Chapter 24

What's The Hold Up?

It was a good night, for a Friday. The local band was hot and the draw was good. Mike and I were counting down the tills, and everybody had gone home happy. Max and Bruno were in the office tallying receipts, Cassy and Kel were wiping down tables, when a large masked wolf announced his presence...

"All right. Nobody do nothin' stupid and nobody gets hurt. Gimme all that cash there."

While looking at the masked wolf with the revolver in his paw standing about Twenty feet from the bar, the one thing going through my mind was, 'how the hell did he get in here?'

"I don't think so, asshole." Mike growled as he drew the eighteen-inch stiletto from his boot and in one smooth, practiced motion sent the deadly missile straight at its target before the wolf had time to react to Mike's statement--much less his launching the knife in his direction. The blade buried itself in his chest up to its handle, causing his body to jerk and in turn end up discharging the revolver in his paw. Looking down at the knife in his chest, the wolf staggered back. "What the hell?" was all he managed to say before collapsing to the floor. Kel screamed. The gunshot brought Max and Bruno from the office to see a wolf with a gun, sprawled on the floor with a knife in his chest.

Cassy felt like someone had punched her in the gut. Why were her paws...wet? As she looked down she saw her paws were covered in blood. Looking up to the bar. "Mike? I...uh..."

Everything was getting fuzzy, and she slumped against the wall--for some reason she couldn't stand. Mike vaulted the bar. 'Oh-my-God Oh-my-God Oh-my-God, she's been SHOT!' His mind screamed.

"Call 9-1-1! She's been SHOT!" he called as he rushed to her side.

"Shot? Who's been shot?" Cassy asked weakly. "Mike honey, who turned down the lights?" Then blackness took her.

I was on the phone before the perp hit the floor, and when Mike cried out that Cassy had been shot, an ambulance was on it's way, ETA under three minutes. I went to see what could be done while Bruno had gone up front to wait for the ambulance, Kel was crying inconsolably while Max was doing his best to comfort her. I knew belly wounds were bad; Mike had a folded white bar towel pressed to her--it was quickly soaking through. Throughout the ordeal he was mumbling incoherently.

I could hear the sound of an ambulance entering the parking lot, its siren cut off. A moment later two paramedics burst through the door, the rotating lights washing the entryway with blue and crimson flashes.

"Let us in, sir..." a cougar EMT said to Mike. His partner quickly joined him.

"Other guy's D-O-A!" the fox said as I pulled Mike away. They quickly worked to stabilize Cassy. The fox opened the comm as the cat took vitals.

"Mercy, this is EMT unit Twenty Five. We have a female lapin--age?"

"Twenty six" Mike said.

"Age Twenty six. Gunshot wound to the lower abdomen, BP 80 over 60, starting O2."

"Pupils responsive, no exit wound" his partner reported.

"Trauma one, pupils responsive and no exit wound, will be en-route in two minutes, ETA four minutes, Roger that, Starting I.V. with ringers, Twenty Five out"

They gently loaded Cassy on the gurney as Mike followed them out "I'm her fiancée, I'm going!" they loaded him in the back with the fox and they were off, lights and siren blazing, fading into the distance. Looking at the blood soaked towel and the debris left by the paramedics, I went over to look at the wolf. He was on his back, Gun still clutched in his paw...eyes staring into eternity, a look of shock frozen on his face and Mike's stiletto sprouting from his chest. Damn it Mike, I thought--yeah, you got him, but at what cost? When I looked up I saw Officer Procyon looking at me.

"Care to tell me what happened here tonight?" She asked, notebook at the ready.

As I was finishing up my statement, the coroner and his assistant surveyed the scene.

"Evening Jo-Ann," The otter in the white lab coat said.

"Oh, hey Harry, looks like we got a cold one for ya." she replied as he bent down to examine the body as his assistant snapped photos.

"So, who got the drop on him? The fur they hauled outta here earlier?"

"No..." I answered "It was my buddy Mike, my fellow bartender; we were counting down the till, when this guy held us up."

"I see, so he stood at the bar and your pal stabbed him, and he staggered back here, before he drops?" the Otter asked.

"Nope, we were behind the bar, he was about twenty feet back Mike threw it from there, hit him square in the chest, unfortunately his gun went off and struck one of the waitresses, his fiancée, as a matter of fact--oh, could I keep that?" I asked, indicating Mike's stiletto in the otter's hand as he was wiping the blood off of it on the corpse's shirt, and making notes on his clipboard, "I _should_catalog it, what do you say Jo-Ann?"

"It's an open and shut case of self defense, don't need it cluttering up the property room. You can give it to him, Harry." the Raccoon officer said with a grin.

"A beautiful piece of craftsmanship," the otter said as he hefted it for a moment then handed it back to me. "Thank you."

"Okay lets tag him and bag him, Kip" Harry said to his partner.

"Thank you Rick." Jo-Ann Procyon said. "Sorry it had to end this way, hope your girl pulls through. By the way, I'm putting Mike in for a P.S.C. for his quick action."

"What's a P.S.C?" I asked.

"Public Service Citation. The Mayor issues them for good examples of public service to the community." Officer Procyon said with a wink.

"Is there any way to find out how Cassy is doing?" I asked.

"Hold on a sec, let me check." she replied, keying her mike. "Dispatch, this is patrol 20, can I get status of gunshot victim taken to..."

"Mercy General" I said.

"To Mercy General..."

"Hold Patrol 20..." came the response a minute later.

"Patrol 20: EMT 25 reports victim is in emergency surgery...no further information available."

"Thank you Dispatch, Patrol 20 out." The officer said, regarding me.

"Thank you Officer Procyon. Is there anything else you need?" I asked.

"Well, I should get a statement from Mr. Ferretti, I take it he's at the hospital?"

I nodded; worried very much for Cassy.

"That's it for now, Mr. Coona, Thank you for your cooperation." she closed her book and went to find her partner. Seeing that Max, Bruno and Kel were with her partner, I decided to call Gwen.

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