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It was a small hospital and a lot of the staff knew Chance. They went out of their way to check on me and make sure I was comfortable. I tried to do some work on my laptop but found it difficult to concentrate. I was trying to decide whether to go for a walk or try to get some sleep when my phone rang. "Hi, Gracie Layne."
"Hi, Em. How's Chance?"
"The same. Nothing's changed. I'm glad you were able to connect me with Dr. Wainwright, but I am curious."
"I bet you are," she chuckled.
"Are you going to tell me what's going on or are you going to let me imagine the worst."
"I'm not sure what you would think the worst was," Gracie Layne said. "I've been dating Mark since we met at the lab. He's been traveling to Georgia a lot lately, because of your medical situation. Which he refuses to discuss with me by the way."
"Good. There are privacy laws and restrictions that he's supposed to follow. I'm glad to hear he's playing by the rules." I figured if he stuck to the rules about privacy it probably meant he wasn't the type to flagrantly disregard the ones having to do with human testing. I know it was a leap, but it seemed logical to me. "Where were you when I called?"
"Uhm. Well. It's probably best if I don't answer that."
"I was afraid of that." It wasn't like I thought my sister was a virgin, but we didn't share details of our love lives. I wondered if I'd be able to look at Dr. Wainwright without him being able to tell that I knew he was sleeping with my sister. We made small talk for a few more minutes before saying good night.
After the nurses next check of Chance's vitals, I put on my sweats—really Chance's sweats and made myself as comfortable as possible in the recliner that I pulled over next to Chance's bed. Even though I knew Chance probably couldn't hear me, and wouldn't care even if he was conscious, I told him about Gracie Layne and Dr. Wainwright. As I explained my feelings to Chance, I realized that I didn't really trust Wainwright. Something about him had always made me question his honesty. Now, my feeling about the current situation with Chance and Jared was complicated by the fact that he was dating my baby sister. Once this is all resolved and everyone's back to normal, Dr. Wainwright and I need to have a very long, very frank talk.
XXX
I must have fallen asleep reading. I woke when someone touched my arm. I startled awake, hoping it was Chance who'd touched me. It wasn't. He was still asleep. I looked the other way and saw Dr. Wainwright and two men I didn't recognize.
"Hello, Everly. Sorry to wake you," he said. "I've looked over Chance's medical records. I'm going to give him some medication through the IV," he explained as he pulled out a syringe and injected something into the IV bag that was dripping into Chance's arm. There were two other men in the room. They were standing just inside the door and hadn't spoken.
"Have you talked to the doctor?" I asked, untangling my feet from the blankets and standing up.
He ignored my question and motioned to the men. "He's ready. Let's get him in the ambulance."
"Ambulance? What's going on?" I asked.
"I'm taking Chance and Jared to a private facility where I can care for them."
"Is this because of the medication you gave them? What is it? Why are there no labels on the tube?"
Ignoring all my questions, he said, "Pack up your stuff. You're coming too."
"Did his doctor approve this?"
"I am his doctor, Everly."
One of the men stepped up and took the bag of IV fluid off the pole and laid it on Chance's chest. While he was doing that, a third man wheeled a gurney into the room and pushed it up beside the bed. Within a minute, Chance had been transferred to the gurney.
"Do you have everything?" Dr. Wainwright asked. “Time is of the essence."
I slipped my shoes on, grabbed my coat out of the closet, and picked up my bag and purse. "I'm ready, I guess."
It felt wrong. It was too rushed. I'd seen no indication that Wainwright had even looked at Chance's wounds or talked to his local doctor. When we were almost to the elevator, one of the nurses ran up. "Everly, are you OK with all this?"
"I guess. I just want Chance to get better."
"Tell him we'll all be praying for him," she said.
Until the nurse talked to me, I was feeling a little like we were being kidnapped. Not that I was conscious when that happened before, but it was all very hurried and Dr. Wainwright didn't seem to want to answer my questions. Maybe he just felt responsible and was focused on solving the problem he created.
They loaded Chance into the back of an ambulance. I started to climb in the back, but Dr. Wainwright stopped me. "We need room to work on Chance. Why don't you ride upfront?"
"What are you going to do to him?" I asked, but one of the men took my arm and pulled me toward the front.
"Get in," he said. "We need to go."
I kept my mouth shut and pulled out a paper and pen from my purse. I made a list of questions for Dr. Wainwright. After I made the list, I went back and marked those things he was going to answer immediately when we got to the BITES lab. I figured that must be the private facility we were headed for. I understood that he needed to focus on treating the guys but, if he was the cause of their problems, I needed to make sure he didn't make things worse to try to cover his earlier mistakes.