Wanted

by Ho, Jo

  “There’s a washer downstairs. I can take care of that?” he volunteered.

  I looked down, embarrassed by his kindness.

  “I don’t have anything else to wear while it’s in the wash.”

  He studied me for what seemed an indeterminable amount of time before speaking again. “Wait here.” He disappeared from the room returning moments later with a pair of jeans, a tank top, and an olive green sweater. I’d seen those clothes earlier, in the closet, but didn’t want him to know I’d been snooping. He handed me the clothes.

  “Probably a bit big, but… you can keep these.” The words seemed to stick in his throat.

  I couldn’t hide my surprise.

  “Won’t your wife be mad?”

  Pain flashed over his eyes. I knew instantly I’d said something wrong. He clenched his fists and closed his eyes. I guess he was counting in his head or something. When he spoke it again, it was barely a whisper.

  “She doesn’t need them anymore.”

  Things suddenly fell into place. The terrible mess in the nicely decorated house. The decaying plants. Sully’s wife wasn’t around anymore. I didn’t know whether she had left or died, but I knew not to ask. The guy looked like he was hanging by a thread.

  His shoulders slumped as he piled dirty plates into the sink.

  “I’ll wait with Bandit. You can use the bathroom if you want. Up to you.”

  With that, he turned and went downstairs.

  I stood there, the clothes clutched in my arms. A huge part of me was thrilled at the thought of a hot shower, but this guy was still a stranger. I looked at the pretty clothes he’d given me. They smelt of lavender. There was no way I could change into them as I was. The blood in my hair had dried, giving me unwanted red low lights with a disgusting, crunchy texture. He’d said Bandit wouldn’t wake for a while. What was the harm?

  Still, I hadn’t survived so long on the streets without learning a thing or two. I dragged a chair into the bathroom with me, locked the door, and wedged the chair up against it. If he tried to break in while I was in the shower… well, he wouldn’t be able to.

  I turned the water on full blast, peeled the blood soaked clothes off my body, and stepped into the shower.

  CHAPTER 24

  SULLY

  I couldn’t believe how I’d reacted to her simple question. I’d played it off, but the truth was, I’d needed to be alone for a while. Pretending everything was fine was exhausting, and that was on top of the long day I’d already had. I knew I would have to pull an all-nighter to watch over the dog. Usually I’d farm that out to staff, but since I was the only one around tonight… at least I wouldn’t have my nightly sleep struggle.

  I checked in on Bandit. He was still out, but his color had improved somewhat. I placed my fingers on the inner side of Bandit’s thigh and felt for a pulse on the femoral artery. The beat was slow and steady. Another positive sign.

  The old boiler kicked into gear, the ancient pipes rattling within the confines of the walls. Chase was taking me up on the shower. Good. She’d smelled pretty foul, but I hadn’t wanted to put her on edge any more than she already was.

  With nothing else to do, I suddenly remembered the serial number tattooed into Bandit’s ear and fetched the laptop from my office. Firing up the Macbook, I typed the numbers into a veterinary database of found animals. I hit return and waited, not really expecting to get a result.

  I was wrong.

  Within seconds, a warning flashed across the screen:

  If you see this dog, call us immediately on the following number.

  He has escaped from a medical facility and carries a contagious virus.

  The virus is NOT transmittable to humans. Repeat. It is NOT transmittable to humans. However, you should not approach him.

  Please call and we will handle the extraction.

  On his safe return, you will be handsomely rewarded.

  The warning was followed by a picture of Bandit at full health. I was right; he was a stunning dog, and now I knew why.

  He was a lab dog. A virus carrying medical experiment.

  Despite the wrench in my gut and how I knew this would kill the young girl upstairs, I did what any professional in my line of work would do.

  I picked up the phone and dialled.

  CHAPTER 25

  SULLY

  After a few rings, the call was answered by a curt female voice.

  “HPA, how can I be of assistance?”

  “Hi,” I began. “I’m calling about a warning you filed with the National Pets Registrar about a missing tri-colored border collie.”

  There was a sudden silence on the line. When she spoke again, it was with barely controlled enthusiasm.

  “I’m a vet with a clinic in Connecticut. A girl just arrived with an injured dog, pretty sure it’s the one you’re looking for.”

  “Could you give me your name, sir?” she asked.

  “Jake Sullivan. I run Ellington Pet Care in Sudbury Park Estate.”

  “Thank you, sir. Now, I have a few questions for our extraction team. Have you come in close contact with the dog?”

  “Yes. He was injured. I performed a basic op and sewed up the wound. He’d lost quite a bit of blood, but I performed a single transfusion.”

  “I see.” She didn’t sound pleased by my having saved his life. I got the distinct feeling the dog was nothing but an experiment to her. It made my betrayal to Chase all the harder. “And either before or during the operation, did you communicate with the dog at all?”

  I paused, perplexed. What kind of question was that? She must have felt my hesitation as she quickly tried to cover it up.

  “What I mean to say is, was the dog awake when he was brought to you?”

  “Barely,” I replied.

  “So you didn’t speak to him, he didn’t respond?”

  OK. This was getting weird. I frowned at her line of questioning.

  “I’m sorry, what kind of medical facility is this?” I asked.

  “Please hold, sir.”

  Cheesy elevator music piped down the line. I was stunned. I’d asked a simple question and she’d put him on hold? Something felt wrong about this whole scenario. I held the phone in my hand, wondering how long it would be before she got back to me, when the music abruptly cut out. I sat there, shocked, hearing nothing but the dead dial tone. She’d cut me off?! Turning around on my stool, my eyes followed the cord to the phone -- and stopped dead.

  Bandit sat next to the phone, awake, his paw nestled firmly in the cradle.

  It was he who had cut me off.

  CHAPTER 26

  SULLY

  The dog and I traded looks. Then slowly — slowly — Bandit lifted his paw off the cradle, planted his foot on the ground, and shot me what I could only describe as a hurt look.

  Though I was puzzling over what had happened, my work instincts took over. My eyes ran over him, performing a quick check. All things considered, he was in great form. More than great if you considered he shouldn’t be able to stand right now. This was one driven dog.

  Bandit started sniffing the air anxiously. I wondered what he was doing before it came to me.

  “She’s upstairs,” I informed him. “Chase. She’s having a shower.”

  As if he understood exactly what I was saying, he stared straight up at the ceiling and cocked his head, listening for any movement above him. He must’ve heard something that confirmed my words because the anxiousness disappeared, replaced by a weariness he directed at me.

  I wasn’t sure why I was talking to him like a human, but I couldn’t deny there was a keen intelligence that shone from his eyes. We kept a watchful eye on each other until the door cracked open behind him, followed by the appearance of Chase. The change in Bandit was immediate. His tail wagged back and forth so vigorously that it almost threw his whole balance — he was still shaking off the effects of the anesthetic.

  “Bandit!” Chase went to hug the dog, but I grabbed her arm and physi
cally stopped her.

  “Wait. There’s something you need to know about him,” I began. Chase turned to Bandit then, a reproachful look on her face.

  “What did I say about keeping it secret? What did you do?” she demanded.

  To my surprise, Bandit acted like a child being reprimanded. He lowered onto all fours (showing submission) and whined pitifully. Though he couldn’t speak, his actions were clear. It wasn’t me. I didn’t do anything.

  “Yeah, right,” Chase chided. “Couldn’t wait to show off, I’ll bet.”

  Bandit barked twice.

  “At least you’re alive though. That’s what counts.”

  One bark. Followed by a long, relieved sigh.

  I saw animals respond to their owners all the time. Florence had three cats who talked to her nonstop, even mimicked the sounds and tones of her voice. It’s the highest form of compliment a pet can ever give their owner. I love you so much I’m going to learn to speak the way you do. But what was happening here wasn’t the same. Sully looked questionably at Chase. She sighed too, as if the game was up.

  “One bark is yes, two means no.”

  “What?” I managed to mumble.

  She turned to the dog. “Boy, are you hungry?”

  One bark.

  “What about a drink, you thirsty?”

  One bark.

  “Did you like the man who hurt you earlier?”

  Two angry sounding barks.

  “Am I glad you’re alive?”

  One joyful bark.

  I watched the whole exchange with my mouth open, but Chase didn’t catch my reaction. She busied herself at the sink and gave Bandit a bowl of water, which he slurped up gratefully. To me she asked, “Can he eat something?”

  I nodded mutely and grabbed a tin of doggie chow from a shelf. Inside, my mind was racing. There was no way in hell they’d rehearsed that little charade, no way, but then… how was that possible? Was this some kind of hustle these two did? Was the dog just a distraction and I was about to get robbed? I shook my head. No, there were plenty of richer houses in this neighborhood, and Bandit’s wound could not be faked, and neither could Chase’s very real concern.

  My thoughts a tangled mess, and unable to make sense of it all, I focused on the one thing I could do — pouring the dog food onto a plate — but as I went towards him, Bandit bared his teeth at me. Startled by his reaction, Chase frowned.

  “Sully’s our friend boy.”

  Two barks.

  “He is, he saved you.”

  Two barks and a worried whine. Chase looked up at me in apology.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t know why he has a problem with you.”

  “I do,” I said quietly. Suddenly the phone call with “HPA” resounded in my head. One sentence in particular which hadn’t made much sense at first, but now cast a whole new light on things: did you communicate with the dog at all? Could it be? Could this dog have the same intelligence level as a human?

  “I… I think I might’ve made a mistake.”

  One loud bark.

  Chase didn’t understand a thing I was saying, but she was a smart girl and fear was fast sinking in. I could tell by her sudden sped up breathing.

  “Oh no. Who did you tell?” she asked.

  I shook my head, still unwilling to accept what my mind was starting to rationalize.

  “There was a warning. They said he escaped from a medical facility. That he carried a virus.”

  Bandit shot two barks at me and pawed the ground, agitated. Chase was staring at me in utter horror.

  “No, they were doing horrible things to him. He escaped yes, but he doesn’t have a virus. They’re lying!”

  “But… how do you know that’s true?”

  Chase all but wringed her hands at me. “Just look at him! What more proof do you need?!”

  The dog was pacing agitatedly, Chase matching him, stride for stride. A gnawing ache appeared in my stomach.

  Doubt. “It’s too late,” I said. “I’ve already called them.”

  Chase flung her bag over her shoulder, cold determination on her face.

  “Then we have to go.”

  Bandit stood up immediately, ready to leave with her, when suddenly, two vehicles screeched into the drive. I ran to the nearest window and looked through a crack in the blind.

  Two unmarked grey vans sat outside. The doors slid open revealing six or so swarthy men in black combat gear. They spilled out of the vans welding tranquillizer guns and took formation on the front porch. My trained eyes recognized the darts on the guns — Ketamine — but at that dosage, it’d be enough to knock out a horse. Grimly, I remembered Ketamine could also be used on humans.

  The doorbell rang.

  We all froze.

  A clipped baritone called in through the letterbox.

  “Good evening Mr. Sullivan. We’re from HPA, and we’re here for the extraction. Could you let us in?”

  CHAPTER 27

  CHASE

  “What’re we gonna do?” I whispered. “We can’t let them take him.”

  Bandit chuffed softly in agreement. I flung an arm around his neck, hugging him close. Sully watched us guiltily from his position by the window.

  “I’m sorry. I don’t see any way out of this.”

  Indignant fury made me brave. “You were the one who caused this! You can’t not help us now!”

  “Legally, he’s their property, and you have no idea what virus it is he’s carrying. He could be dangerous,” Sully said.

  I threw my hands up in the air, exasperated. “They’re lying to get him back, can’t you see that? It’s not like they can say he’s super intelligent!”

  Sully peeked out of the window again. Then back at us. He obviously still didn’t believe the four-legged truth that was staring him in the face. “Do you know what they’ll do to him if they get him back?” I pleaded. “They’ll lock him in a cage, and he’ll never be free again!”

  My words must have struck a chord, as involuntarily, Bandit started shaking with fear. It was awful to see, but so was the resigned expression on Sully’s face.

  “I’ve done what I can…” He trailed off, unable to find the words to finish the sentence, but I already knew where he was going with this. Glaring at him, I unzipped my bag.

  “Give me the meds I’ll need for him. At least do that for us.” I gestured at him impatiently, as anger and fear flooded my body. Coming to a decision, Sully sprang into action and started tossing things inside.

  “You’ll need to change his bandage twice a day. Clean the wound with disinfectant and cover it up again.” He shoved a bottle of pills into the bag. “He also needs one of these, three times a day, preferably with food.” Sully zipped up my bag and steered me to the kitchen. “Take the back door and head right. There’s a path behind the back yard that’s pretty overlooked by the trees. They won’t see you there.”

  He stopped suddenly. “Look, whatever this is about, I really am sorry.”

  Bandit must have decided he was being sincere, as his tongue snaked out and licked Sully’s hand. And in that tiny gesture, all was forgiven. Sully’s eyes turned bright with something that looked suspiciously like tears, but before I could get a proper look, he took off.

  “Where are you going?” Chase called after him.

  “To buy you time,” he replied.

  CHAPTER 28

  SULLY

  I had no idea what I was doing. I knew I should hand Bandit over to the men at the door, but I couldn’t shake the doubt that had crept into my mind. Things just weren’t adding up.

  As I moved slowly down the hall, I ran over the things that were bothering me: like the conversation with HPA and the bizarre line of questioning that had come from the receptionist. And now the men, standing on his front porch. How on Earth had they gotten here so quickly when not even an hour had passed since my call?

  I stared at the silhouettes of the men outside. Virus or not, did they really need so many of them? Wasn’t that
overkill? They looked more like a SWAT team than the animal wranglers a lab might have. I took a deep breath and moved the last few steps towards them when THE DOOR EXPLODED INWARD.

  Splintered wood flew past my face, narrowly missing my cheek. Reacting on pure instinct, I ran back into the clinic, into the waiting area. Dazed, my ears ringing, I briefly wondered how tranquilizer guns could’ve done that to the door. Staring down the hall, I got my first, close up look at the men and saw that a few carried not tranquilizer guns, but shotguns. Well, that would explain how his door was now hanging off its hinges. Realizing with a growing horror that these men weren’t what they seemed, I knew I was in grave danger.

  I bolted into my office, to the work desk where two phones (a landline and my cell), my wallet, and a dock for my laptop lay. I snatched up the phone intending to call the police, but instead of a dial tone, there was a scratchy whine. I dropped it back onto its cradle, and snatched up the cell, flipping it open only to find that same scratchy noise.

  They were blocking my phone lines!

  Sounds of crashing came from the room next door. The men were storming my home now, overturning furniture and destroying everything in their path. They would be here in seconds.

  Not knowing what else to do, I snatched up my wallet and started heading for the back door, through the recovery room, when one of the men pounced on me. Though I was taller, my adversary had at least thirty pounds on me. I swivelled on my feet until I faced him. The guy snarled into my face.

  “Stop fighting Doc. It’ll go better for you.”

  I hated people telling me what to do at the best of times, but this jerk was in my house. Glowering at him, I stomped on his toes, then swept my foot up behind his knee, knocking him off balance. He went down like a fallen tree. I hopped over him, but the guy’s hand snaked out and caught me around the ankle. I grabbed the water bowl Bandit had been using and swung it at the guy’s head. One, two, three times! Steel smashed into his skull until the guy was out for the count.