Page 32 of Scythe & Sparrow
Fionn’s eyes narrow as he hands me a beach towel.
“Walkie-talkie? Riot gear? Lasers? Surely you brought lasers, right? You’re not expecting we can take down an assassin raccoon with nothing more than a towel, are you?”
Fionn pulls on his own gloves and sighs. “Just … be careful.”
“Copy that.”
I grin at Fionn’s exaggerated eye roll and pocket the keys before I pull the gloves on. With the towel tossed over my shoulder, I make my way to the back of the clinic, making note of any potential entry points where Barbara might be gaining access into the building. A vent near the peak of the roof catches my eye, and though the grill looks like it’s in place, I’d be willing to bet money that she’s figured out a way to get past it.
“You might be tricky,” I say to myself as I unlock the door, “but you’re not circus-level tricky, Barbara.”
I step inside the air-conditioned building, shutting the door behind me with a quietsnick. The storage room I’ve entered is silent and dark. To my right, there are shelves with boxes of office supplies and latex gloves, masks and paper towels. To my left is an unlit hallway that must lead toward the exam rooms.
“Marco,” I call out as I flip on the storage room light. I lean my crutches against a wall and shift some boxes on a shelf, half expecting the raccoon to jump on my face. “Marco.” My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull off a glove and check the device.
Polo.
Shhh. She’ll hear you.
Loosen up, McSpicy. You’re worse than a bongo board in a blowdown.
.….
I have no idea what that means.
You know, the tent master? In a circus? During a storm that blows all the tents down?
… I’m still lost, but we’ll come back to that later. DON’T LET BARBARA SENSE YOUR FEAR. It makes her more aggressive.
I grin at the screen and pocket the device before taking up my crutches and starting toward the corridor.
And then I hear it. A rustling in the distance.
I dart as fast as I can to the mouth of the darkened corridor and lock eyes with the raccoon.
Barbara stands upright on her hind legs. Neither of us moves. She looks at me as though weighing her odds for coming out of a fight on top. And then, with her beady black eyes pinned to mine and her front paws folded against her chest, she walks on her back legs into the room at the end of the hall.
“Oh my God. That’s both creepy and adorable.Barbara, get back here.” I chase after the sound of her chattering call, losing my momentum when the towel slips from my shoulder and tangles around my crutches. There’s a momentary clattering of tiny nails on stainless steel, but all has gone eerily quiet by the time I regain my balance and make it to the darkened threshold. When I hit the light switch and look around the staff break room, Barbara is nowhere to be seen. “What the hell …? Doc …Doc…”
Fionn’s rushing footfalls draw to a halt just behind me. “No, Rose,” he says, his voice desperate. “She’s drawn to sound.”
I pivot to face him and roll my eyes. “Doc, you make her sound like a fucking velociraptor—”
“Duck!”
I turn just in time to see an angry ball of fur launching toward me from a shelf just above eye level. My crutches fall. My hands fly to my head. I dodge and spin on my good foot to watch as Barbara connects with Fionn’s face.
I toss the towel over them both.
“Why?” the mound of squirming towel laments.
“Sorry, Doc. So sorry,” I say, though it doesn’t sound super sincere when I can’t help but laugh. I grab what I hope is Barbara’s scruff as she growls her protests and Fionn releases a string of Irish-accented expletives. As soon as I’ve got her pulled off his face, he stumbles backward, his hair disheveled and his neck red with bloodied, crisscrossed scratches.
“What thefuck.”
“It worked,” I reply with a shrug as Barbara continues to squirm in my grip. “You’re welcome.”
“I’m going to have to get rabies shots.”
