"Two hours... We won't make it in time."
Randall had just gotten news that Tandy's flight was delayed.
“I'll need to lead the surgery myself. I remember you assisted Tandy before. If you can work like you did during that operation, I'll feel a lot better."
He wasn't hiding anything from Claire. She nodded right away.
"Alright." She only agreed because of Walton. Otherwise, she might not have gone along with Randall.
Randall called Tandy and filled him in. Once Tandy heard how bad things were, he knew the real question wasn't whether Randall could save his nephew's leg, but whether Claire could.
"I can't do anything from here. The flight is delayed and there's no way I can make it in two hours,” Tandy said. “Randall, if you trust me, listen... If you hit anything you can't handle during the surgery, ask Claire for help."
Randall hesitated. "Tandy, if I'm stuck, Claire's probably not going to pull off a miracle. If something goes wrong, people might blame her anyway."
Randall wasn't the kind of doctor who avoided responsibility. He'd never let a young woman take the fall for a serious mistake. If the surgery failed, that was on him, not her.
Tandy could tell Randall had misunderstood and chuckled. "I'm not telling you to use her as a scapegoat. I mean, she's the one who might actually save the day."
Thinking back to Van's surgery, Tandy hadn't trusted Claire at first either. But once he learned about her background and saw her in action, he finally understood how talented she was.
"She's a math prodigy. Her mind's like a high-tech computer. If you get stuck, she'll figure out the best move Tandy said. "Plus, you probably don't know this... She didn' just study traditional medicine. She trained in Western medicine too. Her first teacher was Pandora."
Randall was honestly shocked. Pandora was legendary. She was known everywhere as the top
surgeon at Apex, and countless et
hospitals had begged her to come perform surgeries for them Even when people doubted female surgeons, Pandora's skilfs forced everyone to admit she was the best. She'd retired, but her stories still made the rounds in every hospital.
If Claire was really Pandora's student, Randall couldn't deny she might save him if anything went sideways.
Still, he couldn't help but worry. "Even if she studied under Pandora, she's so young. There's no way she has that much real experience in the OR."
"When I first met her, I thought the person who recommended her was joking." Tandy's voice was casual, but Randall could hear how seriously he meant it.
Randall still felt uneasy, but he sent in the request for Claire to join the surgical team. After everyone reviewed the plan one last time, Randall led Claire into the operating room. People were counting on them.
The surgical light switched on. Now all anyone could do was wait.
Claire looked calm, almost too calm. Randall's students shot each other nervous glances, watching her scrub in.
"Claire, you're not nervous at all?" one of them asked.
This was a big deal. A single mistake and the patient could be disabled forever. Yet Claire acted like this was just another Tuesday. The students felt awkward about their ownerves When she seemed more relaxed
than any of them.
Claire glanced at the speaker. "Why be nervous? You follow the steps. If something unexpected happens, you go with your backup plan. If that doesn't work, you adjust on the spot."