Free Game Over! (Parker & Knight Book 3) by Donald Wells

1
    T he Bennett Nursing Home, Washington New Jersey, 8:06 p.m.
    Becca Conner was in a bad mood.
    Tonight was the grand reopening of Taggart’s Bar & Grill and she had to work.
    Her friend Ginny had called and told her how different everything looked, and she would know. Ginny had worked her way through nursing school while waitressing at Taggart’s .
    Becca sighed.
    I’m stuck here with all these zombies when I should be having a good time.
    “Zombies” was how Becca thought of the patients, many of whom were comatose, and none of whom were ambulatory.
    Becca was stuck working every Friday and Saturday night because she had only been recently hired, and so was handed all the worst shifts. However, the job did pay considerably more than the last one she had and she would be able to save enough to pay for more schooling and get her R.N.
    Thump!
    The sudden noise frightened Becca. It seemed to come from a room across the hall and two doors down, but the only people in that room were both comatose, and her supervisor, Mrs. Howard, was in her office watching TV, as usual.
    Becca called out.
    “Mrs. Howard, is that you?”
    Thump! Thump! Thump! BAM!
    Becca jumped out of her seat and stared at the open doorway leading into the room. It wasn’t so much the noise that frightened her, but the light.
    The lights had come on in the room and the lights worked with a motion sensor to save energy. The only time they would come on would be if someone were moving around in there.
    Through the open door, she could see Mr. Carroll’s feet and legs beneath the blanket, and they were as still as ever. Mr. Carroll had suffered a massive brain injury two years ago when he attempted suicide by ramming his car into a telephone pole. He hadn’t killed himself, but he might as well have, because although his heart still pumped blood, his brain was virtually dead.
    Someone must be breaking in. Becca thought, as she stretched out over the desk, craning her neck while looking to the right in an effort to see farther into the room.
    “What’s going on?”
    The voice came from Becca’s left and startled her so that she let out a scream.
    “Oh God, Mrs. Howard, you scared me to death.”
    Mrs. Howard looked at Becca as if she were a simpleton.
    “Why are you so skittish tonight?”
    Becca pointed at the lit room, and as she did, more noise came from it.
    “I think someone is breaking in.” Becca whispered.
    Mrs. Howard, a sturdy woman of formidable bulk, began walking towards the door. When she reached it, she eased her head past the doorframe and peeked in with one eye. An instant later, she spun around and called to Becca.
    “Call the hospital and have them send an ambulance. One of the patients has awakened from his coma.”
    “What? I thought they couldn’t.”
    “Just make the call, Becca!”
    Mrs. Howard rushed into the room and helped the man, who had been attempting to lower the side rails on his bed. When she saw that his eyes were alert, she spoke to him.
    “It’s all right. You suffered a terrible injury but you’ll be all right.”
    The man grunted at her and raised a weak hand towards his face.
    Mrs. Howard pushed the hand away.
    “That’s a feeding tube. A doctor has to remove it, but in the meantime, please don’t touch it, you might injure yourself.”
    The man nodded slightly, and then his eyes looked pleading, as he grunted some more, this time forming words.
    The words were unintelligible due to the feeding tube and the raspiness of his recently inactive vocal cords, but Mrs. Howard took the tone as questioning.
    “You were injured badly, a head injury, that was back in late August, it’s now May.”
    The man’s eyes grew large with astonishment at the news.
    Becca appeared in the doorway and stared in at them.
    “The ambulance is on its way.”
    After months in a coma, Nico Umbria was back.

2
    T aggart’s was packed with happy couples on the occasion of its grand reopening.
    The new owner and operator,