His face once more came into view, his handsome features as tense and pale as latex stretched over a skull. “Kathleen, our Chief of Neurosurgery, Tony Hamlin, is right here to take care of you.”
“Hi, Kathleen,” Hamlin said. “Sorry to meet you in such circumstances.”
“These people are the best,” Richard continued. “They’ll get you through this.” He leaned closer and whispered, “I love you.”
Please stay!
He turned, and out of the corner of her fixed field of vision she watched him disappear.
Then a nurse whipped off her blanket and proceeded to insert a catheter up her urethra. “Did the event happen during intercourse?” she asked coldly, examining the secretions she’d picked up between her gloved fingers.
“Isn’t that one of the classic presentations of an arterial rupture?” asked a curly-haired man in a short clinical jacket as he adjusted her IV. He didn’t look much older than her daughter Lisa, who’d just turned nineteen. Christ, Richard had left her in the hands of a kid.
“When you’ve finished what you’re doing, Doctor, why not step outside and get a proper history from Dr. Steele?” said the white-haired man behind her head as he proceeded to shine a penlight into her eyes. Despite the glare, she couldn’t avert her eyes, only blink. His face looked to be in pieces, like a Picasso.
The novels of Peter Clement
LETHAL PRACTICE
DEATH ROUNDS
THE PROCEDURE
MUTANT
“Compelling. . .An exciting and original story, well told.”
—Nelson DeMille, on The Procedure
“An intriguing medical puzzler with memorable characters—a winning combination.”
—Kathy Reichs, on The Procedure
“Thrilling and compelling.”
—Tess Gerritsen, on Mutant
Ballantine proudly presents
Peter Clement’s new hardcover
CRITICAL CONDITION
No one captures the complex workings of an urban hospital like former ER physician Dr. Peter Clement. For anyone who has ever had a mortal fear of hospitals, his new ripped-from-the-headlines medical thriller, provides chilling new nightmares and infectious suspense.
Published by Ballantine Books. Available wherever books are sold.
Acknowledgments
Many people generously shared their expertise and patiently played “What If” with me as I worked out the hypothetical scenarios that appear in this story.
To Angela Ryan, geneticist and passionate advocate for the ethical use of science, I say thank you for bringing the intricacy of the gene vividly alive in a way I never learned in medical school. In particular, her concerns regarding the all-powerful genetic vectors currently used to jump naked DNA from one species to another set my imagination spinning.
To epidemiologist Dr. DeWolfe Miller, who responded so wholeheartedly to my request that he play devil’s advocate and challenge my story outline to rid it of any blatantly bad science, I say thank you for helping me make as plausible as possible the leap from documented fact to theoretical hazards.
To Dr. Lee Thompson, who placed his years of experience with level-four virology facilities (where he’s worked with the deadliest organisms on the planet) at my disposal, my thanks for his detailed explanation of their inner workings and his “walking” me through what it’s like to suit up and enter such a place. The compression of some of the details in order to move the story along is due to my own literary license and is not any lack of accuracy on his part.
Thank you to Magda Bruce, who paved the way for my becoming an observer at the January 2000 United Nations Conference on genetically modified food held in Montreal, thereby providing an opportunity to hear and meet with experts in biodiversity from all over the planet.
I once again extend a heartfelt thank-you to my longtime friends Dr. Jennifer Frank and Dr. Brian Connolly for their double-checking the medical detail and thereby keeping me lucid on that front; to my proofreaders Connie, Betty, Johanna, Joan, Jim, and Tamara, for their eagle eyes and ever-helpful editorial comments; to my agent, Denise Marcil, for unwavering support and for her constantly raising the bar; and to my marvelous editor, Joe Blades, who keeps the journey on track.
I’d also be seriously remiss if I didn’t express gratitude to my partners in practice, Ivan and Michael, along with colleagues Judy and David, for taking care of patients and affording me time to write, and to Dr. Julie St. Cyr at my own hospital for showing me the particulars of electrophoresis.
And last but still crucial, a big thank-you to Betty and Nathalie for organizing everything.
Also by Peter Clement
LETHAL PRACTICE
DEATH ROUNDS
THE PROCEDURE
Books published by The Ballantine Publishing Group are available at quantity discounts on bulk purchases for premium, educational, fund-raising, and special sales use. For details, please call 1–800–733–3000.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming paperback edition of Critical Condition by Peter Clement. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
A Fawcett Book
Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group
Copyright © 2001 by Peter Clement Duffy
Excerpt from Critical Condition copyright © 2002 by Peter Clement Duffy
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Fawcett is a registered trademark and the Fawcett colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
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eISBN: 978-0-307-41616-2
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