Chapter 47
Iheld Kara’s hand as the medication dripped.
Warmth filled her veins, flowing up her arm and through her body. Her pulse increased, and her cheeks flushed. She swallowed, her mouth filling with a metallic taste, as she would tell me later.
“Are you okay?” Dr. Malcolm asked.
Kara nodded. “How long will this take to work?”
“If it’s going to work, you should feel improvements by morning.”
“If I’m not dead, that will be an improvement,” she muttered.
“I’ll leave supplies so you can administer a second dose.”
She gave another appreciative nod.
We all watched with bated breath as the mini bag emptied.
Dr. Malcolm kept monitoring her vitals.
I took the medication from the cooler and stored it in the refrigerator, made sure it was set to the right temperature, then returned to the salon.
“How are you feeling?” Malcolm asked again.
“Good. Exhausted,” she said, her eyelids growing heavy. The rush of adrenaline had faded. That warm sensation had turned to a chill.
“You should get some rest. Your body needs all its resources to heal.”
We helped Kara to her stateroom below deck. She crawled into bed and trembled slightly. I found an extra blanket and covered her.
I grabbed her hand and whispered, “You’re going to be just fine. When you wake in the morning, you’ll be a new person.”
She smiled. “I already am a new person.”
“I’ll be back to check on you through the night,” I said.
I shut out the light as we stepped into the hallway.
Dr. Malcolm spoke in a hushed voice. “Fatigue, lethargy, and muscle weakness are all side effects as her body works to metabolize the drug.”
“What do I need to watch out for?”
“Shallow respiration, nausea, vomiting, tachycardia, excessive fever. Keep her hydrated. I’ve left a few bags of saline.”
“What are the odds?” I asked, hopeful.
After a hesitation, he said, “I give it 30/70.”
I lifted a surprised brow. “That low?”
He shrugged. “Too many variables. This is an off-label use, to say the least.”
I escorted him up to the main deck. “I appreciate your help.”
Dr. Malcolm was still unsettled. “Let’s hope everything works out for the best.”
He was talking about more than just Kara’s recovery.
Vernon continued. “I’m going to assume we are both on the same page. Nothing that occurred over the last 24 hours ever happened. I will deny any involvement.”
“I think we both have a vested interest in forgetting the past 24 hours.”
“Torchlight has been cleaned. The lab has been destroyed. I suspect if you return to the island, you’ll find nothing but ash. My handlers have seen to that.”
I had no doubt his handlers would rebuild the lab somewhere else. “What about Silk?”
Malcolm shrugged. “Enact legislation to make it illegal. Now, if you don’t mind. I’m tired, and I’d like to return to my boat.”
My eyes narrowed at him. “You can’t leave, can you?”
“Excuse me?”
I wasn’t talking about the boat. “What dirt do they have on you?”
He looked at me like I was a fool, then chuckled. “You know as well as I do, they can manufacture any dirt they need.”
It was a chilling statement.
The intel agencies had ways to make someone’s life a living hell if they didn’t comply. You didn’t want to get on their bad side.
We left the Avventura, and I took Dr. Malcolm back to his sailboat via the patrol boat.
Afterward, I returned the boat to the sheriff’s office, then caught a rideshare back to Diver Down.
I returned to the Avventura and checked on Kara.
She was out cold. She didn’t stir when I crept into the compartment and felt her forehead.
The pulse/ox meter indicated a normal heartbeat and oxygen saturation. She wasn’t feverish.
I left and headed up to my stateroom. It was a little before sunrise when I crawled into bed and got some shuteye, but that wouldn’t last long.