Chapter 1698
[ 673 words ]
If Stephen hadn’t routinely checked the vitals monitors from outside, he would have assumed they had been quietly assassinated inside the operating theater.
Silas’s injuries were catastrophic. He had been at the absolute epicenter of the blast, throwing away his own tactical shielding to cover Barrett.
The fact that he was even breathing was a medical miracle.
The enemy had struck with lethal intent.
During their op, Silas’s team had successfully apprehended Dr. Aris. If they managed to drag the scientist to an international tribunal, it would have been a devastating blow to Sundara’s global standing.
So, the syndicate deployed an extermination squad to silence everyone.
Fortunately, Silas was a tactical genius. Recognizing the trap moments before it sprang, he had stashed Dr. Aris in a secure blackout location while throwing himself into the crossfire to protect his men.
Failing to locate the scientist, the syndicate was desperate to capture Silas and pry the coordinates from him.
That was why the border lockdown was so suffocating.
As for why the mining convoy was waved through checkpoints? That was purely a testament to Dewitt’s terrifying local influence.
“How is he?”
When Claire finally stepped out of the OR, she looked like she was about to collapse.
Rory and Jace flanked her immediately-one shoving an energy bar into her hand, the other uncapping a bottle of water for her.
On the other side, Tandy’s veteran bodyguard efficiently hooked the elderly doctor up to an IV drip of glucose to rapidly spike his blood sugar.
He then handed him a steaming bowl of lean meat congee.
Only after scarfing down the food did the two surgeons regain a fraction of their stamina.
Claire stifled a massive yawn and turned to the older man. “Grandpa Tandy, go get some sleep. I’ll take the first watch.”
“No need to watch him right now. He won’t be waking up anytime soon.”
“Just follow Captain James’s exfiltration protocol.”
Tandy waved her off, letting out a ragged sigh. “I’m getting old. I used to pull forty- eight-hour trauma shifts and still go for a run.”
The old man slumped into the hospital chair, barely possessing the energy to speak.
Claire offered a faint, exhausted
smile. “That was back in your prime,
running triage in warzones The
speed of your sutures is still
something most surgeons can only
dream of.”
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Tandy rolled his eyes at her. “I know exactly what you’re thinking. You just couldn’t
stand how ugly my stitches looked.”
He had performed the craniotomy flawlessly, meticulously clearing every last hematoma from Silas’s brain.
But when it came time to close, Claire had essentially shoved him aside.
She insisted on handling the suturing, claiming she didn’t want Silas to stay single
forever just because his surgeon left a hideous zipper across his scalp.
Tandy vividly remembered the girl’s bizarre stubbornness and had chuckled, muttering, “All flash, no substance.”
But he had gladly surrendered the needle to her.
Claire’s insistence hadn’t just been about aesthetics; she was genuinely terrified Tandy’s heart would give out if he pushed himself any further.
He was already running on fumes. If he had to hyper-focus on closing, she felt she would have failed her duties as his surgical assist.
This was Claire’s first time co-piloting a major craniotomy, and the experience she absorbed was invaluable.
Traditional medicine had its place in the OR. If they hadn’t operated, Claire Could have theoretically used acupuncture to slowly dissolve the hematomas over months.
But they didn’t have months. After a rapid consultation, Tandy and Claire agreed that
surgical intervention was the only viable path.
Now that the blockages were physically removed, Claire could use acupuncture to aggressively accelerate his neural recovery.
Both surgeons were escorted to private recovery suites.
Claire was unconscious before her head hit the pillow, completely forgetting one crucial detail: she had boarded a military transport without
Policially requesting a leave of
absence from her university!
She had literally vanished off the face of the earth. The administration had been
seconds away from calling the police.
Given Claire’s recent history of being kidnapped, the panic was completely justified.
Fortunately, her listed emergency contact was Aunt Ophelia.
Ophelia immediately called her son, Norris, to track Claire down.
Ophelia had been terrified. If anything happened to Claire, how would they ever explain it to her sister-in-law?
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