CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The young woman was pronounced dead by the time they entered the hospital. Officially, it was an overdose of an opioid, but the VG team knew it was much more than that. They had a name, and they were going to find the doctor who wrote the prescription.

"Let's see if we can talk to the pharmacist," said Garr. "If he's prescribing this shit without it being approved or legal, we can shut him down."

Following the directions for the address on the bottle, they found themselves parked in the middle of Huntley Meadows Park. A rural park of trees, trails, and picnic spots, there was no pharmacy to be found.

"It's all a front to make it look as though they were legal drugs," said Gator. "This shit is real. That woman is dead because of this, and her two friends aren't far behind her."

"What about the prescribing doctor? Do we have an address for him?" asked Alistair.

"Yep, but I'm going to bet my next steak it will be another park or vacant lot," said Kev.

They drove the short distance to the address near Mount Vernon and were surprised to find an actual practice inside a small federal-style building.

"Dr. Karesh Samuels," frowned Alistair.

"Let's see if the doctor is in," grinned Garr.

Inside the office, there was one person in the waiting area and a receptionist who seemed surprised to see the men. Alistair sat down, gripping his stomach, and Garr went to the woman.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yeah, sorry to just walk in, but my friend is experiencing a lot of abdominal pain. We're just visiting and saw your sign and took a chance. Any way the doctor could see him?"

"I'm sure we can fit him in. Please fill this out," she said, handing him a clipboard. Garr filled the information out with a fake name and information and handed it back to her.

"Here you go."

"Sir, what insurance do you have?" she asked.

"Oh, we'll be paying cash for whatever is needed. No insurance." She nodded, smiling at him. When Alistair was called back under the name Austin Sexman, he practically growled at Garr.

"Next time, fill out your own damn paperwork," he grinned. Matt went back with them while the others waited in the waiting room.

"Mr. Sexman? What seems to be the problem?"

"He ate too damn much last night," said Matt. "Two big ribeyes and three baked potatoes. We've told him he needs to lose weight."

"That's a lot of red meat for one man," smiled the doctor. "You do look as though you could lose a little weight, although you seem in good shape."

"I try. They're just jealous," said Alistair with a half-moan.

"Please lay back," said the doctor.

He pressed on Alistair's abdomen, listened to his heart, chest, and lungs, and then leaned him on his side, pushing on his back. Alistair knew exactly what he was doing, so he obliged. The release of one long expulsion of gas.

"Dude! Really?" frowned Matt.

"It's alright," smiled the doctor. "It's perfectly natural. He just had a trapped gas bubble."

"You're going on a diet," said Garr.

"Diets don't work for me," said Alistair. "They never have."

"If you'd like something to help your diet along, I have a new drug that's been extremely successful," he grinned.

"I don't know. I don't like to take medications."

"This is different," said the doctor. "One tablet a day to start, and I guarantee you'll lose twenty to thirty pounds in the first two months."

"Wow! Seriously?" The doctor nodded, writing something on a notepad. "Oh, we're not from here, so our pharmacy back home might not have it."

"Oh, no problem. I'm just writing it for our records. My receptionist has it locked in a cabinet. I'll provide it for you, and when you need more, just return here. It is expensive. Nine hundred dollars a bottle and not covered by insurance."

"Well, if it works, it's worth it," said Alistair. They thanked the doctor and got their bottle of pills from the receptionist leaving the office. Alistair looked at the others as they got into the car.

"We need to get this back to Suzette and the others. We may have just found our chemist."