3 TERRIFYING THRILLERS

by Jude Hardin

  She was out of his league, and she undoubtedly belonged to someone else.

  Jason walked on.

  “I like your dog.”

  Jason looked around. Was she talking to him? Of course she was. Jason was the only human being in sight, and Buddy the only canine.

  “Thanks,” Jason said. He walked toward the grassy little dune where she was standing. “Out to catch some waves this morning, huh?”

  “Going to try. I’m really not very good at it. Do you surf?”

  Jason would turn twenty-eight this year, and he had never even touched a surfboard. Not that he could remember.

  He liked living near enough to the ocean to drive to the beach whenever he felt like it. The sound of it and the smell of it and the glorious sight of it made him happy. Morning walks along the shore had become a frequent treat for him and Buddy, good for the mind, body, and soul. But the thought of actually walking out into those waves and diving in? The thought of doing that made Jason’s stomach lurch. He had never swum in the ocean, and he’d never gone out on any kind of recreational boat or cruise ship.

  Truth be known, the water scared the crap out of Jason Powers.

  “I don’t surf,” he said. “But I can play ‘Wipeout’ on the drums.”

  She laughed. “Well, that’s something, I guess.”

  “You live around here?” Jason asked.

  “Yeah. Actually, I just moved here from—”

  Buddy abruptly stuck his nose in the beautiful young woman’s crotch, interrupting what she was about to say. Jason tugged him back with the leash.

  “Rude boy,” Jason said, scolding the pooch. “Sorry about that. What were you saying?”

  She lowered the surfboard to the sand and sat on it. She hugged her knees. “I just moved up here from Key West,” she said. “I got a job at Flagler hospital. I’m a nurse.”

  No way, Jason thought. What were the chances?

  “A nurse,” he said. “Wow. Cool. And what does your husband do?”

  She raked her hair back with her hand. “Oh, you’re smooth. That was a subtle way of asking me if I’m married, right? Well, for your information, I am not. No husband, no boyfriend, no prospects. And you, sir?”

  Jason grinned. “Same. No husband, no boyfriend, no prospects.” He had meant it as a joke, but when she raised an eyebrow instead of laughing, he added, “And I’m not gay.”

  “Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” she said.

  Jason pulled his sunglasses off, and their eyes met for the first time.

  “Yeah, but I’m not.” Jason couldn’t believe this luminous, charming, adorable creature was actually talking to him. But she was. She was talking to him, and those sparkling blue eyes of hers were smiling at him. “So, what’s your name?” he asked.

  “Danielle,” she said. “Danielle Wise.”

  “I’m Jason Powers, and this is my trusty sidekick Buddy.”

  “You were watching me,” she said. “I could feel it. You know how you can feel it sometimes when someone’s watching you?”

  “I do,” Jason said. “But I wasn’t watching you. Well, maybe a little bit.”

  He had absentmindedly allowed the leash to go slack again, giving Buddy the opportunity to stretch out and start licking Danielle’s left knee.

  “I think he likes me,” Danielle said. “Or at least my brand of sunscreen.”

  Jason tugged on the leash again. “Cut it out, Buddy. I do apologize. He usually behaves himself better than this.”

  “It’s okay. A little dog slobber never hurt anyone.”

  Jason really liked Danielle. He couldn’t remember when he’d felt such a connection with someone right off the bat. She had movie star good looks, yet she was friendly and funny and down to earth. Someone you could really talk to.

  “Do you have any pets?” Jason asked.

  “I don’t, but I love animals. When I first started college, I declared my major pre-med, with the intention of becoming a veterinarian. I ultimately went with nursing instead, but sometimes I wish I’d stuck with my dream to become a vet.”

  “You could always go back to school.”

  “Maybe. So what do you do, Mr. Jason Powers?”

  “I already told you. I’m a drummer.”

  “Oh. So you play in a band and stuff?”

  “I’m lying. You’re not going to believe this, but I’m also a nurse. I work at a little community hospital in Hallows Cove.”

  Danielle twisted her hair with her fingers. This is where she would lose interest, Jason thought. She probably had scores of doctors and pharmacists asking her out all the time. Why would she have any interest in another nurse? She would politely find a way to end the conversation, and then she would pick up her board and trot off into the surf. Tomorrow, or whenever she returned, she would avoid this part of the beach at this time of day, avoid the awkwardness of a second meeting.

  This was definitely where she would lose interest. Jason was sure of it.

  But he was wrong.

  Danielle

  Thursday Morning, St. Augustine

  Danielle Wise wasn’t looking for a man. In fact, after the volatile nature of her previous relationship, she had vowed to stay away from dating anyone for at least a year. Oh, guys hit on her all the time. Guys at clubs, at work, wherever. Just the other day, at the hospital, a very nice looking resident had asked her out to dinner. Dr. Alexander Norwood. A general surgery resident with aspirations toward open heart. Alex was handsome and charming, and he had a very nice future ahead of him. He was already making good money. Eventually he would become rich, and whoever married him would never have to work a day for the rest of her life.

  “Just dinner,” Alex had said. “A drink or two, and then dinner. I promise you’ll have a good time.”

  It was tempting, but Danielle stuck to her guns. “I’m only going to be in St. Augustine for ten more weeks,” she said. “While I’m waiting for my Colorado nursing license. Anyway, I just got out of a bad relationship and I’m not ready to start seeing anyone yet.”

  “I understand. Okay. Well, let me know if you change your mind.”

  “I will. Believe me.”

  Danielle had quit her job in Key West. She subleased her apartment and took a job with a traveling nurse company, and they’d been able to place her at Flagler in St. Augustine for twelve weeks right away. Forty dollars an hour, with a furnished one bedroom flat included. She jumped on it. She wanted to see the country, especially the western states. Montana, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico. She’d never been to any of those places, and she especially wanted to see Colorado. That was first on her list, but she had to wait for her licensure paperwork to clear. While she was waiting, St. Augustine was a pretty good place to be. It was good distance from Key West, at least an eight hour drive. Her ex would never find her here.

  And now, even though she certainly wasn’t looking for a man, the guy standing in front of her piqued her interest.

  Jason Powers.

  And his trusty sidekick Buddy.

  Danielle didn’t know why, but she felt a certain connection with Jason right away, a certain affinity. Something she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

  “How long have you been a nurse?” she asked.

  “Mind if I sit down?”

  Danielle scooted to the right, giving Jason room to sit beside her on the surfboard. She left enough room for him to sit at a comfortable distance.

  “Be my guest,” she said.

  Jason sat on the board, and Buddy sat in the sand in front of him. Buddy was panting hard.

  “I’ve been a nurse for six years,” Jason said.

  “And you were a drummer before that?”

  “Just small time, local bar bands. It helped me pay my way through college.”

  “What kind of music?”

  “A little bit of everything. But what I really like is classic rock. Zeppelin, Stones, AC/DC. Stuff that was recorded before we were born.”

  “Beatles
?”

  “Sure.”

  “I love the Beatles. I have their CD box set, all thirteen albums.”

  “Cool,” Jason said. “Very cool.”

  They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, although to Danielle it didn’t feel awkward. She felt as though she’d known Jason all her life.

  “He looks thirsty,” she said, nodding toward Buddy.

  “Yeah. I guess we better get back. And I’m sure you’re ready to hit the waves.”

  “It was really nice talking to you.”

  “You too,” Jason said. “Maybe we could, you know, talk again sometime.”

  “I’d like that.”

  Jason stood and brushed the sand off his shorts. He had nice legs.

  “Can I get your number?” he said.

  “I don’t have anything to write with.”

  Jason reached into a pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Danielle gave him the number, and he tapped it in with his finger.

  “Talk to you soon,” he said.

  “That would be great.”

  Jason

  Thursday Morning, St. Augustine

  Jason led Buddy back to the car. As he was loading the dog into the backseat, he noticed a yellow Camaro parked several spaces away.

  It couldn’t be.

  But it was.

  Lisa’s car.

  Jason looked around, but he didn’t see her anywhere. He knew it was Lisa’s Camaro, though, because he could see the Hallows Cove Memorial parking sticker on her back window.

  “Who were you talking to?”

  Jason turned around and there she was. Lisa Webber had somehow appeared from nowhere. She must have been hiding behind one of the other cars in the parking lot. She was still wearing her scrubs from work, but she’d let her hair down and she’d taken off the wire-rimmed eyeglasses.

  “What are you doing here?” Jason said.

  “Just happened to be in the area. Small world, huh?”

  “Right. Listen—”

  “Who were you talking to?” Lisa repeated.

  “Just some surfer girl. I don’t know. I’ve never seen her before.”

  “Are you sure she’s not your girlfriend?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “She better not be,” Lisa said.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you’re mine, Jason. You’ll always be mine.”

  Lisa kissed Jason on the cheek. She walked over to her Camaro, got in and started it and disappeared in a cloud of dust.

  What a nutjob, Jason thought. He drove home and went to bed, trying really hard to think about Danielle and forget about Lisa.

  Trey

  Saturday Night, Hallows Cove

  The hospital is a very dangerous place to be.

  Trey Remington knew that. He’d known it for a long time, practically his whole life. His mother had been a registered nurse, and she would say the words every morning when she came dragging in from the night shift, so exhausted she barely had the energy to take a shower and crawl into bed.

  The hospital is a very dangerous place to be.

  As a young boy, partly because of those words and partly because of the horror stories his mother would tell at the dinner table sometimes, Trey had vowed to himself that he would never step foot inside one of those miserable places. And he’d kept that vow, mostly, until now.

  Of course there was the time he went to the emergency room with a fishhook in his hand, but that didn’t really count. It had been a slow day in the ER, and he was in and out in less than two hours. Eight stitches. No big deal.

  But this time was different. The shortness of breath, the crushing chest pain, the weakness, the nausea. Almost certain that he was having a massive heart attack, Trey had called 911 from the phone in his kitchen at home.

  “I think I’m dying,” he said.

  Rescue came. They rushed him to Hallows Cove Memorial, and a team of doctors and nurses started working on him right away. They gave him a nitroglycerin tablet to put under his tongue, started an IV in his arm, and injected him with a dose of morphine to help ease the pain. A few hours later, after all the tests were done, they told him it was his gallbladder.

  Trey was relieved that he hadn’t suffered a myocardial infarction, relieved that his heart was still in tip-top shape at the age of sixty-two. He felt as though he’d been given a second chance, and he planned on making some lifestyle adjustments right away. He planned to quit smoking, quit eating salty fatty foods, and start exercising regularly.

  Right after this pesky gallbladder thing was taken care of.

  Trey was on the sixth floor in the telemetry unit. They’d put him on a heart monitor as a precaution, but the wires were cumbersome and the box they were attached to was a nuisance every time Trey needed to go to the bathroom. It was bad enough that he had to pull an IV pole around when he got out of bed. The monitor was too much, and he wanted it taken off immediately. He pressed the call button, and a nurse walked in a couple of minutes later.

  “Who are you?” Trey said.

  “My name’s Jason. I’ll be your nurse tonight. Can I help you?”

  Jason was probably in his late twenties. He was tall and thin, and he had a voice that might have sounded good on FM radio. Blue scrubs, white lab coat, long brown hair tied back in a ponytail. There was a stethoscope draped around his neck.

  “I thought Jennifer was my nurse,” Trey said.

  “We’re in the middle of shift change right now. Jennifer’s going home, and I’m taking her patients. I’ll be here until seven in the morning.”

  “Oh.”

  “Can I help you?”

  “I want to take this thing off,” Trey said.

  “Your monitor?”

  “Yeah. I don’t need it. They ran all the tests, and there’s nothing wrong with my heart after all.”

  “I’ll have to call the doctor and get an order to discontinue it,” Jason said. “I’ll let you know as soon as I hear something.”

  “You can call whoever you want. I’m taking the damn thing off right now.”

  Trey yanked the wires from his chest. He wrapped them loosely around the monitor box and tossed the entire apparatus onto his nightstand.

  Jason just stood there for a few seconds, and then he turned around and walked out of the room without saying anything. He seemed perturbed, but Trey didn’t care. He refused to be bullied by any of these so-called medical professionals. There was absolutely nothing wrong with his heart, so he wasn’t going to wear a monitor. It was as simple as that.

  He turned the TV on and started watching the tail end of Wheel of Fortune. Trey didn’t care much for the show, but Jeopardy was on next and liked that one. He liked playing along and trying to answer the questions, and he was pretty good at it.

  A few minutes after Jason left, a young woman in burgundy scrubs wheeled a blood pressure machine into Trey’s room and took his vital signs. Her nametag said Stephanie, PCT. Trey knew from asking previously that the letters stood for Patient Care Technician. It was a fancy name for what they used to call a nurse’s aid.

  “How are you tonight?” Stephanie said.

  “Do you people ever knock?”

  Trey didn’t like it that so many hospital employees could just come and go as they pleased. It made him nervous.

  “Excuse me?” Stephanie said.

  “Never mind. When you get a chance, tell my nurse I need something for pain.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell her.”

  “It’s not a her,” Trey said. “It’s a him. His name is Jason.”

  “Okay.”

  Great. These numbskulls didn’t have a clue what was going on.

  Stephanie did her thing with the machine and then left the room, not even bothering to tell Trey what his blood pressure or temperature readings were. With all these rude and incompetent boneheads running in and out of his room, Trey figured he would be lucky to live through the night.

  In fact, he decided then and there that he
wasn’t going to leave anything to luck. He picked up the cheap little touchtone phone from his nightstand and started punching in numbers. His sister, Camille, answered on the fourth ring.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Cami, I need you to come back up here and stay the night with me.”

  “Why?”

  “I just don’t feel good about being here alone. Please. I need somebody to stay here with me. I’m paranoid, okay? I keep thinking about those stories Mom used to tell us when we were kids. You know what I’m talking about. There wasn’t a day that went by—”

  “Everything’s going to be fine, Trey. I’ll be there in the morning before they take you to surgery. Now try to get some rest, okay?”

  “Everybody keeps telling me to try to get some rest. How am I going to get any rest here? This place is a madhouse. Can’t do it. If you won’t come and stay with me, I’m going to check out and go home. Hell, I never should have let them admit me in the first damn place.”

  After a long pause, Camille said, “You need this operation, Trey. You know what the doctor said. It’s only going to get worse if it’s not taken care of right away. Why are you being such a baby about this?”

  “Are you going to come or not?”

  Another long pause.

  “All right!” Camille shouted. She uttered something incomprehensible, and then she hung up.

  She was angry, but she would get over it. Trey was going to feel much better about closing his eyes and trying to sleep with Cami in the room with him. Much, much better.

  He pushed the call button on his bedrail. A female voice came over the intercom and said, “May I help you?”

  “I asked for pain medicine ten minutes ago,” Trey said. His chest was killing him. He couldn’t believe these buffoons were going to let him lie here and suffer like this.

  “I’ll tell your nurse,” the female voice said.

  A few minutes later, a young blond woman walked in with a syringe.