by JJ Lamb
He tapped the pen again and said, “I cannot stress enough the critical nature of our work or what it would mean if details were leaked to the competition. You need to understand that right from the git-go. The bonus we offered to get you to come here to this isolated and extremely environmentally unfriendly part of Nevada would probably be a pittance compared to what a competitor would offer you to deliver the details of our research. Even the most ethical person would be tempted to cooperate.”
“Are you questioning our ethics?” Gina said. Ethan was exploring her chest again, or was he looking straight through her?
“Not at all, Ms. Mazzio.” He paused for a moment. “Perhaps it would help you understand if I told you that we are involved in a vital national research project for Zelint Pharmaceuticals. That much I will tell you.”
“Dr. Dayton—”
“Ethan.” He said softly to her. “As I said before … we are quite informal at this facility.”
The switch in demeanor caught Gina off guard. In her experience, there were very few people in administration who didn’t treasure that Mr. or Ms, or Dr. before their name. “All right … Ethan … I think we can sign those papers for you. But, if we don’t like what we hear, we’re out of here. We’ve made it plain, neither one of us wants to live in your hospital. So, persuading us is going to be a major task.”
She could feel herself revving up, knew she was starting to get confrontational, but that resident evil twin inside of her refused to shut up. “And you also need to know that if we do decide to leave, we might or might not give back the bonus money.” She smiled sweetly at Harry. “And if this place and what it does is such a big secret, you’re not about to take us to court.”
Harry glared at her, cleared his throat. “We’ve come here in good faith, Ethan. And I agree with Gina that our time is worth something.” He softened the moment with a wide smile.
* * *
Where is everyone?
Gina noticed that they’d been alone with the administrator for more than an hour. No one had even walked by the lounge, let alone come in. It didn’t feel like a hospital. It was way too quiet.
She didn’t know if she could live with this total sense of isolation day after day. She’d felt this way from the very moment they’d reached Nugget and turned onto that almost nonexistent road. It was like they had been scripted into a sci-fi movie and plunged into another world.
And what about those iron rods on the windows?
“As you can see, this is a very small facility” The administrator chuckled at the obvious, interrupting her thoughts. She watched him emphasize his words by gently tapping the table with his pen over and over again. “Aside from housekeeping and the kitchen staff, there are only two other full-time and two relief RNs for our 30-bed hospital. Of course, we fill in with temps whenever necessary.”
“That’s all?” Harry sputtered his full mouth of food while his eyes morphed into two large blue saucers. “You’ve got to be kidding! You really expect us to work twelve hour shifts, with a patient load of fifteen each, five days a week?” He shoved his plate away. “No wonder the agency was so closed mouth about this assignment. When I get back to San Francisco, they’re going to get an earful.”
“You won’t be alone,” Ethan said. “You will be assisted by aides, and Zelint will make it well worth your while.”
“And how do you plan on doing that?” Gina was ready to stand up and go.
Ethan Dayton didn’t blink. “An additional ten thousand per month, over and above your salary, if you go the full three months.”
Harry had a weird look in is eyes, but Gina started thinking about what the combined $60,000 would buy. She could put some money into her Fiat, and living on-site, they could save most of it. Then she stopped.
There’s gotta be another catch here.
Ethan pushed forward a set of non-disclosure forms for each of them. “I need you to read through these and sign off on them. I can’t discuss, or move ahead without your signatures.”
Harry pulled the papers to him, glanced at them, and signed. Gina speed-read through the words and scribbled out her signature.
“And now… maybe you can tell me, Ethan, why you have bars on the second floor windows?”
Harry gave her a look and the administrator was speechless for a moment. “I was about to explain all of that, Gina.” He was pleasant enough but there was an aggressive undertow of anger that surrounded him like a fiery aura.
I always bring out the worst in these guys—or is it that they bring out the worst in me?
“Comstock is part of Zelint’s national clinical study of a new drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s.”
“That’s incredible!” Harry’s jaw hung open. “And you’re actually into human trials? That’s what this is all about?”
The administrator beamed at them. “Yes, it really is phenomenal. Zelint is very excited. We’re all very excited. If this works out, in a year or two we’ll have a real treatment for a disease that’s plagued humanity generation after generation.”
“Wouldn’t that be wonderful,” Gina said. “Oh, my God, now maybe I won’t freak out every time I forget where I put my keys.” The three of them laughed.
“So you can see why it’s essential that all of this has to be kept under wraps.”
“How have you kept the media at arms length?” Harry asked excitement in his voice. “I can’t believe they haven’t somehow gotten wind of it? I mean, this is really huge.”
“Zelint Pharmaceuticals,” Dayton said, “has advised the media in a limited way. But there have been so many hits and misses in Alzheimer’s R&D, it’s become a wait and see attitude with any potential drug. No one jumps at rumors anymore.”
“Well, I admit you’ve really gotten my attention,” Harry said. “What do you think, Gina?”
Staring at the boulders, she still thought about those barred windows on the second floor, but she gave him a tentative thumb up and began to relax.
Chapter 4
On the trip down to Carson City to their in-again, out-again condo, they had to drive over the migrating tarantulas again. Gina closed her eyes and tried not to imagine what was going on under the car as the tires crunched the black, furry creatures.
Poor things.
She hoped that if there was really such a thing as reincarnation, she would never come back as a tarantula, or as any number of other things she could think of—a yapping Pekinese, a fat gray rat, a slithy tove.
Ethan Dayton kept his word. As promised, he’d settled up with the condo manager, who was really nice about their leaving; even helped them load up the Jeep. Not that they had that much to tackle—just a couple of over sized suitcases, a cosmetic case, and a laptop.
Before heading for the hills around Nugget, they stopped and bought some groceries, even though they’d yet to see their new living quarters. All in all, everything took under two hours before they were headed back.
When they arrived, Ethan was waiting at the entrance. Just like the first time.
“Cacca!” Gina said. “Does that man do anything but stand guard at the front of the building?”
“Don’t be so hard on him. He’s just trying to be nice.” Harry reached for her hand “What’s the matter, babe?”
She tried to silence her inner warning system—it was making her heart race. She took a deep breath and thought about it. “I don’t know, Harry,” she said, squeezing his hand. “I’m jittery about this whole assignment.”
“Hey, you’re used to working in a big hospital with a large staff … travel nursing, all of this stuff, it’s new to you.” He looked into her eyes, ran his fingers across her cheek. “You’re a great nurse. You can work anywhere and your patients will love you … so, it’s going to be okay. Trust me.”
Gina looked back at his soulful eyes and started to relax. “You’re probably right. It’s only me being my insecure self.” She smiled. “You know, Harry, you’re the best.”
“Isn’t that what you de
serve, my little buttercup?”
“Ick! That’s the worst one you’ve come up with yet.” But she was laughing again. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
She peeked out at Ethan Dayton waiting patiently in front of the building. “Well, here goes nothing.”
The administrator took them directly to their apartment and pointed out the details of their new living quarters. A large flat-screen TV, microwave, coffee-maker. His parting shot, “I hope you’ll be happy here with us at Comstock Medical.”
As soon as the door closed behind Ethan, Harry spun Gina around in a full circle. “Well, what do you think of our new digs, Ms. Mazzio?”
“Not bad. I think we can make it work.” She pointed at the living room window. “And, guess what? Another hunk of granite.”
“Admit it. Isn’t it nice to have something you can depend on? Sort of solid, like … a rock.”
“Yeah, yeah!” She moved closer to the window. “Take a look at that … if we get desperate we could probably jump right out the window and onto this one.” She pointed for him to see a weathered-sculpted ledge on the side of the huge boulder.
“You are an absolute nut,” he said, standing beside her. “Besides, who cares about these monsters anyway?"
“I do,” she said, kissing his nose. “Tell me, you can’t possibly think that’s a natural formation?”
“Why not?”
“Because all these boulders are uniform in size and shape. That’s not the way Mother Nature works, not even in the wild, wild West.”
“A nature freak from the Bronx?”
“Go ahead, make fun of me. But I’ll bet they were placed there to either keep something out, or something in.”
“You are the most suspicious broad I’ve ever met.”
“And I don’t know how you’ve managed to live this long calling women broads. So dated; right out of a noir movie.” She flicked her fingers at him.
“Right about that. A male nurse surrounded by all those women … I should be dead, my balls hammered to the wall.”
Gina giggled.
“But you’re my solo target and it’s worth it to watch you go into hyper-drive.” He pulled aside an accordion-pleated partition to reveal the small kitchenette. “Come on, admit it. This is a great apartment.”
“Go ahead, change the subject.”
Harry laughed. “Survival instinct to the rescue.”
They both began to unpack their suitcases and claim drawers and a share of the closet. “Sort of like a large studio,” Harry said. “And our bed is stashed up and out of the way into the wall. Hmm. Never had a Murphy bed before. With the screened-off kitchen, it becomes a really nice living room with plenty of space to chase you around and then nail you on the sofa.” He bounced down onto it and leered at her.
Gina gave him a wicked smile and leaped at him. “I only let you think you’re nailing me.”
“Uh, huh.” His hands slid to her bra strap.
“Harry Lucke, I’m much too excited to mess around with you right now. I want to see what’s on that second floor…besides bars on the windows.” She stood and tried to pull him up.
“Hey, I was just beginning to warm up.” He checked his watch. “Look, we have an hour to ourselves before we meet the boss for an official tour … and we’re getting paid for it.” He patted the cushion next to him.
“I want to check it out now. Why would a place like this have bars on the windows of the second floor? It’s a drug study, not something illegal that needs a cell.”
“We’ll see everything later.” He patted the cushion next to him again.
Gina, hands on hips, said, “Why does everything have to be about schedules with you?”
“I get into less trouble that way.”
“Yeah, and what does that do for you?”
“Three squares and a fistful of dough.”
Gina turned her nose up, gave him an I-don’t-believe-you frown, and walked up to the window again. “Did you get an eyeful of those two orderlies who rode the elevator with us on the way up earlier? Kind of rough and tumble for a hospital facility, don’t you think?”
“I gotta admit they didn’t look much like orderlies to me, more the mop and pail type, but this is Nevada, remember?”
“Yeah, so?”
Harry shrugged. “I’m more concerned about the fact it takes a card key to get the elevator to stop on the second floor.”
“How do you know that?”
“I’ll bet if those muscle-bound guys hadn’t been headed for the third floor, you would have seen what I saw—the button for the second floor was slotted for a card key. My take? No key, no visit to the second floor.”
Gina grabbed an apple from their newly filled fruit bowl and started munching. “And that’s where our patients are.”
* * *
Gina went into their new bathroom and washed her face with cold water. It was the kind of ritual she often used to slow herself down so she could think about whatever was bothering her. When her ex-husband, Dominick, bullied her—tried to make her give into some scheme or idea he thought would bring him “millions,” or when he’d been drinking and getting mean and physical—she would head for the bathroom. It not only got her away from him, it gave her time to think, to find some kind of inner grit to outsmart him.
She looked at the bathroom mirror as she patted her face dry with a flowery hand towel.
Whatever makeup she’d had on when she started the day was now gone. Her eyes looked darker than usual, large and frightened; her short black hair barely stood up as she ran her fingers through its thickness.
Why did she feel so scared, like a trapped animal wanting to scoot into a corner, scrunch itself up, make itself smaller and smaller, so no one could find it, hurt it?
No!
She might be afraid, but she wouldn’t allow herself to be like that. She would not, could not live in the shadows.
Gina reached for her makeup kit and did a pencil job around her eyes and left her dark eyebrows au natural. She finished the job with a touch of lipstick.
“There,” she said to the mirror and left the bathroom.
* * *
“Stop looking so guilty, Harry. We’re employees. We have a right to walk around the place, with or without Ethan.”
“The last time, your curiosity almost got you killed.”
“Don’t be such a wuss.” She pulled him toward the staircase. “I just want to see if we can get onto the second floor. What’s wrong with that?”
“In another thirty minutes we can do everything on the up and up. This seems invasive.”
“Bulltaki!” she said as they headed down.
They’d only taken a few steps when Harry held back. “Do we really have to do this now?”
“Yes, we do.”
“Why? Can’t you at least wait for Ethan, do the very same thing, and avoid getting into some kind of mess?” He sighed. “Gina, it’s our first day.”
“Number one, I don’t like those disclosure papers we had to sign. That was a red flag. If it had been about patient confidentiality, that would’ve been one thing. But all that legal mumbo-jumbo about industrial espionage had a steel edge to it. More like a warning … and I don’t mean a slap on the hand.”
“It’s a drug study, Gina. Caution seems logical with all the cut-throat competition in the pharmaceutical industry.”
“So, you think it’s all about money?”
“Yeah. What isn’t?”
She ignored him. “Number two, those rocks lined up on the road and all around the building. I swear, it’s like being in a prison.”
“The rocks again? Do you know how weird that sounds?”
She shook her head. “Number three, the census … thirty patients. How do they get by on the kind of staff they have? Or should I say haven’t? All I’ve seen are two muscle men and Ethan Dayton. Weird, huh?”
“It is weird,” Harry said, “but I’m willing to wait and see how it all shakes out. Maybe
the tour will explain it.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Okay, babe. I do agree this is the craziest assignment I’ve ever had … and you know I’ve put many years into this type of nursing. But sometimes off the wall can turn out to be interesting and challenging … and the money is damn good. At least let’s give it a chance. If you don’t like it after a few days, I promise we’ll leave.”
“I wasn’t finished.” Gina gave him a big smile. “Number four, and don’t you dare laugh at me,” Gina said, “the place doesn’t have the right smell to it.”
Harry laughed out loud. “That’s the nuttiest thing I’ve ever heard.”
When they got to the landing, Gina looked into one of the security cameras over the door. “Something tells me, we’re being watched right now.”
He caught her around the waist, and hugged her to him. “Stop it, Gina. Please stop it, right now! Let’s go back up.” He looked into her eyes with his I-love-you softness and all the fight went out of her.
Why did he always have that effect on her? She went limp as his lips found hers.
The door to the 2nd floor opened, startling them.
“A little early for our tour, aren’t you?” Ethan Dayton said from the doorway of the second floor.
Chapter 5
“Oh, hi, Ethan,” Gina said in her friendliest voice, though her wobbly knees had their own agenda … they shook so much she had to shift from one foot to another, or look like a total freak.
Can’t I ever get away with anything?
She said, “Thought it would be fun to explore the building before our meeting.”
Ethan’s flinty eyes said he wasn’t fooled for a minute.
And Harry didn’t help. “Yeah, we hit the stairs early for some exercise.” His forced laugh made everything even worse.
A smile that never touched the administrator’s eyes cracked the lower half of his face. He made a point of looking up at an observation camera over their heads, which made Gina feel really stupid—they’d been watched the whole time. Had Ethan also heard every word they’d spoken since they arrived? She wracked her brain, jumping from one thought to another like a crazed grasshopper, trying to remember any specific negative things they’d said. Her mind drew a complete blank.
