“Uh, not today.” Kate mumbled as she fought to look away from the scene.
Milo ushered her into another room where she saw David lying in an alcove similar to the one she’d woken up in. Kate ran to him. She knelt at his bedside and examined him quickly. He was awake, but listless. Antibiotics. He needed more to fight the infection. Unchecked, it would kill him for sure, assuming the septic shock from the bullet in his chest didn’t get him first. She would have to deal with the bullet sooner or later.
First things first. She had left the antibiotics on the train. “Left” when she was abducted. Or rescued? There were so many mysteries at this point.
“Milo, I need some medications, antibiotics—”
The young man motioned her over to a table like the one he’d served her breakfast porridge from. “We assumed as much, Dr. Warner. I have prepared a series of remedies for your use.” He waved a hand over several piles of dirt-ridden roots, a pile of orange powder, and a bundle of mushrooms. He smiled and cocked his head, as if to say pretty great, huh?
Kate put her hands on her sides. “Milo, these are, um, very helpful, thank you, but I um… I’m afraid his condition is seve—, will require some medi—”
Milo stepped back, grinned like a Cheshire cat, and pointed at her. “Ahhh, I get you good, Dr. Warner!” He threw open the doors to a floor-to-ceiling wooden cabinet, revealing a bounty of modern medical supplies.
Kate rushed to the cupboard, scanning it row by row. They had a bit of everything: antibiotics, painkillers, anti-fungals, bandages. Where to start? Kate shook her head and smiled warmly at Milo as she sorted through the antibiotics. “Yes, you got me good, Milo.” She read a few labels. Definitely made in Europe, possibly Canada. Some were out of date, but she found some she could use. “Your English is excellent. Where did you learn it?”
“Rosetta Stone.”
Kate glanced over at him skeptically.
Milo’s grin faded as he grew serious. He gazed out the window at the valley below. “They found it in a cave at the base of this mountain. For thirty days and thirty nights, a hundred monks hauled the rocks away, until all that was left was a small passageway. They sent me in — I was the only one who would fit. There, deep in the cave, a yellow light shone down on a stone table, and I found the tablet there. I carried it out that night and earned my robe.” He exhaled deeply when his story was finished.
Kate stood there, holding the antibiotics, not sure what to say.
Milo sprang around to face her, pointing. “Ahh, I get you again, Dr. Warner!” He leaned back in a full body laugh, like an American teenager who’d just pulled a prank they thought was hilarious.
Kate shook her head as she returned to David’s bedside. “Well you’re quite full of yourself, aren’t you?” She popped the top off a bottle of antibiotics.
“Milo is full of life, Dr. Warner, and I am happy to entertain guests.”
Guests? Clearly Milo saw this as an opportunity to make a new friend. Kate smiled at him. “Call me Kate.”
“Yes, of course I will, Dr. Kate.”
“So really, how’d you learn English out here?”
“Rosetta Stone—”
Kate eyed him playfully, but the young man just nodded. “It’s true. I received it in the mail, from an anonymous benefactor — very, very mysterious. And very fortunate for Milo. We don’t get too many visitors. And when they say you speak English, it has to be Milo, no one else speaks English, not as well as Milo. I learned for fun, but look at my luck!”
Kate grabbed a cup of water from the table and helped David wash down a few antibiotic pills. She had selected the broad spectrum antibiotic, and she hoped it would do the job. IV antibiotics in a hospital setting would be ideal. She fed him a large pain pill as well. When he came out of the delirium, the pain would be real, and she wanted to get ahead of it.
What to do next? A thought occurred to her. Rosetta Stone. “Milo, you have a computer?”
“Of course; that’s how we found you.” He raised his eyebrows conspiratorially. “Cryptic email.”
Kate stood. “Email? Can I use—”
Milo bowed. “No, I’m sorry, Dr. Kate. Qian wants to see you. He says as soon as you give the medicine to Mr. Reed, I must bring you to him. He is a very serious man, not funny like Milo. He says he has something to give you.”
CHAPTER 68
Main Auditorium
Indo-Immari Corporate Office
New Delhi, India