“Are you a fucking doctor?”
Lottie unzipped the wounded man’s jacket and lifted his shirt to inspect the wound. “No. The doctor’s coming.”
“He needs a doctor, bitch.”
“Instead of you yelling at me and calling me names, why don’t you help get his jacket off of him,” Lottie snapped back at the man. Twice today she’d been called names. It wasn’t sitting any better this time as it had the first.
Once the man’s jacket was off, she grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the man’s shirt up the middle, then ripped it the rest of the way up. Applying pressure to the wound where the blood was already coagulating. That was a good sign. “How old are you?”
“Twenty-five,” the wounded guy groaned.
“Looks like the blade missed your kidney and the bleeding is slowing down. Which is a good sign.”
Moving around the two men watching their buddy, Lottie kept an eye on the door. Surely Gretchen went to find the doctor. “I’ll be right back.”
When Lottie tried to leave one of the men grabbed her arm stopping her. The rush of adrenaline and panic began to claw at her. “Let go of me. Now!”
“Where are you fucking going?”
“To get the damn doctor.”
His hand went to a gun at his side and she lost her temper. “Are you stupid enough to pull a gun in here? We have more cameras in this place than you can even count, you dumb prick. Now, I said let the fuck go of my arm!”
The guy dropped her arm as he leaned into her. “You’re a hot head. Get the doctor before I lose my temper.”
Lottie waved her hand in front of her face trying to remove his foul breath from her air space. “Asshole,” she mumbled stepping into the hallway.
She remained calm as she quickly walked up to the receptionist area. “I need you to get these folks out of here while I hit the silent alarm.” Gretchen’s eyes went wide and she shooed her along. “Do it quietly.” Lottie reminded the girl as she hit the alarm button under the counter. When she saw the last patient exit followed by the receptionist, Lottie grabbed the two-shot derringer from her purse and pocketed the small pistol.
As she made her way back to the room, the wounded man was swearing. Stopping outside the room she expected to see Razor in with the three men, but he wasn’t there. This was not going to be good. Backtracking she hustled to the back of the clinic andshoved the door open where she literally ran into Razor’s arms. “We have a situation in room five.”
“What kind of situation?”
“Three bikers. Not your kind of biker, sport bikes. One has a knife wound to the side. They’re riled up.”
“Let’s go. I want you to go up front…” Lottie cut him off.
“I already had Gretchen clear the waiting room and all other patient rooms. I told her to leave. And I hit the silent alarm.”
“Alright. It’s you and me, Lottie. If I tell you to do something that doesn’t make sense you don’t question me. You just leave the room and get out of here.”
“Okay, but nothing will happen. Let’s just get this guy taken care of and send them on their way.” Lottie started walking towards the patient’s room with Razor. “If we don’t have them out of here when the cops get here…”
Razor was the one stopping her this time. Nothing was going to happen that he couldn’t handle. He just needed her to do whatever he told her to do. “You stay out here and let the cops in when they arrive.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be fine.” Looking at the closed-door Razor had to make a plan fast. “I’ll leave the door open where you can hear what’s going on.”
She didn’t like it, but she’d promised she’d do whatever he told her to do. Backstepping, Lottie headed for the front desk to listen for the cops as he went in.. Razor was arguing with one of the bikers, so Lottie darted into the storage room. The gun onlyhad two shots. What if she needed another weapon? Something quieter. Something sharp.
Using her keys she struggled to unlock the stainless-steel cabinet. Going through the drawers, she found a pair of scissors and a scalpel. Taking both items, she put them in her empty front pocket, then slipped back out.
Just before she got to the reception area, there was more arguing from the room where Razor was trying to defuse the situation. Moving quickly, she attempted to get through the door that divided the waiting room from the back. A crashing sound had her moving faster. Realizing she couldn’t reach it, Lottie changed direction and darted behind the receptionist desk. Tucking herself underneath the desk she pushed to the very back of it.
“Patch him up, doc!”
“He needs a hospital, not a clinic,” Razor snapped at the guy with the gun.
