Page 41

“Yeah?” Ben asked, jerking his arm out of her grasp. “How am I gonna do that when they’re looking for someone with dog bites to charge with kidnapping a billionaire?”

“A general woman, nobody would care,” Wade said. “But this lady’s got men in her life who have connections and power. They’ll be watching all the clinics and hospitals.”

“She might have her own connections and power.” Vivian moved back to her place on the couch. Ben worked for years with wild animals. He knew the deal. She couldn’t imagine why he was here, lying on her floor, instead of seeking help.

“Only if it’s to get a spot on the spa schedule. Amanda’s the trophy for the man. Don’t pull your feminist crap with me,” Ben growled. “That’s the situation.”

“You’re the situation. Look at this shit you’ve got yourself into.” Vivian flailed her hands toward him. “Every time I see you, you look worse. You’re going to get sepsis and die.” She turned toward the door. “Where’s Mike?” Vivian asked.

“He has a drone light show tonight,” Jay said. “It’s important everyone looks like they’re going about a normal day.”

“How do we get Ben antibiotics without saying it’s for an animal bite?” Wade asked.

“Different antibiotics work on different things.” Vivian reached for her phone, looking up the information. “Amoxicillin-clavulanate. It says here that before the infection, take it twice a day for 3-5 days.”

“We only need to find between 6 and 10 pills. Do you think any of the drug dealers around here could lay their hands on the stuff?” Wade asked.

“Would you trust what they handed us?” Ben asked. “I wouldn’t.”

“My girl’s on antibiotics for a UTI,” Wade said.

Jay turned his way. “What’s that?”

“A bladder infection from too much sex.”

“TMI, man,” Ben muttered, past a swollen jaw. That jaw looked worse than this morning, and Vivian wondered if he’d gotten into a fight with a man as well as a dog.

“Look, dude,” Wade said. “I’m trying to help you out.”

“No,” Vivian said, focusing on her screen, “it says here she probably only has amoxicillin. That’ll take care of E. coli. It’ll do nothing for the heavy-duty germs that are coming for Ben.”

“Not rabies, though,” Ben said. “I still have six months on my last rabies booster. Look, Viv, I’m not worried about it. It wasn’t a stray in a back alley. It was one of those high-dollar security K9. She hasn’t got anything that I can catch.” Ben turned to Wade. “Go get your wife’s meds. Just don’t tell her they're for me. Tell her something else.”

“I’m not telling her jack. She can think she lost them and call the pharmacist for more. A little gaslighting goes a long way in my house. Helps me keep the upper hand.” Wade slid his gaze to Vivian with a sly smile.

Vivian smacked Wade’s shoulder. “Ben, listen to me. That’s not what you’re doing. You’re going to get in your car and drive to West Virginia, and you’re going to say that you don’t have insurance, and you’ll pay cash at like one of those box places in a grocery store. They don’t care where you got your bite. They probably have people in there all the time with some animal encounter. Take your fake driver’s license. It says you live in West Virginia, right?”

“From when I was twenty?” Ben asked. “I’m taking the UTI meds.”

“Fine.” Vivian folded her arms over her chest. “In three days, when you get gangrene, and they cut off your arm to save your life, I’m just going to say I told you so. Or, how about this? You’re crazed with sepsis, and you tell them everything, then you die, leaving us to hold the bag.”

Everyone was silent.

“Ben, it’s easy,” Wade said. “Steal a West Virginia license plate off some car in the strip mall back parking lot near the state line. Slap that on your car. When you cross the state line, stay on back roads, so you’re not caught by any license-plate scanners that could track you home. If Mike were here, he has something to put on your license plate to make you invisible, but since he’s at work, you’re going to have to jump through some hoops.”

“Fine,” Ben grumped.

“If you think they’re getting suspicious, leave,” Wade said. “As soon as you’ve got your meds in hand, cross back into Virginia and switch the plates back. Dump the stolen license plate in the woods or something.”

“That’s a lot of spy craft for a damned dog bite,” Ben muttered.

“The longer you wait, the more you will heal,” Vivian said, “the more questions they’ll have about why you didn’t come in sooner.”

“I was hiking the ATV,” Ben said. “It took a while to get down from the mountain. The dog owner showed me the rabies tag was up to date. It’s my fault I jumped down from a rock and scared the poor little guy.”

“Good enough,” Vivian said. “Now off you go. Let the adults come up with plan B.”

“There’s a Plan B?” Jay asked.