Chapter 3 - The Awakening
I opened my eyes to the steady, rhythmic beeping of a heart monitor.
My throat felt like sandpaper, raw from the intubation tube that had recently been removed. I tried to move my hand, but an IV line pulled tight against my skin.
"Don't move, sweetheart," a gentle voice said.
I turned my head, wincing at the pain in my abdomen. A nurse with kind, tired eyes was adjusting my IV drip.
"My... my baby," I croaked, the words barely audible.
"He's in the NICU," the nurse smiled softly. "He's small, and he had a rough start, but he is a fighter. He's stable. You had a massive placental abruption. You flatlined on the table, Sarah. We almost lost you."
Tears welled in my eyes. "Is... is my husband here?"
The nurse’s smile faltered. She looked down at the chart in her hands, avoiding my gaze. "We’ve been calling his cell phone for twenty-four hours, Sarah. He hasn't answered once. We had to leave voicemails."
Twenty-four hours. I had been lying here bleeding to death, and he hadn't even bothered to pick up the phone. The last shred of love I had for David evaporated in that cold hospital room, replaced by an ice-cold, diamond-hard resolve.
"I need my phone," I whispered.
The nurse retrieved my phone from a plastic belongings bag. I had fifty missed calls, but none from David.
With trembling fingers, I dialed a number I hadn't called in three years. The number of the man David didn't know existed. The man I had alienated because David had convinced me my family was "too intense" and "controlling."
The line rang twice.
"Sarah?" The deep, gravelly voice of my older brother echoed through the speaker.
"Marcus," I choked out, a sob finally breaking through my chest. "I need you. I'm at City General. I almost died... and I'm all alone."
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There was a fraction of a second of dead silence. Then, the voice of Captain Marcus Hayes of the United States Army Special Forces shifted from a surprised brother to a lethal commander.
"I'm on my way."
