Wilde Chase (11 page)

The tallest of her
attackers had kept the knife pressed to her side the entire walk to the clinic.
She’d tried to go slowly, exaggerating the injuries she’d gotten when she’d
been tackled. The tactic had worked, but it had come with a price. Kelly was
bleeding from a handful of cuts where he’d used the knife to prod her into
moving faster. There wasn’t anything she could do about them, except use her
hand to apply pressure and try to slow the bleeding. The cuts were shallow
enough they’d heal quickly, but only if she survived the night. Right now she
wasn’t sure that was going to happen.

If she ever saw
Ben again, she owed him another apology.

The would-be
thieves hadn’t let her near the alarm panel. Instead, Scarface had demanded
that she give him the code and he’d entered it himself. Kelly could see the red
button that would have summoned immediate help, but there was no way she could
reach it.

Her frustration
grew when she tried to collect the keys to the drug locker from the front desk
drawer where they were kept. There was another panic alarm wired to the
underside of the desk. Again Scarface had interfered, demanding she tell him
where the keys were, while his companion kept a firm grip on her arm. They were
definitely going to be making more changes to the security system. What good
was a panic button you couldn’t get to?

Scarface snagged
the keys and headed toward the back of the clinic, leaving the other two to
follow with Kelly. The taller one kept touching her and it was making her skin
crawl. When he palmed her ass and squeezed hard enough to leave bruises, Kelly
bit back a whimper and stepped away from him, intentionally moving closer to
the quietest of the three. So far, he hadn’t hurt her or said anything unkind.

“We’re supposed to
be stealing drugs, not getting your sorry ass laid,” the quiet one grumbled and
Kelly breathed a near silent sigh of relief.

“Who says we can’t
do both?”

“Nuh uh,” her
would-be savior shook his head. “I’m here to score the drugs and get gone. With
what we can sell this shit for, you can buy yourself a bunch of horny bitches
to fuck. Just leave her alone.”

“Both of you shut
the fuck up. Bad enough she’s seen our faces, you want to tell her the address
we’re stayin’ at too?
Fucking morons.
Doc, which one
of these cabinets is the good stuff in?” Scarface pointed to several unmarked metal
lockers, all of them padlocked shut.

“That one,” she
said and nodded toward the locker where they kept the controlled medications.
There wasn’t any point in trying to stall them any longer. Kelly knew her best
chance of making it through this nightmare was to give them what they wanted
and hope they took it and left.

“Good girl,”
Scarface nodded and walked over to the cabinet, trying each key until he found
the right one for the lock. He tugged the locker door open and swore under his
breath as he spotted the contents. “We hit the fuckin’ jackpot.”

All three men
swarmed around the newly opened locker, pawing through the canisters of pills
and powders. They were whooping and cheering as they started stacking the meds
haphazardly on the floor at their feet. With all their attention on the drugs,
Kelly edged slowly back toward the door. It was time to make a break for it.

Hoping they would
be distracted long enough for her to get away, she slid along the wall until
her fingers closed around the door frame. She gripped it tight and launched
herself down the hall, not daring to look back.

Please let them
care more about the drugs than stopping me, she prayed silently. Kelly only got
a few steps before she had to bite back a scream of shock as a large figure
stepped in front of her, blocking her escape. With nothing to lose, Kelly
dropped her head and charged into the new arrival, hoping to knock them back
far enough she could somehow get by.

She lowered her
shoulder a split second before impact, driving it into the figure’s midsection.
She was rewarded with a loud grunt of pain as she made contact.

“Kelly!” Her new
attacker wheezed her name as she struggled to get past him in the narrow hall.
Shit. How did they know who she was? Adrenaline surged through her veins and
made it hard to think clearly. Finally she lifted her head and found herself
staring up at Ben.

Oops. He’d come
after her and she’d attacked him.

“You okay, baby?”
he murmured and Kelly felt herself nodding wildly as she gestured back down the
hall.

“There are three
of them. Let’s get out of here,” she hissed. Before she could say anything
else, a string of curses filled the air.

“Goddammit, you
asswipes were supposed to be watching her! Go get the stupid bitch before she
calls the cops!”

Ben’s arm swept
out, pushing her behind him, and he pulled something out from beneath his
jacket and aimed it down the hallway Kelly had just run down. He was armed. “The
cops are already here. Come out of there, hands where I can see them!”

“Fuck!” More
cursing followed and Kelly spotted Scarface peering around the doorway.

“You’re not a
cop!” he challenged as he spied Ben.

“I’m pointing a
gun at your head and you’re going to argue about if I’m a cop or not? I’ll show
you my badge just as soon as you three get out here. Move your asses.
Now!”
 
Ben barked the
last word with enough authority Kelly saw Scarface flinch just before his nasty
little face disappeared from view. After that, everything seemed to happen at
once.

Instead of obeying
Ben, all three of her attackers piled into the hallway at once and charged. Two
of them were armed with wicked-looking knives, one of them already stained with
her blood. They only made it a few steps before another body entered the fray.

A hundred pounds
of fur and fury hurtled past her and Ben with a savage growl, followed by a
cacophony of barks that deafened everyone. Chase launched himself at his first
target, the slimy pervert who had wanted to rape her. Teeth flashed and snarls
filled the air, shortly followed by a screech of fear and pain as Chase took him
down.

“Stay here!” Ben
ordered her before racing down the hall to join his partner.

For once, Kelly
didn’t feel the need to prove herself. She took a few hasty steps back from the
fray and started rifling through her purse, searching for her cell phone.
Fighting armed men wasn’t in her skill set, but she could at least call
9-1-1
.

By the time she
had the phone in her hand, the fight was done. Ben had Scarface pinned to the
floor, Ben’s foot squarely between his shoulder blades. Scarface was whining
about police brutality, but Kelly noticed he wasn’t moving anything other than
his mouth. The pervert was huddled in a ball, cradling his bleeding arm and
whimpering a string of curses. Chase had the third one cornered and was barking
nonstop, daring him to move. Ben had his gun at the ready and everything was
suddenly quiet.

It was over.

Relief hit her
like a freight train and Kelly sagged against the nearest wall, her hands
suddenly shaking so hard she could barely hold onto the phone, never mind dial
a number.

Ben said something
to Chase and he stopped barking, never taking his eyes off the man he had
cornered.

“Kelly, are you
okay?” Ben asked and shot her a worried look, revealing he hadn’t come out of
the fight unscathed. One eye was rapidly swelling, though that seemed to be his
only injury.

“I’m okay.” That
wasn’t exactly true. The cuts on her side were hurting like hell and she knew
she was bleeding enough it would start taking a toll on her soon. She was alive
though, and a few cuts and bruises were minor in the grand scheme of things.
Ben was right. There
had
been a next
time, and it had been far worse.

Siren’s wailed in
the distance and Ben’s lips quirked up into a dark smile. “They’re going to be
sorry they missed the fun.”

“You call this
fun?”

His grin vanished.
“No. Not really. When you didn’t show up, I nearly lost my mind. I don’t ever
want to feel that way again, baby.”

Kelly felt her
cheeks heat as Scarface groaned.

 
“Aw, man.
Enough with the
mushy crap already.
Arrest me. Beat me up some more, but save that shit
for later. I don’t want to hear it. My day is shitty enough already.”

Ben just ground
his foot a little harder into Scarface’s back. “You’re just lucky she’s in one
piece.”

“Uh,
officer?
C-can you call off the mutt already? I
didn’t do
nothing
to your old lady. I was the one who
told ‘em to let her go. Isn’t that right, doc?”

Kelly nodded. The
kid had lost his hat in the scuffle and she was surprised at how young he was.
His dark skin was still
baby
smooth. He couldn’t have
been more than sixteen or so.

“I’m sorry, Doc. I
didn’t want you to get hurt. I just needed the money.”

“Ben, it’s okay.
Call Chase
off, that
one isn’t going to try anything.”

Ben frowned but
Kelly gave him another nod and he relented.
“Chase,
platz
.
Backup will be here any
second, so it would be stupid for
anyone
to try anything.”

Chase lay down,
his head on his paws. That was when Kelly finally noticed the blood in his fur.
Oh no.

She and Ben were
okay, but Chase had been hurt. Kelly pushed herself away from the wall and ran
down the hall. This was all her fault, and she was going to make it right.

* * * *

What the hell was Kelly
doing coming back into reach of the men who had tried to rob her? Ben was about
to order her back when he heard Chase whine softly. The moment he saw the blood,
Ben’s stomach twisted into a new set of knots and his throat tightened. Chase
was used to wearing Kevlar body armor capable of stopping a bullet or a knife
blade. Tonight, neither of them had been wearing it.

The hallway lit up
with flashes of red and blue as the cavalry finally arrived. He couldn’t do
anything to help Kelly until the suspects were secured, and it was killing him
to have to stay back and watch.

Ben wanted to be
there for Chase, telling him it was going to be okay. He needed to have Kelly
back in his arms and check for himself that she was really fine. Instead he
stayed right where he was and waited for his fellow officers to get their asses
in here.

“Police!
Hands where I can see them!”
a voice bellowed as
the front door of the clinic flew open
. Ben raised his hands in the air,
careful to keep his foot pressed firmly on his suspect’s spine as he identified
himself.

“I’m
officer
Ben Wilde. I called this mess in. Now get over here
and arrest this bastard so I can check on my partner!”

“Why is it every
time I get a call to this address, I find you here?” a familiar voice asked
from behind him, and Ben turned around enough he could see his friend.

“Chapman?
Thank Christ. Will you please get this lowlife cuffed? Chase is
hurt and I need to go check on him.”
 
Chapman nodded once and gestured for several
more officers to join him. The hallway filled with uniforms and Ben let himself
relax a little. It was nearly over.

“So who are we
arresting and what are the charges?”

“Three locals took
Kelly. I think they grabbed her from the parking lot. I haven’t had a chance to
talk with her yet. I came in, Kelly came running out, and these three little
bastards came chasing after her.”

“Three?” Chapman
asked and Ben nodded.
Those three right−fuck!”
There were only two suspects present, and he couldn’t see Kelly
or
Chase. What the fuck was happening
now, and where was Kelly?

“Kelly!” Ben
charged down the hall, pushing through the sea of uniforms. He skidded to a
halt when he spotted Kelly working on Chase in one of the examination rooms. Standing
beside her, his arms splattered with blood, was the third suspect. He trained
his gun on the suspect and snarled, “Get away from her!”

“Ben, it’s okay.
He’s helping me with Chase.”

For a split second
Ben was frozen as his brain tried to process what Kelly had said. It didn’t
make any sense. He blinked and looked at the scene in front of him again. Chase
was up on the table, his golden brown eyes trained on Ben, and the tip of his
tail was wagging just a little.

 
The kid Kelly had vouched for was following
Kelly’s directions, applying pressure to Chase’s side. The kid’s skin was definitely
on the gray side, and it looked to Ben like he was trying not to puke.

Kelly was bent
over Chase, her hands and shirt stained with blood. Ben’s gaze moved to her
side and his heart lurched as he spotted more bloodstains along her side. Kelly
was bleeding. Son-of-a-bitch, she’d lied to him. He was going to read her the
riot act for that, right after he got her and Chase safe and sound at home
where they belonged.