The Omega Team: Death Sentence (Kindle Worlds Novella) Read Free

eyes.
    Hallie s face warmed. Not being the best judge of men, she wasn’t certain whether to be receptive or cautious. “Curious in what way?”
    “Who you are.”
    “Didn’t Athena tell you everything I told her?”
    “She did. Gave me your photo, too.” He regarded Hallie. “You’re a dead ringer for it, except your hair has more reddish highlights in person and is past your shoulders now. Couldn’t determine your eye color from the shot though or the times you zipped past me at Zephron.” He leaned closer and smiled approvingly. “Light brown. You look way younger than thirty-two. You sure that’s your age?”
    She held back a smile. “Positive.”
    “I’ll make a note in your files. By the way, we have them, too.”
    Right. They’d vetted her. “Then you know my entire history.”
    He ran his thumb down the sweaty bottle. “Not your motives. Why are you at Zephron? What compelled you to work for Gatekeeper? You graduated with honors from a top university. You’re a nurse practitioner with an RN and a Master’s behind your name, not an LPN who got her degree at a for-profit institution that will graduate anyone who’s willing to go into major debt. You were never in trouble, not even a parking ticket.”
    She laughed softly. “I’ve been a good girl.”
    His grin crinkled his eyes and carved a dimple in his cheek. “We’ll see.”
    “What?”
    “Why are you at Zephron? The pay stinks. You could make far more at an area hospital or babysitting wealthy retirees in Palm Beach.”
    She’d rather die. “Clearly, you learned nothing from my file.”
    “Which is why I’m asking you. Mind helping me out?”
    She liked his laid-back style. Letting her lead the way, at least in this. “Rich people don’t need my help like the inmates do. Most of the prisoners began with nothing and have less than that now thanks to their incarceration. To keep costs down, Gatekeeper cuts corners anyway they can, even rationing toiletries. You have no idea how demeaning it is to beg for sanitary napkins or toilet paper. Buying that stuff from the canteen is the impossible dream for those young women. Who’s there to help them? See that they make it out alive? I can’t change the world either, but I sure as hell can give them the healthcare they deserve.”
    “Good answer.”
    In another minute, he’d have her giggling like a silly teen. “Are you saying you approve?”
    “I’d be crazy not to. However, you don’t talk about Gatekeeper or the inmates that way when you’re at Zephron, right?”
    “I’m not crazy. I know how the system works.”
    He relaxed in his seat. “What happened with Kim?”
    “Officially or my opinion?”
    “Your take on it.”
    Hallie squeezed her bottle. “Someone murdered her. No damn way did she kill herself.”
    “Why?”
    “Because it’s not freaking possible.” She threw up her hand then lowered it before the other patrons noticed her agitation. “Kim was five-four. In order to have gotten up to that window to tie her underwear around the bars, she would have had to be taller than you.”
    “From what I’ve seen, she could have stood on the bed and managed.”
    “Sure. If she was Spiderwoman or a contortionist with one leg on the bed to the right while reaching for the window to the left. Look, I’m not disputing that it’s possible, but it’s also improbable. The last time I spoke to Kim, five days before she died, she wasn’t suicidal. She talked about using her gain time for early release. She loved working in the infirmary. She planned to get her GED when she got out and wanted to take nursing courses. I told her I’d help her get into a good program. She was bright. More importantly, she was eager. People like that don’t off themselves.”
    “How’d she end up in confinement?”
    Angry tears burned Hallie’s eyes. “How else? On a trumped-up charge. The sooner a prisoner’s released, the more bucks Gatekeeper loses. I’ve read their shareholder