An hour later the chime of the elevator sounded and Augur quickly let Julienne Belman in. She looked haggard.
“Sorry I took so long, but there are roadblocks everywhere. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to explain that I was on my way to see a patient. How is Liam?”
“He’s awake, but still in a lot of pain,” said Augur as he took her coat to hang it up.
“I´ll see if I can remedy that.”
Liam threw her a weak smile from where he lay on the couch and she returned it.
“Now what have you been up to, Liam? I was just thinking of making it an early night,” she said as she pulled a chair up to the couch and sat down.
“Sorry about that. Thanks for coming, Dr. Belman.”
“Don’t thank me too soon. Now, let’s see to that shoulder of yours.”
Very carefully Julienne unwound the bandage, but even the slightest movement made Liam sweat with pain. It worried her, though she did not show him. The pain indicated possible nerve damage. She pulled her medical scanner from her bag and scanned the wound. Looking up she threw a look at Doors.
“Your diagnosis was correct, Jonathan. The bullet is still in the wound. That settles it. I’m taking you to a hospital, Liam.”
“No, no hospitals. It’s too dangerous. I can’t risk getting arrested,” said Liam and Julienne knew he was right. If the Taelons ever discovered his mixed heritage he’d be dead and she knew it. Still…
“That bullet has to come out or you might develop an infection…or worse,” she pleaded with him.
“Then you’ll have to do it here. I’m not going anywhere.”
For a moment Julienne hesitated. Performing the operation here meant doing it without proper anaesthetic and without proper hygiene. She did not even know if she had enough local anaesthetic with her, knowing his resistance to drugs. But she could not leave the bullet in his shoulder either. Her decision made she turned to Augur.
“I´ll need a table, towels and boiled water. Can you arrange it?”
“Sure thing. Use the dining table. I´ll be right back.”
Between herself and Doors she managed to get Liam off the couch and onto the dining table. Quickly she prepared the local anaesthetic, angry that there was indeed only one vial in her case. Next she laid out the instruments and turned back to Liam. He looked scared and she softly stroked his cheek.
“Try to relax, Liam. I´ll be as gentle as I can and I´ll give you a local anaesthetic before I begin,” she said soothingly and he gave her a shaky smile. A little sad she turned away from him and went to the kitchen to scrub her hands. She had not told him the complete truth. His Kimera heritage made him almost completely resistant to drugs and she doubted the single dose of local anaesthetic would stop him feeling any pain at all. That was why she would need both Augur’s and Doors´ assistance. She told them that when they joined her in the kitchen to wash their hands.
“I only have one vial of local anaesthetic with me. It may not be enough, not with his heritage. If he starts feeling what I’m doing you’ll have to keep him down. Think you can do that?”
Both men nodded, though Augur looked a little pale.
“Good. Let’s get to it.”
With Doors and Augur looking on Julienne injected Liam with the local anaesthetic and waited for it to take effect. Soon Liam was able to relax as numbness spread throughout his shoulder and upper arm.
“Is it working?” asked Julienne when he suddenly started to nod off to sleep.
“Yes, it’s going numb,” mumbled Liam drowsily. The loss of pain made him feel how exhausted he was and keeping his eyes open proved difficult.
He hardly noticed the first cut Julienne made across the wound. She carefully opened the wound wide enough to give her access, but she soon saw that the bullet was stuck deeper in his shoulder than she had at first anticipated. As she made the cut deeper Liam’s eyes flew open and he gasped in sudden pain. Not saying a word Julienne nodded to the two men. Augur climbed onto the table, straddling Liam and pinning his arms to his sides with his knees as Doors took position at Liam’s head.
Augur felt Liam’s muscles spasm as Julienne resumed her search for the bullet. Liam’s whole world was made up of pure white agony that started in his shoulder and traveled to all corners of his body. He could not think or breathe around it. From far away he heard Julienne suddenly cry out that she “got it” and he wanted to laugh. But the pain did not go away, became even worse. Dimly he heard himself scream before he finally blacked out.