Wilde Chase

Evernight
Publishing

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2014 Susan Hayes

 
ISBN:
978-1-77130-702-4

Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

Editor: Lisa
Petrocelli

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or
distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
 
No part of this book may be used or
reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names,
characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events,
locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

This book is in memory of the
real Police Service Dog, Chase, who served with distinction until his death in
the line of duty.

It's
dedicated
to my best friend, Karen, who
listens to me rant and ramble about the worlds that exist only in my head, and
has never questioned my sanity.
(Even when she probably
should.)

WILDE CHASE

Wilde Brothers, 1

Susan Hayes

Copyright © 2014

Chapter One

When her phone rang,
Kelly groaned and briefly contemplated tossing the cursed device out the
window. It was after ten at night and she had only just flaked out on her couch
to unwind. Being a veterinarian meant long hours and late night calls, but the
last few days had been nonstop chaos. The clinic’s other vet was at a
convention, leaving Kelly on call day and night. She couldn’t wait for him to
get home so she could snag a good night’s sleep.

With a sigh, Kelly
checked the caller ID but didn’t recognize the number. Well good, maybe it
wasn’t a work emergency after all.

“Hello, this is
Doctor
Towers
.”

“Hi
Doctor
Towers
,
this is Tina. I guess I should have called you sooner, but I couldn’t get the
alarm to work when I was locking up. I had a date though, so I couldn’t stay
and fight with it. I locked the door, but then I just remembered that you told
me to call you if there were any problems, so, here I am, calling you.”

Kelly closed her
eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose in a vain attempt to stave off the
headache she knew was coming. “Tina, are you telling me that the alarm has been
off since you went home? That was hours ago!” Normally Kelly or her partner,
Chris, were the last ones to leave, but Kelly had been out making a rare house
call and had left their newest hire, Tina, to lock up. Clearly, that had been a
mistake.

“Well, like I
said, I was out on a date. I’m telling you now though, so it’s all good, right?
I gotta’ go,
Doctor
Towers
, have a great night
and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“When you come in
tomorrow, you and I are going to have a serious talk. Things are not
all good
, Tina. Not by a long shot.”

There was a pause,
and then Tina breathed a soft sigh. “Okay, Dr. Towers. I’m sorry.
Uh, good night.”

“Good night,
Tina.” Kelly stared at her phone for a second, sighed, and disconnected the
call. When Chris got back from this latest convention, they were going to have
to have a talk about staffing. Their full time assistant, Amber, was a gem, but
they were getting busier and needed more help. More
qualified
help. Tina just wasn’t going to make the grade. She
needed to talk it over with Chris before making it official, but Tina was going
to be unemployed soon.

The last thing
Kelly wanted to do was head back to the clinic, but there was no way she could
leave the place unalarmed all night. That was just asking for trouble. Kelly
grabbed the pint of cherry ice cream off the coffee table as she got up and
popped the lid back on. Her plans for ice cream and TV before bed had just been
scuttled.

Once the ice cream
was back in the freezer, Kelly grabbed her purse and shoes and headed for the
door. At least it was late enough there shouldn’t be anyone around to judge her
fashion sense, so she opted to stay in her yoga pants and tank top. If she had
to go out, she was at least going to be comfortable.

****

Urban Paws, her
clinic, was located on the edge of one of
Chicago
’s
rougher neighborhoods, which meant the rent was cheap, but a good alarm system
was a necessity. Kelly liked living and working on
Chicago
’s
West Side
,
close enough to get downtown when needed, but far enough from the heart of the
city to have a sense of community. If she put her mind to it, she could make
the walk to the clinic in fifteen minutes, though it was hot enough tonight
that she didn’t try to move that fast. The streets were nearly empty, no doubt
because anyone with an ounce of sense was somewhere with air-conditioning right
now, waiting for the sultry night air to finally cool off enough to sleep.

When Kelly arrived,
she was relieved to see that the lights were off and the front door was still
locked. At first glance, everything seemed fine. It wasn’t until she was
through the door that she noticed something wasn’t right. Rosencrantz and
Guildenstern, the office’s resident cats, should have greeted her, but they
were nowhere to be seen.

Feeling the first
inkling of concern, Kelly took the canister of pepper spray she always carried
out of her purse and turned on the lights to the reception room, instantly
flooding the cozy space with enough florescent light to make her see spots. “Hello?
Rosie?
Stern?
Come on guys, this is no time to be
playing hide and seek.”

Nothing.

Pepper spray in
hand, Kelly edged past the reception desk and peered down the short hall to the
exam rooms. Everything looked quiet, but she couldn’t shake the sense that something
was off. The office didn’t
feel
right
somehow. Maybe one of the cats was sick, or maybe it was just that she wasn’t
used to the place being this quiet. Overnight patients weren’t uncommon, though
tonight the back cages were all empty. It could just be the lack of noise and
her finely tuned sense of paranoia that had her on edge.

Maybe that
Criminal Minds
marathon this evening hadn’t been such a
great idea after all.

Kelly headed back
into the clinic, turning on the lights as she went. With every step, the sense
that something was off got a little stronger. She had just stepped into the
second examination room when she heard something behind her, and then the proof
she wasn’t being paranoid body-slammed her from behind, sending her and the
canister of capsicum flying off in different directions.

Shit!

“Run!” Someone
yelled, and then she heard several sets of footsteps pounding down the hallway
away from her. Kelly turned her head just in time to see a pair of feet race
past the door, but sprawled facedown on the floor really wasn’t the best
vantage point for getting a good description. Most of what she could see was a
pair of shoes and evidence that the dust bunny population was out of control.
 

The front door
chime sounded, cheerfully announcing that her thieves had left the building via
the main entrance. They must have come in through the back door. A door that
was supposed to remain locked at all times, even though some of the staff used
it to sneak out for a smoke break several times a day.

Tina was
so
fired.

Kelly rolled over
and eased herself up to a sitting position, taking a quick assessment of the
damage. She had bruised knees and a bump on the head from hitting something on
the way to the floor, but nothing life threatening. The only thing that had
died a tragic death this evening was her pride.

Next time, she was
going to call the cops
before
she
went exploring.

With that thought
Kelly climbed back to her feet and went in search of a phone. She had a break-in
to report, two cats to find, and a lot of inventory to check.

****

Officer Ben Wilde was
just heading back to the station to wrap up his shift when the dispatcher
rattled off a familiar address as the target of a break-in. Urban Paws was the
clinic he used for his canine partner, Chase. They’d been there just last month
for stitches after Chase had tangled with a suspect’s Rottweiler during a
takedown.

“Sorry, buddy.
Shift is going to last a little longer, I want to go check on this.” The German
shepherd whined in protest from the back of the vehicle, and for the thousandth
time Ben wondered just how much his four-legged partner really understood. He
had a suspicion Chase knew a lot more than he let on.

Ben had been taking
his dog to Dr. Hertz since he and Chase had made it through training together. Urban
Paws was the unofficial vet clinic for many of Chicago Police Department’s canine
officers and Ben could see why the first time he went. Despite being on the
outskirts of a rough area, the clinic was professional, well run, and friendly.
They were a part of the community too, offering free services and discounts to
those who needed it.