“I’ll clear a space in the back,” Jacob said.
He frantically moved computer parts, making an area large enough for Gomez.
“Does anyone have any blankets we can lay down for him?” he called. “And one to carry him.”
“I’ll get some,” a young Steamer girl said and ran off to one of the shacks.
When she came back, Sandy grabbed the blankets and lined the floor of the van with them. Jacob, Pigeon Eater, and two Steamers placed a blanket next to Gomez, putting him on it as carefully as they could. Gomez grunted in pain as they grabbed the corners of the blanket and lifted him. Kat got in the van first and helped guide him in. She took off her jacket and rolled it up to use as a pillow. Jacob pulled his code deck out of his jacket, scanned Gomez’s tattoo, and sent him some morphine code.
“Thank you,” he said to Pigeon Eater and the Steamers and got in the driver's seat. Sandy got in next to him and he started back down the levels of the garage, taking the corners as fast as he thought he could without jostling Gomez too much.
He tried to focus on the road and the cars in front of him, but the sounds of Gomez groaning in pain drew his focus away. He glanced at Sandy. Tears silently ran down her face.
“We’ll get him there. We’ll get him there.”
He wasn’t sure if he was trying to convince her, or convince himself.
Chapter 29
Jacob ran a red light, sending the van through an intersection, clipping the rear end of a car.
“Damn it,” he said.
“We’re almost there,” Sandy said.
Jacob handed his code deck to Sandy. “Pull up a painkiller for me.”
“Did you get hit?”
“It’s my ankle. I twisted it. Pressing on the gas is starting to hurt,” he said, holding his forearm out for her to scan his tattoo.
Sandy scanned the tattoo and sent the code.
“Thanks.”
He maneuvered the van around the other vehicles on the road, cutting in front of them, forcing their safety protocols to brake. He tried to drive as fast as he could without sending Gomez sliding into the shelves that lined the back of the van. He could feel his ankle swelling, pressing on the sides of his boot. It’s nothing, he told himself. The only thing that mattered was getting Gomez to the hospital. He tried to will his sense of urgency to the van’s engine to give it more power, more speed. But mixed with the urgency he felt was a sense of responsibility. Ultimately, he put Gomez in this situation, and he couldn’t help feeling responsible. If he had refused to Johnson’s offer, Gomez would have been celebrating his engagement to Kat. He wouldn’t be in the back of the van, bleeding. Dying. But Johnson had been right, Jacob was desperate, and he allowed that desperation to control him and lead his friends into danger.
“He’s not going to die,” Sandy said.
“He’s not going to die.” He repeated her words as if they were a life-affirming incantation.
He pulled into the parking lot of the hospital, ignoring the security guard stepping out to allow them entrance. In the side mirror, Jacob could see the guard running after the van. He steered through the lanes of the parking lot, pulling up to the ambulance drop off.
He got out, running to the large glass doors, his adrenaline and the painkiller code keeping the throbbing in his ankle at bay.
Stepping up to the reception desk, he said, “We need a gurney, my friend’s been shot,” he said.
The nurse at the desk looked up. “You’re not allowed to park there. It’s for ambulances.”
Two security guards approached from down the hall.
“He’s dying. He needs help.”
“Does your friend have his corporate insurance identification?” the nurse asked, disinterested.
“I don’t know.”
“This is a corporate hospital, and regulations state that no one can enter the hospital for treatment without the proper insurance.”
“I don’t care. This was the closest hospital.”
The nurse made a tsk sound and said, “Maybe you should take him to the community hospital.”
“I told you, this was the closest hospital.”
The security guards stepped next to Jacob.
“Sir, you will have to move your van. This area is reserved for hospital approved ambulances,” one of the guards said.
“I don’t give a damn. My friend's been shot. He needs a doctor.”
The nurse looked at the guards. “I told him he would have to move. And that his friend needs the proper insurance or he has to go to a different hospital.”
“And I told you, I don’t know if he has insurance, and we’re already here.”
“You may purchase emergency insurance for fifty thousand credits. If your friend already has insurance, his company might refund you.”
Jacob stared at the nurse.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
“Please move your van before returning,” the guard said.
Jacob ran back down the hall. The large glass doors of the entrance opened and Johnson walked through.
Jacob stopped.
“I will take care of this, Mr. Quince,” Johnson said as he passed without looking at Jacob.
Johnson spoke to the nurse and the security guards. He took something out of his pocket and held it out for the nurse and guards to read. Jacob couldn’t see what it was, but the guards nodded and the nurse pressed a button near her station. A door down the hall burst open and a medical team with a gurney came rushing out. They shouted for Jacob to clear the way. In disbelief, he moved aside.
The medical team took Gomez out of the van and placed him on the gurney and rushed back through the hospital doors. Jacob caught a glimpse of Gomez. He looked lifeless, an empty shell.
Jacob tried to run beside the gurney. “You will have to wait out here,” one of the nurses said. He stopped and watched as Gomez was taken into the side doors.
Johnson came over to him. “Everything has been taken care of.”
Jacob barely heard what Johnson said. “What? How?”
“I simply told them the
