Chapter 7 - The Interrogation in the Hallway
General Vance lowered his hand, turning his dark, stormy eyes toward Colonel Warren Pike, who stood glued to the floor.
"Colonel Pike," General Vance growled, his voice carrying the terrifying weight of forty years of military command.
"I just received a priority flash traffic report from Task Force 17-Charlie command in Virginia."
"Is it true that you ordered my former lead trauma officer to step away from a crashing vascular casualty?"
Pike swallowed hard, sweat dripping off his chin onto his crisp green uniform collar.
"General... sir... there was a protocol violation!" Pike stammered frantically, throwing his hands up in defense.
"She is hired here as a civilian contractor! She was performing an invasive arterial intervention without a uniformed doctor approving it!"
"I was merely enforcing hospital administrative chain-of-command regulations!"
General Vance took two massive steps forward, entering Pike's personal space until their noses were inches apart.
"Do you have any idea who this woman is, you arrogant pencil-pusher?" General Vance barked, his voice shaking the glass doors.
"Grace Holloway performed over four hundred emergency REBOA procedures under direct enemy mortar fire in Afghanistan!"
"She saved eighty-two soldiers during the siege of Cinder Pass while six members of her unit died around her!"
"The Pentagon literally created specialized vascular trauma protocols based on the blood she spilled in the dirt!"
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"And you tried to pull her away from a dying boy because she wasn't wearing your precious silver oak leaves?!"
Pike looked at me in absolute horror, his knees trembling so violently he had to grab a wall handrail for support.
