Rivers of Gold by Adam Dunn

Author:Adam Dunn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Mystery, Science Fiction
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2010-10-03T05:00:00+00:00

Esperanza got the drag stabilized and into the rotating OR queue. Since the formation of the Nurse Triage Unit during the riots, all incoming patients were sorted by severity of condition and assigned a numbered bracelet, which could be monitored anywhere in the hospital. Mount Sinai’s image had been tarnished somewhat over the years, as the number of suicides, assaults, and overdoses mounted following the crash and the riots. Since the hospital’s foundation had largely been wiped out by the massive Jagoff fraud at the end of 2010, and with city and state funding nonexistent by 2011, the staff (caught between the demands of the City Council for free treatment and the screams of the unions for full compensation for those sidelined by budget cuts) was left to cope as best it could. Things had peaked when a woman admitted for the removal of two precancerous moles on her back wound up having both legs amputated instead. The ensuing public outcry and investigation made for a fierce crackdown throughout the hospital hierarchy. Which meant greater-than-usual reliance on the midlevel managers who ran the daily routines of the hospital, making sure the little things checked out (little things like screening the ever-dwindling blood supply for HIV, double-checking the time clocks on the donor organs, and making sure the residents weren’t raiding the pharmacy for recreation or commercial gain). On senior NTU nurses, for instance. Like Esperanza Santiago.

“Coño, you think this is your own private clinic?” she growled at her younger brother, her words punctuated by the snapping of latex as she peeled off her gloves and slammed them into a wall-mounted container marked BIOHAZARD.

Santiago recounted their Waterloo outside of Cardinal Cook. Esperanza shut her eyes, shook her head, and exhaled loudly through her mouth. “That kid should be strung up.”

“Or become a patient there. I can arrange it.” Santiago smiled in spite of himself. His sister had always been his best friend, and being around her made even the most ridiculous drag haul a little more bearable.

Esperanza, however, did not share his levity. She grabbed him by the elbow and steered him inside behind the NTU desk, away from More, who slouched in a chair in the waiting area looking blank. He fit in well among the patients on the queue, many of whom looked like they’d just been brought in from sleeping on the streets or dragged bleeding and vomiting from barroom floors. Those conscious enough to take notice of his presence, however, seemed to slink away from him. The seats immediately behind and on either side of More stood empty, even though the room was two-thirds full. “Is that the new guy?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah. Don’t tell me you think he’s cute.”

“Carajo, give me some credit. He looks like a bum, or one of those students they bring in on an OD.” Over the past year, the number of overdoses had tripled. The paco cases were usually goners, since the drug pushed cardiac rates far beyond human endurance (not to mention the psychosis it usually triggered).

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