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The Runt.

Chapter 16.

By: Wolfie Steel.

The figure stands from his seat and I can see that he is a horse, and from the uniform that he is wearing I see that he is with the police, the horse approaches me and holds out a hoofed hand, I take his hand in my paw and shake it still a little uneasy about what is going on. The horse speaks.

"Mr. Lane, my name is Sergeant Lucas Cape, and I'm here because of your late partner Mason Lane, or as I knew him, Jake Black. You see I was the one called to the scene when Jake took his own life, the reason that it wasn't me who came to you with the news was because I was considered to be too close to the situation, in short, I was one of Jake's, sorry I mean Mason's clients. The day he died a part of me died too, he was an incredible guy, so much so that when my sister had her first foal, she called him Jake. I have been on sick leave ever since the day he died, only returning today, but in truth, I find that I can no longer continue to perform as a police officer. I have been offered early retirement on the grounds of ill health, and I'm going to take it, but I just can't sit around and do nothing, I would like to give something back to Mason and his loyal mate. I still have many contacts that I can call upon from my days in the service of the police so I can assist your security chief in keeping you and your new family safe, please say that you will let me join your team?"

I ponder the sergeant's words for a little while, I mean sure it would be great to have someone who has spent many years as a police officer on my staff, and after all it does sound as if he and Mason were good friends, so I at least know that I can trust him, so I make my decision and make my reply.

"As it is that you have a great affection for Mason, I would love to bring you on board as a member of my staff, in actual fact I would like to set you up with a task right now, you see I have taken on an orphan, a young fox cub by the name of Tyler, he was on the streets for a week before he broke into The Fast Lane. The lad has told me of a guy who seems to prey on kids like him, this guy truly disgusts me and to think that he chased Tyler into the alleyway next to my bar, I'm trying to build the bar's reputation for being that of a family friendly bar, but I can't do that with a pervert on the loose. I want you to find this guy and I want you to make sure that he never preys on these kids again. For my part, I'm going to have a place built on some land that I own behind the bar, it will be a place where the homeless kids can find shelter and warmth, as for Tyler breaking into The Fast Lane, I don't want his record tarnished with that, after all he did it to get to a place of safety, and besides, if all goes well my mate and I are going to adopt the boy as our son"

The horse nods in agreement and makes his reply.

"Mr. Lane, in my time with the police, I have heard many reports about this paedophile, like you I am truly disgusted by the guy, but as a police officer I found my hands tied whenever I tried to do something about him, it seems as though he has connections with people in high places. However, now I am no longer a police officer, so my bindings have been cut, I promise you this, I will remove the guy from civilised society and I will openly back your building of a safe house for the homeless kids. It's time that this town turned from being a place where paedophile's can feel safe enough to go about their disgusting ways, and into a town where decent folks can walk and shop in peace and safety"

With that, Lucas says goodnight and leaves. I turn back towards the bar and head back inside.

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2.00 am and its closing time, the final customers stagger out of the door, the last of them a huge black bull who surprisingly is still very much sober turns to speak.

"Sonny, I have been coming here for many years, I started coming when Finch had the place, he knew how to keep a bar going, but you my friend have taken this place to new heights, I'm glad that you kept the Dalmatian on, god what I wouldn't do to get just one chance to jump his bones, on a more cautionary note though, you need to watch your back, Finch had quite a few friends, some of them are acquaintances of mine and whispers have reached my ears that some of Finch's friends are trying to open a rival bar. As a patron of this bar, I will remain loyal as I know a lot of the others will, and as the town's head of planning I will try to block any attempts by the group to get a bar up and running"

I pat the huge muscle god of a bull on the back and reply.

"Please don't see this as bribery, but you will always be welcome here at The Fast Lane, though your wallet sir will remain hidden inside your pocket on each of your visits"

I hold out my paw to him and he takes it in his huge and muscular hand, which surprisingly is so very gentle and soft, after the handshake he heads down the street towards his apartment. I lock the doors and wearily head towards my truck, the alleyway that leads to the parking area is in total darkness, the bulbs in the street lamps down this alleyway very rarely get checked. I hear footsteps behind me; I quicken my pace to get back to the safety of my truck. Unfortunately, I don't make it, something blunt and heavy hits me across the back of the head, suddenly a total blackness descends on my mind.

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I start to come round from my unconsciousness with a feeling of extreme pain on the back of my head, I also feel a liquid under my head, my brain tries to process what this liquid can be, but nothing. Slowly my vision begins to come back into focus and I see that the first rays of daylight are breaking through the night sky.

I slowly lift my head and then roll onto my hands and knees to try and get back to my feet, I see a wall and crawl over to it and using my paws I use the wall to get back to my foot paws. Once I'm upright I lean my back against the wall and look down to my original position, my eyes and brain can now recognise the liquid on the floor, it is the red liquid of my blood.

I look down at my clothes which are all ripped and they smell of something vile, my brain begins to process a little quicker now and I recognise the smell of urine, whoever did this to me took the opportunity of relieving themselves on me, suddenly my paws got to my turned out pockets, my wallet and phone are gone, the keys to the bar are also missing.

I slowly move away from the wall and head towards the front door of the bar, the sight that meets my eyes makes me howl out in pain and sorrow, just from looking through the front door I can see that the place inside has been completely trashed. I walk to the office with tears in my eyes; again the scene of devastation makes me feel sick to my stomach. Fortunately for me the safe is intact.

I sit in my chair and pick the phone up from the floor, I check to see if it is still working and merciful heavens it is. I dial the home number, a minute later and a weary voice answers the phone.

"Ugh whoever this is, it's......5.30 am so you better have a fucking good reason for calling"

I begin to cry down the phone and Rion suddenly comes fully to his senses.

"SONNY? Sonny is that you? Where are you?"

I make my tearful reply.

"I'm at the bar, hun I need ya here and hun I need ya to call the police and the ambulance"

My voice trails off as I pass out again. I awake to the feeling of rapid movement a little later, my eyes flicker open and I see Rion running alongside me and two paramedics wheeling me towards a waiting ambulance on a stretcher. I weakly hold out my paw and try to speak, Rion takes my paw and holds it in his.

"Sssh Sonny, try not to talk, you're on your way to hospital"

Again I fade out.

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I wake up again in a hospital bed; the sun is beaming strongly through windows bathing everything in a warm glow. Rion is sat by my bedside holding my paw firmly; I let out a groan which alerts him to the fact that I'm awake.

I have a pounding headache and I put my free paw to my head, I feel a bandage wrapped around it, I look to Rion and speak with a hoarse voice.

"Hun, I feel like shit, but I gotta get back to the bar and start cleaning the place up"

Rion looks at me and makes his reply.

"You are going nowhere, Dillon and the guys are looking after the bar, when I checked in with them about an hour ago, the Scene Of Crime guys had just left and they were just about to receive a delivery of the new glasses and spirit supplies, I have told them to keep the place closed for tonight and Dillon has said that he will stay there just in case anything else happens. The new tables and chairs will be delivered tomorrow. The docs say that you have suffered a pretty severe concussion, and you have had to have twenty stitches in the back of your head. When I catch the fucking bastard that is responsible for this, I will bury the fucker"

I squeeze Rion's paw tightly and then slowly release it, as I do so Lucas Cape walks into the room, he takes one look at my condition and I can see that he is visibly shaken. He heaves a great sigh and a gentle whiny; he then collects his thoughts and speaks.

"I heard about what happened I'm so sorry that you have had to go through this so soon after Mason's death. Worry not though Mr. Lane, I WILL find the ones responsible and I WILL make them sorry. I know that you were also urinated on, so I have asked a friend in the forensic lab to analyse your clothing to see if they can get a DNA match. I'm calling in all the favours that I am owed on this one"

With that said Lucas leaves the room. I look up to Rion, he looks back and sees the look of lupine determination on my face, he knows full well that I'm not going down without a fight, I ask Rion to get a piece of paper and a pen, I'm about to give him a security shopping list.

"Ok Rion, first things first, those street lamps in the alleyway, the town council owns them and they very rarely work, so I want you to get really powerful spot lights put along the wall of the bar that is in the alley. I want infrared cameras around the perimeter of the bar. I want electric metal shutters on all of the doors and windows. I want deadlocks on all doors; I also want each member of staff issued with high powered taser guns and last but not least I want a state of the art alarm system installed"

Rion finishes writing his list and whistles loudly.

"This is going to cost a fair tidy sum sweetheart, but after what you have been through, I think it's worth the expense. I nearly lost you earlier; I don't intend to bury you just yet, now, get some rest and I will go and get this list done, as soon as I know everything is in hand, I will return"

With the list held tightly in his paw, Rion kisses me and then heads out of the room and towards the hospital exit