Chapter 21 - The Miracle in the Dark
"Rally to the roof! The whole bunker is collapsing!" Viper’s voice crackled through the comms.
Maya and Grayson scrambled back up the buckling concrete stairs as slabs of flaming drywall crashed around them. Maya clutched the medical case against her chest with both arms, shielding the precious vials with her own body. A falling piece of burning steel grazed her shoulder, scorching her scrubs and tearing her skin, but she didn't slow down.
They burst onto the rooftop just as the Osprey hovered six feet above the deck, its rotor downwash beating back the encroaching flames. Hands reached down, hauling Maya and Grayson up into the cargo bay.
The moment their boots cleared the deck, the pilot hauled back on the collective. The Osprey soared skyward as the entire Bunker Delta-Seven collapsed into a roaring sinkhole of flame and debris, crashing down into the churning Pacific surf.
"Direct course back to Coronado!" Grayson ordered, catching his breath as blood dripped from a cut on his temple. "What's the status on the patients?"
The comms liaison keyed the radio. "Hospital reports Axe has entered multi-organ failure. Miller is in full cardiac arrest again. They’re doing manual chest compressions!"
"Ten minutes out!" the pilot yelled.
"They don't have ten minutes," Maya said, her mind working with razor-sharp surgical calculation. "Ross! Connect me to the Coronado ICU monitor feed via the satellite link!"
Maya pulled a tablet onto her lap. "Listen to me, Coronado trauma team. This is Master Chief Reynolds. Administer intracardiac epinephrine immediately to keep Miller’s heart fluttering, but do not exceed half a milligram. Drop Axe's core temperature using cold peritoneal lavage. We are bringing the Chiron compound in right now. Do not let those men go!"
For the next ten agonizing minutes, Maya guided the terrified junior surgeons through a high-wire metabolic tightrope over the radio, holding five dying warriors by sheer force of will across twenty miles of open ocean.
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When the Osprey finally slammed down onto the Coronado helipad, Maya was already at the ramp before the wheels stopped spinning.
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