Rising Storm (4 page)

She made her way to the runs and found Ahmed sitting on the floor of the run with the dog. She couldn't help but smile at his kindness. He had wrapped the dog up in a blanket and rested the dog's big head in his lap. He was quietly talking to him while gently stroking his head.

"How's our patient?" She asked as she listened to his heart.

The dog opened his eyes and looked at her. She felt his body tense, but at Ahmed's quiet words, she felt the dog relax once again.

"I don't know much about dogs, but he's awake. He was cold when he came out of the anesthetic and very scared. Whoever did this deserves a slow and painful death."

She quietly agreed, but was a little worried by his cold and deadly serious tone that if she said it out loud he may actually do it.

"His vitals are improving. I’ll give him another round of pain medication and then see how he's doing in a couple of hours. But, now, I'm going home."

"Let me walk you to the car." Ahmed stood and the dog whimpered. "It's alright Zoticus, I will be back to see you in the morning. This nice lady is going to take care of you tonight." He looked to Bekah and Katelyn almost rolled her eyes at the dreamy grin on Bekah's face.

"Zoticus?" She asked as they walked outside.

"It's Latin for 'full of life.'"

"That is a great name for him. I’ll put it on his chart tomorrow." Katelyn reached her car and tossed in her purse. "I will call you if anything changes."

"Thank you, Doctor. You were amazing tonight. You have a special gift."

Katelyn blushed and was glad for the dark parking lot. She climbed into her car and looked up at him.

"Good night, Ahmed."

"Good night."

*     *     *

Marshall warmed up a slice of leftover pizza and scooped out a bowl of dog food for his vizsla, Bob. The doorbell stopped him from sitting down at the kitchen table. Looking at his watch, he hoped eleven at night was too late for the Belles to be locked out and wanting to be rescued or for them to just be stopping by.

"Jesus, what the hell happened to you?" he asked as he took in the sight of Ahmed covered in blood.

"Hello Marshall. Can I come in?"

"Of course, do I need to call an ambulance?"

"No need. Not my blood."

"In that case, I was just about to eat my… Bob!" His plate was empty and his solid rust colored dog sat in his chair as if it was his. "That was my pizza. How many times do I have to tell you, you're a dog! You eat dog food and you eat it on the floor."

"I don't think your dog believes you."

"I don't either. I’ve only been trying to tell him for the past four years, but he thinks I'm full of shit. I don't know if he's ever actually eaten dog food."

"Your dog frightens me. The way he looks at us, I think he believes he's smarter than us," Ahmed said as Bob rolled his eyes at him and then licked his lips.

"He may be right. So, you going to tell me what's going on?"

"I found a dog near death trying to get onto our property. He had managed to crawl halfway through the fence before getting stuck. I rushed him to Katelyn, I mean, Dr. Jacks. It took her three hours of surgery to stop all the bleeding."

"Wow. What caused it?"

"Dr. Jacks believes the dog was a loser in a professional dog fight. I thought as Sheriff you'd want to know."

"I do. Thank you. I didn't know we had any dog-fighting rings around here. I'll contact the humane societies and some of my cop friends and see what I can find out."

"I'm running an investigation of my own on the farm. If we find any evidence you'll be the first call I make. But, I’ve got to say, Dr. Jacks is something else. I'm glad I saw that stupid Bachelor/Bachelorette list and remembered she was here. I don't think old Doc Truett would’ve been able to save Zoticus."

"Zoticus?"

"That's the name I picked for the dog. Dr. Jacks was so focused during the surgery. She was amazing," Ahmed said with reverence.

"I'm sure she was," he said dryly. That damn list. He didn't want anyone else thinking she was amazing. That was his secret.

Chapter Three

Katelyn's eyes shot open. Grrr. She was too wired about the surgery to fall asleep. She always was when her patients were still in the woods. She rolled over in bed and looked at the clock. Three minutes past three in the morning. All of two minutes had passed since she last looked at the clock.

She kicked the covers off and found a new pair of scrubs. She slid her feet into a pair of sneakers and put her long straight hair into a ponytail without looking in the mirror. She walked quietly down the hall then down the old squeaky steps. If she couldn't sleep, she might as well check on Zoticus instead.

The drive to the clinic was a short one. She loved seeing the small building all lit up, even in the middle of the night. She had made the right choice in hiring Rebekah on as night staff. She just felt better having someone there with the animals. She parked near the front door. Bekah's car was parked around the building in the staff parking lot, but there were no lights back there and Katelyn had learned the hard way to use the front door. She had tripped over a root and fallen into a tree. She felt brilliant for that.

She opened her car door and headed past the dog walk area towards the front door. She unlocked the front door and unarmed the alarm.

"Bekah! It's just me," she yelled as she made her way through the waiting room.

"Back at the cages," she heard Bekah yell.

Katelyn made her way through the exam room and the area behind them to the cages and runs.

"How's our boy doing?"

"He's doing pretty well. Mr. Ahmed called already to check on him. His color is doing well and he's perking up more. He's very scared and subsequently somewhat aggressive."

Katelyn looked in at the dog and was relieved to see him so alert. By the way his eyes were darting around she could tell he was scared and unsure of his environment. She went over to the dog food bins and pulled out a handful of food.

She kept her hand closed and slightly outstretched as she confidently approached the cage. In low, soft tones, she talked to the dog and presented her hand to the wire separating them. The dog raised his head and sniffed the air, never taking his eyes off of her. She reached over and unlatched the run and stepped inside. The dog continued to eye her and tense in fear as she approached, but didn't make any other moves. She bent down and paused, allowing the dog to get accustomed to her.

She took a kibble of food and rolled it over to him. The dog's tongue greedily shot out and ate it. She rolled another kibble of food and watched it vanish. She came closer and repeated the process until he was scarfing food out of the palm of her hand. He was now relaxed and the excitement of meeting someone new was obviously wearing on him. She did a quick exam and, happy with the results, pulled the blanket back over him and let him go to sleep after giving him a quick rub behind his ears.

"He looks good. I'm surprised. I thought he wouldn't make it."

"He sure likes you. I wonder how long it has been since he ate."

"I think he ate just enough to live on. It's clear whoever owned him wasn’t bulking him up. But the way his ribs are sticking out says he hasn't eaten recently. Well, now that I know he's doing well, I'm going to try to get a couple of hours of sleep."

Katelyn said goodnight and headed toward the front door. She made sure to set the alarm and lock the door. She was halfway to her car when she sensed movement. She froze and looked around.

A shadow leapt from the tree in the dog walk area, hitting her hard in the stomach. She felt her breath being forced from her lungs as she fell backwards. She landed on her back in the grass and felt her body reverberate before pain shot through her head as it crashed into the ground.

Katelyn was dizzy and couldn't focus on the people lying on top of her. She squinted and the two people became one man with a black mask. Fear shot through her as her heart stopped. What was she supposed to do? She had taken a self-defense class, but she couldn't remember a single thing right now but to scream.

Katelyn grunted and gasped as the heavy man shifted to straddle her. His arm pushed her shoulder into the ground that was wet with dew. She opened her mouth and tried to find the breath to scream, but a cold, leather-gloved hand came down over her mouth. Her nostrils flared as she tried to get some air into her lungs. Her chest burned, her head swam, and she felt as if she was suffocating.

The glint of steel caught her attention as he waved a wide hunting knife in front of her face.

"What's the code? What's the fucking code?" He growled.

Katelyn's eyes went wide and she couldn't understand what he wanted. She shook her head and looked into the black mask.

"For the clinic you dumb bitch. You got Ketamine in there?"

"What?"

"Ketamine? I'm sure you do. Probably some codeine too. Now, you're going to get up, unlock the door and turn off the alarm. Then you're going to unlock the medicine cabinet for me. If you do all that, then I'll let you live. Nod if you understand."

Katelyn nodded and let go of the death grip she had on his arm. Her eyes darted toward the door to make sure Bekah wasn't in view. What would this guy do when he realized there was someone else in the clinic? As she looked toward the door a metallic shine caught her eye.

"Yeah, I have Ketamine, but not very much. What else were you looking for?"

Katelyn stretched her arm slowly toward the object. Her middle finger felt its cold strength as she wrapped one finger after another around it.

"Codeine, and I bet you have some steroids too."

She nodded as her hand closed around it and she prayed it would be enough. As the man started to stand up she swung the pooper-scooper as hard as she could. The pooper-scooper cut through the air, landing hard against the side of his face.

"Shit!" He cursed as he stumbled backward, falling onto the ceramic fire hydrant in the dog walk area.

"No kidding," she mumbled as she jumped up and ran for the front door. She scooped up her keys that had gone flying when she was tackled and plunged them into the lock.

"Dr. Jacks?" Bekah called from the back.

"We're being robbed!"

"Not while I'm here." Bekah came through the door with a .38 caliber revolver drawn.

"Where did that come from?"

Bekah turned off the alarm and then rearmed it before going to the window. "I work nights. Of course I have a gun! I don't see anyone."

Katelyn inched her way to the window and looked out. She scanned the tree line and didn't see the man who attacked her or any shadows lurking behind trees.

"You want me to call the Sheriff?" Bekah asked as she reached for the phone.

Katelyn lunged, shoving her body between Bekah and the phone.

"No! We don't want to disturb them. Unfortunately, this thing happens to vet clinics. Drug addicts think we're an easy mark. It's why we have the alarm. Besides, he's gone now and he had a mask on. I couldn't tell them anything except that he had a barbwire tattoo around the lower part of his neck. Something I'm sure is common in the drug world."

"True. My boyfriend has one around his arm and he's not even a drug dealer. Well, I’ll stay at the door and watch you get to your car. I'll call if there are any more problems."

"Thanks Bekah. Good night."

*     *     *

Marshall picked up his pace. She was right behind him and closing in for the kill. The door was getting closer, just a couple more steps. He picked up his black boots and dove through the door to the Blossom Café just before Nancy could catch up to him.

"Afternoon, Sheriff. You want some lunch to go with your gossip?" Miss Daisy asked as she set a glass of lemonade down in front of Shelly Duffy.

"You know I don't gossip," he said as he took a seat at what had become known as his table.

He also knew that was a big fat fib. Half of his job was listening to gossip and calming situations before something could come of it. Just the other week he prevented the theft of old man Tabby's champion pig. The seniors thought it would be funny to steal the pig and let it loose in the school as the teachers were getting their final grades in.

"Humph." Miss Daisy set a glass of water down on the table and turned back to Shelly. "Do you think they're dating?"

"I don't think so. I mean, he was there because of his dog," Shelly shrugged before taking a sip of her drink.

"I heard he was there with her until late at night, like Jay Leno late. That's not being there just because of some dog he just found," Pam Gilbert said before taking a bite of her salad.

"I heard he was there late too. And when he heard she was attacked, he vowed to protect her…personally," Miss Violet called out from the kitchen.

"Ahmed could protect me personally any day of the week and twice on Fridays," Shelly sighed dreamily.

"I hear that. They'd make one handsome couple, our Katelyn and Ahmed," Miss Daisy said as she put a hot brown sandwich down in front of Shelly.

"What!" Marshall almost bolted out of his seat.

He didn't know which to be more upset about, Katelyn being attacked last night and not calling him or the fact she was now dating Ahmed. Either way it now gave him a good excuse to go over and see her and find out how much of the truth was mixed in the hearty helping of gossip he just got served.

Katelyn slammed her fingers down on the keyboard as she filled out her doctor's notes on the aptly named twenty-three pound cat, Mr. Tubs. Shelly had just gotten back from lunch and told her the café was abuzz with the gossip that she and Ahmed were dating. Okay, if she were being honest, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

Of course, since she knew Shelly so well, Katelyn was pretty sure she helped the gossip along. But, what really got to her was what Shelly had said about Marshall's reaction. She also informed her that Marshall would probably be here in the next ten minutes. She didn't want to have to explain anything to Marshall and she didn't want to listen to a lecture about Ahmed or the attempted burglary. She was sore, she was tired, and dammit, she wasn't going to take it anymore.