“We can’t be sure, but we suspect it,” Reese confirmed. “Thank you for helping out.”
“I’m not sure there’s much I can do.” Her expression turned contrite, and Reese guided her into the shambles of the brothel. “To measure the levels of carbon monoxide, I’d have to draw blood and bring it to a lab. But I’ll check their symptoms, and we’ll go from there.”
Gray squeezed by and made it over to Darius, where he sat down next to him on the floor. “Can you check him first? He’s not moving like the others.”
Lia frowned and gave their surroundings a cursory glance, mostly the hole in the floor leading to the compound, but also the pile of Kevlar vests in the corner and the flashlight on the wall. Did she need more light? But she didn’t say anything. Instead, she got down on one knee on the other side of Darius and removed her backpack.
“Is there any way we can investigate what poisoned them?” she asked. “How was it administered?”
“Inhalation,” Reese responded. “There’s an underground bunker.” He nodded at the hole in the floor. “Gas must’ve been released into the air vent or omething’. They’re all breathing, by the way. Tariq’s been keeping an eye on their pulses and whatnot.”
“Shit, for real?” Lia’s father walked over to the opening in the floor and peered down. “You think you know your town… Do I wanna know who youse got restrained down there?”
No.
Thankfully, it was too dark for the man to get a clear look.
“If it’s gas, you should be able to find canisters or tanks down there,” Lia stated. “Can you go check? The more I know, the better I can treat your friends. And if you find them, please close them right away.”
Reese and Tariq took it upon themselves to head down, and they grabbed their masks.
Gray refused to leave again. He’d been away from Darius too long.
Fear and worry gripped Gray forcefully as Lia began examining Darius, starting with pointing a flashlight pen in his eyes.
Gray lifted Darius’s hand from the floorboards and held it tightly.
You have to be okay, baby.
Lia worked swiftly to assess the visible damage, and either she was concentrating hard enough on her task that everything else faded, or this wasn’t her first rodeo with late-night patients in bizarre places.
She checked Darius’s breathing, his blood pressure, and then asked for help to turn him onto his side.
Gray did as told and rolled him over a little.
The others made more frequent movements, like they were slowly waking up. River groaned and scrubbed sluggishly at his face, but the weight of his own hands seemed to be too heavy for him. They fell just a second later, and he went silent again.
“Oh—he’s been injured here.” Lia removed her stethoscope and dug for something in her backpack.
“He was shot too,” Gray said quietly. “His brother, Ryan over there, was working on him before they passed out.”
Gray wanted to ask Willow for details, but he could hear her labored breathing in the background. She was close to hyperventilating, and he didn’t want to risk her having a meltdown. It would come soon enough as it was.
Lia shifted her focus and began multitasking, seemingly wanting to check everything at once. Her father looked undeniably proud and said it out loud too.
“You’re a strange duo,” Gray muttered in response.
That gave Lia a chuckle. “You have no idea. Okay, his leg will have to wait. Do you know if the bullet was removed?”
Gray shook his head—
“It was.” Ryan’s drowsy murmur shot some relief into Gray. “Leg’s okay. Fuck.”
“Are you okay, Ryan?” Gray asked. “How are you feeling? What’s two plus two?”
He groaned and tried to turn, failing spectacularly. “Math…”
“Just stay down and take it easy,” Lia ordered.
Ryan cracked an eye open at that. “Who the fuck’re you?”
Gray winced.
“Ay! She’s tryna save your lives,” Lia’s dad bitched. “How about you show some fuckin’ gratitude?”
“Daddy, I swear to Christ—I’m handling this,” Lia snapped.
Ryan squinted over at the man. “And who’re you?”
“Ryan, just—you can ask questions later,” Gray grated out.
Why wasn’t Darius waking the fuck up? All the others were. Slowly but surely, they grunted, flinched, and made sluggish movements.
The sound of heavy footfalls approaching stole Gray’s attention, and he glanced over at the hole in the floor right before Reese and Tariq ran up, out of breath.
“We found four empty tanks,” Reese said. “Three of them were labeled. Here. I took photos.” He squatted down next to where Lia was seated and showed her his phone.
She pinched the screen to zoom in. “I don’t know what that one is, but that’s the formula for isoflurane—an anesthetic agent.” She looked closer and moved her finger on the screen. “Whoever made this compound chose agents that vaporize at room temperature, and it looks like it was created to do what’s happened here. That one lowers blood pressure and relaxes muscles. Either way, we can rule out carbon monoxide poisoning, and that’s a huge relief.”