The Protected

Gus’s face went tight and harsh flags of color rode on his cheeks. “No, I don’t think he is.”

“Good grief.” Vaughnne rolled her eyes and turned to the doctor. “Gus has only been his guardian for a few years. The parenting gig is a new thing for him. I think some of this is making him uncomfortable.” She shrugged as she tossed it out there and gave the doctor a look that hopefully conveyed . . . guys, what can you do?

The doctor studied Vaughnne consideringly and then turned away. “If he isn’t circumcised, that’s more of an issue, then. It’s even more important that he’s cleaning himself properly. I need a urine specimen.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a cup, as well as a little square packet. Holding them out, she looked back at Gus. “We need to wake him and you need to get him to void.”

If the kid hadn’t been so damn sick, if the entire situation hadn’t been almost painfully serious, Vaughnne might have laughed at the look on Gus’s face. He stared at the cup like it was about to bite him.

Sighing, Vaughnne said, “If you can’t do this, Gus, I’ll do it. But I suspect it will be easier if it’s his uncle helping him, not some chick he barely knows.”

Gus nodded shortly. “Leave us for a bit.”

Vaughnne met the doctor’s eyes and the doctor inclined her head. “I’ll wait on the patio,” Vaughnne said.

The doctor could cover the hall. If Gus was going to try to escape, it would most likely be this way . . . closest route to the car.

And if he did go through the hall, the doc could send her a message. Vaughnne wasn’t terribly friendly with Grady, but she knew her. Jones had sent one of the doctors from the Bureau. She didn’t practice medicine much, but Grady knew her stuff.

And she carried a weapon, so if Gus tried to intimidate her, he’d be in for a surprise.

Of course, if he pulled the methods he liked to use on her . . .

Stop it, she told herself as she slid out onto the patio. She had to stop it and preferably now.

The last thing she needed to be thinking about was Gus using that damn near overpowering sexuality of his. Especially on another woman.

* * *

IT took a good twenty minutes to get Alex to wake up enough to get him into the bathroom, and by the time they were done, Gus wasn’t sure who was more embarrassed. He’d bet on himself.

If Alex wasn’t so miserably sick, the boy probably would have died from mortification.

It was a shame that when Gus looked in the mirror, he saw a man who was red-faced. A simple fact of life and he couldn’t handle it without feeling like he needed somebody to walk him through it. Consuelo, could I mess this up any more? he wondered as he made sure Alex washed up before they left the bathroom.

They’d have to deal with that embarrassing hygiene thing, too, he realized. Things Consuelo would have handled with grace and calm and ease, and he was all but tongue-tied just trying to figure out how to even approach it.

It took another five minutes to get Alex situated back in the bed. “I’ll bring the doctor back in.” He brushed Alex’s hair back.

Alex’s eyes opened wide and panic flared across his face. “Doctor?”

“Yes.” Sighing, he cupped the boy’s face. “M’hijo, you are sick. She thinks it might be an infection in your . . .” He grimaced. “They call it a UTI. It’s all the parts that lead up to where you make the urine, then empty it out. She thinks there is an infection and they can get serious. Your mother had them a lot as a child.”

It occurred to him, then, perhaps he should have mentioned that to the doctor. Did that run in families? He didn’t know. He wasn’t used to handling sick children. He hadn’t ever been prepared to handle children period.

You must do this . . .

The ghost of that voice danced through his mind and he shoved it out. Bad things to think about when Alex was so ill and likely to be less in control than normal. “You needed a doctor. We have a doctor.”

“But what if—”

There was a knock at the door and the boy went white. So pale and white and scared. Gus’s heart twisted in his chest and he rested a hand on Alex’s shoulder. “It’s okay, m’hijo. I’ll take care of you. You know that.”

He rose and headed to the door.

He was two feet away when the patio door opened.

Vaughnne came inside, sleek, dark, and silent, her eyes moving to linger on the boy. Alex stared at her as she came to kneel by the bed. “You can look in my head again,” she said quietly. “I won’t hide this time.”

The look of shock, shame on the child’s face was another blow to Gus’s heart. He’d put too much pressure on the boy, he knew. But when you were fighting an unwinnable war, fighting to protect a boy, you used whatever weapons you had. Even if the boy was the weapon. “I think we didn’t have you as ready to face things as we thought, Alex,” Gus said quietly. “That is my failing. Not yours. You’re still young.”

“Let the doctor in, Gus,” Vaughnne said softly.

He watched for a moment as she caught Alex’s hand. Then he turned away. He needed to get the boy better. Then he could figure out where to go from here.

* * *

“I gave him an injection. It should help him if it’s a UTI. It was a broad-spectrum antibiotic, so even if it’s not a UTI, it may give some coverage. I’m betting on the UTI, though. I did a finger stick and got enough blood to run a blood count, although I wish I could have talked his guardian into letting me draw enough blood for blood cultures.” Grady sighed, a disgruntled look on her face as she met Vaughnne’s eyes. They stood out on the patio, and through the window, they watched as Gus sat on the bed with the boy. “I’m leaving you some antibiotics, too. If it’s not a UTI, they aren’t going to help much. I’ll run some tests on the urine . . . I’ll have a better idea within a day or so.”

Vaughnne nodded.

“You’ll leave a number?”

“Jones has it.”

“Okay.” Grady nodded, a concerned look on her face. “He needs rest. He’s pretty sick and everything in me tells me that he should be in a hospital, preferably hooked up to an IV for a day or two. He’s getting dehydrated, and if he gets any worse, he’ll have to go into a hospital, Agent MacMeans.” She paused, studying Vaughnne’s face. “Am I understood?”

“Yes.” Rubbing the back of her neck, Vaughnne looked up at the sky. “If I thought it was safe, I’d try to talk them into going now. But I don’t think it is. I can’t risk him, I can’t risk the casualties that might come up if I took him to an unsecured facility. We’ll head north. If he has to go into the hospital for a day or two, I’d rather it be closer to where Jones can provide more protection.”

“Taking him to D.C.?”

Vaughnne snorted. “I don’t think that will go over well, although that might be where he is safest.”

“How much trouble is he in?”

Sliding the doctor a look, she said quietly, “My gut tells me you’re better off to forget you ever saw them. They have that much trouble trailing after them.”

Grady pursed her lips for a moment. Then she nodded and pushed a small plastic bag into Vaughnne’s hands. “I brought the basic meds with me, just in case. An antiemetic in case he starts having issues with nausea, one of the better antibiotics for a UTI. I’m leaving a setup with you to collect another urine specimen in a few days.”

“I don’t know if we will be anywhere to get it tested.”

Grady waved a hand. “I’ll take care of that. But if it’s a UTI, we need to know it’s clearing up. It doesn’t do you any good to keep his neck safe if he ends up with a kidney infection that could kill him, now does it?”

Vaughnne closed her eyes. “Shit.”

“Yes.” The doctor touched her arm. “Head to D.C. Be close to there, if for no other reason than so you can