THE STONE BEYOND
Flowerhill Medical Romance Series Book 2
By Anna Strachan
Copyright © 2019 Anna Strachan. All Rights Reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles and reviews. Any unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental. The author does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
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CHAPTER ONE
Jennifer Carlisle pushed through the crowd in front of Rocky Mountain General Hospital, the protesting Colorado citizens holding their signs high, waving them and their fists, shouting so much and so loud that she could hardly make out a single word.
She felt small in front of them, increasingly small as if she were shrinking, cowering.
Wait, Jennifer told herself, hasn’t this happened before? She was struck with a remarkable sense of déjà vu. But it only felt familiar and not quite the same. Things were different, and they were happening all around her.
Pretty reporter Sonny Dae stood nearby, blonde and professional with a mic in her hand and fear in her face. She asked Jennifer something, but her voice was muffled, too soft amid all that clamor. Leaning forward, Jennifer strained to hear the woman, but the harder she tried the more indistinguishable that voice became.
Then somebody in the crowd caught Jennifer’s attention. Her own dean of the hospital, Nelson White, stood in the crowd with the protestors, shouting and grimacing and shaking his fist in the crowd rising up against the hospital he was charged with running.
It doesn’t make any sense, Jennifer told herself. But that wasn’t the only thing that didn’t make sense. There were other familiar faces in the crowd, newly familiar, hippie Davy Jones wearing beads and a tie-dyed t-shirt, shouting and shaking his head, flipping her the middle finger instead of a peace sign.
Jennifer turned to her father, standing with her and wearing a face that showed as much fear as she was feeling. Handsome doctor Parker Stone also stood nearby, black hair and blue eyes reassuring. But he scuttled away, disappointing her with his cowardice.
Did he really just leave like that? And thinking about how and why, it only occurred to her then that he was in Los Angeles, and so was her father.
And so am I, Jennifer told herself. This doesn’t make any sense!
But there was little enough time to think about it. A rock flew past Jennifer’s head, so close she could almost hear it whir by. Jennifer ducked back and turned to see poor Sonny Dae under a barrage of stones, hitting her in the face, the head, dropping her slowly to the ground.
Jennifer turned to see the crowd closing in on her, massive in number and driven by blood thirst; a murderous mob with a single mind.
But instead of stones, they closed in with their grasping fingers and hateful hands, grabbing her arms, surrounding her. Muscular Tony Valletti was suddenly foremost in the crowd in front of Jennifer, his angry face looming above her. He yelled something Jennifer couldn’t quite understand. But she knew why Tony was mad at her, why they were all mad; each had their reasons. But they were beyond reason, and Jennifer was too frightened to speak. She tried to kick at them but they grabbed her legs, hands on her calves and thighs, her whole body immobile as they surrounded her. She looked around for her father, for Parker, but all she could see were angry faces surrounding her, a circle of condemnation with her at its center.
They’d already closed in, now it was time for the kill.
* * *
Jennifer gasped, springing up out of bed. She looked around her new bedroom Los Feliz Village, just south of Griffith Park. Her breath was panted, red hair sticking to her sweat-slick face, heart beating fast, mouth dry.
A dream, she thought, just a dream! Jesus!
Jennifer dropped her head back onto her warm, damp pillow, red hair collecting on either side. But her conscious, reasoning mind focused in the calm of that moment on what the dream meant; reflections of the past encroaching on the future.
Jennifer took a hot shower, water pouring over her gymnast’s figure, still tight and compact, rinsing away the panic sweat and worry of her fitful night’s sleep and giving her a chance to work through its import.
Are we going to have a bunch of protests at Flowerhill, the way we had at Rocky Mountain General? I don’t want to go through that again!
But there was more to her dream than the protest.
Doctor Parker Stone, Jennifer thought, he wouldn’t have just run away like that, not in real life. But … odd that I would think of him that way. Am I afraid he’s going to bolt on me? We’re not together, and we’re not going to be together.
I better get that through my thick head.
Jennifer put on a nice Lulus heir lines black striped dress with a matching pair of Taylor black suede ankle strap heels. She fixed her curly red hair over her head in a professional bun, letting a few ringlets hang down over the side of her face for just a touch of flare.
Stop, Jennifer told herself, you don’t need any flare at work. Still, with thoughts of Parker lurking in her brain, she let the ringlets dangle and headed out the door.
CHAPTER TWO
Doctor Parker Stone had arrived earlier than usual, wanting to spend a bit more time on his rounds today. Margaret Robinson was making good progress and could be discharged within the week, but Barney Ackerman’s kidney infection wasn’t getting much better, and a stronger batch of antibiotics were necessary, but that wasn’t going to do his seventy-year-old bowels any good.
Poor bastard is shitting bricks as it is, Parker couldn’t help but think.
He came across Davy Jones sweeping up the hallway, the two fist-bumping and glancing around the hall. Parker couldn’t know for sure, but he personally didn’t want to be busted by the grouchy head nurse Maisie Le Croix for chatting.
With the hall seeming clear, Parker asked Davy, “How’s it hangin’, Davy?”
“Low and slow, Doc.” They shared a little chuckle, but it didn’t last. “You sure about this new deal, turning out the ACA patients?”
Parker had to shrug. “It’s not my deal, Davy, and we’re not turning anybody out, exactly.”
“Not turning them out,” Davy said, “but turning them away.”
Parker couldn’t disagree or contradict, but he did want to clarify. He knew what these questions meant, he knew what they were a herald of. Like a malignant tumor, cutting it off as quickly as possible was the best remedy, if it was still possible.
And Davy was still waiting for an answer. “For right now,” Parker said, “they’re restricting new patients with ACA coverage, and I suppose it’ll only be the policy until we can change it.”
“And how’re you gonna do that, Doc?”
Parker had thought it through; all night long, in fact. But he’d come up with little in the way of a practical solution. What he was concerned about, what concerned so many on the staff, was that Davy and others on his level and beneath it on the hospital hierarchy would find a possible resolution of the
ir own.
“By sticking together,” Parker said, “that’s how! We have to make sure we don’t faction off, get tied up in our own personal goals.” Davy’s brows rose up a bit on his forehead. “We work at a hospital, hospitals serve those in need. That’s our goal.” After another long, quite moment, Parker felt he had to repeat, “That’s our goal.”
“Oh, right, of course,” Davy said. “It’s just that … y’know ….”
It was a lingering moment of discontent and Parker didn't like the smell of it. “No, Davy, what?”
“Well, I mean, if Flowerhill can’t afford to serve the patients, who are the next to get a … a cut in the budget, right?”
Parker knew just what Davy was getting at. “Let’s not make any presuppositions, Davy. Be cool, man.” Davy flashed the two-fingered peace sign, index and middle fingers in the shape of a V. Parker wondered whether or not he should say, “You know, that stands for victory, not peace.” Davy just looked into Parker’s eyes, sending a chill up his spine.
“Wha gwaan?” Parker didn't need to look over to know it was Nurse Maisie Le Croix walking up to them, her big belly preceding her.
“Nothing’s going on,” Parker said. “We’re just catching up.”
Maisie waved Davy off. “Likkle more, nah, off whicha!” Davy nodded and skulked away, but he left Parker with a little glance that felt more like a warning.
“Big up, me Doc man. But d’at Davy, he a bandmind, I say!”
Parker didn’t have to give it too much thought before shaking his head. “We’re all just trying to put food on the table, Maisie. It’s not easy for any of us.”
“D’en let d’em know d’at when d’ey complain!” Parker didn't need to confirm the fact; they would complain, and it would come sooner rather than later. “An’ I say d’is too, d’at new girl, she bring bad juju to Flowerhill!”
To this, Parker felt he had to say, “Maisie, really, bad juju? You’re above that kind of superstitious stuff, aren’t you? Bad luck, curses and all that?”
“I know what I know, me doc! D’is girl, she bring d’a darkness, even on her own pappy’s head.”
“Maisie — ”
But she just wagged a dark chocolate finger up into Parker’s face. “You see, Doct-ah Pah-kah, you see!” She waddled away, leaving Parker with much to think about. He couldn’t share her Old World views about the coincidence between Jennifer’s arrival and this turn in the hospital’s fortune. But the fact that the head nurse was willing to do so meant that others might too. That’s what worried Parker, and even more what would happen as a result of that turn of popular opinion against Jennifer Carlisle; it would include her father, himself, the entire hospital.
CHAPTER THREE
Chief Administrator Shin Xu glared at Jennifer from behind her desk. A long, tense silence passed with Jennifer sitting on the business side of that desk. But the tension in the room was so thick that Jennifer could hardly breathe.
“So, tell me … Miss Carlisle —”
“You can call me Jennifer.”
“I’d prefer not,” Shin Xu spat back. “So tell me, Miss Carlisle, what’s your … position on the new ACA policy?”
Jennifer knew she was being tested, that there were basically no right answers. This meeting wasn’t about asking questions, it was about making a point. So she decided to play along; having little choice but to play along or get fired, which was no doubt what Shin Xu wanted in the first place.
So Jennifer answered, “My disposition isn’t really germane, is it?”
Shin Xu cracked a little smile. “No, it is not. But I imagine that's just what you said to your staff in Colorado, and look how that turned out.”
Jennifer had to bite back on her frustration and keep a calm, professional demeanor. “I won’t make the same mistake again, Dean.”
After a tense moment, Shin Xu said, “See that you don’t."
But Jennifer could already see the position her chief administrator had put her in. Jennifer had taken a position against privatization, that had been true; but it had caused her to quit and not be fired. And she’d spoken to the crowd in advance of the hospital’s position. It was only a violation of the rule to not say anything at all which had gotten her into any real trouble and given the hospital any real reason to take a position on her one way or the other.
So Jennifer was being maneuvered into a trap, where anything she might do would be considered a pattern of bad behavior and grounds for dismissal.
“And what about the security guards and the janitors,” Shin Xu asked, “how are you getting on with them?”
Jennifer smiled as yet another piece of Shin Xu’s campaign against her fell into place. The janitors and the security guards were the groups on the hospital grounds most eager for a strike, and in the position to disrupt the hospital to the greatest effect. The only other group that were reasonable candidates were the orderlies, and that was a circumstance so dire that Jennifer didn’t even want to consider the possibility; looming, though it was.
And if they did, Jennifer could be held responsible by anybody creative enough to want to see it, or describe it that way. If the guards and janitors struck, Jennifer as their ersatz emissary could be considered either a failure or, worse, an inside-conspirator. If they did not strike, she would get little credit for the fact, as her only real job was to press them to kill the rats and chase off the vagrants. And trying to get those jobs done, they might just strike, leaving Jennifer to appear as if she drove them off by driving them too hard.
She was in a no-win position, Jennifer knew Shin Xu must have been thinking.
And Jennifer wasn’t surprised to hear Shin Xu say, “The reason I called you here, Miss Carlisle, is that I’m afraid you’re going to try to use this … this unfortunate crisis to your own ends.”
“Are you?”
“I am.”
“You mean I want to climb the corporate ladder by making myself a celebrity over this … this public relations catastrophe we’re all sitting on.”
“Precisely that,” Shin Xi said. “But I won’t have it. Are we clear?”
Clear, Jennifer thought, funny you should put it that way. Now let me be clear… But she knew she couldn’t afford it, her father couldn’t afford it, and who knew what it would mean for the hospital. With her history, being fired could draw the exact kind of bad publicity they were all trying to avoid. And if that did happen, Jennifer could easily see herself taking the blame, once again bringing things around to her father, whose recommendation was responsible for her getting the job in the first place.
But there was a decreasing rate of benefit to letting Shin Xu walk all over her, and Jennifer felt they were fast approaching it. So practical and beneficial or not, Jennifer said, “What’s clear to me is that you’re using all this as an opportunity… to get rid of me, any way you can!” Shin Xu didn’t even bother to contradict her. Instead she merely smiled. So Jennifer went on, “But I’m not going to give you the satisfaction, Shin Xu. So for now, I’ve had enough of your bullying and your nasty little snarling face. And don’t think you can fire me for this. I do have rights.”
“They’ll cost you dearly,” Shin Xu said. “And not you alone.”
“Don’t you threaten my father!” Jennifer stood up, Shin Xu watching from her chair behind her desk. “You can do what you want to me … or you can try … but leave my father out of it!” With that, Jennifer turned to step out of the office, certain she’d walked right into the chief administrator’s hands.
CHAPTER FOUR
“I don’t trust that woman,” Jennifer said to her father as they walked together down the hospital hallway.
“She’s just trying to do what he thinks is right for the hospital, I’m sure.”
“She thinks firing me is best for the hospital? She told me when she hired me that she didn’t like me, that she considered it nepotism.”
Burton shrugged. “But … you’re perfectly qualified.”
“That sh
e considered it nepotism. And the chief of surgery … you … just happens to be my father; so she might have a point. But I’m not going to let her manipulate me into a suicide position.”
Burton offered up a little chuckle. “I’m sure it’s not as bad as all that, hon — Jennifer. She’s stern, she’s probably just putting you to the test to see what you can do, to get the very best out of you.”
Jennifer had a hard time believing it, but she wanted to give her father the benefit of the doubt, as always.
“I guess you’re right. But … mark my words, she’s setting me up for a fall.”
“Well, if that happens,” Burton said, “I’ll be there for you, every step of the way.”
Jennifer couldn’t avoid saying, “To pick up the pieces?”
Burton smiled and walked away without the little kiss he normally would have given her. Jennifer knew she had to ask him to refrain from the paternal practice, that he treat her as an equal and a professional; that was what he’d wanted before the move. But at the same time, Jennifer had to admit that she enjoyed the little kisses, and going without them resonated in her heart and soul. Things had changed, she had changed, in the ways he’d wanted; she couldn’t explain the emptiness and loneliness she suddenly felt.
But she had more to worry about than that. When Jennifer asked herself the cold, hard truth, just as she had done in Colorado, she already knew she would have to stand against turning out suffering patients because of their insurance plan. It was wrong in every way; the fact that the patients paid for help they’d be refused, that doctors would be prevented from fulfilling their oath, and that it would turn the hospital into a factory of elitism and near-genocide. The more Jennifer thought about it, the more she knew she had to find a way to prevent what seemed like the inevitable.
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