Саманта Сильвер - Sleeping With The Fishes

“Is it just the wing?” I asked Hehu.

“You say that as though it isn’t one of the most important parts of my body,” the kea whined.

“I’m sorry,” I replied. “I know it’s important, but luckily, a shot to the wing won’t be fatal. You will, however, have to be rehabilitated before you can fly again. It will take a while. Thank you. To all three of you,” I continued, looking into the back seat where Coolidge and Cherie were calmly sitting.

“It is us who should be thanking you,” Cherie said. “We could not sit idly by and watch a man attempt to hurt the woman who gave us our freedom.”

“I really appreciate it,” I told them. And I absolutely meant it. My heart was moved by the bravery of these three birds who had only known me for an hour. They had risked their own lives for mine.

“Shall we disperse with the sappy monologues and consider the pain I am in?” Hehu asked, and I had to smile. He was a cheeky little guy.

“Give me a second,” I said, opening the glove compartment. Being a vet, I had a decent amount of veterinary equipment in my car; I could never be sure when an emergency would come up. I found a tiny syringe of buprenex–because it was an opioid I never kept much of it in the car, even in the locked glove compartment–and checked the dosage. Birds were incredibly sensitive to dosages.

“Ok, I’m just going to give you a quick painkiller injection,” I told Hehu. Giving him as much of the opoid as I thought he needed, Hehu relaxed almost instantly.

“Ohhhh, that feels good,” he said, and I smiled at him. “We’re going to get you back home soon, ok?” I told him.

“It’s going to have to be soon,” Sophie said, glancing through the rear-view mirror. “I’m pretty sure Richard Steele is trying to catch up to us.”

I looked back just as a bullet blew off one of my car’s side mirrors. I let out a quick squeal, then turned to the two birds in the back. “Get down on the floor, as low as you can. That will be safest,” I told them, while holding Hehu close to me.

“Here goes nothing,” Sophie said, pressing her foot to the floor. We were on US Highway 20 now, which was thankfully, paved, but was still a two-lane rural road. I held on to Hehu tight as we overtook a Cadillac that was doing 10 under the limit before sliding back into our lane just seconds before hitting an oncoming truck.

“That was close,” I muttered, but Sophie didn’t reply. Her focus was entirely on the road.

“Did we lose him?” she asked. Since I couldn’t use my side mirror I looked behind me cautiously.

“No, he’s still there. He’s driving some sort of sports car.”

“Damn it,” Sophie said. “I told you to shell out some extra money for a real car,” she complained.

“I never really thought my car’s performance in high-speed car chases was something I needed to consider,” I replied.

“That’s always something you should consider,” Sophie said as the engine whirred. She was doing well over ninety now, and my heart leapt into my throat every time we took a corner. The next shotgun blast burst through the rear window, sending shards of glass everywhere. I instinctively bent down.

“How are we going to get away?” I asked.

“By trickery,” Sophie said. We were approaching the intersection to turn onto state highway 126; it was a left hand turn, with its own turning lane. However, Sophie stayed in the lane we were in. Seeing as there was a giant semi-trailer coming the other way, I figured that was a good thing. She slowed down a little bit, enough to let the crazy exotic pet owner with the gun catch up to us; I wasn’t sure that was a good idea.

“Are you sure about this?” I asked as I dared to peek through the broken rear window of the car. Richard Steele was now only about ten feet behind us, if even that.

“Everyone hang on,” Sophie practically shouted a split second before she wrenched the steering wheel to the left. My body was forced into the side door panel, and I heard the squawks of surprised birds behind me as Sophie cut across two lanes, missing the semi by what I was pretty sure was under a foot. I could have sworn I saw my life flash before my eyes, but it might have simply been the truck’s headlights passing inches from my face.

The truck’s horn blasted behind us as we burst through across the lanes and onto state highway 126. However, instead of continuing west, Sophie quickly cut across to the far lane and headed back east toward Sisters.

“Everyone ok?” she asked.

“My word, that was quite exciting, but I do think I’m all right. How about you, Cherie?” Coolidge said.

“Yes, I am fine, although I may have a small cut from some of the glass. The excitement is very welcome, I cannot remember the last time my heart raced so fast.”

“And I’m as free as a bird,” Hehu said. He was completely stoned.

“The birds are fine and so am I,” I told Sophie. “How do you know he’s not going to come back to find us?”

“I don’t, that’s why we’re still doing just under 100,” she replied, and I noticed her checking the rear-view mirror every couple of seconds. “We’re going to go back to Sisters, where I can lose him more easily, since there are a lot more roads and turnoffs there. Can you open your phone and find me a different route to get home?”

I nodded and checked my phone; by the time we got to Sisters there was still no sign of Richard Steele. We went back along US Highway 20 until we got to Bend, and then got onto US Highway 97 heading south for a while before finally cutting back west until we found the Interstate.

I don’t think I relaxed for even a second until we finally got onto the freeway, my heart still racing at a million miles an hour.

“We’re going to have a lot of explaining to do when we get back to Willow Bay,” Sophie said, glancing at the shattered rear window and the missing side mirror of my car. “Your insurance company is never going to believe this.”

It was probably the adrenaline talking, but I absolutely burst out laughing.

Chapter 13

When we got back to Willow Bay the sun was setting. I put the car in the garage to avoid anyone seeing the damage and asking too many questions, then brought Hehu into the house with me, along with the other two birds.

“Do you mind coming inside with me for a little while?” I asked them. “I just want to make sure you’re safe, plus there are a few other things I wouldn’t mind asking you to see if I can help find the people who brought you here.”

“Of course, we are happy to help,” Cherie replied as she flew around Sophie and me.

“Thank you,” I told them, opening the front door. The first thing I did when I got in was find Bee and her kittens and I put them in my room; I didn’t want there to be any excitement about the birds being in the house. I set Hehu down on the couch carefully; he was still sleeping. I figured I could take him into the vet clinic tomorrow and do what I could for his wing there, where the equipment was better, and the environment more sterile.

Sprinkles came over, wagging his tail, and carefully sniffed Hehu, then lay down at his feet.

“Good boy Sprinkles, this is a very special bird. He saved my life today, as did these other two.”

“I will guard him then,” Sprinkles said, and I knew he wouldn’t move from that spot.

When I walked back toward the kitchen I found that Coolidge and Cherie had perched themselves on the backs of two of the dining room chairs and were curiously watching Charlotte, who was sitting at the dining room table doing some kind of chemistry work.

“How did you run into two cockatoos and a kea?” she asked me without looking up.

“Uh, it’s a long story that involves a collector of exotic animals, me losing track of time and a car chase with a redneck.”