8
Robyn
I groan and rub my face.
It’s too early to be woken up. I crack my eyes open and regret it.
“Shut up!” I groan at my still-ringing phone.
My eyes won’t open properly. My mouth tastes like I sucked on something bad. The ringing keeps going and going.
“Arghhhh!”
No!
I get irritated because almost nobody has this number. It’s for my sister, my mother, and about three people at work who know only to use it in the case of an extreme emergency.
I fumble on the nightstand, knock over a half-empty glass of water, swear, and finally find the phone.
It’s not even eight yet.
What the hell!?
“Carla.” I do not try to hide the rasp. “What is going on?”
“I’m so sorry. I am soooooo very sorry to wake you.”
“It’s too early.”
“I know you planned to come in toward lunchtime. I wouldn’t call if I didn’t have to, Doc.”
I dropped into bed a little after two. No…that’s what time I got home. It was later, once I changed and brushed my teeth. Onyx’s pressure started to spiral around eleven without a clear cause. We thought we had a slow rebleed somewhere near the repair. Turned out to be a small secondary tear downstream. It took a while to get him back on track.
I almost feel worse thanbeforeI climbed into bed.
“Is it Onyx?” I push up onto an elbow. “What are his stats like? Did he crash?”
“Onyx is fine. His stats are all stable. Dr. Jenkins has eyes on him. He’s in good hands. That’s not why I’m calling.”
I flop onto my back.
“What’s going on?”
“You have a visitor, Dr. Keller.”
“Tell them to go away and to reschedule an appointment.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?” I ask.
There’s a pause, which is weird for Carla.
“Someone from Security Central is here. He’d like to see you as soon as you can get in and implied that it needed to be sooner rather than later.”
I sit up properly.
“Security Central?” I frown. “Why does he have to see me right away?”
