The Omega Team: Death Sentence (Kindle Worlds Novella) by Tina Donahue Page A

I’m just—”
    “Ready?” He went at her with unmasked delight and steely determination to wring every last feeling from her.
    Her climax didn’t come too fast or too slow but precisely as it should have. She screeched high enough to disturb dogs. A grin stretched across her beautiful face.
    The best reward he could have earned.

Chapter Four
     
    Hallie had never become friends with the other Zephron nurses. Not for lack of trying. Most came in, did their job, and collected a paycheck. Inmate suffering wasn’t on their radar. As more than one had proclaimed, if you made a lousy bed for yourself, you had to lie in it.
    Florence Nightingale they weren’t.
    Given their indifference to anything other than their own needs, Hallie hoped none would notice her new eyeglasses.
    Shirl did immediately. Fifty and old-school, she’d never sought to move beyond being an LPN. Nor did she hide her resentment at anyone who’d done better for themselves. “Since when have you needed glasses? I thought you were perfect.”
    Hallie brought up patient charts on her computer screen. “Getting old, I guess.”
    “More like working too hard.” She sniffed. “No one to impress here, sweetie. Gatekeeper doesn’t give a crap about any of us, and the inmates would stick a shiv in your ribs as easily as they’d look at you.”
    What a lovely home life Shirl must have created for her husband and kids. “I’d still like to keep the women healthy. Don’t want anything happening to them like it did to Kim.”
    “She offed herself. Good riddance, I say.” Shirl tromped from their shared office to check on the patients.
    Hallie tried to relax but couldn’t. She needed to get Barb Valez in here for an STD check and Next Choice, the morning-after pill. The medication proved effective for up to five days after unprotected sex. Time would soon run out for Barb. Hallie figured Dick was too arrogant to have used a condom or worry about repercussions after the fact. Gatekeeper wouldn’t pay for a paternity test to see who’d fathered an inmate’s child.
    No way could Hallie accuse Dick of anything without proof. He’d wonder how she knew and might take his rage out on Barb.
    Hallie wished she’d mentioned this to Chase earlier so they could’ve devised a plan for him to escort Barb here. Too late now. She called the bubble, hoping he’d answer.
    “Reyes” Dick. “Morning.”
    Hallie’s shoulders ached. “Is Chase there?”
    Dick chuckled. “Your man isn’t around at the moment. I’ll tell him you called.”
    “Wait.” It killed her to ask Dick to bring his victim to the infirmary, but Hallie had no choice. Guards were few and far between. Many ignored her requests. Hopefully, Dick wouldn’t since he’d learned she and Chase were a couple. “I need to see Barb Valez. Please bring her to the treatment room.”
    “What for?”
    Hallie squeezed the receiver, wishing it were his throat. If she stated the obvious about patient treatment being confidential, he’d shoot back that privacy wasn’t a privilege granted in prison. “I don’t want what happened to Kim happening to her or any other prisoner in confinement. I want to check on them, too. Another death in F block and people might ask questions and investigate. That would mess up everyone’s day, wouldn’t it?”
    He breathed hard into the phone.
    Hallie cursed her big mouth. If he hadn’t thought she suspected anything before, he surely must now.
    “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “It would be bad. The next one who dies better not be a suicide. You plan on counseling the prisoners now?”
    No one had to tell her he wanted to know if she’d learn their secrets. “I’m not qualified. If they’ve lost weight or are listless, that’s a dead giveaway for depression. I can give them something to combat it.”
    “Makes them docile, huh? Nice.”
    Hallie wanted to hang up. “No, it keeps them from hurting themselves. Gatekeeper doesn’t like empty