Familiar Pieces: A Riveting Kidnapping Mystery (A North and Martin Abduction Mystery Book 6) by James Hunt

Author:James Hunt [Hunt, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-20T22:00:00+00:00

14

Some kind of weight kept Jim pinned down. It was like an elephant was sitting on his chest and his eyes were glued shut. Jim thought it was a dream at first, that he was stuck in some kind of dark purgatory nightmare where he was blind and paralyzed.

But when he began to hear familiar voices that sounded close, Jim knew he was awake. Jim panicked, his heart rate spiking as he struggled to move, and then a pair of hands were on him.

“Relax, Mr. North,” a woman’s voice said.

“I can’t—I can’t move,” Jim said, his speech slightly slurred.

But that wasn’t entirely true. He managed to wiggle his toes, then his fingers, and finally, some light broke through the darkness. It was nothing but strange shapes in the beginning, but they started to come into focus the longer he kept his eyes open.

The woman holding Jim’s arm was an old nurse, her gray hair trimmed in a pixie cut and a friendly, well-worn smile. Jim glanced down at his body and saw nothing on top of him except for the thin hospital blanket. But he was starting to be able to move more now.

“What… happened?” Jim asked.

“You collapsed,” the nurse answered. “You were severely dehydrated. We think it was a stress-related event.”

“Did I have a heart attack?” Jim asked.

“No, but the doctors said your body was extremely fatigued,” the nurse answered.

Jim relaxed a little bit, trying to remember where he was and what he was doing before the collapse. But the harder he tried to concentrate, the less he was able to focus.

“How are you feeling now?” the nurse asked.

“Tired,” Jim answered, his voice croaking like a frog, but then he tensed again. “How long have I been in here?”

“You were brought in an hour ago,” the nurse answered.

“An hour?” Jim sat up, but the nurse tried to keep him back down.

“You really need to lie down,” the nurse said.

Jim blinked. His vision was still a little fuzzy, but he saw his clothes on a chair nearby. “I need to get dressed.” He struggled to swing his legs over the side of the cot, but he managed.

“Sir,” the nurse said, growing increasingly agitated over Jim’s actions. “You need to lie down.”

“Good luck with that.”

Jim and the nurse both turned toward the door and saw Kerry standing in the threshold. She was smiling a little, but it vanished quickly.

“I’ll keep an eye on him,” Kerry said, walking into the room.

The nurse was skeptical, but Jim wasn’t the only patient she had on her rounds who needed assistance, so she nodded and then left them alone.

Once the nurse was gone, Kerry stood at the end of the bed and crossed her arms. In all of their time working together, she had never looked more like a stern mother than she did right now.

“I’m—”

“Fine?” Kerry asked, finishing the sentence for Jim. “No, you’re not. Because if you were fine, then you wouldn’t be stuck in the hospital after collapsing from exhaustion.”

Jim stared at the hospital gown he was dressed in.

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