## PART 2 — THE MAN WHO WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE THERE
“Victoria, stay with me.”
Ethan Carter kept two fingers against the side of her neck, feeling the pulse beneath them stumble like a runner losing his footing.
Fast.
A pause.
Fast again.
Wrong.
Everything about it was wrong.
Victoria’s gray eyes drifted toward the ceiling of Flight 2247, and Ethan leaned closer.
“Look at me.”
Her gaze returned reluctantly.
“There you go. Keep those eyes open.”
The flight attendant, Diane, hurried back carrying the aircraft’s emergency medical kit and portable oxygen bottle.
Her hands trembled badly enough that the plastic mask rattled against the cylinder.
“I’ve got it.”
“Good. Set it here.”
She dropped to her knees beside him.
“What’s happening?”
“Possible unstable arrhythmia. Maybe something more. We need to keep her oxygenated
and conscious until we know.”
Diane stared at him.
“You said you had training.”
“I do.”
“What kind?”
For half a second, Ethan stopped.
Not physically.
His hands continued working.
But something behind his eyes closed.
“Enough for this.”
He took the oxygen mask from her.
Victoria’s fingers suddenly wrapped around his wrist.
“Don’t…”
Her voice barely existed.
“Don’t let me…”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Die.”
The word landed between them.
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
It wasn’t reassurance.
It sounded like an order.
Victoria stared at him.
For perhaps the first time in years, somebody was speaking to her without knowing—or caring—who she was.
No board members.
No attorneys.
No assistants.
No journalists.
Just a stranger kneeling on an airplane carpet, telling
death it would have to wait.
“Breathe slowly,” Ethan said.
He positioned the oxygen mask.
“In through your nose if you can. Easy.”
Behind him, Roy made another announcement.
“If there is a physician, nurse, paramedic, or other licensed medical professional aboard, please identify yourself immediately.”
Silence.
Then a man several rows back raised his hand.
“I’m a dentist.”
Ethan glanced over.
“Any emergency medicine experience?”
“Not since residency rotations twenty years ago.”
“Stay close anyway.”
