The poor excuse for a road started out straight, but suddenly there was a tight curve, almost 180 degrees, and then they were into a small clearing. Gina cried out, “Look! We made it! There’s the building.”
A tall man dressed in pressed jeans, white short-sleeve shirt, and a bolo tie, was standing in front of the three-story building. His smile was welcoming, but Gina’s eyes were drawn to the second level, where a line of windows were recessed behind iron bars.
The ground floor was a wall of adobe brick that appeared to have no windows at all, at least on the side they were facing. To top it off, the entire place was surrounded by the same kind of huge boulders lining the road they’d just traveled.
They couldn’t possibly have been placed there deliberately, could they?
“This building is pretty strange looking for a hospital,” Gina said under her breath as the Jeep rolled to a stop. “Why are there bars on the windows?”
The man walked over to the driver’s side and held out a hand, which Harry shook. “I’m Ethan Dayton. You must be Harry Lucke.”
“That’s me.”
“And you’re Gina Mazzio,” Dayton said, looking over at her.
“Sorry we’re late,” she said. “Didn’t expect it to take so long to get here.”
“No one ever does.” He looked at his watch. “You’re closer to the appointed hour than most people. Come on in, I’ll show you around.” When Harry didn’t move, Dayton said, “Leave the Jeep here. No one will bother it.”
Harry still didn’t budge. “There’ll be no room for anybody else to park.”
The moment became awkward—Harry and Gina staring at the administrator, who was becoming perturbed, but shrugged it off and smiled widely. “Really, not to worry. We don’t get many visitors here.”
Gina shifted in her seat.
Mmmm. This is pretty weird.
Harry opened the car door and Gina watched Dayton’s gaze shift to her. She could feel his eyes crawling all over her body as she lifted her purse from the rear seat and hiked it onto her shoulder.
* * * *
Seated in Ethan Dayton’s office, Gina studied the administrator’s steely gray eyes and his skin that was as white as the day he was born. His smile seemed forced, pasted on his face. But with her employee history, she wasn’t known for her love of people in administration.
The only picture on the office walls was one of the facility, and, whenever it was taken, there were no bars on the second-story windows. His desk was neat and clean, except for his name plate: Ethan Dayton, Administrator. There wasn’t a single family picture on his desk, not even one of a dog. It was as though he’d rented all the office furnishings, like props. The man was a blank slate with no real information to flesh out Gina’s initial impressions. She shifted her attention to the window behind him; it looked out onto another huge boulder.
Imagine that. A view without a view.
Dayton followed her eyes. “Our plants out here are beautiful rocks. They are beautiful, don’t you think?”
Gina smiled, didn’t say anything.
“We get tremendous wind storms,” Dayton continued. “Those boulders are a protective barrier … they keep us from blowing away.”
“Makes sense to me,” Harry said. “So, can you give us a run-down on our assignment? The agency really didn’t give us much more than a bare-bones job description.”
The administrator stood. “First, why don’t I take you on a tour, then we’ll go to the lounge and talk about what you’ll be doing at Comstock.”
* * * *
“There are three floors to the facility,” Dayton said, as they rode up in an oversize elevator.
Gina wondered about the warehouse-size lift, but at least she wasn’t forced to stand too close to Dayton. He continued to make her feel restless. He looked like an average person, maybe a little stern, but that wasn’t it. There was something not quite right about his white buzz cut and his flinty gray eyes that strangely matched the rocks outside his office window. He was friendly enough, but humorless, and about as parched as the landscape they’d driven through. Yet, Harry seemed all right with him, obviously relaxed with his lets-just-move-on-with-the-job attitude.
The elevator stopped at the second floor; two guys in scrubs, guys that Gina wouldn’t have wanted to come across in a dark alley, stepped aboard. Their almost expressionless faces morphed into leers when they saw Gina. She cringed inside.
“Ah,” Ethan said. “These are our two orderlies, Rocky and Peter.” He introduced Gina and Harry to them.
“Which wing you gonna be on, Ms. Mazzio?” the one named Rocky asked.
“That hasn’t been decided,” Ethan said. Rocky gave him a noncommittal shrug.
When they arrived at the third floor, everyone got off. A bright, modern lounge lay straight ahead, with a long corridor on either side of it. Ethan pointed to the right. “That’s where my apartment is.” Then he pointed to the left. “That’s where your living accommodations are.”
Rocky and Pete walked away down the corridor on the left.
It took a moment for it to sink in; Gina and Harry looked at each other and said in unison, “What living accommodations?”
“That’s where our staff stays. Let me show you your place.”
Gina and Harry again spoke at the same time. “No!”
Ethan’s pasty face turned a bright red. He looked first at Harry then at Gina. “You mean they didn’t tell you about living on the premises?”
“Not a word,” Harry said. “They only told us about the company digs, and we’ve rented a condo in Carson. That’s where we’re planning on staying for the next three months.”
Gina was floored. She sure as hell wasn’t going to spend twenty-four hours a day on site. She’d rather go back to San Francisco’s Ridgewood Hospital, or someplace else, and maybe fight with an administrator who didn’t keep looking at her chest like he needed breast feeding―and not the maternal kind.
“I don’t know,” Harry said, taking Gina’s hand.
“Well, let’s sit down and have some breakfast, a cup of coffee, and talk about it. I don’t think you’d appreciate driving that road twice in one day.”
As they followed Ethan, Gina squeezed Harry’s hand until he winced.
Chapter 3
Ethan Dayton served them a full breakfast of scrambled eggs, French toast, and bacon, all of which arrived via dumbwaiter from a kitchen somewhere in the bowels of the building. Although they’d had juice and toast before leaving Carson City, Gina and Harry ate as though they hadn’t been fed in days.
While the administrator refilled their espresso cups from a thermos, Gina took in a deep breath of the aromatic Italian coffee and looked around the eating area. They sat at one of two small Formica-topped tables near a mini-kitchen that was equipped with a small fridge, microwave, hotplate, and sink. At the other end of the room was a lounge, with a large flat-screen TV, a sofa, and a couple of leather arm chairs.
It was a fairly pleasant room, with a window that offered more of a view than just monstrous boulders. In the distance, she could see mound after mound of dirt, probably tailings from some kind of long-abandoned mining operation.
Bright sunlight filled almost every corner, but she wondered how long she would feel this sense of relaxation if this was where she had to eat three times a day, almost every day of the week for the next three months. Thinking about it made her antsy—she just wanted to leave even though Harry had one of his let’s-wait-and-see looks on his face.
“Look, Mr. Dayton,” Harry said.
“It’s Dr. Dayton, but please call me Ethan. We have a small staff and we’re very informal here.”
“All right, Ethan. I’ve been involved with travel nursing for several years, but I’ve never once been required to live in company-supplied housing. And if I had, I would have refused the job, for obvious reasons—I need time away from my work, and anything connected with it.”
“This may be my first travel assign
ment,” Gina said, “but I certainly agree with Harry.”
“We’ve tried it your way … where the staff lives off campus. Our experience is that because of the region and the roads, people were either late or didn’t make it to work at all—cars broke down, roads were blocked by landslides, casino nightlife was too addictive. It was always something.”
“Still, this is not what we expected when we took the job,” Gina said.
Ethan tapped his gold Cross pen on the table. “Our work is very specialized here. We can’t run a facility under the conditions I’ve mentioned, no matter how small or efficiently planned it is … we’ve had to establish strict protocols.”
“Did you say specialized?”
“This is a research facility, Gina.”
“A research facility?” Harry’s face turned bright red. “I can’t believe it. This is like being hijacked. You lied to us to get us out here?”
“And you never wondered why the sign-up bonus was especially generous?”
Gina and Harry shifted in their seats, looked at each other, and remained silent.
“It’s been extremely difficult to get nurses out to northern Nevada, and twice as hard to tempt them to live on site. I’m sorry if we weren’t completely straight forward with you.”
It was a long moment before Harry said, “Suppose you tell us about the job before we settle the living arrangements thing, or even decide to stay?”
Harry Lucke, what the hell are you getting us into?
“I can’t do that unless I know you will abide by our rules, and agree to sign a non-disclosure agreement. We are a cutting edge research center and everything we do is highly confidential.” He paused, looked at Harry for several seconds, then turned and did the same with Gina. “Our greatest concern is industrial espionage. It’s a crucial factor we can’t afford to ignore.”
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 deserve, 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.
Bone Pit: A Chilling Medical Suspense Thriller (The Gina Mazzio Series Book 3) Page 2
