Chapter 5 - The Medical Override
"No!" Ethan shouted, shoving past his mother and bursting through the bedroom door.
Inside, Sarah lay motionless against the pillows, her face turning an alarming shade of pale gray. The automated IV drip stand beside the bed was flashing a rapid red warning light, pumping an unknown clear fluid into her IV line at an accelerated rate.
Chloe gasped, dropping the 1974 ledger as she rushed to the bedside, frantically trying to find the manual shutoff valve for the IV machine. "The drip rate has been overridden! She’s receiving an overdose!"
Ethan lunged at the IV line, clamping the plastic tubing shut with his bare hands just as the monitor’s flatline warning tone began its long, terrifying beep. He grabbed Sarah’s wrist, searching desperately for a pulse against her pale, cold skin.
Behind them, Margaret stood in the doorway, her arms crossed over her cashmere cardigan, watching the chaos with a detached, clinical smile.
"You should have taken your mother’s advice and minded your own business, Ethan," Margaret said smoothly, turning around and walking down the hallway toward the stairs without a shred of remorse. "The emergency override code is locked to my personal biometric profile. If the paramedics arrive before that IV bag is completely flushed, they won't find sedatives in her blood... they’ll find a fatal air embolism."
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Chloe froze, her hands hovering over the IV pump, realizing that disabling the machine incorrectly could trigger the internal safety lock and release the lethal bubble directly into Sarah’s bloodstream.
Ethan looked down at his unconscious wife, his heart pounding in his ears as the seconds ticked away, knowing that his mother was already walking out the front door toward her car, leaving them trapped in a race against death.
