“Go on,” said Paul. As he listened to Pia, Paul reconfirmed that she was undeniably gorgeous, with exotic features and lovely skin. He knew she had an athletic runner’s body, having caught a glimpse of her in her spandex when she’d first come into the ER and before she’d been given the white coat she was still wearing. And she was a medical researcher, operating on some technological frontier he knew almost nothing about. He was enthralled with her. But he sensed she was aloof and not completely comfortable talking with him. He wondered why. There were lots of things he wanted to talk to her about, but he restrained his usually ebullient and talkative side and concentrated on the medicine. He didn’t have to pretend. That, too, fascinated him.

“Tell me,” Paul said when there was a pause in the conversation. “Have you been taking advantage of the great Colorado outdoors? That’s what lured me here.”

“I have,” Pia said. “Mostly running, but I have been biking a bit, too.”

“No skiing?”

“Some. I at least tried it. It’s more of a commitment than I’m willing to make. How about you?”

“Skiing, mountain biking, running, even mountain climbing. I can’t get enough. It’s a major reason I’m in emergency medicine. When I’m off, I’m really off, and I’m out there doing something. Maybe we can hook up sometime and go for a run or something. I have to say, I like you.”

“That’s nice,” Pia said noncommittally. She wondered if coming to the cafeteria had been a good idea, remembering the red flag issue.

Pia’s reaction to his innocent offer to get together was hardly encouraging, so Paul quickly turned the conversation to their recent shared experience.

“So this runner you came in with. You said when you found him he was unresponsive. How long would you say it was that he wasn’t breathing?”

“I have no way of knowing,” said Pia. “All I know is that he wasn’t breathing when I examined him. And I couldn’t feel a heartbeat, not until I had done CPR.”

“And yet the neuro seemed fine, and the EKG was absolutely normal,” said Paul. “Very curious, to say the least.”

“He recovered as if he had been sleeping. I know no Chinese at all, but it didn’t sound as though he were slurring his words when he woke up. And he had full motor function. Immediately he tried to get up.”

“If you had to guess how long he’d not been breathing, what would you say?”

“I saw him on the ground from quite a distance, and noticed he hadn’t moved. I mean, it had to be fifteen, twenty minutes at least. I know that sounds impossible.”