“I have a girl in the truck who needs emergency medical attention. Where’s the nearest hospital?”

“Sorry ma’m,” the guard said stoically, looking her and the truck up and down. “Only people with the proper documentation allowed. No Apocanuts.”

“What? I am not an Apocanut; I’m a doctor of medicine! You must let us in or she’s going to die.”

“Not without a passport.”

“My passport is in the bottom of a ravine in Ancient Colorado!” Meara screamed, at her wits end with the world. “We have walked all the way here from Colorado! You have to let us in!”

She turned to look at the truck and realized she probably did appear to be nuts. She hadn’t showered in two months, she was limping, her clothes were torn and dirty, and she had arrived in a broken down truck to scream at the guards. She wouldn’t have let her in either.

“Call her father,” she said with sudden inspiration and turned back to the guard. “Call Jeremiah Crow. Tell him that his daughter is here and she needs medical attention. He can bring the paperwork.”

“Where’s he staying?” The guard sighed, willing to make the call if it got the screaming woman out of his hair.

“What? I don’t know where he’s staying. He’s the owner of Crowfield Farms plantation. It was a big group that came through, all men. They had a problem with the train on the way over – lost all of their cargo. You must have heard of it?”

“Do you know how big Atlantis is, lady? Too big to know everyone who comes through. Get lost.” The guard planted his feet and looked out over her head.

Meara looked up at him, numb with anger and disbelief. “You have to let us in,” she began calmly. “You have to. We survived a train wreck and hiked all the way across the Rocky Mountains. We learned German, and snuck onto a boat, and Lizzie stopped breathing last night only a half an hour away from Atlantis and we have to get inside now or she’s going to die!”

The guard ignored her pleas, but the other leaned forward. “Hey, do you know a Dr. Someone or other? Gangly, whiny fellow? Talks about strawberries a lot?”

“Dr. Bennigan?” she asked, stupefied at his question.

“Bennigan! That’s it. He’s staying at the Olde Towne Apartments; I’ll give him a call.”

“Thank you,” Meara breathed as she relaxed. They were going to make it inside. The man would call Dr. Bennigan, and he would give them the okay, and they would head to the hospital and Lizzie would survive. And Meara would have her leg properly examined, and then she would find Cace and tell him how much she loved him, because she never had before.

“Hi, is this Dr. Bennigan?”

Relief was thick in her veins as Meara heard the voice on the other end of the line and knew it was the irritating man. She never thought she could be so glad to hear that nails-on-blackboard voice.

“We have a woman here who says she was with your group. Something about a train wreck and walking all this way. She says she has a Mr. Crow’s daughter and the girl needs medical attention. Can you give us the okay to let them in?”

The guard nodded at the voice on the other end of the line. “Uh huh. What’s your name ma’m?”

“Huh?” She gave him a blank look and he repeated the question. “Meara. Dr. Meara Lunn McMillan. I’m Elizabeth Crow’s physician.”

The guard repeated her answer to the phone and waited a moment, then nodded again and hung up. “I’m sorry ma’m. The good doctor says he’s never heard of you. They’ve had confirmation that the young lady in question is already deceased.”

“Already deceased?” Again dumbfounded, the physician couldn’t think of anything to say other than, “but she’s going to die.”

“He’s under the impression that she’s already dead,” the original guard snapped at her. “So whoever you have in that truck is just going to have to die in there, ma’m. We can’t let anyone in without the appropriate paperwork.”

“But she’s just a child! You have to let us in!” Meara was going to kill Bennigan when she found him. She was going to strangle him and shove his false degree right down his throat as she did it. “He’s not even a real doctor! You have to let us in!”

“Meara!” Tim yelled from the truck, stopping her tirade at the guards. “Meara she stopped breathing again!”

“I’m going to kill that man!” Meara swore as she turned and ran back to the cab, ignoring the pain in her leg. She pushed Tim aside when she got to the door.

“She stopped breathing, I didn’t know what to do,” Tim explained helplessly.

“No, Lizzie!” Meara jumped in, checked the girl’s pulse, and looked back toward the gate that was shut against them. Once again there was a weak, erratic pulse and no breath. “How strong are those gates?”

“All show ma’m,” the trucker announced with a smile.

“And your truck?”

“Built like an ox.”

“Go through.”

“Ma’m?”

“You heard me, go through! She’s going to die. Get in the cab, Tim.” Meara shifted so Tim would have room and as soon as the door shut behind him the trucker gunned it. Pebbles flew from his tires before his wheels caught and then squealed as the truck started forward. The guards began yelling and waving, trying to turn them back, and hit the button to open the gates and lessen the damage just before jumping out of the way. The truck barreled through, screaming metal on metal as it caught the edge of the gates.

Meara was doing her best to keep Lizzie alive as the truck flew along the road toward downtown Atlantis and the hospital that was bound to be there. “There!” Tim yelled as he spotted a blue H sign with an arrow; the truck made a sharp turn, throwing the three of them against the wall of the cab. There were sirens in the distance, and Meara hoped they could beat the police to the emergency room. Tim was yelling directions as he saw the signs, gripping himself and Meara against the sharp turns. As they turned around a corner and the hospital came into view there were already two cop cars out front.

“They can’t deny us access,” Meara said as she pumped on Lizzie’s chest in an effort to keep her heart working. “They are obligated to let us in. Tim, I need you to run in and grab a nurse for me.”

The truck stopped just before the cop cars and the driver jumped out and took off on foot in the opposite direction, drawing the cops away so Tim could run inside. The remaining police surrounded the truck, yelling at Meara to come out with her hands up, but she ignored them and continued with the CPR.

“We’re here, Lizzie,” she whispered as she worked. “We’re in Atlantis. Breathe for me Liz, you can do it. Please breathe for me.”