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Mess with the Ambulance, Face the Consequences
NovelShort
Hoàn thành
My grandfather, Samuel Shaw — a veteran of the Federal Intelligence Division — suddenly collapsed and needed to be rushed to the hospital.
Chương (4)
第1章
My grandfather, Samuel Shaw — a veteran of the Federal Intelligence Division — suddenly collapsed and needed to be rushed to the hospital.
We loaded him into the Federal-Grade Armored Medical Transport and merged onto the I-405 Freeway Emergency Lane, but almost immediately a Maybach brazenly drove in the same lane and started blocking us. The Maybach’s driver honked loudly, urging the owner to move. Instead of yielding, the Maybach toyed with us on the shoulder—surging forward, then slamming the brakes.
Our driver couldn’t avoid it. On the Maybach’s nth sudden stop, he rear-ended us.
A pot-bellied man climbed out of the Maybach, swaggering with arrogance. “Who the hell do you think you are, honking that horn non-stop? Do you know whose plate that is?”
I jumped down from the transport, swallowing the anger that wanted to boil out of me. “You cut into the emergency lane during rush hour. This is an ambulance — you should yield immediately.”
The man sneered. “Ha! Go find out whose plate that is. In Los Angeles, no one dares to make way for a car from the Neal Corporation. Not a single soul.” He smirked as if he owned the freeway. “Listen: it’s not just the emergency lane. I could drive my car straight through your living room if I wanted.”
I didn’t want to waste time arguing — Samuel’s condition was the only thing on my mind — so I pulled out my phone and dialed the number for the police chief at LAPD Headquarters.
“Is it true that a car from Shaw Holdings can be driven right into my family’s living room?” I asked, forcing my voice to stay even.
My grandfather’s situation was delicate and he’d always been discreet about his past. If it weren’t for the danger to his life, I wouldn’t have bothered making that call.
When the man realized I’d hung up, he laughed out loud. “Looks like you’re a country bumpkin from out of town — first time in Los Angeles, huh? Calling the cops now?”
“I’m Frank Wood, personal driver to the Neal family’s heiress,” he announced, chest puffed. “Who in this city doesn’t know me?”
He kept sneering as if I were invisible. “What backwater are you from, honestly? You don’t even know who we are.” The grin on his face grew wider when I stayed silent. “A nobody dares to go up against the Neals? You really don’t know your place.”
He pointed to the Maybach as if that settled everything. “This car’s a custom from our Miss Neal. You owe us two million — and then you’ll kowtow three times — and we’ll let this slide.”
“Or,” he added with a poisonous smile, “if you make our Miss Neal unhappy, you and that old coot on your transport can both go to hell.”
Frank Wood’s words were ridiculous enough to make me laugh out loud despite myself. Two million? Did he think I was an idiot?
I glanced at Frank Wood’s smug face. “Frank Wood, right? This is broad daylight; our Federal-Grade transport has a dashcam. It recorded everything.”
“You were the one illegally blocking the emergency lane, and then you provoked us. The rear-end happened because you slammed on the brakes on purpose. You’ve even delayed my grandfather’s rescue.”
“If I don’t make you take responsibility, that’ll be generous. You’re trying to extort me? I’ve called the police — let them handle it when they get here.”
Hearing that I’d called the police only fueled Frank. He snorted. “The police? Let them come. If they show up, this won’t be just about money.”
“In Los Angeles, the Neal family runs the sky,” he said, as if that ended the conversation.
Besides the driver and the paramedics, Dr. Leonard Hayes — the renowned physician — was with us on the transport. Even so, my attention never left Samuel’s condition; every second felt like it might be the difference between life and death.
I fixed Frank with a calm look. “I’ll have the officers come to the hospital. If an officer rules that I owe compensation, fine — not just two million; I’ll pay twenty million if it comes to that.”
“You will move this car now. I have to get my grandfather to the hospital.”
Frank laughed like I’d said something charming. He clearly thought I’d been cowed.
第2章
“Hahaha — I see a lot of country bumpkins, and you paying twenty million? I bet you’d struggle to come up with two thousand,” he jeered.
“Think you can bribe us to let you go? No chance,” he continued. “Today you either leave the money here, or you watch your old man die on that transport.”
Hearing him call my grandfather an “old man” — as if he were worthless — snapped something inside me. I stepped forward and stared straight into Frank’s eyes.
“The Neal family?” I repeated, letting the incredulity be plain in my voice. “Go find out what happens when you cross the Shaw family.”
A woman’s voice cut in, flat and superior. A woman climbed gracefully out of the Maybach and walked over. She tossed her hair and looked at me with pure disdain.
“So you want the Neal family to detour for you?” she asked, voice silk over steel. “Maybe Frank’s a little blunt, but he’s not wrong. In Los Angeles, nobody dares make way for the Neal Corporation.”
Frank preened. “See? What do you want to do about it, kid? This car is our heiress’s custom ride. Two million is cheap for you.”
My fists tightened until my knuckles ached. “I already said: if the police determine I’m at fault, I’ll pay. Two million, twenty million — name it. But you move this car now. A life is at stake.”
Frank barked a derisive laugh. “A life at stake? Let me tell you, in this city, the Neal family is the sky itself.”
The woman’s smile grew cruel. “You probably don’t even know who I am. I’m Victoria Neal, sole heir to the Neal fortune.”
“Today is my grandfather’s Birthday Gala,” she added, voice dripping with entitlement. “If you, some backwater bumpkin, ruin it, you won’t be able to bear the consequences. I think—”
I cut her off with a cold laugh. “Whoever you are, if someone on that transport dies because of your stunt, you’ll be the one who can’t bear the consequences.”
“Maybe call your grandfather,” I said. “Ask him if he knows a Michael Shaw.”
Victoria’s smile froze for a heartbeat — an expression so quick it might have been missed if you weren’t watching closely.
“What an attitude!” she cried. “No one has had the gall to talk like this to the Neals in years. That ambulance is carrying your grandfather? Some old coot from the sticks dares put himself on the same level as my family?”
“I’ll make sure that old coot dies on that ambulance today and see what you do about it,” she hissed.
Rush-hour traffic on the elevated freeway was already a mess; the rear-end crash turned everything into a complete standstill. Cars piled up for miles, and a few drivers stepped out to gawk.
“This kid really doomed himself,” someone murmured. “You can’t go against the Neal family. Now the heiress said no one will move — his grandfather’s done for.”
“Too bad, he should’ve known better. An ambulance using the emergency lane is natural; private cars have no right to be there.”
“You don’t get it. That’s the Neal family — they could fly if they wanted. What can we do?”
Their whispers fed Frank’s arrogance. He leaned in, grin wide. “So? What are you going to do now, kid?”
第3章
“Are you going to pay up like a good boy, or just stand there and watch your grandfather die?”
I was about to respond when my phone suddenly rang.
It was a call from Chief Logan Reed, the Chief of the LAPD.
I answered immediately.
“Chief Reed.”
His anxious voice burst through the speaker.
“Michael, the I-405 is completely jammed. Our units can’t get through at all!”
My heart dropped instantly.
Across from me, Frank Wood let out a roaring laugh—delighted by my reaction.
“Chief Reed? Who the hell are you pretending to be?”
“If you’re so capable, why don’t you call that Chief over here right now?”
“A redneck like you? Please. Stop acting.”
His smug face made bile rise in my throat.
Frank shot a glance at the completely empty lane ahead of his luxury car.
“This whole freeway is blocked—except right in front of us. If I don’t move, you’ll never make it to the hospital.”
“So, hurry up and compensate us, and maaaaybe your wrinkled old grandpa can crawl back from death’s door.”
My thoughts flashed to my grandfather in the back of the Federal-Grade Armored Medical Transport.
He was running out of time.
There was no more room to argue.
“Two hundred thousand dollars? I’ll pay.”
“Give me your bank account. I’ll transfer it now.
Get out of my way!”
Frank grinned, unlocking his phone and thrusting it toward me while still laughing loudly.
“Hahaha! Look at you pretending so hard. Come on then! Transfer it!
I gotta see how long you can keep this act up.”
“You’ve probably never even seen that kind of money in your entire—”
Before he could finish, a notification chimed loudly from his phone.
Transfer received: $200,000.00
His face froze—words dying in his throat.
I stared him down coldly.
“Now, will you move?”
People around us gasped.
“Holy—this kid didn’t look rich at all… and he really had the money!”
“Frank’s face is priceless! Serves him right. Acting all high and mighty—now look at him!”
“But what if that was their family’s last lifeline? If they already paid… how will they afford treatment now?”
Frank’s stunned silence cracked, replaced by a vicious snarl.
“Don’t get cocky, punk.
Two hundred thousand? That’s just our Miss Neal’s daily pocket money.”
“But for you?
That money probably cost you your LIFE.”
“Even if you make it to the hospital, your old man’s as good as dead. Maybe you should just give up now.”
At that moment, Dr. Leonard Hayes’s voice came from inside the medical vehicle.
“Michael, hurry. I can keep him stable for maybe thirty minutes—no longer.”
“After that… not even a god could save him.”
My chest tightened.
If Dr. Hayes, the best in the country, said that…
then it was the truth.
Thirty minutes…
Under normal traffic, we’d reach Cedars-Sinai Hospital in ten minutes.
But Frank had already wasted so much time.
If we delayed any longer…
my grandfather would really die.
I looked straight past Frank and locked eyes with Victoria Neal, who stood behind him—smug and untouchable.
“There’s a high-ranking figure inside this transport.”
“The Chief Commander of the Federal Intelligence Division.”
“Samuel Shaw.”
第4章
The moment I said my grandfather’s name, both Victoria Neal and Frank Wood turned ghost-pale.
Few in Los Angeles had ever seen Samuel Shaw,
but everyone knew his name.
If something happened to him here—
they would never survive the consequences.
Frank’s courage faltered. He scrambled to move the Maybach,
but Victoria grabbed his arm sharply.
“Are you insane? Samuel Shaw? In a medical transport?”
“He’s guarded by entire medical teams! There’s no way he’d be in this thing!”
Frank’s expression shifted again—fear replaced by arrogance.
“Right! Someone like Samuel Shaw wouldn’t be anywhere near you!”
“You little bastard, you dared lie to me?”
I was beyond tired of talking to them.
“Move.
Or don’t.”
Frank thought he had me scared.
He burst out laughing.
“Did you forget already?
Two hundred thousand was just step one.”
“You still owe me three—”
“Driver,” I barked, turning away.
“RAM THEM.”
“In ten minutes, my grandfather must reach that hospital alive!”
Before Frank could register what I’d said, I jumped into the medical truck and slammed the door.
Frank pounded against the metal, shrieking:
“You crazy bastard!
If you crash into my car, I’ll erase your entire family from Los Angeles!”
“Get out here—”
His threats were drowned out by the roar of the engine.
CRASH!
I held my grandfather tightly as the armored vehicle rammed the Maybach aside, crumpling metal and sending the luxury car grinding against the guardrail.
Victoria and Frank stared in terror, horrified that I truly dared to ram them.
I no longer cared about them.
With the emergency lane cleared, we sped forward—sirens howling.
The road ahead opened.
Every second counted.
Ten minutes later, we reached the hospital.
As the surgical team rushed my grandfather into the OR, Dr. Hayes squeezed my shoulder.
“Don’t worry. With me here, he’ll make it.”
“But listen—under no circumstances may the operation be interrupted.
He’s your responsibility now.”
I nodded hard.
But just as the doors swung shut—
Victoria Neal and Frank Wood barged into the corridor with more than a dozen bodyguards.
“Well, well. You actually made it to the OR.”
“Let’s see if this surgery still happens with me here.”
Frank flicked his wrist.
“Beat the hell out of him.”
“And when you’re done—drag that dying bag of bones out of the OR too!”
The bodyguards stepped forward in unison.
I looked up at the glowing surgical light above the door—Dr. Hayes’s words echoing in my head.
I raised a hand to stop them—anger burning inside me.
“My grandfather is fighting for his life right now.”
“So tell me… what do you want?”
Frank nearly burst with excitement.
“Hahaha! Now you’re scared?”