"Alfie let's go!" Jay commanded impatiently.
The dog had taken an interest in the buckets of flowers outside the Vietnamese market on their way home from their evening walk. He inspected each one, sniffing them up and down before sitting stubbornly in front of the bucket of colourful lilies, ignoring the fact that the shop keeper was packing his outdoor displays away for the night. Jay had tried everything short of picking the damn dog up to get him to move. Nothing worked. It wasn't like Alfie to be so stubborn and disobedient. Jay sighed. Clearly the dog had his own agenda this evening.
"What Alfie. What do you want?"Jay pleaded, exasperated. The dog turned his head to look up at Jay then back at the flowers. "Flowers? Really? You want me to buy you flowers?"
Alfie barked. Jay couldn't help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation. He was about to tell the dog to forget it when it dawned on him he'd never bought Erin flowers before. With a shrug he fished out some money to pay the shop keeper and picked up a bunch.
"Will these do?" He asked the dog.
Alfie rose to his feet and began walking towards home. Jay shook his head and muttered at the dog. The things he did to win favour with the mutt, but at least he'd get to see Erin smile at their surprise purchase when she got off shift tonight.
As he rounded the corner onto Erin's street he saw two young men hovering at the entrance to an alley. The cop in him was immediately suspicious but he was tired and hadn't eaten in hours and just wanted to get the dog home so he told himself to walk past and mind his own business.
As he approached one of the young men stepped into his path, forcing Jay to stop. "Can I help you with something?" Jay asked casually, quickly assessing his options and the man who began to pace around behind him.
"Yeah," said the man in front of him. "You can give me your wallet," he demanded.
Jay couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips. These boys had no idea who they were holding up. They were in for a shock.
"You think it's a game man?" The man asked, agitated, and pulled out a gun.
The smile left Jay's lips. Jay wasn't carrying, not expecting any trouble in Erin's neighbourhood while he walked the dog, especially not this early in the evening. Jay ran through scenarios in his head deciding which was his best course of action when a sharp cool blade came to rest on his throat, and the man holding it stepped into him.
"He told you to give him your wallet," the man with the knife spit out.
The man with the gun began yelling at Jay and waving his weapon back and forth. His tone made Alfie's ears press back and he began growling and barking at the men.
"Shut that dog up or we'll kill him too...." the gunman yelled.
Alfie leaped up at the man, ripping the leash from Jay's hand. His gun flew from his hand as the man fell backwards. Startled, the man holding the knife to Jay's throat slackened his hold slightly and Jay took the opportunity. He kicked back as hard as he could and twisted around when his attacker buckled from the sharp pain. But he recovered quickly and grabbed at Jay again. They struggled wildly, Jay feeling a sharp blow to his ribs before Jay was able to twist the knife out of his attackers hand and bring it down into his thigh. The man yelled in pain and dropped to the ground. Jay removed the knife from his attackers leg and kicked him hard in the head. The blow knocked him unconscious and Jay turned to face the gun man.
Alfie had a hold of the man's neck and wouldn't let go. The man kept kicking and punching at the dog but Alfie wouldn't let go. Before Jay could pounce, the man reached out and grabbed his gun. He closed his fingers around the trigger and shot it at the dog, the bullet making contact with Alfie's abdomen. Alfie whined and yelped, falling off the man. He scrambled to his feet and ran.
The gun shot echoed in Jay's head "Nooo!" Jay breathed out, forgetting the fleeing assailant and dropping to his knees beside Alfie.
"Alfie," Jay whispered. He took off his jacket and applied pressure to the open wound. With his other hand he fished out his phone, frantically connecting with dispatch requesting assistance.
The ambulance attendants tried to evaluate Jay but he was only concerned with getting Alfie to help. They loaded the dog in a cruser and headed out to an animal hospital while uniforms dealt with the unconscious assailant. Jay quickly gave a description of the fleeing gunman and the details of the assault before heading to the animal hospital. Erin's flowers lay scattered and crumpled on the sidewalk, forgotten.
When he got there he was informed Alfie was in surgery and that it would take awhile before they knew anything. Jay sat heavy in the waiting room chairs and pulled his phone back out, dreading the call to Erin. If Alfie didn't make it she'd be heartbroken. Who was he kidding, Jay's heart would break too but he had no one to blame but himself.
