Tipping Point (29 page)

“Do you have a shower in here, Annette?” She nodded again.

“Would you like to clean up?”

“What about evidence? I don’t want to wash away evidence. I have to press charges!” Mac did her best to soothe her.

“Annette, there won’t be any way to press charges. The police aren’t really available for that kind of thing right now. Besides, he’s definitely suffering for his actions.”

“What did you do to him?” Annette’s eyes were wide open.

“We put a couple of shots into him, that’s all. He’s been into the Ketamine very heavily, and he’s tied up. I doubt he’ll be able to identify us later, from what I understand about the effects of Ketamine.” Annette’s shoulders slumped in relief.

“Thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know who you are, or how you ended up helping me, but thank you. And yes, I’d like very much to clean up now.” Mac helped her as Annette limped toward the bathroom near her office.

“I’m Mackenzie, though most people call me Mac. You may have noticed another man in the room with us, though maybe you didn’t. Either way that was Neil, my fiancé. We went to the shelter to get the ferrets out of the city. Kelly told us you haven’t been home for a while, so we all came looking for you.”

“Kelly? Is she here? Oh, God, I need to get washed up before she sees me like this. She always worries so much.”

“Well, I’m sure she’s pretty worried right now and would at least like to know you’re not badly injured. Do you have any broken bones or bad bruising? Something that might indicate internal bleeding?”

Annette shook her head.

“He backhanded me a couple of times when I wouldn’t give him the key to the drug cabinet. When I was on the floor he kicked me a lot, but I was mostly able to protect myself with my arms and legs. I’ve got no abdominal distension that would indicate any major problems, and the pain is no more than I would expect. If there was serious internal damage, I’d likely already be dead. I’m not sure what day it is now, but he did this Thursday afternoon as soon as he broke in.”

“Today’s Saturday. If you do have any problems, be sure to let us know right away. We’ve got a situation that needs to be dealt with. In here
and
out there in the rest of the world. That means we have to keep things moving as much as possible.

“Let’s get you cleaned up first. Hopefully the water is still running. Kelly can grab a change of clothes for you from her car.” Annette nodded and went into her bathroom, locking the door.

21

F
ERRET
B
USINESS AS
U
SUAL

Kelly burst into the hallway seconds after the bathroom door closed, trying to get to Annette.

“Easy, Kelly. She’s having a shower, and she’s going to need a change of clothes. Something loose, preferably. She’s pretty banged up, but says she doesn’t have serious injuries.” Kelly paced back and forth.

“Where is the son of a bitch?”

“In a lot of pain.”

“Good.” Mac’s mouth twisted into a sardonic smile.

“It took a couple of minutes to get Annette out of the room, and he was still sobbing and moaning. I don’t think the bullet holes agreed with him.”

“Where did you shoot him?” Mac almost laughed at the grim satisfaction on Kelly’s face.

“I got his shoulder, and Neil got his leg. He was coming after me with a knife, so stoned he thought I was holding a toy gun. I guess he didn’t see Neil, or figure I would put up much of a fight.”

“Are we going to have trouble over this?”

“Well, you certainly won’t, since you didn’t shoot anyone, but if a problem arises we’ll deal with the consequences.”

“We’ll never tell anyone. Annette can just say it was a couple of Good Samaritans that came along and helped her.”

“Not sure that would work. Especially if you both come with us, and it gets out we brought you to the farm. I still plan to get the slugs out of him. A little digging around would serve him right. Can you get some clothes for Annette while she’s getting cleaned up?” She said she would and Mac went back into the larger room.

She was spared the mess of digging for slugs, though it took her a while to find them in the dim room. Hers was lodged inside the back of the drug cabinet. It was so badly mangled by that point, she doubted they’d get any rifling marks, but she stuck it in her pocket anyway. She found Neil’s sticking out of the side of the man’s leg, so she yanked it from the wound. Her actions provoked a few curses from the stoner.

“Shut the fuck up. You beat a defenseless woman for some drugs, you slimy piece of shit. You’re lucky you didn’t do anything else to her, or it would be your dick you’d be crying about.”

“What the fuck do I want a nigger pussy for?” She could barely make out the words through the slurring, but that didn’t change the level of her ire at hearing them. She stomped on his leg wound in response, making him scream.

“Scum. You’re soon going to see just how hard life can get, even for a white boy, and I doubt very much you’ll survive. I’ll sit back and happily imagine your slow demise. For now, shut the fuck up or I’ll shoot you again.” When Neil walked back into the room, she happened to notice the blood on her hands.

“Gross. I have the scumbag’s blood on me. I need a sink.” Neil spun her toward the opposite wall. She began scrubbing her hands with antibacterial soap and a fingernail brush. She didn’t speak again until she’d dried her hands on a paper towel.

“I’m going to check on the ferrets. Kelly needs some time to deal with Annette and explain the plan to leave the city. I suppose it’s possible that Annette won’t want to go, but after this I very much doubt it.” Neil stroked her back and nodded.

“Okay, we’ll both go. This guy isn’t going anywhere, and I don’t enjoy being near him.”

They got to the side of the car, where Mac inhaled deeply.

“You don’t have any gum on you, do you?” Neil shook his head.

“Never mind. I’ve got some in the glove compartment, I think. Hang on a second. I can’t stand the taste in my mouth from the smell in there.” She found a container of the hot and spicy cinnamon gum she liked, and pulled two pieces out to stick in her mouth. She held out the container to Neil who shook his head again.

Mac sank down into the car to check on the ferrets. The twelve little bundles snuggled together in groups made her smile. They had water bottles attached to the carriers, with scoops under the spouts to prevent water getting all over the place, and there were feeders in the carriers, too.

There was kibble on the floor of the carriers, but that was to be expected. She was surprised more water hadn’t spilled out. Some of the city streets were pretty bad.

Mac stuck her fingers into all four carriers, one after another, letting the few ferrets that were still awake sniff the strange antiseptic smell on them. Of course, they were probably used to Annette smelling like that. A couple of them licked her fingers, and one decided a delicate gnawing was in order. It made her smile.

She got out of the car in a much better frame of mind, and looked over at Neil.

“You look like you feel better, honey.” She gave him a relaxed smile.

“It’s called
ferrapy
. Ferret therapy. There’s something about them that pulls away all the stress. You hold them or touch them and you’re suddenly filled with protectiveness and love, rather than whatever you were feeling before.

“That gives me an idea. I’ll be right back.” Neil shook his head at her and took his hand off the car’s door frame so she could close it.

“I’m with you,” he stated. Mac companionably took his hand and walked to the back door with him so they could go straight into the hallway. She went over to Kelly and whispered quietly in her ear.

“How is she with the ferrets? Does she have a favourite?” Kelly brightened at the idea.

“Yeah, she loves them as much as I do. Beanie Baby is almost like a familiar to her. We usually call her Beanie or Bean. She’s the really tiny one with the blaze. Completely deaf, so you have to be careful not to startle her.”

“I know which one you’re talking about. She was one of the ones licking my fingers a few minutes ago. I’ll go get her, as long as you don’t think Beanie will freak out if I bring her in here.”

“Not at all. She’s used to the smells, and she’s come in with Annette any number of times, just because Annette wanted her with her. She’ll be fine. If she was licking your fingers, she isn’t afraid of you. That’s a wonderful idea. I should have thought of that myself. I don’t know why I didn’t.”

“You have a lot of things on your mind. We’ll be right back with Beanie.”

They returned with the tiny little girl in less than a minute. Mac almost didn’t want to let her go, she was so sweet. Mac reluctantly handed her to Kelly, though. She couldn’t weigh more than three-quarters of a pound, and was the smallest ferret she’d ever seen. Of course, she’d only ever had male ferrets, and they could be twice the size.

“Annette, honey, I’ve got Beanie out here. Would you like to see her?” In an instant the door was open. She burst into tears the moment she laid eyes on the ferret, and her hands were shaking so bad she couldn’t pick her up and hold her, but Kelly held her up to Annette’s face.

With Beanie nuzzling into her springy hair, Annette began to calm down really fast. It was a good thing, because Mac was anxious to get on the road. Once Annette was able to hold the ferret herself, Mac started to speak.

“This may be bad timing, but we don’t have a choice. We need to get going, so Annette needs to have the situation explained to her. I don’t think there’s going to be a better time.” Kelly nodded, while Annette just allowed herself to stroke Beanie, not really even interested in the conversation.

“Annette, I need you to listen to this, because it directly impacts you. All of the greater Toronto area is in blackout, and martial law has been imposed. The blackout is spreading...” She continued to speak, while making sure Annette was really looking at her and listening.

“Kelly has already agreed to come with us, if you’re willing to go. We have no time for a drawn-out debate here. What happened in your clinic is a direct result of what’s going on in all the nearby cities. There is no longer any real law and order, so the assholes are coming out.

“There’s the typical looting and all that stuff, but we ran into a situation at your place that resulted in some violence as well. No one was killed, but we made sure they couldn’t continue to bully the neighbourhood. No matter where you go in the cities, it’s really fucking dangerous. Especially for women, as you’ve been blatantly made aware of.

“We came down to get the ferrets out of the city. We can give them a safe place where they’ll never run out of food. We’ve got a good set-up already, because we were preparing for this sort of thing.”

Annette was starting to absorb what Mac was telling her, and she looked to Kelly for confirmation.

“She’s right. We can’t stay in the city. In any of them. There’s no food in the stores. Please, tell me we can go with them. I want you safe, just as much as I want the ferrets safe.” Annette blinked, her eyes damp. Mac knew she sure as hell wasn’t feeling safe right now, and that was something any victim of violence desperately needed.

“You can keep us safe there? How?”

“It’s not just that we have weapons and good security. We’re very well-concealed, and with the two of you there will be eight of us. The more people we have, the less we’re going to have to worry about anyone coming to hurt us.” Mac looked at Neil when she said that. He’d been right as far as that went. If everyone was there, working together, they’d have so much less to fear than if it was every person for themselves. She didn’t like the idea of being crowded, but safety was the priority.

“But, doesn’t that mean more people to feed?” Annette directed her question at Mac. Instead of answering, Mac asked Neil how many goats and chickens he had.

“I’ve got twelve goats, same as you, so between us we have two-dozen. We have dozens of laying hens and a few roosters between us,” he continued.

“Wow. You guys really took the whole preparedness thing seriously, didn’t you?”

“Well, we were right, weren’t we? And the last thing you can count on when the shit hits the fan is bureaucracy. They aren’t very good at big emergencies. The first thing they did was scare the shit out of the citizens, instead of bringing in food and supplies. They’ve already invoked the War Measures Act, stripping people of their rights, and for what? They sure as hell can’t control anything that way.”

Mac was feeling a little pissy about Annette’s remark, despite the fact that she should be used to that. She just wasn’t expecting someone to think it was a joke when the evidence was all around them.

“Sorry. Really. I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. It was more relief that I was feeling than anything else. I really want to get away from this place. Do we just go now, or is there something else we need to do?” Mac gave her a once-over.

“Drugs. For the livestock. I’m not asking you to bring anything for people to get high. Sure, antibiotics will work for people, as will some other drugs you probably have here, but we only want stuff that’s necessary. I have FishMox and Bird-Sulfa, along with anything I could get OTC.

“The only prescription stuff I have is birth control for the younger generation, because it’s really easy to pick up a big supply of it.”

Mac saw a look flash across Neil’s face at the mention of birth control. She was going to have to talk to him about that, but it could wait for later.

“Hopefully that asshole didn’t destroy your entire supply of Ketamine getting high, because we might need it for the animals. Kelly tells me you’re a good vet, and anyone who even got into veterinary school I know has to be damn smart, so I don’t have to tell you what we need. To be honest, I have no idea. I have all kinds of books on chicken and goat diseases, anatomy, and treatments, but I haven’t had the chance to read any, and certainly haven’t got a clue what they might need to keep them healthy in the future.