The boy’s mother started sobbing again and then shouted, ‘Oh god, no. Please, no.’
Hedge wasn’t sure what had happened. Several people in the crowded room turned their heads away and two of the women screamed. The lady wiping the blood away had started using the clean towel, but this was now also becoming saturated.
Hedge turned the boys head to one side to try and stop the blood draining back into his throat. The blood flow started slowing. After a few more seconds it had almost stopped. Hedge felt a wave of relief, but it wasn’t over yet.
‘Three minutes and fifteen seconds,’ the time keeper shouted.
Hedge could clearly see the hole in throat now and he reached for the tube that Antonio had provided. He thought it looked ideal for the job. It was a clear piece of piping made of some kind of thin, flexible plastic. It was around six inches long as he had requested. He pushed the tube into the boy’s throat so that half of it was still visible. He told the middle-aged woman, who had been wiping the blood, to try to make a seal around the tube where it connected with the boy’s throat. She found another fresh towel and placed it around the base of the tube and pressed down gently.
Hedge knew the young boy’s time must be nearly up. He had heard of people drowning in just one or two minutes and being unable to be resuscitated. He put his mouth around the tube and blew into it. The boy’s chest rose slightly. Hedge repeated this several times. Although the boy’s chest moved up and down as the air went into his lungs, he remained motionless.
‘Three minutes and thirty seconds.’
Hedge blew air into the tube in a regular rhythm and carried on doing so for a full minute. He stopped and looked up at the boy when the man with the watch called out the latest time at four minutes and thirty seconds. The boy lay quite still. Hedge realised it was too late. The crowd of people in the room had gone quiet. The mother of the boy was just sitting staring into space, tears running down her face. The younger brother sat whimpering in his chair with his head in his hands.
Hedge was devastated. He stopped blowing into the tube and looked down at the boy. He was quite still and his face had gone very pale. He looked completely lifeless. There was nothing more that Hedge could think of to do.
The boy was dead.
The Transamerica Cell: A fast paced, gripping, action adventure, conspiracy thriller, with a superb, breath-taking ending (Hedge & Cole Book 3) Page 20
