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Back Going Under Save as PDF
Chapters (70)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  3. DEDICATION
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART I BIRTH
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. PART II LIFE
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. TWENTY-ONE
  28. TWENTY-TWO
  29. TWENTY-THREE
  30. TWENTY-FOUR
  31. TWENTY-FIVE
  32. TWENTY-SIX
  33. TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. TWENTY-NINE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. PART III DEATH
  42. THIRTY-FIVE
  43. THIRTY-SIX
  44. THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. THIRTY-NINE
  47. FORTY
  48. FORTY-ONE
  49. FORTY-TWO
  50. FORTY-THREE
  51. FORTY-FOUR
  52. FORTY-FIVE
  53. FORTY-SIX
  54. FORTY-SEVEN
  55. FORTY-EIGHT
  56. FORTY-NINE
  57. FIFTY
  58. FIFTY-ONE
  59. FIFTY-TWO
  60. FIFTY-THREE
  61. FIFTY-FOUR
  62. FIFTY-FIVE
  63. FIFTY-SIX
  64. FIFTY-SEVEN
  65. FIFTY-EIGHT
  66. FIFTY-NINE
  67. SIXTY
  68. EPILOGUE
  69. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  70. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

She’d probably flirt her way out of it with clever words. Weapons of verbal mass seduction, rather than scalpels of destruction, or something along those lines. Hmm, perhaps not. If I tried to flirt with him I might accidentally vomit, which would only make matters worse.

As we file out of the room, the Shark, to his credit, pulls me aside.

‘I know you don’t have a registrar for a few more days, so just call on me or Dr Prince if you need to,’ he says, quite kindly. ‘Things can get a bit messy up there on the ward.’

I must have looked a little confused at the mention of Dr Prince. As far as I knew, he wasn’t at the meeting.

‘Dr Prince doesn’t attend many meetings,’ the Shark says, sounding peeved. ‘I’ve told him he has to, but he doesn’t often listen to me.’

I nod.

‘Anyway, Karen,’ the Shark says heartily, looking over my shoulder as if the conversation has already gone on too long, ‘I’ll see you for a round later.’

‘It’s, ah, Katarina,’ I correct him.

He nods vaguely and hurries away.

No problems, I tell his retreating back. Call me whatever you want, just don’t be too mean.

Thank goodness the registrar will be here in a few days, I think as my pager starts up again, signalling that it’s time for the nurses to start harassing me. I am relieved to learn that the registrar is a woman. I can’t wait to have an ally, a fellow female warrior to stand between me and the Joker.

I only need to get through another few days, I remind myself as I walk into the ward, then the new registrar will start and I’ll be out of the line of fire.

Just a few more days.

FOUR

four

I trudge into the doctors’ room, fighting an over whelming urge to throw my beeping pager out the window. How can something so small have so much power? Outside, the sun is shining, and as I look out the window I wonder if I should have made different choices. It’s only day two and I’m already starting to question if I’m really cut out for the world of medicine. If it was a TV show it’s feeling, awkwardly, less Grey’s Anatomy and more Prison Break. That is to say, rather than steamy encounters with my incredibly attractive colleagues, I can see myself spending more time plotting methods of escape. I suddenly wish I didn’t want to be a surgeon and that I was sunbaking on a Spanish beach drinking sangria instead of sitting here, about to do battle with the ward printer, which doesn’t work.

The beeping of my pager is drowned out by the sound of my phone.