To the Bone
Chapter One
"Mercy ER, this is Medic Twelve with Code Three traffic."
The voice, choppy with static and backed by a wailing siren, came over Mercy Hospital's paramedic radio, from an ambulance out on the San Francisco streets. Code Three meant that it was racing toward the hospital as fast as the night allowed.
The Mobile Intensive Care nurse monitoring the radio leaned closer and pressed the talk button on the handset.
"Medic Twelve, this is Mercy ER," she said. "Go ahead."
Carroll Monks walked across the Emergency Room and stood beside her, listening.
"Mercy ER, we're bringing you a young white female, age approximately twenty-five. She's unconscious, with almost no blood pressure. She does have a very weak femoral pulse, but no radial pulses. Ah, hold on a second, Mercy."
Monks heard the driver yell something to his partner in the ambulance's rear. His words and the reply were lost in noise.
The driver's voi ... read full excerpt from To the Bone ebook
