At first, Allen thought the woman on the gurney was his sister. He almost paused for a moment. Then he realized.
He knew the woman, but it wasn’t Shelby.
Annie resembled Shelby a great deal from a distance. He thought it was the hair. Shelby was a good four inches taller.
It didn’t matter; Allen was already moving.
He was exhausted, but it didn’t show.
Wallace Henedy’s son had barely made it off Allen’s table. Henedy was most likely going to make it, but it had been close. He never would have expected his emergency GSW to be Henedy’s son. He’d have to go over the ethics requirements of this with Fin in case there was a problem.
Or if the man didn’t make it.
He’d met Reggie a time or two. He had seemed like a nice guy. He didn’t deserve this, that was for certain.
Someone nudged past him and he looked down.
Honey-brown hair and glasses with cartoon crocodiles attached to the sides. Scrubs with cartoon alligators printed all over them. Instantly recognizable.
Nikkie Jean.
She reached Annie first. Nikkie Jean could move when she wanted to.
Nikkie Jean would see to it that her friend had the best of care possible.
Allen pivoted, and went on to the next patient.
Allen looked at the other man. Turner had been his friend for years. Since the shooting with Henedy, the mayor had made a point of checking on Allen at least once a week. Like clockwork. He’d even insisted Allen meeting him for lunch twice since then.
Turner seemed on a mission.
Allen didn’t know how the man had the time. He appreciated it. Not many people had reached out to him since what had happened with Jess all those months ago. “What happened to you tonight?”
Turner shot him a grin, but there was no humor in it. “Lost everything. Gained even more back.”
“What?”
“Annie loves me. I died tonight. My house burned to the ground. Annie almost died. I hope to hell everything’s over now.”
“Ok.” Turner was fine, even if he wasn’t making much sense to Allen right now. There was another ambulance pulling in now. One with a patient in far worse condition.
Allen nodded toward Lacy who was running down the hall. She’d assist. As the gurney moved closer, Allen got his first look.
Carl Buchanan. The deputy mayor of Finley Creek. “What happened?”
“Multiple GSWs to the chest and abdomen,” Drew, the paramedic, said. Allen bit back a curse. He’d seen more GSWs in the past eighteen months in the ER than he had in the rest of his career combined. “Coded on the way in.”
The man didn’t look good. “Get him upstairs.”
“Who did this?” Lacy demanded from Annie’s side.
“There will be time for that later. Let’s get him upstairs.” Allen threw a look over his shoulder as Nikkie Jean instructed an orderly to wheel Annie into exam room B, just as Izzie and Jillian came back in from break.
The two nurses immediately jumped into action. They might not have their ER rebuilt fully yet, but the staff at FCGH knew exactly what they had to do.
Now, it was time to do it.
Allen looked at the orderlies. “Let’s go.”