Crossing Boundaries

The Rescue

Sang felt sick with worry for Shep. She couldn't imagine what was happening to him. Luke took Sang's hands and crept around the house. What he was looking for, she had no idea. Luke was peeking into every window, looking for something.

"Wha...?" Sang started, but Luke placed a finger to his lips, shushing her. He signed to her, "I'm trying to find the room where they went into."

They came onto a lighted window at the back of the house. Luke crouched next to the window. There were voices coming from the room.

"Well? How long is this going to take?"

"Let me give him a check up first, Mr. Fischer."

"Make sure he doesn't wake up. We don't need him barking down the whole neighborhood."

"Don't worry about that, I can administer a stronger tranquilizer."

Luke peeked in at the window, trying not to be seen. He could see an operating table set up in the middle of the room. The dog was lying there. Standing over him were two men. Fischer was a short, portly looking man with a receding hairline. He was dressed in a brown suit with a red tie. The doctor standing next to him was in a white lab coat. Luke was surprised to note that the doctor was very young, didn't look older than 23. He was reedy and small and looked like he'd rather be anywhere but there in that room. He was hunched over the dog with a stethoscope in his hand.

Mr. Fischer was furiously tapping his feet on the floor and kept glancing at the doctor with a murderous look on his face.

The doctor's hands were shaking as he worked on the dog.

"Mr. Fischer, maybe a smaller dose is enough. Or let me modify the formula, make it more suited for big dogs."

"There isn't time for that, doctor," Mr. Fischer said. He looked ready to rip the doctor's throat out.

"But...but. It might not work. And we've worked on this formula for a long time. Wouldn't you rather..." But the doctor couldn't finish his sentence. Mr. Fischer suddenly lunged and grabbed the lapels of the doctor's coat and hauled him up with a brutal strength for someone who was so short.

"WE.DONT.HAVE.TIME," Mr. Fischer yelled, going absolutely red in the face. Spittle flew out of his mouth and landed on the trembling doctor.

"The shipment has to go out early tomorrow. We will make it on time even if we have to poison every goddamn dog in this fucking state." Fischer shook the other man as if he was nothing more than a ragdoll.

The doctor went pale and stammered out, "y...yes, Sir. I'll do what I can." He furiously went back to work finishing up the dog's check up and getting the procedure ready.

Meanwhile, Luke and Sang outside felt fear creeping up their spines. Sang's heartbeat rose and she clutched Luke's arm with anxiety. She signed to Luke, "Do something. He's going to drug my dog." Sang clawed at Luke's chest. From her state, she was ready to crash in through the window and attack the men by herself. Luke laid a calming hand on her arm, dragging her back. He pulled something out of his jacket pocket, and pressed a button. Suddenly sirens started sounding from the devise. The two men inside the room looked up startled.

Fischer started yelling, "FUCK, the police. Andrew, get in here." The doctor and Fischer flew into panic mode. They started covering up the equipment and transforming the room, to hide any evidence. The doctor harshly threw a blanket over the dog and placed some boxes in front of the table to block the sight of the drugged animal.

Fischer ran out the door with the doctor at his heels. Their footsteps thundered through the house as they ran to placate the "cops" and cover their activities.

Sang gaped at the device in Luke's hands. It was mimicking the sounds of the arrival of police cars, gradually increasing in volume. Sang placed her palm against her ears and signed to Luke, "what is this thing?"

Luke signed back, "quick, no time. I'm going in to get the dog out." Luke slid the window open further and Sang watched while Luke hauled himself up through the window. He quickly strode over to the dog and gathered the large animal in his arms. The dog, being quite a large breed, proved to be a bit of a struggle even for the Academy trained Luke to handle. Luke half dragged and half carried the dead weight over to the window and pushed him up to fall through. Sang was waiting on the other side with her arms stretched wide waiting for the catch. It was more of a drop rather than a catch as the dog landed heavily on Sang, taking her down to the ground.

Luke leapt lightly next to her and helped Sang out from underneath the dog. "Quick, let's find some cover. We can't make it to the car before they come back." Luke said, hurriedly.

They both carried the dog between them and dashed to some bushes bordering the side garden of the house. "This won't be enough though. They are sure to discover he is missing and search around the house. We need to try and move further away." Luke said. Luckily the fence to the neighbor's yard was broken at several places and both Sang and Luke could slip through with the dog.

The siren from Luke's hand was still wailing but Sang couldn't see what was going on back inside the house. Sang knew that at any minute they would realize that it was a false alarm and go back into the makeshift hospital room. And once they did, she knew that they will be furious and out for blood.