#1. The Policeman
Bach is immediately rushed into the hospital, with his colleagues trailing behind the stretcher. His consciousness is slowly drifting away, and each shallow breath he takes seems to echo the urgency of the moment.
"We will take it from here. Please wait outside." Says the doctor as he and the nurses take the gurney straight to the ER.
Just moments later, a distraught woman bursts through the hospital doors, her eyes wide with panic. As soon as she spots the group of policemen, she hurries towards them. She struggles to find her words as her heart races.
"My son, where is he? Is he still alive? Oh God, oh God...," tremblingly she asks, her hands cling onto one of the officers, her grip tight and pleading, "No, no, let me get in there with my son!"
"Please calm down, Mrs. Hoa." An officer gently holds the frantic woman back, "The doctors are doing everything they can. There is nothing we can do right now..."
His words fail to reach Mrs. Hoa as her despair consumes her. As if the hospital walls were closing in on the poor woman, she sank to her knees. Her hands slowly reach for her chest, where the heart resides, as she fills the corridor with her heart-wrenching cry.
At the crash site, forensic investigators are carefully examining the scene. The suspect died on impact. The airbag had already deployed, yet it was unable to save him. The fool was too panicked to properly fasten his seatbelt before speeding away. His body lunged forward, with his head being smashed beyond recognition, from which blood pooled all over the front hood. Bach's motorbike was wedged beneath the car, which continued to go uncontrollably for another 100 yards before crashing into the road railing. However, Bach was found lying 30 feet to the west of the crash, barely alive.
"How strange, " said Quan, the lieutenant, "the suspect must have deliberately crashed into him head-on, his bike is stuck underneath the car, yet he lay over there?"
Tien, soaked in blood as he carried his best friend into the ambulance earlier, replied, "The car might have swerved mid-run, I suppose," he adds, "he could have sprung out due to the impact."
"No, the tire marks left on the road said otherwise. Either way, it would be a miracle if Bach somehow survives this, don't you think?"
Tien nods, in silence.
The moment he arrived at the scene, Tien had already thought of the worst scenario. "Poor the kid." The lieutenant lets out a long sigh, "he is the only child; his mother must be crying her heart out at the hospital by now."
Suddenly, another officer approaches.
"Sir, I just got news about Bach. According to his preliminary diagnosis, apart from several bone fractures, he did not sustain any brain or spinal damage..."
"That's good news!" Tien lets out a sigh of relief, forcing a smile. "At least he-"
"But they have suspicion of severe blunt cardiac injury. The chances are that he might develop cardiogenic shock and thus, require a heart transplant, sir." The officer adds.
Both men are taken aback by the news. Tien glances over to the lieutenant, checking his reaction. The bitter words that were on the tip of his tongue had disappeared as soon as the officer uttered the last piece of information.
"A heart transplant?" Quan exclaims, unable to hide his surprise, "A motorbike accident and what he needs is a new heart?" The old lieutenant steps back, rubbing his bald head in disbelief.
Bach has been working for the Special Forces for the past three years. The lieutenant took him under his wing; he was probably the first one to realize Bach’s potential. A brilliant young man with a kind heart and a sharp mind. Yet, his bright future ahead is about to end abruptly.
Tien steals a glance at the distressed Quan before taking the officer by his arm, a few feet away from the lieutenant.
"Does that mean he is unable to return to work until he finds a donor?" Tien asks, his eyes deep in thought.
"Most likely," comes the reply.
Hearing this, a faint sense of joy crept into his mind.
