by Laura Greene
Chapter 6
Tina can’t get up. She feels a ton of bricks pushing her body even deeper into the ground as she tries to wriggle them off. Her fingers do not even move. Every sensation in her body is momentarily frozen in place and her eyelids seem to be glued in place. She hears beeping and shuffling, then a voice.
“She’s waking up. Nurse!” She knows that voice. She has known it for at least three years. “Tina, it’s me, Dale. I’m here for you and I’m not going anywhere.” She does not understand why he is talking like that. She wants to tell him to stop fussing over her but, her mouth won’t comply. Whoever sealed her eyes with glue must have fastened her lips together also.
Someone really did a number on me this time, she thinks. If they would just stop that loud beeping, she would be grateful.
“Can you hear me, Tina?” Tina can tell Dale is talking close to her ear even though everything is dark. He caresses her arm with his warm hands and she knows he is worried. Dale is not one to show much affection except when he is concerned for one’s well-being. He prefers to show love through acts of service.
Wait, I felt that! A feeling of triumph comes over Tina, Do something else Dale, she is ready to test the extent of her abilities.
She feels him squeeze her arms in as he says, “I wish you knew how much I still love you.” Tina’s eyes flutter rapidly and she spots little sparks of light shining through her eyelids.
My eyelids are opening again! She feels Dale’s breath on her cheek. He is laying beside her and resting his free arm over her stomach. His hand continues to rub her arm on the furthest side. She still feels drained, but she will try to speak now. “D… Da...” Tina is squeezing speech through her pressed lips and only getting single sounds out. She tries again. This time, she opens her jaw, then her mouth and her lips naturally part. “Dale,” she whispers. Her voice is breathy and labored.
“Yes? Tina?” Dale rises up and sees Tina struggling to speak.
“Where am… I?” A nurse peeks in the door. Tina can barely see her through her partially open eyelids. She continues to flutter her eyes trying to regain all her sight. The nurse walks over to the beeping noises, checks something that Tina cannot see. She would need to turn her head to see what she is doing. Her body is slowly catching up to her desire for mobility. The nurse walks out again saying she will call the doctor.
Why do I need a doctor? Tina has more questions than answers and they are racing through her mind. She tires herself with worry trying to understand what’s going on. The beeping, which she assumes is a monitor, beeps more rapidly. Then, Dale sees the worry on her face and says, “Just rest now, I’ll tell you everything when you’re ready.” This calms her and her breathing regulates again.
After a few short breaths, she asks him again, “Where am I?”
“You are on Martha’s Vineyard Island.” Seeing the confusion on her face, Dale continues, “You were in the ocean, trying to save a student, uh… Ella. Do you remember any of it?” Tina’s eyes flicker from left to right. She is trying to remember which is requiring more energy than she can give right now. A slight recollection is forming, but nothing concrete. “Ella passed out in the water and if you didn’t go after her, she would be gone right now. She is still in ICU, but she is recovering. You were responsive until the coast guard arrived. Then your lungs collapsed.” Tina remembers seeing flashing lights in the distance reflecting on the water. “Tina, that was a week ago. Do you remember any of it?”
“A little,” she whispers. Tina can now see concern on Dale’s brow. She tries to console him also, “I’m sorry I worried you.”
Dale’s eyes meet with hers. She sees compassion and love in his eyes. He takes her hand in his, kisses it and smiles, “I came as soon as Tim told me.” Tina did not know that Dale felt so strongly about her until now. Apart from the petty arguments and her workaholism, their relationship had not really been tested before. She wonders if she gave up on him too quickly. Her heart is torn. Tim was right, I wasn’t allowing anyone to get close to me. Tina recalls her conversation with Tim on the boat. She remembers she came to the island on a case.
“Tim? The school?”
“Tim was here for a few days, then he had to go back to Boston. Principal Amy,” he points outside the window, “is outside. She arrived this morning and said she would wait to talk to you when you were ready.”
Tina feels stronger with each question answered. She nods her head, she’s ready to talk to Amy. Dale stands up to go and get Amy. “Wait, what’s wrong?” Tina may have been in a coma for a week, but she hasn’t forgotten how Dale acts when something is on his mind. His brow furrows. He bites his bottom lip. Then his hands get clammy.
He sits back down. He is quiet for some seconds, then he says, “Do you remember when you called to tell me about the break-in into our… your home? I didn’t get a chance to tell you, but I think I may have had something to do with how they got in through the garage.” Tina is puzzled, both from recalling what happened and hearing that Dale may have been an accomplice. “Honestly the guilt of something happening to you then has been getting to me and now this.”
“Just tell me.”
“I didn’t mean to. I was changing the oil in both our cars on the driveway. I didn’t have a clean enough rag with me, so I went to get a new one. I know how you hate it when I walk in the house with dirty hands or shoes so I used the garage and must have left prints on the keypad that they used to unlock it. They must have been watching from a distance, otherwise how else would they know my prints were there or what the combination was? I honestly didn’t think anything of it until you told me someone broke in.” He pauses to sigh, “Honey, I don’t know what I would have done if you got hurt.”
“It’s okay Dale, we’re both fine now and that’s what matters.” Tina is relieved to know that Dale was not involved in anything unsavory. She’s had so few people that she can trust lately, that gaining his loyalty again means a lot to her. Dale hugs her relieved to have cleared the air. Then he goes and finds Amy.
Tina is feeling more of her mobility returning. She tries to sit up and fails to support her weight. Amy walks in as she falls back into a lying position and helps make her more comfortable. “You’re not trying to leave already are you, Agent James?” Tina would love to walk out of the hospital right now, but from the way her body gave out when she tried to sit up, she’s positive the doctor will give her at least two more days of bed rest.
“How’s Ella?” Tina says after they both settle down and move the tubes attached to her arms out of the way.
“She’s… okay. It’ll be a slow recovery for her, but I think she’ll be fine.” Amy readjusts her chair a couple of times.
“You get nervous when you see needles too?” Tina attempts a chuckle and coughs instead.
“Is it that obvious? I think I’d better say my piece and leave before I turn into a bag of nerves and they try to admit me next.” Amy’s face becomes serious. “I’m sure you’re not ready for work yet, but I thought it would be best if I told you in person instead of over the phone this time. Remember what I told you about the students accusing Nick?”
“Yeah,” Tina remembers the phone conversation. The night when Nick took her on a date to Mademoiselle's and touring the town flashes through her mind and as her feelings for Nick come rushing back. She really enjoyed being with him. She can still feel his tender breath on her neck. Tina’s heart is perplexed; she looks out of the window at Dale standing in the hallway with tea in his hand. She is not sure if she’s ready to let go of her old flame to explore a new love or if she should stick with the man she knows loves her.
“We’ve been searching high and low with no sign of him. Yesterday, one of the officers found his phone and wallet tossed on the side of the road.” Amy looks up at the wall with a painting of families playing on the beach with the small title, ‘Martha’s Vineyard’. “We thought he had run off, but his car is still at the school. We’re not sure what happened to him anymo
re.”
It’s taking Tina a moment longer to process all that Amy is telling her, partly because of her health and partly because her heart is not ready to process what she is hearing. Regardless, none of it is making sense to her. “So, what does that mean?”
Amy leans in with eyebrows raised and enunciates her words, “Tina, Nick is missing.”
Tina’s heart drops.
GRAVE DANGER
Chapter 1
“What did you do to her?” Dale says, as he suddenly storms into the room and pushes past Amy. He walks to Tina’s side, and her breaths are shallow and her eyes are now closed. “Tina, can you hear me? Can you hear me, Tina?” Dale says as he gently shakes Tina to awaken her, but Tina’s eyes remain shut. It is as though she is sinking deeper into an abyss of sleep and Dale’s voice is becoming more and more distant with each utterance.
“I just…” Amy says as she steps back involuntarily. Her face is ghostly pale, her mouth is not moving, her words are choppy, and her own body is pushing her away from Tina and Dale, telling her to hightail it out of there.
“Just get out of here,” Dale says without thinking of how his words might affect Amy. She does just that.
With one swipe of the foot, Amy turns and runs out of the room. She is undoubtedly running to the only place that has provided her solace thus far - Newport. She is far from home. She did not want to leave so abruptly. She came in the hopes of breaking to Tina gently the news of her dear friend Nick. In her eyes, she was there to help. Now, she’s certain she has had the opposite effect. Amy can’t imagine the impact of what her visit may have caused. Instead of staying and fighting off her fear, her brain tells her to flee the scene and live to fight another day.
She has seen how strong Tina is, so seeing her feeble comes as a shock to her. Tina lying still in front of her is a horrific image that will leave her pained for days. Nonetheless, she can at least say that she is no longer a threat to Tina. She has walked out of the small hospital and Tina’s fate is now in the hands of Dale and the hospital staff attending to her. As for Amy, she silently bids Tina bon voyage and makes her trip back to Newport.
In the hospital, Tina’s vitals are dropping. Her vibrant glow is rapidly diminishing to a faint gray. She is pale, she is feeble, and any hope of leaving the hospital quickly that she had is decreasing with each labored breath that she gives. Surrounding her are long and short wires and tubes connecting her to the monitor. They beep regularly at first, then, they speedily sound until a loud, climactic crescendo hits and the note holds without pausing for a breath. As though drawing the breath from her through her arm, the sharp note holds on the monitor while Tina’s heart holds still without air to sustain it.
Dale runs to call the nurse, who sprints in and calls a code blue. Behind her is the doctor who comes in and commands the emergency rescue effort. A student nurse bars Dale from re-entering the room and ushers him to the waiting area. He takes one look at her slender arms and he knows he can easily take her out of his way, but he concedes. Hearing a loud, “Clear!” shouted in the room, Dale jerks his head back in protest and sees another nurse swish the curtains shut. Then, he falls to the ground, helpless, and sobs. It could be the lack of sleep that has overcome him because Dale is not one to reveal much emotion, or it could be the devastation of losing the only person he has known as family for years now. Tina is the only family Dale has in his life, though she is not a blood-relative or a relative at all. She is the woman he loves. While he tried to move on from their relationship, even moving back to Boston, seeing Tina’s limp body on that hospital bed sent all his feelings for her rushing back. The thought of a single threat coming upon the woman he still loves fills his heart with dread. He is powerless.
For a moment, the white-washed hallway is silent, and the only sound Dale hears is his heavy breaths and the distant, dense voice of a nurse. But Dale sits on the floor in pain.
The student nurse in dark blue scrubs and comfortable, black crocs gathers two aids to assist her in getting Dale back to his feet. Their arms are bulky and their grip is firm, proving them capable of fulfilling the duty at hand. With one command from the student nurse, they bring in a wheelchair and swoop Dale to his feet. Next, they sit him in the chair and push him into the waiting room.
Like two bodyguards with a client in their custody, the two aides sit in silence on either side of Dale and stare at the off-white wall in front of them. Dale can tell they have no plans to go anywhere until they can confirm his hysteria has passed. He thinks of Tina and how she is fighting for her life right now, then realizes that each member of hospital staff he draws to himself is one less person that can help Tina in her hour of need. He calms down.
Indeed, Tina is fighting for her life as she lies in that hospital bed in Martha’s Vineyard. A week ago, her lungs had collapsed and she passed out in the Atlantic Ocean. Thankfully, the coastguard had just appeared over the horizon to retrieve both her and Ella from the water. Perhaps if Ella had not lost her footing on Jaws Bridge, neither one of them would be fighting for their lives in the hospital now. But Tina owes so much of who she has become to Ella and the strong winds of that day. That morning, she had woken up confident, getting over her fear of opening up emotionally to those she loves. She had shut off the compassionate valve in herself years ago when Casey was attacked by a shark in the ocean. Tim had even warned her of the impact it had had on her as an agent, and how it’s the one thing still holding her back from becoming the great agent that he knows she can be. Tina, however, had brushed off the counsel until she came face to face with death. The moment that she froze dead on that bridge as she watched Ella fall and sink into the ocean, she knew she had to make a decision – something had to die. Ultimately, the choice was either the death of her and Ella or the death of her fear. Tina chose to kill off her fear and she conquered it.
She coughs and sputters blood. Her lungs hurt when she coughs. Doctors and nurses shout commands around her rushing to stabilize her heart, but Tina does not see it. Her eyes are still closed. The pungent smell of stale blood invades her nose and moments later, the putrid taste of blood and medicine pervades her tongue and makes her gag. She coughs again and this time hears the beeping sounds again. There are muffled voices around her saying, “She’s back,” and, “The patient has been recovered.” Yet, Tina’s mind has not yet adjusted to the scene around her. She wants to open her eyes and see what is going on, but her eyes are heavy with sleep.
Tina is not one to enjoy being doted over, and if all the fuss is over her, she would like to stop it. Her eyes, however, are not cooperating; she has an overwhelming need to sleep. Before she dozes off, she hears, “Morphine is taking effect and heart rate has stabilized.”
*
Three days later, Tina has almost returned to full strength; the fatigue on her lungs is almost fully gone, her heart rate has remained stable, and she has taken steps around the ward. The doctor has assured her that she will be released soon if her vitals remain strong. She is also ready to leave the hospital. She is a field agent and being cooped up in a room for days makes her feel suffocated. Hospitals are especially not how she wants to spend any of her days – especially her Christmas holiday. She longs to get back to the school and finish her case. Ideally, she would like to tie a bow on the investigation before school is out, but right now her biggest concern is getting better.
Normally, when an agent is down, Tim would have sent in another agent to complete the case, but he insisted that Agent James would be back on her feet in no time and didn’t assign a replacement for her. Tina knows it is his way of motivating her to get back up to her feet and recover quickly.
She sits up in her bed and picks up a stack of letters Amy left before she ran out of the hospital. They are letters from the students neatly decorated with art, hearts and well-wishes. Holding the letters close to her heart with affection, Tina feels connected to the students. She has really taken a liking to them and it touches her heart to now know that they have t
o her as well.
When Dale handed Tina the letters yesterday, he said he’d wanted to wait until she was more stable before giving them to her. He has been very careful to not upset her, unlike Amy who said something to Tina and caused her heart rate to fall. Dale was not sure what Amy was talking about nor did he care to know as long as Tina was safe. Tina, however, remembered well what Amy had said. She knew that Nick was still missing and while it pained her heart that she was stuck in this hospital while he was out there possibly fending for his life, she knew the best way to be of help is to get better so she can be released. Tina just wants to leave the hospital and go to find Nick. At this point, she’s not sure if she’ll be in search of a fugitive or a victim of kidnap. The only way she can get answers is if she finds him, and that’s exactly what she intends to do.
She opens one letter from Ben O’Connor: