“What medication did she receive?”
The resident read the list.
Lauren shook her head.
“Again.”
He repeated it.
Lauren stared at the screen.
“Where’s the heparin?”
“What heparin?”
“Exactly.”
She pushed toward the computer.
“Run an anti-Xa level.”
The resident frowned.
“She’s not on anticoagulation.”
“I know.”
Twenty minutes later, the result came back.
Positive.
A massive level.
Someone had given Madison an anticoagulant.
Enough to restart internal bleeding.
Security pulled camera footage.
The phlebotomist was not a hospital employee.
The badge was fake.
The man had entered through a loading dock using credentials belonging to an employee on vacation.
By the time police locked down the building, he was gone.
But Madison was alive.
Again.
Lauren had saved her twice without ever intending to.
By afternoon, the story had become impossible to contain.
A billionaire CEO.
A wounded executive.
Police at a major Chicago hospital.
Security lockdown.
