Venice; Money Heist

Bad Decisions

SARTURDAY 6 P.M.

HOUR 32 OF THE HEIST

I quickly drop to my knees and press my hand onto Arturo's gunshot wound. "Shit, shit, shit... why? Why can't anyone listen to me for once? Shit!" I tear a piece of his shirt off and press it onto the wound before Denver and Moscow carry Arturo back inside. I order the other hostages to follow before I disappear through the door myself. Helsinki shouts at the hostages to get inside and rips the masks off their faces.

"Helsinki! Go downstairs, come on!" I yell at him, and he runs past Moscow and Denver to the front of the line and down the stairs.

"What do we have?"

"He's seriously injured. Hurry up!"

Meanwhile, Arturo is yelling at us, accusing us of killing Monica. I admit he doesn't know, but the relief at the thought that Denver isn't a murderer makes me feel lighter.

"Come on, keep moving! Are you deaf? Move!" I command as a group looks bewildered at the trio. "Come on, get your heads out of your asses and move!" We enter the hall, and Tokyo comes running down the stairs with the first aid kit. Great, just what I needed.

Rio and Helsinki push a rolling cage with a shelf into the middle, where we lay Arturo. I take the kit from Tokyo and ask for water. "What are you doing there, Venice?"

"I have fucking basic training when it comes to treating gunshot wounds, and even though we've been taught all this by the professor, I doubt any of you, except maybe Helsinki, Oslo, or me, have ever had to stop such a shitty bleeding wound! So shut up and let us work!"

I turn to Arturo and see Denver giving him water. "Arturo, you need to hold onto this now." I press a clean cloth onto the wound. "Rio, give me the alcohol, you need to move his hand." Rio moves his hand away, and I clean the wound with the alcohol, while Arturo cries out in pain. "Arturo, just a second, then the burning will stop." I take scissors and cut the fabric of his shirt and overalls.

"I need to talk to my wife, please." His wife? Didn't he just yell at us for supposedly killing his sidechick? "I need to talk to my wife."

...They say that when we're at Death's door, we're finally able to see our life clearly. And as Arturo Roman lay bleeding out on a table, waiting for that, he waited exactly for this: Death's wisdom... to find out once and for all who the true love of his life had been... Laura, the woman he had shared 14 years of holy matrimony with? Or Monica, his secretary and lover, who made him feel young again? Unfortunately, the only certainty Arturo had at that moment was that if they didn't get the bullet out, he'd croak before solving the enigma. And frankly, our first aid courses weren't guaranteed to save anyone. From experience, I can say that no exact survival probability can be given for such a situation, as it depends on a variety of factors, including the severity of the injury, the effectiveness of first aid, the distance to medical care, and other circumstances. Survival rates in gunshot wounds depend on many variables, including the type of wound, time until treatment, quality of first aid measures, and availability of medical care. If a basic first aid kit is available, chances of survival can certainly be improved, but there's no guarantee. Luckily for Arturo, we've all been through the professor's first aid course, and he has three former soldiers with experience by his side, looking at his wound and tending to it. The presence of a well-trained soldier who is skilled in both medical and weapons handling can be of great advantage. She could coordinate and perform first aid measures, including controlling bleeding and stabilizing the patient, while also possibly having medical knowledge beyond what is typically taught in a standard first aid training. However, she relies on the assistance of other present individuals and the resources available. We were all aware of the risk we were entering here, but Arturito here didn't have as much say in the matter. And while Helsinki and I play doctor, the professor sits in his office negotiating surgical help for Arturo with the Inspectora...