CHAPTER 149

CODE RED!

Márcia's condition worsened; her kidney was hurting too much. She placed her hand on one side of her abdomen, which felt warm and pulsating, where the kidney pain was, while the other side of her skin felt cool and normal. She needed to go to the emergency room and knocked on Lara's door at 1 a.m. She needed another painkiller until morning, and it would be best for her to go to the hospital. Lara didn't answer, so Márcia easily opened the door. She wouldn't wake her up; she knew where Lara kept the medicine box. She found her lying next to the bed with an empty bottle of vodka and an empty blister pack of tranquillisers.

In a panic, Márcia called an ambulance and, after hanging up the phone, she called Lipe and told him what had happened. Lipe arrived at the emergency unit before the ambulance, and he felt a chill when the vehicle arrived with its sirens blaring.

He hoped it wasn't Lara, but when the paramedics brought down the stretcher and rushed toward the nurses and doc