Trapped (The Nine lives of Kira Harting #1)

Prologue

December 15, 1941 Hawaii, Pearl Harbor U.S. Naval Base

A man walks into a small white room where there is a young blonde nurse sitting behind a long counter. The phones keep ringing and ringing but the nurse doesn't move to answer them. The man removes his hat and sets it on the counter, along with his briefcase. The briefcase makes a loud thud but again the nurse doesn't move.

"Excuse me nurse." He says to her but she doesn't respond. "Nurse? Excuse me. I'm Doctor Randy Morton. I was called here by a Doctor Dwight Wesley." She still doesn't respond. He waves his hand in front of her face, but still nothing.

Another nurse rushes by a hallway that is behind the counter. "Excuse me! Nurse!" The man calls after her, she turns back around and comes up to the desk.

"Yes sir?" She says to him and he notices the deep circles under her eyes and the way her hands shake as she moves. Her dark brown hair is sticking out like pieces of hay from underneath her hat.

"I think something is wrong with your young nurse here." He says to the brunette and she looks down at the blonde.

"Oh dear. Paulette, Paulette wake up." The brunette pats the blonde on the shoulder and the blonde jumps and bursts into tears. "Honey, let's get you some place to lie down. Come on." She says to the blonde as she helps her out of the chair and toward the doorway.

"Excuse me," the man says before they leave the room. "I'm Doctor Randy Morton, I was called in by Doctor Dwight Wesley."

"Yes we have been waiting for you, please wait here and I'll take you to him just let me help her lie down." She says as she helps the Blonde out of the room.

The brunette is back within a few moments. "Right this way Doctor Morton."

"Can you tell me what happened to that nurse?" He asks as he follows her through the doorway.

"Oh, she just spoke to her husband." The nurse says

"Is everything ok? She burst into tears so suddenly." The man asks.

"Yes" she says "except that her husband is dead."

"I don't understand?" The man says as he rubs at his stubbly chin.

"Doctor Wesley will explain it. There he is now." She says as they walk into a room full of wounded men and women laying on cots. She walks him over to a short balding man in a white coat discussing a leg amputation with a man in a hospital gown.

"Doctor Wesley, this is Doctor Morton." The nurse says and then she turns and walks away.

"Doctor Morton! Thank you so much for coming out here so quickly!" The doctor says as he shakes Wesley's hand.

"I got here as quick as I could, you did say it was urgent." He says looking the man in the gown over.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you more over the telephone. But I gathered you would have to see this for yourself to understand." Wesley says.

"I'm not sure I do." Morton says. "I'm sorry, is this another doctor? Should we be speaking in front of a patient?" He says indicating the man in the gown.

"Neil? No he is not a doctor" he says shaking his head "but he is the one who told me about you and your interests." Wesley says.

"I am confused. Was this man a patient of mine that I cannot recall?" Morton asks.

"Come. Let me show you." Wesley says and he puts his hand on Morton's shoulder and leads him toward a door in the far corner of the room. "Be on the lookout for Gwen." Wesley says as he places his hand on the door handle. Morton turns his head and comes face to face with what looks like a transparent woman.

"What in God's name is going on here?" Morton yells.

"Sorry about that, she's still getting used to this." Wesley says. "We all are, I suppose."

"I beg your pardon? She? What? Getting used to what?" Morton says as he walks closer to the woman.

"Projecting herself." Wesley says and he rocks back on his heels. "That's what this is. It doesn't hurt when you pass through her projection," he says waving his hand through her invisible body "but you get a chill."

Morton turns to Wesley. "Now just what in tarnation is going on here?" Morton hollers as he tries to hide the anger shaking through his body. He traveled all the way from New York to get here and now the doctors and nurses are playing tricks on him?

"I'm sorry Doc, but Neil said you'd be the best person to know what was going on here. We didn't know who to call about all this, we aren't even sure how it all really happened. But somehow Gwen can project herself, or rather, she can project an image of herself to various locations. And Neil, well he suddenly knew everything and anything, hell, he's performed about half of the medical procedures in here over the past few days. Then there's Teddy who can read minds..." Wesley trails off in thought and his body gives an involuntary shudder.

"You're being serious?" Morton says looking from the transparent woman to Wesley.

Wesley nods and rubs his hand up the back of his neck anxiously "I am."

Morton takes a few deep breaths for a moment. He is starting to realize why he was summoned here. "So this all happened when? After the bombings?"

"Yes sir." Wesley nods. "It all started happening within the past week, they are all survivors we pulled out of the water and rubble."

"And it's just the three patients, or four I mean?" Morton asks just as he remembers the nurse saying something about a dead husband.

"No." Wesley shakes his head quickly. "I have about a hundred or so with symptoms. All victims of the bombings. Dozens of different affects though. That's what I was going to show you."

Morton sighs then nods his head in acceptance. "Well let's see it." He says.

Wesley guides him into the room and Morton stops dead in his tracks when he sees the magnitude of Wesley's words.

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