Chapter 14: The Borrowed Beat

Eli's heart stopped before the paramedic finished arguing. The broken rhythm vanished from the monitor. The lead paramedic reached across Mo and locked both hands over Eli's chest. "Starting compressions." The first compression drove Eli's sternum down. Beneath it, the remnants of his circulation scattered. Mo caught the paramedic's forearm. "Wait." "He has no pulse." "Press again. Slowly." The paramedic stared at him. Su knelt at Eli's head. "Do it." Another compression. Mo followed the force through bone, heart, and emptied vessels. Blood still remained. Enough to sustain the organs for a few breaths, if it could be persuaded to move as one current instead of draining into a hundred broken channels. "Again," Mo said. The paramedic pressed. "Stop." "If you're doing something, I need to know what." "I am preventing his death." "That's not a procedure." "It is the intended result." "Work around his hands," Su said. "Pads stay…