It was a small room Paige barged into. The twenty-foot square space was all brick and wood paneling and vinyl furniture. A small window or counter was in the far wall. Paige saw all of this and none of this. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the deputy seated on the couch.
Sabine was barely in the door when she saw Paige suddenly moved like lightning.
Her pistol leaped into her hands. Her shooting stance was picture perfect, the green laser from the grip on her 45 tracking true, square on the deputy’s chest.
“You were supposed to take the other deputy to the hospital! What did you do with her? We didn’t go through everything we did for you to just dump her somewhere!”
The deputy didn’t know what was going on. One minute he was napping and now, craziness has exploded in the room. “What the hell.?.?.?” He started to stand up.
Paige was having none of it. “Stay right where you are. Put your arms straight out to the sides. If I see them move downward, it ends badly for you!” The deputy saw the seriousness in Paige’s eyes. His arms went out to his sides and he sat back in the seat very slowly so not to upset her.
“Good, now answer my questions and you might see tomorrow.” Paige’s voice was a touch calmer now. The deputy was complying. “Where is the other deputy?”
“She’s back there.” He pointed with a finger, keeping his arms out straight. He could not understand the change in attitude. She was friendly, kind and reminded him of his sister when they met now she was this raving lunatic. He had seen this with behavior with drug users but she was military. What happened? The world really was going to shit but he could not think about it now, he just need to do what she said.
“Why here and not the hospital she needed.” Paige’s voice had some of the rage creeping back in.
“Because she needed somebody good, not the hacks at the local doc shop! I wasn’t going to take my sister to those half-assed butchers! The closest doc I trusted is right here!” There was some anger now in the deputy’s voice now as well.
Sabine was stunned by Paige’s sudden violence and aggressiveness. Once Paige had the deputy contained, Sabine took a moment to look around. It looked like a doctor’s office alright, but something was off. Sabine’s head snapped back around when she heard the deputy say the other deputy was his sister. It answered one question they had at the scene.
“Paige, there is more here than we know. Let’s back down a minute and see what’s the deal, OK?” Sabine’s voice was soft but insistent. She needed to defuse this. Paige was seriously wrapped around the axle and Sabine didn’t know why.
Paige still hadn’t moved the pistol a single inch, her gaze never shifted. “My whole crew risked their lives to save her. If I find out you’re lying, you better hope I’m dead. Sabine, if he makes a move and he gets me, you better burn him down.” Paige slowly lowers her pistol. Sabine heard the safety snapping on as Paige holstered her pistol.
Sabine looked over at the deputy. “You better make us understand what’s going on. Your sister needed some serious surgery. That normally happens in a hospital. You’re telling me you trust your sister’s life to a veterinarian over a hospital?”
Paige’s head spun around to look at Sabine. “Veterinarian? What the ****?”
The deputy spoke before Sabine could. “My uncle has thirty years of surgical experience and will do anything for us. To him, she isn’t just another Saturday night repair.”
Sabine looked at him, then Paige. “I’ll go in the back and check in my patient.”
She looked back at the deputy. “I understand doing whatever you can for a brother or sister. It would have been better to tell us the truth up front, though.”
Sabine walked through the door to the back of the vet clinic, leaving Paige and the deputy in the waiting room. She hoped Paige was calm down enough so the deputy would be alive when she came out. What was wrong with Paige she thought as she went through the swinging doors leaving them alone.
