The insistent beeping broke through what was a decent dream, and she groaned as she reached for her phone and forced her eyes to focus on the message on the too bright screen. “Again?” She threw aside the covers and grabbed some clothes as quickly as she could while groggily opening the video playback for the triggered alarm.
A man she unfortunately recognized pounded on the glass front door, with another man and a woman standing behind him. They seemed surprised when the glass shattered, but that didn’t stop them from going inside.
“Dammit. And you’re not going to pay to fix that, are you, Mr. self-righteous slaver?” She shoved her feet in her junk shoes and grabbed her keys as she rushed out the door. Her phone rang as she got in her car and she put it on speaker then tossed it on the passenger seat.”
“Mrs. …”
“Yes, I see it. Are the police on their way? I should be there in about ten minutes, and somebody needs to catch them before I introduce their face to my bat!”
“Ma’am, I must caution you against endangering yourself or causing bodily harm in defense of property.”
“It’s not about property. They’re hunting people and think I’m hiding them. I don’t care if they call it ‘reclaiming property’ they don’t have the right to break into my clinic in their bigoted pursuit. This is the same arsehole that threatened me in front of my patients two months ago because he thought one of them belonged to him and the police told me to just let it go. I’m not letting it go this time. They’ve screwed up and need to be punished, and I’m going to give them some of the punishment they lay on my patients.” She grunted as she sped around a corner, ignoring the stop sign.
“Ma’am, I’ll remind you that these calls are recorded.”
“And the cameras in the clinic are about to record me scoring ten runs on their heads. Get the…” Another hard turn pulled her focus for a moment. “Get the police there to arrest them or me, I don’t care anymore.”
“Ma’am, you run a clinic, right? Who will take care of your patients if you go to jail?”
She grunted and growled in frustration as her rage fought desperately against reason, compassion, and self-preservation.
“Ma’am?”
“Fine.” She noticed flashing lights coming toward her as she reached the last turn in far less than ten minutes. “Looks like the police are going to make it in time to save them, anyway.” She stopped hard in front of the broken glass door and grabbed her phone, then reached under her seat to pull out a cricket bat.
“Good. Now just stay back and let them do their jobs. Okay, ma’am?”
She opened the door to get out and slammed it as she focused on the door of her clinic. “Not likely. I’m not giving them a chance to buddy up with the cops and slime their way out of this.” Her shoes crunched on broken glass as two police cars pulled up around hers.
“Stop! Drop the weapon!” Two police officers pointed their guns at her and waited for her to comply as two more got out of their vehicle.
“This is my clinic! Are you going to get in there and get them, or do I have to?”
“Put the weapon down!”
She slammed the bat to the ground. “There, now go get them!”
“Get down on the ground.”
“Are you kidding?” She looked at the four officers still pointing guns at her and grunted in resignation, then carefully stepped away from the broken glass to slowly lie down on the damp sidewalk. “I can show you the video of them breaking in.”
One officer kicked the bat away, then knelt to pat her down as the other three headed inside.
Her phone started beeping again. “And that’ll be them running out the back door.”
“Alright, ma’am, you can stand up.”
She grunted more in frustration than strain as she pushed herself to her feet.
“Please step over to the vehicle until they clear the building.”
Pulling out her phone, she brought up the security app and saw the back-door alarm as she expected. “They’re long gone. See?” She held her phone up.
“You said you have video of them breaking in?” The officer kept watching the door as the others made their way back.
“Yeah, just a sec.” She brought up the lobby camera and scrolled back to them pounding on the door. “Here they are. The view will get perfectly clear when they break the door and walk in.”
The officer nodded to his colleague, then took her phone to watch the video. “Hm. You can send this to me?”
“The security company will pack up high-quality clips and shots related to this incident and get it to me by morning. I can include the packages from the other times they harassed us, too.”
“Your lawyer can use those, but we just need this incident.” He gave her phone back and pulled a card from a pocket. “Here’s my card and instructions for submitting evidence are on the back. You say you know who they are?”
She snorted her disgust, “Yeah, Martin…”
“One moment.” He clicked his pen and scribbled a little on the corner of his pad. “Okay, Martin?”
“Yeah, Martin Kanaber is the big arse that broke the window and his sister, Drissy, is the fat…” she stopped herself and cleared her throat, “His sister, Drissy, is the woman and the other is probably her son, but I never got his name.”
“Martin Kanaber, Drissy Kanaber…”
“I don’t know if she’s Kanaber.”
The officer scratched through the name on his pad. “Is there anything else you can tell us?”
“Well, he works for Dannish Home Services and abuses morphs.”
“And your clinic serves morphs.”
“Yes, that’s why he keeps harassing us. He beats them till they run away, then blames me because they feel safe with me.”
“Mhm. So, we’ll escort you inside to document any damage or theft.”
She watched the other pair of officers pull away, then sighed as she headed inside.
“What is your name, ma’am?”
“Dr. Anje… wait a moment.” She stepped to the counter and took a card from the stand. “I’m Dr. Anjela Milwaí and this is my clinic. Most of our patients are morphs and slaves of local families. They depend on us.”
“Ma’am, slavery is illegal. Be careful with your accusations. Morphs are legally man-made property.”
Anjela scowled, “I know what the law says, but it’s wrong, and it will be changed.”
The officer sighed, “Until then, we have to enforce the laws as they are now.”
“I know. And that means arresting the criminals that broke into my clinic. They broke the locks on every door!” Dr. Milwaí screamed in frustration.
“Ma’am, is there any more damage?”
“I…” She hurried past the exam rooms to her office. “They turned over my desk!”
The officer walked down the hall writing in his pad.
Anjela turned around and went for the storage hall toward the exit, “They didn’t get into the drugs, but they cut into a bunch of supplies we will have to replace.” She pulled the emergency door to latch, then turned to the front when she heard a commotion.
The officer held out a hand and put his hand on his gun as he led back up the hall.
“Anje?! Are you alright?”
“It’s my husband.” Dr. Milwaí tried to push past the officer, but he held her back.
The other officer called through the door, “Ma’am, do you know this man?”
“He’s my husband! He’s Dr. Rade Milwaí.”
The officer outside let go of Rade’s wrists as they came out.
“I think we need to get copies of your IDs.”
“Are we the criminals now?” Anjela sneered.
“No, ma’am, but we still need your information for our report.”
“Relax, Anje. We’re fine.” Rade wrapped his arms around his wife.
She sighed and hugged him back, “I know. I’m just so… so…” She grunted her frustration. “How can they get away with doing this?”
“Ma’am, we need your IDs.”
“Right.” They pushed apart to pull out their licenses to give to the officers who took pictures of them and gave them back.
“So, we’ll file this and a detective will get in touch with you.”
“That’s it?” Anje scoffed.
“That’s all for us. We have to get back on patrol, but the detective will continue the investigation and make any arrests.”
“They’re doing their job, love.” Rade put his hand on her shoulder.
“What about the door?” She put her hand on his and looked at the officers.
“That’s up to you and your insurance company.” The officer put his pad in his pocket and looked to his partner.
“Ugh, I wasn’t even thinking about having to deal with that.” Anjela groaned.
“It’ll be alright. Nancy’s nice, remember?” Rade patted her back as he pulled his hand away to dial his phone.
The officer sighed as his partner got in the car, “I don’t think they will be coming back tonight, but we will be in the area if you dial 911.”
“Do you think they will be arrested soon?”
“There seems to be plenty of evidence with that video, but it’s out of my hands now. I'll remind you that if you assault them, I will have to arrest you, so wait for police to arrive next time. Good luck with your insurance and have a good night.”
She watched in some disbelief as the officer got in the car, and they drove away.
“Anje, Craig says someone is on their way to help us secure the clinic. Do you want to talk to him?”
“Not right now.” She kicked some broken glass as she walked back inside. She picked up a chair and set it right. “I just hope we can get this cleaned up in time to open.”
“You can’t worry about that right now.”
“I have to. There’s no place else around here that our patients can go. They’re not welcome at the emergency room. We have to be open.”
Rade walked in and put his hand on her shoulder again, “Alright. I know. We’ll get it cleaned up.”
She sighed and turned to her husband, “You have to work tomorrow.”
“So do you. I’m not leaving you tonight.” He rubbed her arm then laughed. “Craig’s staying, too.”
