July 10.

Dr. Jack McCallum heard the scream of the first ambulance siren and said, "It's show time, folks!" Stepping outside to the ER loading dock, he felt his pulse kick into a tachycardia, felt the adrenaline priming his nervous system into crackling live wires. He had no idea what was coming to Miles Memorial Hospital, only that there was more than one patient on the way. Over the ER radio they'd been told a fifteen-car pileup on I-45 had left two at the scene and a score of injured. Although the most critical patients would be taken to Bayshore or Texas Med, all the area's smaller hospitals, including Miles Memorial, were braced for the overflow.

Jack glanced around the ambulance dock to confirm his team was ready.

The other ER doctor, Anna Slezak, stood right beside him, looking grimly pugnacious. Their support staff included four nurses, a lab runner, and a scared-looking intern. Only a month of med school, the intern was the greenest member of the ER team and hopelessly fumble-fingered. Destined for the field of psychiatry, thought Jack.

The siren cut off with a whoop as the ambulance swung up the ramp and backed up to the dock. Jack yanked open the rear door and got his first glimpse of the patient -- a young woman, head and neck immobilized in a cervical collar, her blond hair matted with blood. As they pulled her out of the ambulance and he got a closer look at her face, Jack felt the sudden chill of recognition.

"Debbie," he said.

She looked up at him, her gaze unfocused, and did not seem to know who he was.

"It's Jack McCallum," he said.