Small Town Sheriff, Big Problems: Chapter 2: Pissed off.
I own all my characters, so do not use without my permission. Comments welcome! Enjoy
Chapter 2
Dan shot out of bed, instantly awake and full of adrenaline. He grabbed a pair of cargo shorts and pulled them onto his naked body quickly. He then grabbed his gun from his nightstand, and exited his room.
"What the hell? Turn that damn alarm off!" Dan turned to see his younger, 17 year old brother, Ian, clad only in boxers, exit his room down the hall. Ian saw Dan and stared at the gun in his paws, suddenly awake as well.
Dan ran over to his brother and grabbed his arm, shoving him into the bathroom.
"Get down and lock the door!" Dan ordered before shutting the door.
Dan walked through the hall, toward the source of the crashing sound. All the lights in the house had turned on, it was a safety that went along with the alarm. Dan entered the living room, scanning the room with his alert, marines trained eyes, gun ready. He ignored the ringing phone, probably the security company that monitored his alarm calling to check up, ready to send police if there was no answer.
Dan saw the broken window, the whole window was smashed open, as if someone had dove through it. He turned out the wailing alarm, and heard shuffling and slamming from the small den off the side of the living room. He slowly crept toward the rifling sounds. When he walked up to the doorway, he saw a human hunched over, back to the doorway, rifling through the papers in Dan's safe.
"Freeze! Sheriff. Hands behind your head!" Dan called.
The human turned around, documents with the county seal in his hand. THe human stared with black eyes, before an evil smile spread across his face, sending a chill down the hardened sheriff's spine.
"Sorry officer. But that just isn't going to happen." He said with a hiss.
The human turned back to the safe, stuffing the papers into his leather jacket.
"I won't ask again, get down NOW!" Dan ordered. Put you han-"
The human whirled with lightning speed, jumping over the desk, and lunging at the sheriff, fangs bared.
"Fangs?" Dan thought, as time seemed to go into slow motion. The young, battle hardened sheriff let off round after round at the human, several connecting with a spray of blood, but he just kept coming. The human tackled the muscular black wolf, sending the smoking Glock flying out of his paws, across the living room. It skidded to a halt on the wood floor, under the coffee table.
Dan grunted, as he felt like he was hit by a freight train. He hit the hardwood floors with a teeth shattering thud. He quickly recovered as the human, sitting on the wolf's bare chest, brandished a long, massive hunting knife. THe pale hand came down with a swipe. A mere six inches above the heart, a black paw grabbed the wrist, while the other right paw grabbed the human's throat. Dan pushed with all his might, muscles bulging and straining.
THe human grinned evilly again, using his free hand, he grabbed the sheriff's right arm at the bicep and twisted. Dan howled in pain as his shoulder was dislocated, but he held onto the knife wielding wrist. The knife slowly came down as the super human toyed with the sheriff. In a last ditch effort, Dan focused all his thoughts, and put all his energy into his muscles and pushed, right as the knife came down. The human stayed on top of the wolf, but the knife sunk deep into the left side of the wolf, missing the major organs. Dan saw red as he felt excruciating pain.
"Night night sheriff." The human said, grinning evilly as he bared his fangs.
"Goodnight to you motherfucker." Dan heard a female voice say. Followed by a 'chuck chuck' and a loud thunderous roar. Than darkness.
Dan felt light headed and dizzy, his shoulder and side throbbed with pain. He thought he was back at the army hospital in Kabul for the third time. His blurry vision showed lights racing past. His heart began to race, his adrenaline spike and his muscles tensed, bringing back the blinding pain. He started to writhe, not being able to control his body as his fight-or-flight instincts kicked in again.
"Shit. He's awake! Get a sedative NOW!" He heard a female voice yell. A dozen paws reached out and gripped his arms and legs, pinning him to the gurney as he was wheeled into the county ER by nurses, doctors and EMTs.
"GET HIM SEDATED NOW!" A doe yelled, her muzzle covered by a surgical mask. "Prepare the transfusion, he lost a lot of blood. Get him to the OR, we need to start surggggerryyyyy...."
Dan's hearing and vision faded away, and his muscles relaxed as the sedative worked through his blood stream. Blackness.
Dan awoke. His head swam, and he felt dizzy. He fought back the urge to vomit as his eyes adjusted to blinding light. The loud beeping noise became more quiet, and the noise level returned to normal. He looked around, as his vision cleared, he saw he was in the hospital, several figures stood by his bed.
His vision cleared, and he looked up to see his older sister, Kristen, wearing a rumpled Armani suit and skirt. Next to her was his brother Ian, wearing a T shirt and cargo shorts, looking tired and haggard. Allison was slumped in a chair in the corner, her normally pristine uniform wrinkled and dirty, her sidearm hanging off her belt at an odd angle.
"James! You're awake!" Kristen yelled with joy, waking up Allison, who jumped up, claws extending as she reached for her gun. She stopped herself though when she saw nothing was amiss.
"Yeah, I feel like shit." Dan said, his stomach doing backflips in his gut.
"You look like it too." Allison said, grinning.
"You scared me bro." Ian said, smiling. I thought that gun blast killed you, since you didn't have your shotgun."
"Nope. It saved. Who was it by the way." Dan asked, wincing as he sat up.
"Phyllis. Your neighbor and her husband heard your alarm and gunshots ran over with their shotguns. Blasted the guy who tried to kill ya, than called the EMTs." Allison said.
"Damn. I always liked her and Eugene." Dan said. "Kristen, what's with the rumpled look?"
"Crappy week. You've been out for eight hours after surgery and nearly slipped away. I Rushed here by the company chopper when i got the call. Had to leave and emergency board meeting." She said.
"Why something wrong?" Dan asked, he could tell it was something big.
"Allison, Ian, can you give us a minute?"
"Yup. Lets go get some ice cream or something." The panther said, walking out, followed by Ian.
"Herald Winston and his wife were murdered last night, along with two company guards." Kristen said, sweeping her high heels under a chair before sitting down in it. "Their safe was broken into. A lot of confidential, and even top secret documents were stolen. Most of them about our government projects, and the others about our security, access codes, fire wall algorithms, Herald's access cards for the labs and for the headquarters, you name it. It is going to take us a day or two to change the access codes for the labs and building, not to mention change all employee access cards, and at least three days to rewrite some of our firewall software to prevent direct access. Everyone is flipping out, DOD is flipping out. its a mess." The young CEO said.
"Damn. I'm glad i never got into the family business. If you need anything, let me know. Are you in any danger?" Dan asked, worried for his 30 year old sister's safety.
"The government is supplementing our already extensive security. A DOD agent escorted me here on the chopper, and four company guards are outside, they brought two armored Lincoln Town Cars if i needed to drive anywhere."
"Thats good." Dan said, taking a sip of the juice a nurse offered. "Is Mike and Jeffery okay? I don't want anything to happen to my nephew or brother in law."
"Yeah. They are at the estate. We changed and beefed up security there. Until, and probably a few weeks after, this mess is resolved, anyone who is important to the security of the company and the government contracts is under guard."
"Good." Dan said. "You look tired, why don't you go get some sleep."
"Yeah. I'll do that. I'd crash at your place, but its a wreck. I'll get Ally, you need to talk to her." The female black wolf said, before opening the door and stepping out. Dan saw several guards outside the door.
Ally stepped in, her uniform still messy, but her short black head fur combed, and her eyes brighter and less haggard.
"Hey boss." She smiled lightly. "What ya need?"
"First, what is up with all the guards outside?"
"The SWAT team refused to leave, they won't leave your side. Half the department is in the hospital, they won't leave till you do." She said, as Dan laughed a bit. "You scared us shitless, and that bastard that attacked you is still out there, running around with God knows how many friends."
"WAIT....I thought Phyllis blasted him in the gut. She has a huge 12 gauge and doesn't miss. Plus Eugene probably had his Gerand from the Korean war."
"Craziest thing. Real paranormal stuff. He was dead for a few hours and even taken to the morgue, and the documents he stole were put into evidence, along with his clothes and stuff. Earl left his body locked up in the basements of the morgue, and came back the next morning and the body was gone. It had been bashed open from the inside and he was gone, along with his clothes and the documents. He had gotten up to evidence and got the stuff out, and left. Our on duty officers at the station heard and saw nothing."
"Damn. Those documents were department stuff. he took all of them. They contained our radio frequencies and encryption keys, plus the GPS numbers on our low jacked cruisers." Dan said.
"He and his goons will be able to listen in to our radios and know where our patrols are. With the encryption keys and GPS numbers, they could jam the radios and turn off the GPS systems and ambush our officers. They wouldn't be able to call in backup, and our dispatchers wouldn't know the location of the units. I'm getting everyone on patrol back to the station. At least its broad daylight, they might not try it then. Most of our cops are in town or on the highway. I'll be back."
Allison jumped up, calling the dispatcher on her cell, and telling her to get the deupties on their cells and have them return to the station. Dan sighed, he hated being bedridden, but his side was stitched up, and his wrenched shoulder was killing him. He growled in frustration, and got out of bed. Ripping off the various monitors and and pulling out the IV line. THe monitors started beeping, and a nurse and one of the deputies, the fox from before, quickly ran in.
"Sheriff, you need to stay in bed! You might loosen the stitches, you need to rest!" The nurse urged, trying to gently push the wolf back onto the bed. The small rabbit failed, and the deputy and one of the guards ran over to help.
"Sir! Get back in bed. Allison is handling everything, you can't do anything wounded like this." The fox said, helping the nurse ease the wounded wolf onto the bed. Dan finally, and grudgingly, sat back onto the edge of the bed, but allowed no further.
"Get off me." Dan said, glaring at the three furs.
"You are so stubborn. I'm not surprised. The O'Berns have a long history of hot headedness." A female voice said from the doorway. An aging female beaver in a black pantsuit entered, followed by another black suited agent. The beaver smiled at the wolf.
"I found out last night about what happened, and am glad to see you survived." Director Johnson said. "You were lucky your neighbors ran over. Thats the great thing about Texas. If it had been in many other states, you'd be dead. Of course patrolling a state with well armed civilians can be scary, I'll admit that."
"What do you need?" The wolf glared at her.
"Details. What did the attacker look like, strength, et cetera. Only a man capable of such feats, like coming back from the dead, would be capable of taking down our team of agents. This is obviously connected to your family's pharmaceuticals and biotechnology company. Why target you, and the Chairman of the Board? Maybe to draw your sister and her family here, to take you, her, and your brother out at the same time. Or ransom you. The CEO and owner of such a large company, heavily connected to government programs, that I'm not even closed to being cleared for, would be a valuable asset."
"Don't jack around with me." Dan glared, fidgeting as the nurse reattached the IV and monitors. "Just ask your questions and get out."
"Don't be hostile. We are on your side. Catching these bastards is my priority. Why do you think i Have brought half the damn field office here? This goes WAY beyond just you and your family. It goes way up to the government, and deep into its secrets. Hell, with the company break in, I wouldn't be surprised if the Department of Defense comes swarming into here."
"Great, as if i need more agents in my town. how the HELL did a quiet town of 3000 become overrun by the government? People are going to start to freak. I guarantee that everyone knows you guys set up a small base here, the owners of the B&B you guys rented out, for huge gobs of cash, are telling everyone at the farmer's market about it. Than i get attacked, and cops are swarming the hospital." Dan shook his head. "I came here to settle down. All i had to deal with was rowdy teens and car thefts before you guys showed up."
"I know what you mean. But please, lets just get this over with. My men and yours are in just as much danger as you and your family, let alone the people of this county. Lets figure this out."
Dan and Judy talked for several more hours, planning and figuring out what to do next. Allison had recalled all the units, and the station mechanic replaced the cruiser GPS's and radios with ones provided by the FBI, out of courtesy and good will. Plus they needed the department to be ready if they needed help. After a few quiet days of resting, Dan was finally discharged.
Dan stood at he desk, wearing his uniform and sidearm. Kristen stood next to him wearing sweat pants and a T shirt, looking nothing like the high powered executive she was. Dan sighed the papers, glad his left paw wasn't the one on the sling. Dan and Kristen and Ian walked out of the hospital, followed by Kristen's DOD guard and a county SWAT deputy. They climbed into the waiting armored car, and drove to the station, proceeded by the other company car, two county motorcycles, and followed by the SWAT truck.
People stared as the small motorcade rolled the the town, parting traffic. Dan looked out the window of the car, spotting many of the agents, some of duty, and also spotting many civilian guns, whether in the window of and old truck, or holstered to the hip of its owner. People were spooked, arming themselves. Even though it was Texas, and many people had guns, county and state authorities were working overtime, checking guns and licenses of all the town's citizens. No one wanted a panicked shoot out to start if something happened.
Soon they arrived at the station, pulling into the fenced off police lot and going into the old mansion, that served as the HQ, through the back door. The O'Berns were living in the spare rooms on the second floor, usually for tired officers or civilians related to a case to sleep over night or nap. This time, they served as the family home. Dan did not want to go back to his house. The window had been replaced, the blood cleaned up, and the bullets removed from the wall and the holes patched up, but it just wasn't safe anymore.
The 27 year old black wolf laid awake on his bed, not bothering to take off his uniform, thinking. Dan hated to think it, but at this rate, his department was swept up in a shrouded, top secret war between the government, O'Bern and Winston Pharmaceuticals and Biotech Corporation, and these super human freaks. He was pissed though. His thoughts were interrupt by a knock on the door of his room, Kristen and Ian had their rooms across the hall.
"Come in." The wolf called, leaning up, looking at the door.
A tall, beefy, white stallion walked through the door, smiling awkwardly, but happily.
"Zack?! What the hell are you doing here bro?" Dan said suprised, getting up off the bed.
TO BE CONTINUED
Hope you like it. Things will be picking up in the story pretty quickly, and it might have some yiff, once Dan's arm heals of course. ;-)