His mouth dropped open. Say what? The only response he seemed capable of managing was, “Seriously?”
“Hey. Same thing. We’re all mammals. A lot of medications we give animals, we also give to people, just in different dosages. Dosing isn’t an exact science, anyway. We give drugs based on precedent.”
His brain couldn’t let it go. “A veterinarian?”
When the medic registered Triumph’s unabated concern, he reassured him. “Relax, Triumph. I know what I’m doing. I highly doubt it will come to that. But if it does, we’ll handle it. That’s literally a last resort. You should see some of the shite I’ve pulled people through. When we were dealing with the Colonels the last time? Waters had been beaten to near death, overdosed, revived, and overdosed repeatedly, had his tracker dug out of his spine,and ended up with the worst case of pneumonia I’ve seen in my entire life. He made it through. I will not let her down.”
Triumph swallowed tightly, then nodded at the look of calm in Demon’s eyes. He needed to trust that what the man said was true. She’d be fine.
She had to be. He wouldn’t accept anything else.
At that moment, Steel emerged from the tree line as miraculously as he’d gone into it. “We’re close. About ten miles up the road.”
Demon began packing up his bag. “Good. I just redid some popped spots and gave her some antibiotics.”
“Let’s move.”
Demon jumped out of the truck, taking his backpack with him, and both he and Steel got back into the front of the truck.
“Triumph, can you pull up that drone footage Midas sent and link it to the truck’s video system?” Steel asked.
“Sure thing.”
His hands shook slightly as he removed his tablet from his backpack and hit the power button. Good. Something to do. Something solid to focus on. Drone footage. He could do that. Easy peasy.
“And you should probably contact your FBI and ranger guys and tell them that our timetable has changed due to transportation issues. Let them know we’re working on a new plan for stateside arrival.”
Right. Communication. Email would be best. Encryption of files. His wheelhouse. Fine. Fine. Everything was fine.
Everything wasn’t fine. But he looked over at Glennon, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully. No signs of allergic reaction yet. Good. That was good.
He took a few deep breaths, let them out, and willed his hands to stop shaking. When he found some peace of mind, he went about the tasks asked of him.
* * *
When they gotto the village and Demon had popped out of the truck again, he looked into the truck bed. “How’s the patient?”
“I think she has a fever. She’s flushed and mumbling a bit,” Triumph said worriedly.
“Product of the infection,” Demon told him. “It’s to be expected. Hopefully, the antibiotics will stop it and keep it to a minimum. How does the injection site look?”
Triumph slid her shirt sleeve up. “Looks normal.”
“Any swelling or difficulty breathing?”
“Not as far as I can tell. She’s just warm.”
“Okay. No immediate reaction, so if she does have a reaction, we’re unlikely to need the epinephrine or a medical facility. Next hour should tell if we’re going to need to treat an allergy.”
The friends Steel had in the village were definitely not part of Guillermo’s retinue. They were basically a guerrilla army—mostly men, with the odd woman or child connected to them. Triumph thought he spotted a face or two that looked familiar from when he, Tripoli, and Cosmos had helped Steel last year with Hector Colonel. He was thankful these people were on their side, especially after witnessing firsthand how they treated their enemies.
Steel’s friends offered them a small one-room dwelling on the edge of their camp. In the middle of the night, her fever broke. He felt relieved that they seemed to be avoiding that particular trouble. She slept a bit fitfully, but he just pulled her tight to him and threaded his fingers through her hair. That seemed to calm her some.
She woke only once, and he felt it rather than saw it. She worked to regulate her breathing, attempting to appear as if still asleep so she could assess her surroundings.
“Relax, little spy,” he whispered. “It’s me. Triumph. You’re safe. We’re with friends in the mountains.” He felt her relax at his voice. Tentatively, he moved his fingers from her hair to her neck, his thumb gently stroking back and forth along the tendon, hoping to ease her pulse down. “How does your side feel?”
She tried to move but didn’t get very far before she hissed slightly. “Hurts when I move. Aches when I don’t.”
