Page 129 of Asystole

“I’ve flown for the Forest Service and for ski patrol out west in the U.S.”

“What do you do currently?”

I huff a bitter laugh.

“Well, I’m currently unemployed because my previous employer fired me for trying to do my job.”

“Which was?” she asks.

“I flew a MEDEVAC chopper for a hospital in Boston,” I answer, diplomatically leaving the hospital’s name out of it.

“Would you say what you did today is standard knowledge for helicopter pilots?” our primary interviewer continues.

“Um,” I stall, rubbing the back of my neck. “I mean, most helicopter pilots probably encounter one of those things during simulation training. The fact that we experienced both at the same time in real life was pretty crazy. I’m not even sure it was standard knowledge for me. As I said, I just got lucky.”

Chase leans in and moves the interviewer’s microphone to his mouth.

“What he means is no, it’s not standard knowledge, and we’d be dead if it weren’t for his quick thinking, intuition, and experience flying helicopters in dangerous terrain.”

As he straightens back up, Chase’s hand finds the small of my back, and I lean into him as our interviewer finally sets her sights on my boyfriend.

“And what about you? Can you tell us what happened from your point of view?”

“Well, I was pretty certain we were going to die, but until we were actually dead, I just tried to help by doing what I’m trained to do.”

“You’re a physician, is that correct?”

Chase nods.

“I’m currently a trauma surgery resident, but I’m actually hoping to change specialties once we return home.”

Our interviewer throws a surprised glance at Chase.

“Because of today’s events?”

Chase shakes his head.

“Not entirely. I believe everything happens for a reason. While I’m grateful for the training that allowed me to help save our pilot’s life, today’s events confirmed what I already knew: trauma isn’t for me.”

Chase seems happy to leave it there, but our interviewer is nothing if not thorough.

“Will you still be pursuing medicine?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Chase says with a grin, gripping me a little tighter. “But I’ll hopefully be switching to pediatrics. I want to work with children.”

We answer questions for another fifteen minutes before we’re finally allowed to leave. The police give us a lift back to our resort since our scheduled pickup isn’t for another hour.

By the time we make it back to our room, I’m mentally and physically done.

Chapter 48

Chase

Logan is about to crash out. I can see it. Hell, I can feel it. But we both need to wash the shock of the last two hours off.

We’re processing things differently.

If I had failed, a man I didn’t know would’ve died. And while that’s tragic, we would have moved on.