To Kill a Priest - The Priors, Episode 1 Read Online Free PDF

replied, “She will
if you don’t give her a choice. Can you reach the large needle on
the table?”
    Comprehension dawned on her, and mischief
illuminated her face as she glanced at the nightstand. “Maybe.”
    Her courage hasn’t
diminished, thought Jedd with a
smile.
    She reached toward the tray holding the
sedative. The restraints held fast, leaving her fingers straining
inches away. “Maybe if I…” and without another word she thrust her
body at the nightstand.
    He shuddered at the sound as inch by inch,
the locked wheels of the bed squealed. They resisted, but Madelin’s
forceful jerks brought the bed closer to the small table.
    The static flared as Jedd abandoned his
calm. “Hurry! Before the nurse hears you…,” but his words trailed
off as the door swung open to admit a short, broad-shouldered woman
in her forties.
    ‘ Helga,’ as her name tag
read, swept into the room and toward the half-pulled curtain with
the confidence of a no-nonsense mother with wide hips that looked
to have cradled many suckling children. Having inched close enough
to grasp the needle, Madelin stuffed it under the bedsheets. In her
rush, she caught the edge of the tray and knocked its contents to
the floor with a metallic crash. Helga came into sight a moment
later and looked curiously at Madelin, who was feigning sleep. His
goddaughter quivered under the wrinkled mass of sheets.
    Seeing this, the nurse whispered, “Poor
baby… poor… poor… baby.”
    With a shake of her head, she began to sing
a soft lullaby. It was a nursery rhyme Jedd remembered from his own
childhood. Approaching the side of the bed, the nurse bent down to
pick up the tray of medicine, unaware of her silent observer.
    “ Oh poor gal, have ya had a
bad start from those awful dreams again? Well ol’ Helga’ll make it
all better,” she whispered after finishing the first
verse.
    A smile spread across
Jedd’s face. He could see Madelin shaking under the covers. The situation couldn’t have played out
better , he thought. She thinks Madelin’s suffering from nightmares.
    Jedd knew the adrenaline rush coursing
through his goddaughter’s veins, and he watched anxiously as the
nurse searched the floor beside the bed. Helga stood partway up
with a perplexed look, but it was short lived as Madelin thrust the
needle up to the nurse’s neck—only just able to reach against the
restraints. A look of pure terror engulfed the broad woman as
Patient 914 threatened to pierce her esophagus.
    “ Take these things off
me, now !” Madelin
demanded in the face of the startled woman. She spoke with such
viciousness that Jedd wondered if he had found the right
person.
    Glancing out the window, the grounds loomed
up at him.
    Whew… I did drift a long
ways, he thought, seeing one level
separating them from the ground floor.
    Below them were decorative bushes flowering
in the moonlight and a landscaped, grass lawn. Gauging the distance
to the ground, he realized that it was still too far for her to
jump. His first idea thwarted, Jedd turned his attention back to
the white hospital room.
    “ I c-c-can’t,” the nurse
stammered back. “Y-y-you just a-a-aren’t feeling well. L-l-lie
d-d-down, darlin’. H-H-Helga will help—”
    Before she could finish, Jedd’s eyes widened
in shock as Madelin plunged the needle into the nurse’s neck. With
half its length visible, the nurse’s eyes bulged.
    Madelin snarled, “Do
it now !”
    Helga stared into Madelin’s unwavering,
green glare, attempting to maintain control. Seeing few options,
her demeanor turned to submission. She released the closest wrist
restraint. Her head resembled still life in its lack of expression,
as though it were a trophy stag mounted upon a wall of thin air.
Her hands worked without vision and sought the last strap across
the bed.
    Seconds felt like minutes as Jedd peered
from the nurse, to the door, and back again. He could see
excitement creeping into Madelin’s eyes, but Jedd was afraid