Chapter 3 - The Midnight Sirens
The wail of approaching sirens sliced through the heavy Chicago night, echoing off the towering steel beams of Union Station.
Annie remained frozen on her knees, pressing two fingers against Daniel Moretti’s wrist, feeling the agonizingly slow, thready beat of his pulse. The dispatcher on the phone was finally relaying units to their exact coordinates, but to Annie, every second stretched like a rubber band about to snap.
“Stay with me,” Annie whispered, tears finally spilling over her lashes. “My grandma says breathing is important. Just breathe.”
A pair of transit police officers burst through the crowd, followed closely by two paramedics wheeling a gurney.
“Step back, young lady! Let the medical team work!” an officer commanded, gently pulling Annie away by her shoulders.
Annie stumbled back, clutching her canvas bag to her chest. She watched as the paramedics swarmed Daniel. One of them immediately pressed an oxygen mask over his face while another hooked up a portable defibrillator.
“V-fib arrest! Charge to two hundred!” shouted the lead paramedic.
A sharp electrical jolt caused Daniel’s broad shoulders to arch off the concrete. For a terrifying second, the monitor flatlined. A low, collective gasp rose from the small crowd of onlookers who had finally gathered.
“Come on, damn it, breathe!” the paramedic cursed, slamming his palms against Daniel’s chest in rapid rhythm.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
A ragged, agonizing gasp tore from Daniel’s throat. The monitor chirped back to life—a slow, erratic rhythm, but a heartbeat nonetheless.
“We got a pulse! Let’s move him now!”
As the paramedics hoisted Daniel onto the stretcher, his heavy black wool coat slipped open, and a heavy leather wallet fell from his inner pocket, spilling its contents across the wet floor. A gold-embossed card fluttered down right near Annie’s sneakers.
Without thinking, Annie bent down and picked it up. It was a heavy, cream-colored business card bearing a single name and a direct private phone number: Daniel Moretti. Chairman, Moretti Global Holdings.
May you like
Before she could hand it to anyone, a paramedic scooped up the scattered cards, and the gurney was wheeled rapidly toward the ambulance idling at the emergency exit.
Annie stood alone on the platform. The last train to Bridgeport was long gone. Her canvas bag felt heavy in her hand, the medicine inside intended for a grandmother who was currently waiting anxiously in an empty house.
