Bone Pit: A Chilling Medical Suspense Thriller (The Gina Mazzio Series Book 3)

by Bette Golden Lamb

  Chapter 47

  Gina walked slowly, her purse pulling at her neck muscles. With each step she thought about dropping it, but it had been her lifeline. She doggedly kept the strap wrapped over her arm and around her neck.

  She and Tuva leaned heavily on each other as they moved with dragging steps toward the Comstock. It seemed so very far away.

  Gina knew they were both suffering from shock and dehydration, and out in the daylight, she could see the terrible bruises spreading across Tuva’s face and arms—injuries she hadn’t noticed or thought much about in the semi darkness of the pit. A large, serious laceration bisected the side of her neck; it was covered in blood and filth. If they hadn’t gotten out of the pit when they did, it wouldn’t have been long before a massive infection would have set in and finished her. She would still need serious medical attention; antibiotics to help her heal.

  If that cut had penetrated any deeper, it probably would have severed her carotid and she would have bled out.

  As that thought flashed through Gina’s mind, she resisted the urge to examine Tuva’s wound more closely—it would only alarm her, and there was nothing she could do right now.

  Tuva started crying. “Why did they do this to me? All I wanted was to see my mother.”

  “I know,” Gina said, taking the petite woman’s hand. “But they hadn’t been delivering your letters to your mother, and then you show up out of the blue. They probably didn’t know what to do with you.”

  “Why did they keep my letters hidden from my mother?”

  “You were too persistent, a big threat to their whole operation. If you started digging into her care, you could have caused them real trouble … brought them down.”

  ”That was never going to happen.”

  “Why not?”

  “I complained to the authorities. You can see how that turned out.”

  “Who’d you talk to?”

  “The man I saw said he would look into it.” Tears ran down her cheeks, cutting through a long string of etchings in grime and blood. “He promised.”

  “And then you came out here?”

  “Yes.” Her dark eyes were sad. “My mother kept coming to me in my dreams, kept calling for me.” Tuva looked away. “I’ll bet that sounds really weird. But she was crying for help and it got so I couldn’t sleep any more. I had to come.”

  “She’s lucky to have someone who loves her so much,” Gina said. But she wasn’t thinking of Tuva anymore.

  Harry? Did they kill you in that tunnel? No! No! Please be alive and safe. I’ll do anything. I promise I’ll stop trying to run away. I promise I’ll marry you. I promise, I promise ... promise…

  * * * *

  Someone was calling her. A voice from very far away; she wanted to ignore it. She was so tired. It kept insisting: “Gina! Gina! Wake up! Please wake up!”

  She opened her eyes, stared up at Tuva, who was crying and shouting her name, over and over. She felt the hard ground under her, along with pinpoints of broken rock jabbing into her back.

  “Tuva?” Gina sat up too quickly; a wave of nausea swept through her. For a moment the sky spun, taking the hills around with it. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. You just collapsed.”

  “Give me a minute … just a minute.”

  Her mind was spinning, her body floating. This was the moment she’d always dreaded, that mythical line in the sand. And when she crossed it, she would finally surrender to defeat. It was a time that came to everyone—as certain as death.

  The terror in the mine, the horror of the pit had drained her. But the thought that Harry could be dead tore away that inner core of strength that had always been there for her.

  “Gina, get up!”

  “I can’t do it anymore, Tuva. I’m sorry.”

  Tuva got behind her, tried to lift her.

  “Look, Gina, we’re almost at the Comstock. We can make it!”

  Gina knew she had to get up. She ignored the trembling that made her feel like she’d given the last of her grit, warned that she had to rest, had to wait to go on.

  All right, Tuva. Help me up.”

  Tuva half lifted Gina to her feet, put an arm around her waist and held on tight. As they walked, Gina started to gain momentum. By the time they approached the front of the building, she was holding her own, and so was Tuva.

  Chapter 48

  Annie Kreuger was getting restless. She glanced at her watch, saw it had been more than ten minutes since Carl had gone into the building after telling her he would only be a minute or so.

  Should have gone with him.

  She looked over at the entrance door, then at the façade of the building.

  Thought he said this had to do with an FDA drug study. So why all the bars on the windows?

  She’d barely finished the thought when two filthy, limping women in ripped clothing came around from the side of the building, headed for the front door.

  Oh, my God! They look like they’re going to keel over.

  She flung open the door of the Porsche, ran over, stepped between them, and wrapped an arm around each of their waists. They leaned heavily on her as she tried to keep them on their feet.

  “Jesus, what on earth happened to you?”

  The tallest one slowly raised one arm, pointed to her mouth. Annie saw the coating around both their lips, could see they were in desperate need of water.

  “Okay, let’s get you inside, get some water, and find you a place to sit down.” She struggled with the door, finally managed to pull it open with the help of the taller woman.

  Once they were through the doorway, she saw Carl standing in the foyer, talking to a woman who appeared to be a nurse. They both looked over at the trio, startled.

  “Could really use some help here, Carl,” Annie said. She felt like she would collapse at any second under the weight of both women.

  “Gina! Is that you?” the nurse shouted. “What the hell’s going on?”

  Carl had reached them; he took the closest woman from Annie’s hold and helped her walk to a nearby sofa. As he lowered her down, he got a good look at her face.

  “Tuva Goldmich?” His expression was a mixture of surprise, and alarm. The petite woman looked at him, squinted, and nodded.

  “Get them some water! Now!” Annie told the nurse, who was still standing there, seemed to be dumbfounded. She guided the one called Gina to the sofa, helped her sit.

  The nurse returned from the water cooler, a large cup of water in each hand, and held them out to Tuva and Gina. Tuva started to gulp hers down, but Gina lightly touched her arm; Tuva nodded and slowed herself down.

  * * * *

  Almost from the moment the water touched her tongue, Gina felt better—she knew that she and Tuva desperately needed fluids. With slow, even swallows, she finished the water and was up and out of the sofa, limping to the cooler for a refill before anyone could stop her. She pulled down a fresh cup, filled it for Tuva, and went back to the sofa.

  “That’s him!” Tuva said. “Carl Kreuger, the man I told you about from New York.”

  “Well, Mr. Kreuger, at least you’re here. That’s something.”

  “And you are?” he asked coolly.

  “Gina Mazzio … the nurse who’s been taking care of Tuva’s mother.”

  “I’m going back up to the unit,” Delores interrupted. “I came down to answer the doorbell, but I’d better get back.”

  “Mr. Kreuger, I’d appreciate your coming with me to the basement,” Gina said. “There’s something there you need to see.” She was doing her best to remain calm, but it wouldn’t take much to give into the scream working its way up her throat.

  “My wife? Can she come?”

  “I don’t think so.” She glanced over at the agent’s wife. “But you were great! Thanks for your kindness. Tuva and I were pretty done in when you came to our rescue.” She continued to look at the attractive woman.

  “I’m Annie,” she said. “I’m glad I was the
re.”

  “If you don’t mind, would you stay behind with Tuva?”

  “Of course.” Annie stood and went for more water. “Don’t you worry; I’ll take good care of her.”

  Gina barely heard Annie’s response as she moved to the elevator, Carl Kreuger at her side. “Mr. Kreuger—”

  “Carl.”

  Gina reached into her purse and found her employee card. When they stepped into the elevator, she shoved the card into the slot and sent them down to the basement. That simple action seemed to open up a floodgate of despair; she began to weep. Her sobs filled the elevator.

  Carl put his arms around her and tried to comfort her, but all she could visualize was Harry dead. Gone.

  She murmured into his shoulder, “Harry … what am … I going to do… without you?”

  When she could finally think again, she stepped back and wiped at her wet, gritty face with the back of her hand. Carl’s once clean shirt was streaked with black filth.

  She pointed to his shoulder. “Sorry!”

  “Never mind that. Who is this Harry person?”

  “My … my … fiancé.”

  “Then let’s go find your guy.”

  Chapter 49

  With the opening thunk of the elevator door, Gina painfully limped toward the basement’s middle corridor. Carl was right behind her.

  She switched on the lights and led them through the tunnels, heading straight for the Y where she last saw Harry.

  The dimly lit corridors should have frightened her, but her concentration was fixed on finding Harry. Fear kept her mindless and focused at the same time.

  “Wouldn’t want to get lost in this rat hole,” Carl said, “Are you sure this is the way?”

  “We’re almost there,” Gina said, barely getting the words out before the Y loomed ahead.

  “Oh, no!” Gina cried out. Both entrances were closed off, blocked by prison-like gates that sealed the tunnels from top to bottom. Gina rattled the metal trying to loosen it. She yanked the lock, but both the bars and the lock were solid.

  “Harry!” she screamed, pressing her face against the metal, trying to see into the mine.

  All she saw was dirt and scattered rocks on the floor inside. There was no one in sight.

  “Harry! Harry!”

  Carl gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Gina. You did your best.”

  “No! Ethan must have the keys in his desk drawer in the lab. “They have to be there.”

  She turned and headed back, hating her body for letting her down, for giving her so much pain. She dragged her leg and no matter how hard she tried, the best she could do was limp slowly. Her body was shutting down and all that remained were broken threads of energy.

  I can’t stop now. Please, please. I have to keep going. I have to find Harry.

  “Here,” Carl said, holding out an arm. “Grab onto me … together we can move a lot faster.”

  Gina clutched his arm, her only lifeline.

  Out of the corridor, they turned toward the laboratory. When they stepped inside the room, they saw Harry on the floor. Blood and sweat had created a huge smear under him.

  “Harry!” she screamed and fell to her knees beside him. She grabbed onto his wrist; his pulse was weak and thready. He was barely breathing.

  She bent over him. “Harry?”

  “I think he’s been drugged,” Carl said, picking up an empty syringe and a drained vial of morphine sulfate from the autopsy table.

  Gina lifted Harry’s eyelids; pinpoint pupils stared back at her.

  “There’s no time to waste.” Carl’s voice was urgent. “We have to get him to a hospital now!”

  “No! He’ll be dead before we can get him out the door.”

  Gina felt the room spinning, an edge of blackness trying to close in. She struggled to her feet, grabbed the phone and called Delores.

  “This is Gina. Listen very carefully. I’m in the lab. Harry’s been overdosed with morphine. I need you to bring several vials of Narcan down to the lab. Now!”

  “What lab?”

  “You’ve never been to the lab?” Gina’s head was exploding. “Push your employee card into the bottom slot in the elevator panel. That will take you to the basement, then turn right.”

  “And you want what, Narcan?”

  “Yes, yes—Naloxone hydrochloride … and some twenty-one-gauge butterfly catheters.” She was breathing so hard she could barely get the words out. “Run!”

  She opened the medicine cabinet, grabbed a tourniquet, a fist full of alcohol packets and tape. At Harry’s side she collapsed to her knees again and made herself slow down. But everything seemed so strange and distorted. She focused on Harry’s arm.

  “He’s shutting down, his veins are collapsing. Carl! See that towel there … stick it under hot water, then bring it to me. Hurry!”

  She wrapped Harry’s limp arm in the towel. She muttered the words echoing in her head “Harry, don’t you dare quit on me. Don’t you dare!”

  Delores came rushing in, small Narcan vials clutched in one hand, butterfly catheters in the other.

  “Gina, maybe you’d better let me do this. You look—”

  “Draw up two milligrams! Have it ready! And hurry!”

  In one continuous motion, Gina unwrapped the towel, folded it under Harry’s arm, and tied the tourniquet. She ran a finger up and down his arm, searching for any sign of a vein. Any vein.

  There was nothing.

  She closed her eyes and gently felt his arm again, then rubbed an alcohol swab on his skin.

  The faster she tried to move, the slower everything became. She reached for a butterfly catheter, held the “wings” and carefully poked its needle into his arm. She held her breath, as though air moving in her lungs would steal the needle from his vein.

  Just when she thought it wasn’t working, blood began to back flow.

  My God, I’m in!

  Her heart was tearing at her chest; she could barely breathe. She gently pushed the needle farther in.

  “Delores, attach the syringe to the tubing and inject the Narcan very slowly.”

  Gina held the needle steady as she undid the tourniquet.

  Come on, baby, don’t let me down.

  Gina gaze shifted to her watch. It had been two minutes.

  “Give him two more milligrams.”

  Delores nodded and pushed the meds slowly.

  Harry stirred, gasped for a breath.

  Oh, my God! He’s breathing!

  Gina smiled, reached for the pulse in his neck, but the room was spinning again and the blackness swallowed her.

  Voices zoomed away … far, far away.

  Silence.

  Chapter 50

  Muted voices swept away then returned like the explosive roar of the incoming tide.

  Coming. Going.

  Softer, louder. Softer, louder.

  Timeless. Endless.

  Gina turned away from the sound, sank further down into the womb of time where she could hide in mindless nothingness; safe in the endless warp of a peaceful forever.

  “Gi-in-n-na-a-a!”

  Go away!

  “Gi-in-n-a-a-a. Come back!”

  That special voice; it thundered through her solitude; rolled into her body, her heart, forced her to turn away from the quiet darkness. She spread her arms, looked up into a shaft of light.

  Slowly, she moved up through the deep, inky layers.

  Sound exploded around her.

  “Gina?”

  Her eyelids snapped open. Harry was sitting on the edge of the bed.

  “Harry!” She quickly sat up, then fell back, her arms limp and heavy.

  “Hey, babe, take it easy.” He squeezed her hand. “How are you doing?”

  “You’re safe!” Tears filled her eyes. “I was so afraid I’d lost you.”

  “Well, if you hadn’t found me when you did … well, let’s just say, you’re my hero.”

  “Are you all right?”

&
nbsp; “Just a mild concussion from where our buddy Ethan bopped me on the head. Other than feeling weak as a slug, I’m alive, thanks to your quick thinking.”

  “You’re a brave woman.” A tall man stepped forward. Gina knew him … his name was lost somewhere in her head.

  She thought a moment. “You’re the one who helped me find Harry … you’re … you’re … Carl, right?”

  “That’s me.”

  Gina looked at the woman standing next to him. “And you’re Annie, aren’t you?” She stepped up to the bed, a big smile spreading across her face. “Thanks for being there when we needed you.”

  Gina forced herself to her elbows. “Tuva? How is Tuva? Is she all right?”

  “She’s in a room down the hall,” Harry said.

  “But how is she?”

  “She insisted on seeing her mother before they could load her into the ambulance. The EMTs were not happy with her.”

  “She was in terrible shape,” Gina said.

  “When Tuva and her mother were together again, she didn’t want to leave her side,” Annie said. “It was quite a reunion.”

  “Tuva went through hell to get to her mom.”

  “Yeah, she literally went into shock and collapsed before they could get her here,” Harry said. “That neck wound of hers is pretty deep and ugly looking. They had to bring in a plastic surgeon to work on her.”

  “But she’ll be all right?”

  “Things look good and the prognosis is excellent,” Harry said. “Like you, she’s covered with bruises, but nothing could match the ones on your hip and knee. You’re going to be limping for a while, doll.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. “You’re lucky you didn’t break anything.”

  “Tuva told us what happened in the pit,” Carl said. “If you hadn’t come along when you did … well, it’s just a good thing you were there for her.”

  “You not only saved her life, but her sanity,” Harry said. “She was really losing it; she’s still pretty shook up. “They had to sedate her just to get her to rest.”

  “What’s going to happen to the patients at Comstock?”

  “They’re all being moved here.”