"Ms. Fox, since your mother has accused you of concealing stolen goods inside your body, we need you to cooperate. Take the laxatives and submit to an examination of the results."
The words hit me like a bolt of lightning. I lunged forward and grabbed his wrist. "You can't! That boy doesn't have time!"
"He was cut by glass on a construction site. His trachea is completely severed. His oxygen saturation has dropped below sixty percent!"
"My colleagues are bagging him by hand, but the air keeps leaking through the wound into the tissue. His entire neck and chest are swelling up!"
"I'm the only surgeon who can do this operation!"
The words tumbled out of me, incoherent, tears smearing across my face.
"Please. Let me go back to the hospital first. Once the surgery is done, I'll come back and you can do whatever you want with me."
Captain Paulson pulled his wrist free. His expression didn't change.
"Rules are rules."
"If you run, who takes the fall for that?"
He waved his hand, and two guards seized me by the arms, one on each side.
"Take her to the medical office. Give her the laxatives."
I was dragged toward the security office.