend that coming to Africa was all about his professional reformation. It was also a personal transformation, and he had to grapple with that sooner or later.
Honestly, he had to grapple with it now.
Natalie was around the globe, but Grace was here in this moment.
If he could do this -- if he could help Grace in a way that actually worked -- then maybe he could do the rest. too.
Maybe -- just maybe -- he could do anything.
-o-
Will wasn’t sure what kind of flight Adam caught, but he was there, knocking on Will’s door first thing in the morning. Grace had just gotten up and was sleepily looking through Will’s pathetic selection of breakfast foods. At the sound of the door, she was still and rigid, but Will quickly intervened.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “It’s just Adam.”
Her eyes widened with a look of betrayal. “You called him?”
Will didn’t need pretense with this. “Grace, of course I called him. He was the one you wanted to see, right?”
Her mouth fell open, revealing her not-quite honesty. She trusted Adam, but she’d been afraid to tell him. Embarrassment, fear, resentment -- Will wasn’t just a convenient proxy, but he’d been a disarming one. “But--!” she protested, not sure what else to say.
Will knew the protests would be short-lived anyway. “Grace, you know Adam. I already told him everything, and he wants to be here for you.”
Her face trembled just slightly, and she looked younger than he’d ever seen her. “But he will be mad.”
But Will shook his head, moving closer to her. He took her by the arms, and he looked her in the eyes. “He’s not mad,” he told her. “He cares about you, just like I do.”
The knocking resumed again, more insistent now. “Halstead! Open up!”
Will looked at Grace, bobbing his head toward the door. “Should we?”
She drew a breath and let it out. Then, with more resolve than resignation, she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “But you promise me you’ll stay?”
“As long as you need me,” he promised, taking her to the door so they could answer it together.
-o-
Grace was anxious, and Adam sounded apoplectic, but the instant the two saw each other, Will knew he’d made the right choice. Adam reached for his sister, pulling her into a hug, and Grace melted into him with a sob. In their emotion, they both reverted to their native tongue, and Will couldn’t make out but bits and pieces.
But you didn’t have to speak the language to understand what they were talking about.
Grace was confessing everything, and Adam was offering her his unconditional love and support. They eventually retreated to Will’s couch, and he joined the on the chair while they went over the details. Adam double checked Grace’s injuries -- the bruises looked worse this morning, but there were still no signs of complication -- and then he confirmed Grace story, jotted down a few names, and told Grace it was time to go.
This seemed to startle her. “Go where?”
“Home,” he said. Her face screwed up with panic, but he held up a hand. “My home. You will stay with me until this is settled, and if you are worried about being alone, then I will simply take time off work.”
“And I can help, too,” Will offered. “Until it’s resolved.”
Adam gave him a grateful look. “Is that acceptable?” he asked Grace.
She still looked distressed, but she nodded.
“I can take care of this,” he promised his sister. Then, with a glance to Will, he said, “May we speak in private for just a moment?”
Will shrugged, only too willing to comply. They left Grace to finish making herself some breakfast, and Adam withdrew with Will into the bedroom.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” he said, looking at Will. “For what you have done here.”
“I haven’t done anything,” Will said. “I’m glad you were able to come home. Do you know what you’re going to do?”
Adam nodded, though his expression was grave. “I know this man who did this, and Grace was right to be scared,” he said. “There would be no local cop who would believe her.”
Will shook his head, hating the thought. Jay had talked about police corruption in the past, how a few bad apples could sour the whole batch, and his brother had always wanted to take a proactive approach at justice. If Jay were here, he’d be a staunch ally, but Jay wasn’t here, and Will felt a little helpless. “So what are you going to do?”
“Fortunately, my position has required me to be quite friendly with community leaders,” he said. “The police wouldn’t listen to a single woman and her brother. However, with the right community pressure, I am sure I can make sure there are consequences.”
“This guy deserves to be in jail,” Will said. “This is assault.”
Adam used his hands to press down in the air, trying to pull back Will’s sense of justice. “Of course it is, but I must be realistic,” he said. “I would like to see him fired, but I think a transfer is most likely.”
Will scoffed in protest. “But how is that fair?”
Adam gave him a quizzical look. “Fair is a privilege, Halstead. Saving lives is not about fairness. My priority must be to protect my sister, and if that means letting the man who did this walk free, then that is what I will do.”
Will sighed, trying to put back his frustration. “It’s just not right.”
“It’s not,” Adam agreed. “But we cannot afford to work only in black and white. Some choices are right and wrong all at once. All we can do is ask if we are serving the better good. That is what I am doing here. I am serving the better good.”
It wasn’t an answer Will particularly liked, but this was why he’d called Adam. Will’s problem solving skills typically left something to be desired when he was emotionally compromised, and Adam did have a point. Will wanted to protect Grace as much as Adam did. If that meant letting the bastard go, then maybe it was a necessary price to pay.
He’d killed an entire clinical trial for Natalie’s sake -- and he hadn’t even gotten the outcome he’d intended.
Will nodded in acceptance. “Is there anything you need me to do?”
Adam looked surprised. “You have done more than enough already, Halstead,” he said. “You were here, you listened to her, you believed her. You got her to trust you, and by that, you have saved her.”
“But I didn’t do anything,” Will said.
“I just told you what you did -- and moreover, you called me,” Adam said. “Grace could have picked up the phone at any time and I would have come, but she went to you because she felt safe. And you called me. This is what will save her life, and it is thanks to you.”
Will leaned back, embarrassed by the thanks. “I just wish I could do more.”
Adam smiled, reaching out to clap him on the shoulder. “You have become family to her, just as you have to me,” he said, and something inexplicable twinged in Will’s chest as he started to understand. “That is more than enough.”
-o-
It didn’t take Adam long to get Grace ready to leave, and Will helped as he could -- but there wasn’t much for him to do. That wasn’t something he was good at -- ceding his control -- but it was what he was called to do. Sometimes, in order to fix things, you had to give that control to someone else -- someone more qualified, someone better positioned. It wasn’t Will’s natural impulse, but then, that really was why he was here.
Instead, Will went to work, covering Adam’s shift in the ED as best he could. He didn’t have much previous leadership experience outside of his year as chief resident, but he’d spent so much time around Adam that it wasn’t too hard to remember the necessary daily tasks needed to operate the ED. He found that he could fill the role easily enough, and though people asked where Adam was, no one seemed to need him.
Will went over to Adam’s place that night, just to check in. He found Grace resting, and Adam smiled.
“It will be worked out,” he said. “I had to call in many favors, but it will be worked out.”
“So he’s out?” Will asked. “You got rid of the guy?”
“The paperwork must be finalized, but he is getting a transfer,” Adam said. “I was not pleased that it was a promotion, but the captain he will be serving under is across the country -- and better, he is known for his uncompromising commitment to valor. The promotion comes with accountability, and it is enough, I think.”
“As long as Grace is safe,” Will said. He nodded along with Adam. “Then, yeah. It’s enough.”
Adam smiled at him warmly now. “Thank you again, Halstead,” he said. “This matter will take several more days to resolve. I would like to stay with Grace if I can. Do you think you can continue on at work in my place?”
The request, for some reason, caught Will off guard. “But that’s your ED.”
“That you know quite well,” Adam said. “You will be fine.”
-o-
And, the funny thing was, Will was fine. Running the ED was a lot of work, and it meant a reduced patient load, but he was still good at it. He started to see it all from a bigger perspective, seeing how the pieces fit together.
Mostly, he was able to see how he fit in.
One cog in the machine, important for its role but miniscule in the grander scheme of things. Will just had to keep doing his job, keep doing his one job -- and trust that the machine would keep chugging away as necessary.
Will could do that.
Will would do that.
For the next few days, the next few weeks -- for as long as Adam needed him.
-o-
When the situation with Grace was squared away, Adam did come back to work, and things mostly returned to normal. There was something different, though -- something subtle that Will couldn’t always quite place. But the little things were starting to add up, and Will wasn’t really sure what any of it meant.
Adam started trusting him more to cover the ED. People started coming to him, not just for his medical opinion, but for regular ED operations.
Then, Adam started including him on meetings. He started going along to ED evaluations with Dr. Salvo, the chief of staff. Adam had him tag along to department head meetings. One day, Will even went in Adam’s place, and as out of place as Will felt, no one questioned it.
In fact, they seemed to welcome him. They were happy to see him and more -- they wanted to hear his ideas. Soon, he wasn’t just learning policy -- he was debating it. As Dr. Salvo droned on about big picture concerns, Will kept the conversation grounded in the practical realities. It didn’t matter so much about their shipment sourcing. They needed to focus on increasing the schedule and supply access. While other people fretted about fundraising, Will made sure they talked about admitting protocol as well.
It wasn’t an either/or, though. Will wasn’t that naive. It was both. Practical and theoretical, big picture and little picture.
And Will learned.
-o-
With his newfound responsibilities, Will’s time was more scarce than ever. He was working the longest hours yet, and he often found himself in the ED on Saturdays and Sundays just to play catch up with his charting. His social life took something of a hit, but Adam made sure to keep him balanced.
Maintaining connections back in Chicago, however, was growing increasingly difficult.
He still texted Maggie, but he reduced his frequency to once or twice a week. Anyone else at Med was lucky to hear from him at all, though he made an effort for April or Ethan once or twice. Natalie called sometimes, but Will never got himself to answer. He was always sure to reply to her texts with as much gusto as he could muster with a deep ache gnawing at his chest.
Of course, then there was Jay.
Not communicating with Jay was always an option, but it wasn’t one he was willing to try. He’d neglected his brother far too much over his life, and he wouldn’t do it again. He’d ruined everything in his life back in Chicago -- except Jay. He would fight for that until the end, even if he was on another continent.
Over the last few months, they’d managed to find a pretty good rhythm. They had worked out the timezones along with their schedules, and they were in daily contact with phone conversations or video chats every few days. Will thought it was generally going pretty well, until one day, Jay started texting him like crazy.
Like, actual crazy. Will went to bed and woke up with a dozen text messages from his brother. All of them said variations of the same thing: call me.
There was no additional guidance, no indication that something was actually amiss. There was no 911 or emergency, and if Jay was texting, then he probably wasn’t dead. So Will couldn’t quite imagine what might actually be that important, but he resolved to call his brother during breakfast.
That plan, however, was foiled by an early morning call. He had to get dressed with his hair still wet, barely having time to give himself a once over in the mirror before rushing to get out the door. He was fumbling around in the kitchen when Jay called the first time. He didn’t make it to his phone in time, but that was fine. Within two minutes, Jay was calling him again.
This time, Will answered.
“Hey! Good! I’m glad I caught you!” Jay said, and Will could hear the genuine relief in his voice.
“Yeah, sure,” Will said, still distracted as he got ready for work. He had to be in surgery in 20 minutes; he didn’t have time to waste. “Usually you call later. So, what’s up?”
“I know,” Jay said. “But I was reading the paper this morning--”
“Jay, no one still gets the newspaper--”
“And there was, like, this article,” Jay continued, pretending like he hadn’t heard Will. “It was talking about the country you live in right now.”
“There’s always something with corruption or political instability,” Will said with a dismissive shrug as he poured himself a cup of coffee to go and reached for his keys. “It’s nothing new.”
“I don’t know, man,” Jay said. “This sounds new. The article was talking about your city by name.”
Will frowned a little, letting himself out the door. He had to balance the coffee in one hand as he turned back to lock it. “It is one of the biggest cities--”
“And apparently, the hotspot for gang activity,” Jay clarified for him, even though he hadn’t asked. “It sounds like it’s a powder keg about to explode.”
Will smiled politely at once his neighbors as he exited down the stairwell to the lobby. “That’s kind of dramatic.”
“Because it is dramatic,” Jay said, and he sounded on edge now. “I went and looked up more information online. Will, there’s a ton of stuff going on there. The whole government in your region is completely unstable.”
“Oh, please,” Will said, dismissive. He was at the lobby now, still smiling benignly to anyone he happened to cross, pretending like he wasn’t casually discussing the breakdown of civil society. “It’s not more unstable than it’s always been.”
Even from across the ocean, Jay’s incredulity was pretty easy to her. “Um, have you watched the news? There’s talk that the government is falling.”
As a matter of fact, Will hadn’t watched the news -- he didn’t have the time. Still, he’d heard rumors. People were always talking at the nurse’s station, congregating in little groups in the lounge.
But he’d heard rumors for months now. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another. Gang activity, government corruption, faulty infrastructure, infection control. Will had simply come to the point when he didn’t care what was coming at him. He just had the stolid knowledge that he could face it.
He’d accepted that for awhile now. Jay, apparently, was a harder sell. “Seriously, Jay, it’s not as big of a deal as you’re making it out to be. The situation here -- it’s not new. It’s nothing.”
The more he talked, the less convinced Jay seemed. “It doesn’t seem like nothing, Will,” he said shortly. “I mean, you’re working on a provisional visa. Your group barely has non-profit status there. If the government falls--”
Will was already shaking his head. “It’s not going to fall.”
As it turned out, repeated, blanket denials were effective with precisely no one. “But if it does--”
Will rolled his eyes, even if his brother was an ocean away. “And even if it does, so what? My job here stays the same. They’re going to need doctors no matter who’s in charge.”
“And who’s going to pay you? Who’s going to keep the institution accredited?” Jay asked, volleying the series of logical questions with too much speed to interject. “Hell, Will, think it through. You’re an American. We already have tense relations there. What do you think a new government would do?”
It was conjecture, and it was the kind of positing Will lacked the attention for, especially now. Power plays, power structures -- it didn’t matter. Will had come here to do a job, and that job didn’t involve covering his own ass. “Jay, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“And I’m not!” Jay snapped, his tone reverberating over the line. “Will, you need to look out for yourself.”
Exasperated, Will let himself out the front door and into the street. He’d gotten a late start that morning; he was going to have no choice but to take the bus if he wanted to clock in on time. “I need to do my job.”
Jay audibly groaned, the sound so loud it buzzed in the receiver. “Dude, what are you even talking about?”
Will dug into his pocket for his bus pass, cutting across the dingy alley to make it to his stop on time. “It’s just work, Jay. I signed on to do this, to do it here, no matter what,” he said. He shrugged. “Besides, you go out in unstable situations all the time.”
“Yeah, in Chicago,” Jay said plainly. “Stop acting like it’s the same thing. There’s a support system in place here. As messed up as the city can be sometimes, I can at least be confident that the government isn’t going to fall.”
“There are support systems here, too,” Will countered.
“Are there?” Jay returned just as quickly. “And you’re 100 percent positive the government is stable?”
Will was going to scoff once more, but he found himself somewhat unable. After all, he didn’t watch the news. He didn’t read the headlines. All he knew was what he heard around the hospital, and he’d done his best to steer clear of gossip. Was it possible that things were worse? Was it possible that it was all about to fall apart?
Of course, and Will had plenty of experience with that. It was just that usually the impending disaster was entirely his own fault.
That was his rallying point, ultimately.
Instead of scoffing, he drew a breath, picking up his pace. “I’m here to do a job, and that’s what I’m going to do,” he said. “Until Adam is telling me to get the hell out, I’m here.”
Over an ocean away, he could hear his brother sigh. But this time, there was a noticeable sign of resignation in his voice. It was clear that Jay didn’t like this situation, but Jay seemed to acknowledge that he couldn’t do anything about it. And maybe -- just maybe -- he respected that Will needed to stay.
Duty and honor were two things that Will had never been strong with. Jay was a soldier. To have those tables turned now was mildly ironic.
“Look,” Jay said. “I’m just giving you a heads up. You need to be careful. I need you to be careful.”
That last sentence faltered, moving from an invective to a request. Almost a plea, in the most understated Halstead way imaginable.
So many miles from home, so many miles from family, Will couldn’t forget who he was or where he’d come from.
“Hey,” Will quipped, looking down as he walked. “Isn’t that my line?”
Jay snorted, and the sound garbled up the line for a second. “Yeah, but that was before you decided to work in one of the most dangerous regions in the world.”
That was a point -- maybe. He had reached his bus stop, and he stood on the curb, looking down the street. “It’s not like I can quit,” he said.
“Yeah, but you can be safe,” Jay said. “I mean, just keep your head down. Know what’s up.”
“I guess,” Will said. He bounced on his heels as his bus turned the corner. “Look, I got to run.”
“I’m serious, Will--”
“I know, I know,” Will said. “I’ll call you later -- bye!”
He didn’t wait for a salutation before he hung up. Jay had his worries, but Will had more practical concerns. Jay had the luxury of worrying about the big picture. As for Will, he just needed to get through another day.
And besides, Jay was overreacting.
Political discord.
Threats of violence.
Gang activity.
Whatever.
Jay was really overreacting.
100 percent, completely overreacting.
-o-
Except Jay was not overreacting.
Will tried to downplay it as best it could, shoving the notion of political instability to the back of his mind, but it was a pretty difficult task. Now that he was listening to it, he could hear the chatter he’d been ignoring. It wasn’t gossip. People were making plans about what to do if things got worse.
And then, things did get worse.
Within a week of his phone call, some of the local governments were falling. Mostly in the suburbs, and a string of small towns in the outer provinces. Gang activity was picking up, and the lack of unified movement between the groups seemed to be the only reason a larger strike hadn’t happened.
Yet.
Some people were already starting to leave. The city streets were tense, and people seemed to be staying inside more. Hospital employees were starting to disappear, transferring out of the region or up and up quitting with little to no notice. They were running on a skeleton staff, and Will had given up trying to go home. He was living at the hospital now, feeling as though the outside world was starting to press in on him from all sides.
He would normally call it paranoia.
It wasn’t.
After another few days, even Adam drew him aside, looking gravely concerned. Alone in the locker room, Adam sat Will down, poised across from him on one of the benches.
“So,” Adam said. “Another two doctors quit.”
Will’s brows drew together as he mentally did the math on that one. “Who?”
“Gilles from pediatrics. Agumi from radiology,” Adam said. He inhaled with a slow certainty, and he looked fully at Will. “What about you?”
The question hardly computed. He tilted his head to the side. “Me?”
“Will I be fielding your resignation soon?” Adam asked, getting straight to the point. There was no humor in his voice. There was no lightness in his expression. He was serious.
Although the situation was hardly new by now, Adam’s sudden shift in tone still caught Will off guard. It wasn’t a question he’d considered, and now that it was posed to him, he wasn’t sure what to think. “Should I?” Will asked in return.
Adam inclined his head. “Well, no one would blame you do,” he said. He shook his head sadly. “As much as I would hate to see you go, I, too, would understand.”
Adam was being gracious, but there was real tension to the query. Adam was worried about his safety; Adam was worried about how to operate his hospital without his right-hand man.
Will oriented himself on that. “Well, you’re staying,” he said. “So, I mean, things can’t be that bad.”
“Oh, do not let me deceive you. It is that bad. The organization board met earlier today, and they wanted to close the hospital due to the increasing threat. I refused because I cannot leave these people. I will stay as long as I must, but the risk is real,” Adam explained. “This is a real risk for me. But you? You are an American. You must know what that means. As things get worse, you will become a target. There is no guarantee of your safety.”
The warning was dire, then. The threat was real. Will thought of Jay, half a world away. His brother had implored him to stay safe, but what did that mean? When there was still a job to do? Friends to stand by?
Was Will making the same mistakes?
Or was he finally finding the right place to stand his ground?
It was hard to be sure -- Will lacked faith in his own judgement. He had started to let himself be happy again -- from time to time -- and maybe that was part of the problem. Maybe he was fooling himself. Maybe he was letting himself get weak again.
Disaster was his instinct, it seemed.
So how did he make the right choice? How did he know what was right?
To put himself last. To take the safe, the comfortable, the convenient -- and do it the hard way.
“Then, I’m a target,” Will said with a certainty tinged with desperation. “I mean, it doesn’t really matter, does it? This, what we’re doing here, this isn’t about me. I’m here to serve. I’ll follow your direction, no matter what.”
“I cannot give you this order,” Adam said. “You are my friend, and I will not put you at risk--”
“But you’re not,” Will said. “I’m finishing what I started. Until you tell me the job is done, I’m here, okay? I’m here.”
“I admire you, my friend,” Adam said with an earnest nod. “I will stay with you.”
Will laughed at him. “This is your home. Where else are you going to go?”
Adam winked back with his trademark mischievous grin. “Well, you know better than I do how tempting it is to run away from home, hm?”
Enough time had passed -- enough friendship had been built -- so the jab wasn’t painful but familiar like it was intended. It was the kind of banter he might have shared with Jay back in Chicago. It was good. In the midst of everything bad, that much was good.
“Well, I’m still here, aren’t I?” Will asked coyly. “So we know anything is possible.”
-o-
Another week passed. It was quieter, uneventful. Though understaffed, things were operating smoothly, and there were no signs of growing turmoil in the outside world. If anything, things seemed better.
And then, one day, they didn’t.
-o-
There was nothing particularly auspicious about the day. Will had been working almost nonstop in the last week. With reduced staff, it was hard to keep the ED running, and all the remaining attendings were forced to cover the extra shifts to make up the difference. It was busy and stressful, but Will had never really minded. Since coming to Africa, he still felt at his best when he could put his head down and just work.
So that was what he did.
He worked.
That morning, it had been an uneventful shift. There were a few patients held over from the night shift, but Will and Adam managed to get them discharged as a few morning stragglers started to come in. Someone with food poisoning. A kitchen accident with a sliced finger. Will had pulled the case of a young woman with a broken arm. He was just finishing splinting the broken limb, readying her for casting, when he heard the commotion.
Now, when you worked in an ED as long as Will had, you were used to commotion. Trauma always came with a little bit of chaos; it was part of the game. In Chicago, the ED had used a robust security checkpoint system to keep most of the worst craziness from breaching into the trauma area, but even then, things still went down.
In Africa, Will had quickly acclimated to a level of increased insanity. Fights were common as gang members crossed paths, and security had had to disarm people more than once. It happened enough that Will recognized the sound of gunfire immediately.
Ducking down, he pulled his patient with him, mindful of her arm. “Just keep low, back in the corner,” he said to her, guiding her to the most secure location as per protocol. “I’ll see what’s going on.”
She looked scared, but not terrified. This wasn’t out of the norm for either, apparently. Edging along, Will kept low to the ground, keeping out of sight from the windows. Usually, the gunfire was over as quickly as it started. This time, however, the initial pop was followed by another series of pops. By the time Will got to the window, he could hear the yelling outside.
Yelling.
And wails.
More gunfire followed, splintering the window above him. It cracked but didn’t shatter, and Will saw the bullet hole lodged in the wall above the exam bed as more yelling ensued.
Concerned, he shifted back, trying to keep his profile low while still getting a glimpse of the open area near the nurse’s station and reception desk. To his surprise, the area had been all but abandoned. He saw two men, both clad in local gang colors and heavily armed, strutting by. There was more yelling -- someone in scrubs scurried past, ducking into a room out of view -- and then three more men in similar garb were visible.
They were poking another man, a man in a white coat and scrubs.
It was Dr. Salvo -- Chief of Staff. Dr. Salvo was the hands-off leader of the hospital and Adam’s direct boss. Adam didn’t love Dr. Salvo’s style, but since the man gave Adam a lot of leeway to run the ED as he saw fit and necessary, it seemed to be an acceptable arrangement. Will didn’t know the guy well -- he wasn’t particularly accessible, and he didn’t make a strong impression. Also, Will’s entire professional goal was to stay off his boss’ radar as much as humanly possible.
That said, he felt some relief knowing that whatever was going down, Dr. Salvo surely would have it under control. Adam talked a lot about what went on behind the scenes to mitigate the violence. Hospital leaders were in constant talks with gang members to try to quell the violence -- from the hospital’s walls, at least.
Dr. Salvo put his hands up, and Will could see him launch into a diatribe.
A diatribe that was quickly cut off by a bullet to the head.
Despite himself, Will flinched. He had worked in the aftermath of violence for most of his adult life, but seeing it happen? Up close and live? To someone he knew?
It felt like a bullet hit him as well, he jolted so badly. Shock flooded his system, washing hot and cold down his spine as he broke out into a sweat. His stomach threatened to turn, even if he wasn’t squeamish. He hadn’t felt this way since Tim Burke held a gun to his head and told him to turn around.
For a moment, his mind went blank as he reeled. Salvo had fallen to the ground, and from his obscured vantage point, Will could still see his wide, sightless eyes. The back of his head was gone.
Behind him, the girl was starting to cry. “What’s happening?” she asked in terrified, fragmented English. “What’s happening?”
Will had gone numb, but people out in the lobby started screaming again. The unexpected display of violence sent people taking shelter into a panic. Frantic to find shelter now that safety was not guaranteed, they scurried out of their cubby holes and corners. Will was horrified when he saw the leader take his gun and start to pick them off.
One of the nurses went down; so did a visitor. The desk clerk took a round to the chest and fell back abruptly, and Will saw one of his fellow attending come out with his hands up, just to be blasted back as well.
The sudden eruption fo violence seemed unexpected to the rest of the gang members as well. They started arguing against themselves, and one of them shot another. As the chaos erupted in earnest, Will saw his chance. Creeping to the door, he opened it. He saw another nurses scampering by, and he beckoned her in. Another CNA followed suit, and so did a visitor he didn’t recognize, dragging the bleeding form of another one of the nurses.
Will hurried them inside, closing the door quickly. There was no locking mechanism on the doors, and it would have been pointless anyway. The windows were too easy to break, and if the bad guys wanted in, they would get in.
The only saving grace -- temporary though it would probably be -- was that the attack was strong but not well organized. As the gang members vied for the right to dictate what happened next, Will could see that they hadn’t fully thought this through. The fact that they hadn’t decided that it was going to be a straight-up massacre might work in their favor.
If they played their cards right.
But who was they?
Dr. Salvo was in charge -- and he was dead. Technically, down in the ED, that would put Adam as the next in command, but he was nowhere to be seen. Will had seen him in the lounge earlier in the morning, but that had been a while ago. There was no sign of him out in the melee.
Then, just because things weren’t crazy enough, the rest of the security team showed up. Will wasn’t sure where they’d been when this started, but they were there now, and Will barely had time to duck back down when fresh gunfire started up once more. This time, it was more rapid and more erratic.
“Back -- back,” Will said, shoving the new arrivals as far away from the window as possible. It still wasn’t enough cover. Will flipped the gurney over with a crash, positioning in front of the small group he’d collected for as much protection as he could muster on short notice.
Most of them were crying now, and Will could smell blood -- at least one of them was bleeding. He could only hope that it wasn’t life threatening for the moment, because it was all he could do to keep his cool at a moment like this -- he wasn’t sure he could throw triage on top of that.
The firefight was still intensifying, and Will saw the wall above them riddled with bullets. He pulled down one of the nurses even more, almost pressing himself on top of her just in case.
“Just stay down,” he coached them all, as if that was going to be enough. “Stay down, stay quiet.”
He’d never been in combat before, and usually in these situations, he was trusting the guidance of someone else.
Except there was no one else.
He could almost feel Jay’s intense disapproval from all the way in Chicago. When he found out about this, he was never going to let Will hear the end of it. You were working in a warzone, Will. An actual warzone.
Jay would tell him to look for an escape -- one exit, currently under siege with gunfire -- and if that wasn’t possible, he would tell Will to stay low and remain sheltered until help arrived.
Except Will wasn’t sure help was arriving.
At least, not the kind of help he was going to need.
The girl still had a broken arm. One nurse looked fine, but one of the visitors had a gash on his forehead. The other guest seemed to be nearly hysterical, and the second nurse had been shot in the leg.
People were scared and hurt.
And Will was a doctor.
In a hospital.
There happened to be gunfire going on outside, but there was nothing Will could do about that.
What he could do, however, was start helping people.
He grappled across the floor, finding the overturned medical tray. He poked through it, coming up with a piece of gauze. He handed it to the nurse who wasn’t hurt. “Cindy, can you use this to apply pressure to that man’s head?” he said.
She looked at him like he might be crazy.
“I know,” Will said. “But you can do it right here. Keep low, keep very low.”
The gunfire had become intermittent outside, but there were still pockets of intense exchange while security and gang members vied for position.
Will pulled the rest of the kit with him, looking to the nurse he had pushed beneath him. “Hey, Moni,” he said, trying to smile. “How are you doing?”
Moni was a local girl, but she was young. Breathing rapidly, her eyes were wet. “Those idiots came and shot me up,” she hissed angrily. “How bad is it?”
Will plucked gently at her scrubs, trying to get a look. “Through and through, to your side,” he said. “Obviously, we can’t do a scan right now, but it looks like it probably missed your vital organs.”
She grimaced, clearly trying to work through her pain. “And the blood?”
“Well, let’s work on that right now,” he said, trying to sound casual, even as a few more stray bullets punctured the wall above them.
The girl with the broken arm was sobbing again. Will turned back, still crouched as low as possible. “Ma’am, do you think you can comfort her?” he said, nodding to the second visitor. She was more shellshocked than hurt, by the looks of things, but Will would have to make sure she got a once-over later. “You two can just sit together, but be mindful of her wrist. She broke it.”
The woman grunted, clearly not well versed in English. “But those men--”
“Are outside for now,” Will said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, so I’m not going to lie to you. But we can help each other. We can help each other right here, right now.”
It wasn’t clear how much she understood, but the sentiment was plain enough. The woman nodded gruffly, inching her way to the girl. The girl tensed, but as the woman leaned in, she leaned back. Within seconds, they were wrapped in one another.
Will turned back to Moni. “Okay,” he said. “Let’s take a look at that wound.”
The situation was tense, to be sure, so his bedside manner had to be impeccable. With a gentle smile, he coaxed Moni to allow him to lift the hem of her shirt for a closer look at the bullet wound. It was as he’d expected, a through and through to the side. It was bleeding, but not copiously. He took a numbing agent to help dull the area before grappling for something to clean it out. Without scans, it was impossible to tell if she needed something more substantial, but bandaging the wound would help slow the bleeding even more and reduce the risk of infection.
He had just gotten an IV hung for Moni while the others sat tight. He was turning back to the man with a head wound when the door opened.
Will startled, trying to keep himself in front of the others, but he quickly recognized Ahmed from security.
He looked like he was having a worse day than Will.
“Dr. Halstead? We are here to clear the room,” Ahmed explained. He had a gun at the ready, but he was careful not to point it in their direction. Will had spent enough time around Chicago PD to know it was loaded -- and that Ahmed had probably been using it recently.
Will got up, pulling away from the small crowd of others he’d been caring for. “Clear it? So the hospital is safe?”
Ahmed’s expression was dark. He glanced at the others anxiously, and lowered his voice to Will. “No,” he said. “Armed forces are still outside, but we’ve established a line in the lobby. It’s holding for now, but our security forces have been thinned out -- and there’s no way for police backup to get inside. We can keep them out -- and keep everyone else out as well.
Will had to grimace. “And we can’t get out either,” he surmised.
Ahmed didn’t contradict him. “What do we have here?” he asked, nodding at the group cowered behind them.
“Two nurses, one with a minor gunshot wound to the side. It needs further evaluation, but she seems stable,” he said. “One patient with an unset broken arm. Another with a head lac. The last is a visitor, I think. She’s overwhelmed, but fine physically.”
Ahmed nodded. “There are several casualties so far, mostly security forces, a few staff, and a few civilians,” he said. “Have you seen Dr. Salvo?”
“Dr. Salvo is dead,” Will said, nodding grimly to the body just outside the door. “Has anyone seen Dr. Goshit?”
“No,” Ahmed said. “You’re the first attending we’ve found. How do you want to proceed?”
Will stared at him for a moment, taken aback. “How do I want to proceed? But I’m not in charge.”
“Dr. Salvo is dead. Dr. Goshit is not present,” Ahmed said. “I’m here as a security presence, but you are the only attending I can find. So how do you want to proceed?”
Standing there, Will was momentarily dumbfounded.
How did he want to proceed?
What kind of question was that?
Who was he to do this? To make these calls? What authority did he have? What right?
The problem was, he was the only one to do this, to make these calls. His authority came because he was the one who knew what to do. He’d studied the protocols, and he’d honed his skills in strife and chaos. What right did he have not to act when he had the capability?
That was it, then.
Will nodded his head, eyes on Ahmed once more. “Okay,” he said. “Follow me.”