Chapter 217
Chapter Two Hundred Seventeen
Sephic
“Good,” I said, leaning my head against his shoulder. Heughed as he hugged me tightly while we
waited on Adrik. We could hear himughing 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
consideringing 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 n again,” I said, walking to Adrik.
Ivan clearly bristled. “His what now?”
Adrik couldn’t help butugh 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 toe 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 meugh. “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 myselfugh with that one, which made
everyoneugh.
“So, Trino knows the dealers are organizing and want to stop this n 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 shi t, 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 minutester with Dr. Williams behind him. Adrik stood to greet him, extending
his hand to him. “Dr. Williams, thank you foring on such short notice.”
“No problem, sir. It sounded serious.” He nced around, nervously. His eyesnded 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 cab 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, Sephle?” 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 regrly. 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 bi tch,” 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 youe 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 rece the entire city’s supply of drugs with brawn, except in two areas of
the city. In one of those areas, they’re nning on putting a massive amount of brawn into the water
supply. In the other area, they’re nning on withholding all drugs for the weekend they’re nning
this.” Adrik paused to let Dr. Williamsprehend 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 sessful in recing
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
n altogether. We’re just putting backup ns in ce 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 poption of the city
going through withdrawals at once. Nor could we handle that same poption having their drug of
choice reced by brawn, either. That’s a nasty drug, he said.
Armando and na walked into the office as Dr. Williams was talking. They quietly sat on one of the
couches.
“Oh, they’ve changed it too. This formtion 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
shu t down on them?” I asked. Dr. Williams nodded his head. “This new form 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?”
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 dance at
na, who had a slight look of disgust on her face at this conversation. That’s odd.Content protected by N?v/el(D)rama.Org.
“You were attacked?” Dr. Williams asked, looking between me and Misha.
We both nodded. “It was a test run of this formtion. 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 form, 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 hisp. “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 form. I still remember when the
original form 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
form 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 poption. 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 toe up with a n 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 n to put it in the water supply? What’s going to happen to children who drink water
that’s beenced with brawn?” Armando asked. He was clearly worried about the people in his area of
the city. I nced 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.