Chapter 9
Louise woke up with a start. She lay still, figuring out what noise she had heard. It sounded like an air-conditioning system on steroids. She sat up and groaned. Her body ached in places she hadn’t felt in a long time, and she realized she was sleeping in her office.
Almost immediately all the memories of the previous night came flooding back. She stood up and slowly walked to the bathroom to wash her face. With that done, she stepped out to face whatever nightmare was going on in the remains of her clinic. She was pleasantly surprised to find Ice standing not very far away from her door and issuing orders. She was yelling over the blowers of some kind of an air-recirculating system. Louise stared at the large machines and shook her head, then sidled up to Ice and said, “What the heck is that?”
Ice gave a start, not realizing Louise had come out of her office. Then Ice smiled and said, “To clean out the air.”
“Oh, good. What time is it?” Louise asked, brushing her hair off her forehead. “I must have slept hard. I still feel groggy.” Avoiding the big machines, she stepped out to the front of the clinic with Ice at her side.
“At least out here we can talk,” Ice said with a laugh.
Louise looked around, delighted to see the deputies were gone and no crime scene tape or anything else filled the early morning light. “So once these machines are gone, the clinic can operate again?”
Ice nodded. “There wasn’t much left in the way of gas particles. They do dissipate fairly quickly, but this is just to make sure everybody’s good. We don’t want anything to hurt the animals.”
Louise smiled. “It’s nice to know you guys are animal lovers too.”
“All of us are,” Ice admitted. “Bringing in those puppies was a bad idea.”
Louise chuckled. “Right. I’m sure you guys are keeping two at least.”
Ice shook her head. “Levi’s pretty resistant to the idea,” she admitted. “Not because he doesn’t love puppies, but he figures it’ll be nothing but trouble with everybody there. We don’t want the dogs playing favorites.”
“They will play favorites, and they will bond with whoever loves them. … They’ll probably end up being closest to Alfred. He’ll be the one in charge of food.”
“Which also means Bailey,” Ice said. “And she’s already a big softie.”
“I think you all are, in your own way,” Louise said, following Ice outside to the parking lot. “Any update on the rest of this mess?”
Then she realized Levi’s men and more deputies plus policemen swarmed the main road. She stopped and stared. “What happened here?”
In a sober voice Ice quickly brought Louise up to speed.
Louise shook her head. “Oh, my God, both the prisoners and the deputies?”
“The two deputies are alive, but one’s in bad shape. We are not sure if he’ll pull through. He’s in surgery right now. The other one is in the emergency room. He took a hit high on his shoulder and one to the chest that missed his vitals. Another one grazed his ribs and did some damage, but he’ll live.”
“And the two intruders?” Louise asked. But inside she knew. They’d been the targets in the first place.
Ice shook her head. “They’re both dead. On the other hand, Levi and Rory caught the two shooters.”
Louise stared at her in shock. “How did I sleep through all this?”
“It’s a good thing you did,” Ice said with a laugh. “We had quite some chaos for a while. We’ve got the two shooters. Our guys are taking them straight to lockup. They have an armed police escort. Once you start shooting cops, everybody gets in on the act.”
Louise shook her head. “I tried to warn the intruders, and they just glared at me.”
“These types know what they are doing when they get into the drug business,” Ice said quietly. “That’s small comfort for their families, I know. But how do you put the fear of God into a criminal by telling him that his life will end in disaster when he already knows it? They almost become fatalistic about it. It’s as if they don’t see any other way.”
That made some sense to Louise under those circumstances, but it was still very sad. She deliberately turned her back on all the chaos. “I suppose now the authorities will be working there all day?”
“Possibly. It doesn’t necessarily stop access to the clinic. Your customers will know there was a shooting, but nobody will understand what it was about.”
“Well, they will eventually. But hopefully by then, everything here will be back to normal.” She walked around to see the broken window was boarded up. The curtains could be closed inside to hide that. The rest of the building looked to be normal. Some of the ground was churned up a bit, but it looked fairly decent.
As they stood outside talking, the men with the big equipment inside started to pull out. As they loaded up the industrial fans, they came over to Ice and said, “It looks good in there. Readings are within normal range now.”
The two women walked back inside with Louise smelling the air and smiling. “It smells fresh now.”
“Not bad, huh?”
Louise checked her watch. It was almost seven. “My staff will be here in half an hour.” She shook her head. “On top of that, I didn’t check on the animals. So much chaos and then I just crashed. I have to go deal with them now.” She stopped and looked at the coffeepot and then turned back to Ice and said, “I don’t suppose you know how to make a pot of coffee?”
Ice shooed her away and said, “I’ve got it covered.”
Just then the cleaners arrived. Louise told them what to focus on; then she walked to where the animals were. The air in there smelled fine. She was grateful. The last thing she wanted was any of the animals to have any lingering symptoms from the tear gas. She did have eye drops if needed. As she checked each of the animals over, she took care to inspect their eyes. For a couple of them, she added drops just because they looked dry and sore. By the time she was done, it was almost eight o’clock.
She was no longer alone in the back. Nancy showed up and so did Alice, one of the girls who came in on Fridays to clean the cages. After giving Alice instructions for the day, Louise headed to the front with Nancy.
“How busy a day is it?”
“Full,” Nancy replied. “You’ll be here until three, then house calls.”
It couldn’t be helped. She picked up a stack of files. Before going into her office, she walked to the front door and stepped out. Ice sat in her car, talking on the phone with a laptop on her knees. Shifting the files into her other hand, Louise rapped on the window. Ice closed off the phone call, opened the window and said, “I’m not leaving. I’m just here for a while until we can get somebody else in.”
“Do you think we need somebody here all day?” Louise asked, nodding toward the organized chaos on the road. “Surely no one will try again with that police presence.”
“Someone will be here until we get to the bottom of this. Logan is returning to work on the security system as well.”
“And Rory? Is he okay?”
Ice nodded. “He’s at the police station right now. Then he needs to crash for a few hours. He’ll return, probably in the early afternoon.”
With a smile Louise headed inside to get started on her day. It would be a long one. Her stomach growled. She checked her desk drawers for any granola bars. She found a packet of peanuts from some ancient time. Still, it was food. She popped them down as she went through the folders. Before she had gotten through the first two, the buzzer rang.
Her day had started. She grabbed the first folder and headed off to the waiting room.
There she called out for Mrs. Robinson to bring in her Pekinese. Little Charlie had had his leg amputated over a year ago, but the stump kept giving him trouble. It was another reason why Louise was looking at doing prosthetics for animals. There was such a need, and so few facilities or veterinarians were available to effectively treat these animals. Charlie kept using his stump to move forward in life, and what he really needed was at least a wooden peg to keep him going. She’d looked into getting prosthetics elsewhere and shipping them, but the fitting process itself took time. Still, Charlie would be a good test subject.
As she gave him a thorough examination, his owner looked up and said, “Can we do the metal leg prosthetic like you were suggesting?”
“Possibly. I’m working on some adjustments in the clinic here, so I can start creating some simple ones. We will have to get forms made, have the prosthetics made up and brought back. But I think it’s doable.”
She bandaged Charlie’s stump, put a rubber stopper over the end to give him a little bit more protection and sent him on his way. That was just the start of her day. By the time she’d worked through the morning patients and checked in on the dog she’d found on the road, and happy to see his progress, she returned to her desk at noon. That’s when she considered her absolute lack of food here.
At times some of the women had lunches left. And how sad was that when the doctor herself didn’t have food. But it seemed like regular meals weren’t much of a habit with her. As she walked into the staff room to see if any leftovers remained in the fridge, she heard a familiar male voice out in the waiting room. It was Rory.
“Does she have time to see me?”
Louise stepped into the doorway and said, “Hi, Rory. How are you doing?”
He flashed her a bright smile, holding a box of something.
She could smell it coming as he approached. She rolled her eyes at him but led him back to her office. He stepped through, and she closed the door behind him. “I sure hope that’s Chinese food because I’m starved.”
“I figured you didn’t have any breakfast, and you probably didn’t have any lunch. I was taking a chance you weren’t going out though, and I’d miss you completely.”
“I haven’t had a chance to go anywhere.” She turned toward him, happy to see no aftereffects from the tear gas. “I hear you had an exciting morning while I slept,” she said drily.
“I did indeed. At least you got some sleep, and now, after four hours downtime, I have too. So let’s sit down and eat. I can bring you up to speed on everything that’s happened.” She cleared off a space on her desk, and he handed her a couple take-out boxes.
He looked over and said, “Do you have any plates? I never thought to bring any. If you don’t, that’s fine. We can just eat from the containers.”
She didn’t want to take the time to check the back room. So, with two forks, they just split everything half and half, and plowed their way through.
By the time her first wave of hunger was appeased, she sat back with a happy sigh and said, “You were just in time. I was about to beg the ladies for any spare lunch they wouldn’t mind sharing.”
He grinned and said, “Not to worry. I’ve got your back.”
*
Rory shifted ever-so-slightly in the chair. He’d only woken up less than an hour ago, and he’d bolted over with a quick detour to pick up food. When he arrived, he was afraid he was too late, and maybe she’d already gone out. While they worked their way through chicken chop suey, he brought her up to date. “The men are in isolation at the moment in the local jail. They’re being treated as top security, in case somebody else comes along to take them out.”
“But of course they’re not talking yet, correct?”
He nodded. “They’re smug, thinking they’re at the top of the food chain. Of course they’re not, but they haven’t quite realized that yet.”
“Nobody at the top of the food chain does the actual killing,” she scoffed. “They hire it out.” She took another bite. “Did they kill the first two men at the clinic?”
He shrugged. “We’re not sure yet. But it’s possible.”
“Possible but not necessarily so. This is just a gang, right? Or a drug cartel of some kind?”
“Something like that. If it’s a cartel, it’s a pretty small arm of it. What we need to do is get to the manufacturing side behind all this. Take all the drugs off the street and put the business people operating all this behind bars.”
“At this rate, they’ll take out their own people and then move back across the border.”
“If they came from across the border. Being here near Houston, we tend to make that assumption, but it’s not necessarily true. The US drug trade is alive and well. Plus manufacturing is more viable here in the States as there’s no risk crossing any border.”
“It’s a sad state of affairs,” she said. She stole a large piece of meat off one of the other dishes. “This is excellent Chinese food. Thank you. I was hoping for a sandwich at the most, but this is way better.”
He chuckled. “At least it’s hot, and it’s freshly cooked. And it does get some vegetables in you.”
They ate in silence for a long moment as each contemplated the crazy night they’d had.
“So what’s next?” she asked.
“First, we finish lunch. Then I’ll help Logan complete the security system.”
“Can you finish it today? Will it be safe to leave the animals in the clinic overnight without a guard inside?”
“It will be as much as anyplace,” he said cheerfully. “The cops need to talk to these gunmen and see what they have to say. And somebody needs to let their boss man know the sheriff has their drugs. Otherwise this won’t stop until they’ve torched the place.”
Her face paled as if it was the first time she’d contemplated such an option. Then she swallowed hard and sat back. “I guess that would be an easy answer for them, wouldn’t it? If they can’t have the drugs, then they destroy the place, and nobody else gets their drugs.”
He was sorry he had brought it up, but he had never been one to put his head in the sand. The reality was, she was up against some pretty shitty people. It was just her bad luck she’d ended up in this situation, but it was still the reality she had to deal with, and there was no getting away from that. “We’re hoping the men have a lawyer called in. Then some information can be passed to the lawyer. Maybe they’ll have an idea of a way forward.”
“Are you saying you actually trust lawyers?” she asked in surprise.
He shook his head. “They’re not all bad. In this case, we won’t make a deal. However, if they find out the drugs are in custody during the interrogation, that’ll filter back to the boss man. Once they know that, they should leave your clinic alone.”
“That makes sense.”
He glanced at his watch and said, “They should be interrogating them right now. What we have to do is make sure they stay alive long enough to talk. If these guys die, then we’ve lost our last-known connection to the group.”
“How many men could they possibly have? They’ve already killed five of their underlings. Plus Flynn got two of them that they would have shot themselves anyway. So seven died just this week.”
“They’ve got hundreds if they need them. Any number of men are ready to do the job for the right price.”
She sank back into her big comfy chair and continued to eat.
He was glad to see her eating this much. Normally she ate so little. Especially compared to the women at the compound, all who had appetites that rivaled each of the men. Still, Louise needed adequate fuel to keep functioning on the physical level she needed every day with her career. She wasn’t super slim but was larger and taller than several of the women he knew from the compound. Her size had to be an advantage when dealing with large animals. “How was your morning?”
She gave him a droll look. “I woke up to Ice yelling instructions over the top of some big filters and fans.”
He grinned. “Not exactly the most peaceful of awakenings.”
She shook her head. “But I certainly appreciated it. It made a huge difference in the smell of the air, and, once the policemen and the sheriff’s deputies left the parking lot, it was business as usual here. There has been lots of questions about what’s going on outside, but nobody seems to be too bothered about it as long as it’s not happening here.”
He nodded. “That will be the way of it. Once it hits the news, there might be more questions but just don’t make a big deal out of it and keep moving forward.”
She nodded. “That’s the plan. I have a full schedule all afternoon, and then, at three, I have to head out to a couple house calls.”
He winced. “Well, tag one of us at the time because you’re not leaving here alone.”
She nodded. “Don’t worry. I have no plans to be a lone ranger here. I’m just trying to take care of my own business and look after the animals.”
He nodded and finished his last few bites. “I have to give Logan a hand.” He tilted his head at the leftovers and said, “Keep them close. You will need them in a little bit.”
“I’ve eaten a ton already,” she protested.
“Maybe but, when you’ve had very little sleep, you’ll find you need more carbs to keep going.”
They cleaned up the mess, and he walked to the door. “Remember, no leaving this place without somebody with you.”
She nodded. “Heard and understood.”
He gave her a bright smile and walked out to find Logan waiting for him. The smirk on Logan’s face had Rory’s back up. “What?”
Logan shrugged. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
But obviously there was something. He glanced back to see Louise taking the side door out of her office. “Whatever. Let’s get at it.”
“Absolutely.”
He spent the next several hours testing out the security system with Logan. Stone was running the command center at home. By the time four o’clock rolled around, Rory thought he had the place in pretty decent shape. Louise was supposed to leave at three for her house calls. He turned to look and saw her vehicle was gone.
Of course it was; he’d driven her in. Yet he hadn’t seen her in a couple hours. Was she still here? Suspicion set in. “Is she here?”
Logan turned from wires giving him trouble and said, “Who are you talking about?”
“Louise? I’m afraid she’s taken off.”
“Why would she do that?” Logan frowned, his gaze scanning the area.
“House calls,” he said with a clipped tone. “She was supposed to wait for me.”
“Do you know that she’s left? Maybe she’s still here. I didn’t see her leave.”
“She’s gone. I can feel it.”
“I don’t know anything about it. Maybe she went alone.” Logan grinned. “And did you consider what it means to feel she’s gone?”
Rory slowly straightened, as if understanding the words. Then he gave a hard shake of his head, not wanting to go there. “She better not have left. I told her not to, and she agreed not to,” he said. “But …” He pulled out his phone and called her. When she didn’t answer, he frowned and found Nancy still manning the front desk. “Have you seen Louise?”
Nancy looked up and smiled. “Yes. She had to go out on an urgent house call.”
“Do you know where she was going?”
With a couple of clicks Nancy looked up the address, wrote it down on a piece of paper and handed it to him.
“Did she go alone?” he asked, dread forming a ball in his stomach.
“I would imagine so. She always does.” Nancy stared at him. “Why wouldn’t she?”
He shook his head and smiled. “We were talking about going together.”
Her face cleared. “The rancher showed up, saying they needed her early, asking if she could come now. Just one patient was left for her to see, so I shuffled that one over to the other doctor, and she ran out.”
“Did she leave the front way?” He hadn’t seen her drive away, but he’d also been busy inside. Had she gone on her own or with the rancher?
“I think so.”
As he walked back outside, he stopped by Logan and said, “I drove last night. She didn’t have her truck here. According to Nancy, Louise left to go to this address.”
Logan slowly straightened and said, “Then she must have gone with somebody from our group.”
Rory already had his phone out, calling Ice. She didn’t answer, but Levi did.
“What’s up?”
“Any idea where Louise is?”
There was silence on the other end. “I thought that was your job. Are you telling me that you’ve lost her?”
“She was supposed to let me know when she was leaving for a house call to one of the local ranchers. But she didn’t. I noticed she wasn’t around and talked to Nancy. She said Louise left after the owner of a ranch said she was needed early. The thing is, I drove her here last night. Did one of you bring her vehicle in? If not, I need to find out how she left. With a client or on her own?”
Levi paused and then said, “Are you thinking she was taken?”
“Well, I admit there’s been easily twenty or thirty people here today. I have been working inside, but so has she. I thought she was here for sure. I expected her to call me or to find me and to let me know she had to leave because we were going together. I’ll check in with the receptionist again but didn’t want to raise any alarms so called you first.”
“Well then, that should be your answer. She either left on her own, which I doubt since she didn’t have her own wheels, or she left with somebody she trusted or she left under duress. Did you get a security feed up yet? Any sign of something happening around the parking lot? Start there. I will get Stone on the satellite.”
Levi hung up, leaving Rory staring at Logan. “It’s not one of us,” he said tersely. “I’ll talk to Nancy further and see who might have been here.” He raced inside to find Nancy.
“Oh, I gave her my car. She told me about the break-in and being dropped off. She wasn’t expecting to be long.” She glanced at her watch and said, “She has another forty-five minutes, and then I was planning on leaving. I’m here till five normally, but I didn’t get much lunch so I was hoping to leave a quarter to five.”
Inside something settled. He realized he didn’t need to panic. Maybe she was fine. He sent Levi a quick text. When he was done, he said, “I’ll run there to make sure she’s okay. To make sure we get your car back in time.” Smiling away, he turned and walked out, updating Logan.
Yet inside, he wanted answers from Louise, and he wanted them now.