Michael Palmer: Flashback

New equipment and new physicians underscored the corporate theme of "A Change for the Better, " and the remaining opponents of the facility-mostly in the poor and uninsured sectors of the community-experienced increasing difficulty in finding a platform from which to voice their concerns. In just a few years, Ultramed-Davis Regional Hospital had been transported from the backwater of health care to the vanguard. "Hang on, Doc, " the ambulance driver called over his shoulder to Zack. "We're here."

Zack braced himself against Annie's stretcher as the man swung a sharp turn and backed into the brightly lit ambulance bay. Alerted by the ambulance radio, a team of three nurses dressed in blue scrubs and an orderly wearing whites was poised on the concrete platform. Before Zack could even identify himself, two of the nurses, with tight-lipped efficiency, had pulled Annie's stretcher from the ambulance and sped past him into the emergency ward. Zack followed the stretcher to a well-equipped room marked simp1Y, TRAUMA, and watched from the door as the team transferred Annie to a hospital litter, switched her oxygen tubing and monitor cables to the hospital console, and began a rapid assessment of her vital signs. One nurse, apparently in charge, listened briefly to Annie's chest, then took up a position at the foot of the bed, supervising the evaluation. "Excuse me, " Zack said to the woman, who wore a white lab coat over her scrubs. "Could I speak to you for a moment?"

The woman turned, and Zack felt an immediate spark of interest. She was in her early thirties, he guessed, if that, with short beach-sand hair, fine, very feminine features, and vibrant, almost iridescent, bluegreen eyes. Instinctively, and quite out of character for him given the situation, Zack glanced at her left hand. There was no ring. "I… I'm Dr. Iverson, Zachary Iverson, " he said. Had he actual stammered? "I'm a neurosurgeon due to start on the staff here tomorrow. That woman we just brought in is… I mean was… sort of like my governess when I was young. Mine and my brother Frank's."

"Now there's a name I recognize, " the woman said, cocking her head to one side as if appraising a painting in a museum. "Yes, " Zack said.

Several seconds passed before he realized that he had not yet finished explaining what he wanted. He cleared his throat. "Well. Frank said he would arrange for a cardiologist-a Dr. Cole, I think he said his name was-to come in and take over Annie's care. Has he arrived yet?"

"No, " the woman said thoughtfully. "No, he hasn't, Doctor."

Her expression was at once coy and challenging, and Zack, often oblivious to women's attempts at nonverbal interplay, felt ill-equipped to respond with an expression of his own. "I see, " he said finally, wondering if he was looking as flustered and restless as he was feeling.

His ego was goading him to be assertive-to remind the woman that, while he might have momentarily been taken aback by her, he was, at least until the arrival of Dr. Cole, in charge. He cleared his throat again and, unconsciously, stood more erect. "Well, then, " he went on, with a bit more officiousness than he had intended, "would you please have someone call him again. I'll be in there with Mrs. Doucette. Just send him in as soon as he gets here. Also, could you order an EKG and a portable chest X ray."

"Certainly, Doctor, " the woman said as he strode past her and into the room. Bravo, his ego cheered. Well handled. He glanced back over his shoulder. The woman had not yet moved. "Could you call the lab, too, please, " he ordered, wishing her eyes would stop smiling at him that way. "Routine bloods."

"Certainly, " she said. "Cardiac enzymes, too?"

Damn her cool, Zack thought. "Yes, of course, " he responded. "Have them draw extra tubes as well. Dr. Cole can order whatever else he wants when he gets here."

He walked to the bedside without waiting for an acknowledgment of his request, and forced himself not to look back. Annie's eyes, still closed, were beginning to flutter. "I'm Dr. Iverson, " he said to the two nurses who were attending her. "How's she doing?"

"Her pressure's up to a hundred over sixty, " one of them, a husky, matronly woman in her fifties, said. "She's moved both arms and both legs, and it looks like she's about to wake up."

"Good, " Zack said, aware that a portion of his thoughts, at least, were not focused on the matter at hand. He slipped his stethoscope into place and checked Annie's heart and lungs. "Annie, it's Zack," he said into her ear. "Can you hear me?"

Annie Doucette moaned softly. Then, almost imperceptibly, she nodded.

"You passed out, Annie. You're at the hospital now and you're going to be all right. Do you understand that? " Again, a nod. "Good. Just relax and rest. You're doing fine." He turned to the nurse. "Dr. Cole's due here any minute. Until he gets here, we'll just keep doing what we're doing."

The nurse looked at him queerly, then glanced over at the door. Zack followed her line of sight and found himself, once again, confronting the enigmatic ocean-green eyes. This time, though, the disconcerting woman behind them stepped forward and extended her hand. "Dr. Iverson, I'm Dr. Suzanne Cole, " she said simply. Her expression was totally professional, but there was an unmistakable playfulness in her eyes.

Zack felt the flush in his cheeks as he reached out and shook her hand.

"I'm sorry, " he mumbled. "It was sort of dumb for me to assume… what I mean is, you weren't exactly…"

"I know, " she said. Her tone suggested an apology for having allowed him to dig such a hole for himself. "I'm sure it was this outfit that confused you"-she indicated the blue scrubsuit-"but I just finished putting in a pacemaker." She nodded toward Annie, who was now fully awake and beginning to look around. "You seem to have done quite a job bringing this woman back, Dr. Iverson. Congratulations."

It was nearing midnight. Zack Iverson sat alone in the staff lounge at the back of the emergency ward, sipping tepid coffee, sorting through what had been, perhaps, the most remarkable June the thirtieth of them all, and trying to slow down his runaway fantasies concerning Suzanne Cole. It had taken several hours to ready a bed for Annie in the coronary care unit and to effect her transfer there. During that time, Zack had stayed in the background, watching Suzanne as she managed one dangerous cardiac arrhythmia after another in the woman, balancing complex treatments against their side effects, checking monitor readouts, reviewing lab results, then, suddenly, stopping to mop Annie's brow, or to smooth errant wisps of gray hair from her forehead, or simply to bend down and whisper encouragement in her ear. Unlike what Zack had imagined from her cool composure during their initial meeting, she was actually quite tense and frenetic during critical moments, moving from one side of the bed to the other then back, checking and rechecking to ensure that her orders were being carried out correctly.

Still, while she seemed frequently on edge, she was never out of control and it was clear that the nurses were comfortable with her ways, and even more important, trusted in them Who are you? his mind asked over and over as he watched her work. What are you doing up here in the boondocks?

The Judge and Cinnie had checked in twice by phone, and around ten, Frank had stopped by. He seemed restless and irritable, and although he mentioned nothing of the episode, Zack sensed that he was still quite upset by the Judge's outburst and thinly veiled threat.

Citing the need to be near the twins during the violent thunderstorm that had just erupted, he had left for home after only half an hour. But before he left, Zack had managed, in what he hoped was an offhanded way, to pump a bit of information from him regarding Suzanne Cole.