*Sephie*
“Good,” I said, leaning my head against his shoulder. He laughed as he hugged me tightly while we waited on Adrik. We could hear him laughing with Trino, so we knew it couldn’t be all bad news.
He walked back to us soon after. “Did Trino tell you what Chen just told us?” Viktor asked, slightly amused.
“He did. He thought he was going to tell me something I didn’t know yet. You should’ve heard the cursing when he found out I already knew. Then I told him it was through Sephie that we found out and he went on like a 5-minute rant about how he couldn’t find a woman like her in Colombia. He’s considering coming up here to see if he can find one. He said he’s getting desperate,” Adrik said, laughing.
“Just as long as he didn’t bring up his kidnapping plan again,” I said, walking to Adrik.
Ivan clearly bristled. “His what now?”
Adrik couldn’t help but laugh more. “Don’t worry, Ivan. He won’t really go through with it, but he did say he was going to actively try and steal Sephie. He’s tried to convince her to come down there in front of me, too. I think he’s lonely.” Adrik put his hands on my hips and pulled me back against him so I could still look at everyone while we talked.
Ivan cursed under his breath, which made me laugh. “Don’t worry, Super Squish. It worried me too. The list of people who’d like to kidnap me seems to be growing, rather than shrinking. I just wish I knew how to be less awesome,” I said, dramatically. I ended up making myself laugh with that one, which made everyone laugh.
“So, Trino knows the dealers are organizing and want to stop this plan as much as we do?” Viktor asked.
Adrik nodded his head. “He said one of his guys is one of the ones in charge. He’s going to tell him to meet with us. We have a much better chance of stopping this if we all work together.”
I couldn’t help but smile at the smiles on the guys’ faces as they knew I had said the same thing to Chen. “It’ll help the dealers feel loyal to you, as well. Once this is all over, you want them to want to work for you,” I said. Adrik wrapped his arms around me, holding me closer.
Misha caught my eye and grinned at me. “Made for this shit, gazelle.”
We were in Adrik’s office that afternoon, waiting for Dr. Williams. Viktor’s phone beeped, alerting him that the good doctor was in the lobby. He stood up. “Be right back,” he said as he left the office.
He walked back in a few minutes later with Dr. Williams behind him. Adrik stood to greet him, extending his hand to him. “Dr. Williams, thank you for coming on such short notice.”
“No problem, sir. It sounded serious.” He glanced around, nervously. His eyes landed on mine and a slight smile crept across his face. Adrik motioned for him to sit as he sat at his desk. I got up from beside Andrei and moved to the cabinet behind Adrik’s desk. I smiled at the confused expression on Dr. Williams’ face when I moved. I’m not entirely sure if he had figured out which guy I technically belonged to yet. I was enjoying keeping him confused.
His confusion was short-lived as his curiosity got the better of him. “Did you talk to the police and give them a description of the doctor yet, Sephie?” He sounded hopeful when he asked, but his face fell when he saw the serious expression on my face at his question.
“Not only that, but we’ve got his name and where he’s at. He’s being watched around the clock for now,” Viktor said. I gave Viktor a small nod for answering for me.
“Really? You know who he is? Are they going to arrest him?” he asked, his hope returning once more.
“He’ll get what he deserves, doc,” Stephen said. I could see the anger on his face, which surprised me. Stephen was always so quiet, but this one seemed to really get under his skin for some reason.
Dr. Williams ran his hand through his blonde hair. “I can’t believe you found him so quickly. We’ve been looking for him for at least ten years now.”
“He does have a specific cocktail that he uses that wipes people’s memories. He tests it regularly. He likes to go up to his victims to see if they remember him. It’s why no one has been able to remember what he looks like until Sephie,” Ivan said.
“What an evil son of a bitch,” Dr. Williams said.
“That’s not even the half of it, doc. He’s responsible for so much more,” I said.
“That’s why we had you come down here today. I’m assuming that you know all about brawn?” Adrik asked.
The disgust was clear on his face. “Unfortunately, yes,” Dr. Williams said.
“We’ve uncovered a plot to replace the entire city’s supply of drugs with brawn, except in two areas of the city. In one of those areas, they’re planning on putting a massive amount of brawn into the water supply. In the other area, they’re planning on withholding all drugs for the weekend they’re planning this.” Adrik paused to let Dr. Williams comprehend what he’d just told him. The shock was evident on his face. “We’ve got the dealers of the city working with us, so even if they’re successful in replacing the supply, the dealers won’t sell it. However, this brings up another problem.”
“Withdrawals,” Dr. Williams said.
Adrik nodded. “How possible is it for the hospitals to deal with widespread withdrawals throughout the city?”
“Do you know when this is happening?” he asked.
“Not yet, but worst case, we’ll have a few days’ notice before it happens. We’re working to stop their plan altogether. We’re just putting backup plans in place just in case,” Adrik said. “There’s the potential for a lot of people to be affected. We want to make sure they’re covered in the event we’re not able to stop it from happening.”
Dr. Williams exhaled loudly as he considered the possibilities before him. “Advance notice will make it easier for hospitals to prepare, but I’m not sure we can handle the entire addict population of the city going through withdrawals at once. Nor could we handle that same population having their drug of choice replaced by brawn, either. That’s a nasty drug,” he said.
Armando and Giana walked into the office as Dr. Williams was talking. They quietly sat on one of the couches.
“Oh, they’ve changed it too. This formulation amps up the aggression, but it’s shorter lived. You know how the original brawn could make someone aggressive for a few hours before their body started to shut down on them?” I asked. Dr. Williams nodded his head. “This new formula cuts that time down considerably, but it amps up the aggression in that shorter window.” I looked to Misha, asking, “it was what, like 20 minutes before they started to struggle to remain conscious?”
“It might’ve been longer. We don’t know how long in between them taking it and when they actually attacked us. But I’d say around 20 minutes is a good estimate,” Misha said. I happened to glance at Giana, who had a slight look of disgust on her face at this conversation. That’s odd.
“You were attacked?” Dr. Williams asked, looking between me and Misha.
We both nodded. “It was a test run of this formulation. They gave a couple of homeless guys the drug and then sent them to attack me and Sephie when we were out for a run,” Misha said.
Dr. Williams looked back to me. “But you’ve had experience with the old formula, too?”
I nodded, looking to the floor. Adrik turned his chair toward me, opening his arm for me. I sighed, getting up and moving to his lap. “My uncle,” I said as I sat down.
Dr. Williams held up his hand. “That’s all I need to hear, because that is clearly not a fond memory. It’s valuable information, in the event that people get a hold of this new formula. I still remember when the original formula hit the streets. We were scrambling for quite a while until we figured out how to care for the people on it.”
“What kind of support do the hospitals need? In either scenario. If they get their hands on the new formula or if they have to suffer withdrawals,” Ivan asked.
Dr. Williams thought for a moment. “Honestly, neither situation is going to be easy. Not if we’re talking about the entire city’s addict population. And I can only answer for my hospital. Other hospitals might not be as well-staffed as mine. I can, however, go back and try to come up with a plan of action for both scenarios. I’m afraid it’s going to take all hands-on deck to deal with either scenario.”
“What about their plan to put it in the water supply? What’s going to happen to children who drink water that’s been laced with brawn?” Armando asked. He was clearly worried about the people in his area of the city. I glanced at Giana again, who caught me looking at her. She immediately looked down when she caught my eye. I decided to stop looking at her for the rest of this little meeting.