Chapter 18: The Kill Signal

Selene's POV

The monitor held one long flat note.

For a moment nobody in the room moved.

Then Bastian said, "Compressions," and I dropped the scalpel and put the heels of my hands on Rafe's chest.

I had done this a hundred times in a hospice, on people who had already said goodbye.

I had never once done it on a man I had wanted to keep.

"One, two, three," I said aloud, and my hands found the rhythm without me.

Bastian leaned over Rafe's head and counted breaths.

The speakers were still singing, three rising notes and a gap, three rising notes and a gap.

"It won't let go," Kit said.

He was at the slate, and his voice cracked.

"The bead keeps sending. Every time his heart tries, it stops it again."

"Then it has to come out."

"You can't cut and pump at once!"

"Stellan," I said. "Hold the table."

Stellan put both hands on Rafe's shoulders and pressed him flat.

"Bastian, take over."

He took my place without a word.

His huge hands went down on Rafe's chest, and the whole table shook.

I picked up the scalpel.

My hand did not shake.

I had thought it would.

I thought of the other Selene, crouched over a man in the dark with a wire and a lamp.

I knew exactly what she had done, because now I was doing it.

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