Into the Light (Dark #2)

by J. G. Sumner

  Into the Light

  The Dark Series, Book 2

  By J.G. Sumner

  INTO THE LIGHT

  Copyright © 2017 by J.G. Sumner.

  All rights reserved.

  First Print Edition: February 2017

  Limitless Publishing, LLC

  Kailua, HI 96734

  www.limitlesspublishing.com

  Formatting: Limitless Publishing

  ISBN-13: 978-1-64034-002-2

  ISBN-10: 1-64034-002-5

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  Dedication

  Thomas and Katie, your strength, kindness, and faith are amazing. You are such an inspiration.

  In memory of: Daniel James

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Epilogue

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  “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.

  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

  —Martin Luther King Jr.

  Chapter 1

  Josh

  Dr. Josh Stone stood helpless as Laney, seemingly in slow motion, fell to the floor. The thud of her body hitting the tiles shot goose bumps through his flesh. For a brief moment, he was paralyzed. His girlfriend, also a trauma nurse, had been shot by the patient they had been taking care of. The sight of the man sitting up and grabbing Officer Miller’s gun from his holster replayed in Josh’s brain. The man pointed it at Laney and shot her several times before anyone was able to subdue him. Now, Josh stood helplessly as she lay motionless on the floor. How could this happen in his trauma room? Why couldn’t he protect Laney? His knees seemed to buckle as he sank to Laney’s side, stethoscope dangling from his neck.

  Laney’s curly blonde hair covered much of her face, but it was clear she was unconscious. Josh gently shook her, hoping for the slightest response. There was none. She had been shot in the chest.

  Someone shrieked. One of the ER nurses, Dinah, looked shocked, both hands covering her mouth. She pointed to the floor. A puddle of blood oozed from under Laney. His nose wrinkled from the metallic aroma.

  Josh fought the anger raging inside him. He wanted to make the son-of-a-bitch who shot Laney pay for hurting her.

  For now, he had to let the cops handle it. Josh took a deep breath and struggled to regain his composure, but failed miserably.

  “My God! Laney! How could this happen?” His face was hot. He swiped at it with his blood-soaked hands and realized he was crying.

  “Dr. Stone! Dr. Stone!”

  Josh looked up. Dinah’s lips were moving, but her words weren’t computing. A couple of techs and nurses eased Laney from his arms. Not only did he feel the emptiness, but it also plagued his heart and his soul.

  Josh helped lift Laney onto a gurney. Dinah placed her hand on his shoulder. “You need to help her. She needs you now more than ever.”

  Dinah put her cold hands on Josh’s flushed face. “Dr. Stone, I know you’re in shock, but you need to focus. You’re the only one who can save her.”

  Josh turned his head, causing the frigid hands to fall from his face. He rubbed his swollen eyes and surveyed the room. The devastation was beyond words. Officer Miller had the man who shot Laney subdued in handcuffs. He lay on the table with his disheveled hair covering his face. Someone must have sedated him because he wasn’t moving. Equipment had been knocked over and supplies thrown everywhere. Josh’s heart rate sped up as he cast his eyes down at the pool of blood surrounding his feet.

  “Where is she?”

  “They’ve taken her to the OR to get her prepped. You need to get down there right now. Dr. Nessler is coming in to finish up with this guy.”

  Josh darted out of the room with an urgency he never felt before. With each step he took, his pace quickened until he was in a full sprint to the OR.

  When Josh arrived, the anesthesiologist already had Laney intubated and sedated and was inserting a central line. The nurses had just finished putting in peripheral IVs.

  “Hang two units of O positive PRBC’s. Tell the blood bank to have more on standby. She will need them.”

  “Are you sure you want O positive and not O negative?” questioned Sandra, the OR nurse.

  “Yes! Laney is O positive!” Josh barked.

  He rushed to Laney. He took a step back seeing her naked body lying lifeless on the table. Blood still seeped from the bullet wounds. He took a deep breath, steadied himself, and promptly got to work.

  “Has anyone called the cardiothoracic surgeon?”

  “Yes, he’s been called,” Sandra stated.

  “Who’s on call today?” Josh mentally crossed his fingers it was his friend Nathan.

  “It’s Dr. George. He should be here any minute.”

  Josh sighed. “Thank God. Have chest x-rays been performed?”

  “Yes, we also did a CT of her abdomen. There were two bullets that landed there. One hit the large intestine. The other looks as though it may have grazed the liver. There doesn’t appear to be any bleeding, so it may not have been hit. A bullet also went through the right lower lobe of her lung. The worst of the injuries is her heart. She took a direct hit to her left ventricle. She’s losing a lot of blood. I have everything set up when you’re ready to go, Dr. Stone.”

  “Let’s get her chest cracked. We can’t waste a moment. Dr. George will start to work as soon as he gets here.”

  One of the techs handed Josh a scalpel. He made an incision straight down the center of Laney’s chest to her abdomen. They would need the entire area to work. Once the incision was made, the tech handed Josh the saw. He carefully cut down the middle of the sternum. The sound of metal against bone was raw like Josh’s emotions. It was surreal to know it was Laney.

  Josh pulled apart Laney’s sternum and held it open with a sternal retractor.

  “Oh, Jesus.”

  “Dr. Stone, what is it?” the nurse asked.

  “The bullet went through her ventricle.” Oh my God, she’s not going to make it. Josh stared at Laney’s heart losing blood at an alarming rate. If something wasn’t done fast, she would bleed out.

  Josh stuck his finger over the hole in an attempt to temporarily stop the bleeding. He needed a moment to think. Hi
s mind raced like cars on a highway. He hadn’t been trained in heart surgery. He was a trauma surgeon. This was more than he was capable of. But he was the only doctor. He had to try something or Laney would be dead in minutes.

  Frantic beeping started to his left. Josh didn’t have to look to know Laney’s blood pressure had plummeted. He was going to lose her.

  “Keep the blood coming! Use the warmer and pump it in as fast as you can. She’s losing it too fast!”

  Josh envisioned cars on a highway. He hoped the answers he needed would flash before him. It was if he drove down the road and looked up at one of the signs indicating an Amber Alert or traffic congestion. The answer was written clearly across the screen.

  “Put her on the heart-lung bypass machine, and cool her down. We need her to be down to 18 degrees centigrade.”

  “Yes, Dr. Stone. Right away.” Sandra rushed across the room grabbing the cooling blanket and ordered the tech to get the machine ready to go.

  The crew scrambled to hook Laney to the equipment. Josh’s hand grew sore from holding it in one spot for several minutes, but there was no way he would let go. Laney’s life depended on it.

  The doors to the OR flew open, hitting the walls behind them. Nathan George raced in the room at Mach speed. “Josh, bring me up to speed on what’s happening.”

  Josh sighed and performed a Hail Mary in his head before updating Nathan on the events that had taken place up to this point. “You need to help her!”

  Josh stood there, silently pleading for this nightmare to be over. He finally got Laney to fall in love with him only to have it taken away in a flash. “What other injuries does she have?”

  “There are at least two wounds in the abdomen, and another on the right side of her chest. I haven’t had a chance to explore those yet.”

  “What’s her temperature now?”

  “She’s at nineteen degrees Celsius,” called Sandra.

  “Okay. That’s good enough. Let me take over. You explore the other wounds.”

  Josh looked at Laney, and then at Nathan.

  Dr. George made eye contact with Josh. “It’s okay. You need to let go if you want me to have a shot at fixing her.”

  Josh hesitated before removing his finger. The blood flow had slowed to just a trickle. Cooling Laney had worked. Josh moved out of the way as Nathan got right to work. He focused on Laney and seemed to forget Josh was even there.

  Josh moved down to Laney’s abdomen. The incision he cut earlier had made it easier for him to get in and investigate the extent of her injuries.

  An extensive amount of blood had pooled. Like her heart, the blood had slowed to a trickle. Thankfully, none of her vital organs had been injured. He worked his hands through her intestines and located the wounds and both bullets. Josh let out a sigh and was almost ready to wave a victory flag. The injuries to Laney’s stomach were minimal and would be an easy fix.

  Since the stomach didn’t need immediate attention, he moved to the right side of Laney’s chest. Careful not to get in Nathan’s way, he assessed the wound.

  “I need to see the chest x-ray.”

  Sandra responded quickly. “Yes, Dr. Stone. I’ll pull it up for you.”

  Josh studied the film. The hole was a clear opening at the bottom of her right lung. He didn’t see a bullet. That meant it went right through Laney. Damn, she would need the lower portion of her lung removed. Since she was on the heart-lung bypass machine, Dr. George could perform the thoracotomy once he finished repairing Laney’s heart—if he could repair it.

  Josh moved back to Laney’s abdomen. As he worked, he replayed the shooting in his head. Everything still moved in slow motion. Josh mentally scolded himself when he teased Laney regarding her choice in men. Perhaps if they hadn’t been joking, he would’ve been more aware of the patient waking up. Maybe he could have prevented this.

  The monitor alarm blared. Laney was in ventricular fibrillation. His heart sank into his stomach. His hands froze with the instruments in them. He could no longer move. This was so uncharacteristic of him. Nathan inserted the internal defibrillator and shocked Laney’s heart. Her body jolted, shaking the table with each shock delivered. Time seemed to stand still. Nathan’s mouth moved, but Josh couldn’t hear any sounds. The alarming stopped, and a rhythmic beeping began.

  Josh was still frozen. Nathan nudged his arm and nodded for him to continue. Josh glanced down at the instruments that were still in his hands. He took a deep breath and let his autopilot take over.

  Sweat poured down his friend’s face as though he were on a summer hike through the Sahara Desert. Jim, the scrub tech, wiped it away with a sterile towel. Josh observed Nathan as he contemplated every possible option before he cut, grafted, or stitched. It was clear he was frustrated. Nathan turned and nodded to Josh. That nod, that small gesture, gave Josh the strength and tenacity to keep plugging away. If Nathan hadn’t lost hope, neither should Josh.

  Josh’s partner, Dr. Milken, entered the operating room and offered his assistance. Josh slumped his shoulders and struggled to hold the tears threatening to purge his eyes of the events he had witnessed earlier in the day. Milken offered to take over for Josh and strongly urged him to take a respite, but Josh refused. He was afraid Laney wouldn’t make it through the surgery if he left. Faithfully, Dr. Milken stood by his side and assisted him as necessary.

  Josh finished fixing Laney’s abdomen before Nathan finished with her heart and lung. Josh moved to the corner of the room and stood by motionless as Nathan soldiered on. He was determined to be the rock Laney needed to make it through the surgery.

  As soon as Nathan started to close Laney’s chest, the tension melted from Josh’s shoulders like warm butter on a hot day. He stopped holding his breath, swallowed, and inhaled the deepest breath he could muster. Josh needed Laney to survive the tragedy. Maybe a day that had started with so much despair would somehow end triumphantly.

  Josh observed as the team prepared Laney to move to the intensive care unit. His thinking seemed to clear. Josh took a deep breath to pull himself together before heading to the doctor’s lounge. He had this sudden urge to take a shower and purge himself of the blood and despair that had soaked through his skin and into his core. He stood under the steaming water and allowed it to burn his skin for several minutes. He tried scrubbing all the ugliness from the day off his flesh, but it wouldn’t disappear. Even after he had washed and dressed in clean clothes, Josh still did not feel clean. Perhaps nothing could purge the thoughts in his head and exhaustion from his body.

  A sense of urgency attacked Josh as he realized Laney had no one by her side. Her family didn’t even know she’d been hurt. Josh gathered his things and prepared to contact someone related to Laney.

  When he arrived at the ICU, the staff was scurrying around Laney’s room getting her settled. Things seemed to be going as well as could be expected. She was for the most part stable. Not wanting to be in the way, Josh left the room. He sat at the nurse’s station, to input the orders for Laney. When he finished, he pulled Laney’s phone from his pocket. Josh scrolled through her contacts looking for her parent’s phone number. He came upon Peyton’s number. He wasn’t sure whom to call first. Peyton was her best friend and lived relatively close by. He wasn’t sure where her parents lived. He remembered Laney told him it was out of state.

  Without much debate, Josh decided to call Peyton. He selected her name in the list of contacts and hit Call. Peyton answered after only one ring.

  “Hey girl, what’s up?”

  Josh could barely find his voice. “Peyton?”

  “Yeah, who is this?”

  “It’s Josh.”

  “Oh hey, Josh. I mean Dr. Stone. What’s going on? Why do you have Laney’s phone?”

  He’d given this same speech so many times before when he had to call patients’ family members. He had the words memorized as if it were a script out of a play. But this time, he had trouble speaking the words. They didn’t want to come out.


  “Peyton, there’s been a terrible accident. A patient shot Laney at work today. She’s here in the ICU.”

  “Oh my God! Is she okay?” Peyton’s voice cracked.

  “She’s in very critical condition. I just got out of surgery with her. I think she’ll make it, but she had some very serious injuries.”

  Peyton began sobbing, which only opened the floodgates for Josh’s own tears.

  “Where was she shot?”

  He cleared his throat. His voice was shaky. “Ahh…She was shot four times. Twice in the stomach, once in the lung, and once in the heart.”

  “She was shot in the heart? How bad is it?”

  “The bullet hit her left ventricle. Dr. George was able to repair it.”

  “Oh thank God! Do her parents know?”

  “I was going to call them next. I know they live out of state. I figured I would call you first, so you could come be with her.”

  “Thank you. I’ll come right now. Do you want me to call her parents?”

  Josh pondered for a moment. “No, I think it would be better if I do.”

  “They’re usually home most evenings. They live in a pretty rural town, and there isn’t a lot to do.

  “Even though Josh and Laney had only been dating for a few weeks, he was still surprised Laney hadn’t told her parents about him. Of course, there were things he hadn’t shared with her, like his sister’s past, but he had told Laney about his mom and how his dad died. She must have a good reason for keeping quiet. Well, now wasn’t the time to worry about it. At this point, he had to be her doctor, not her boyfriend. “Thanks for the heads-up.”

  Peyton stopped crying. “Look, Josh, I’m on the way. If there’s anything you need, call me. I’ll be there as soon as I can.

  “Thanks, Peyton. I’ll see you soon.”

  Josh hung up the phone, selected Mom and Dad from the contact list, and hit “Call.” Josh navigated through the discussion easier than with Peyton. Maybe it was because they were strangers. Whatever the reason, it was a little easier to relay the horrific news.