Otter Under Fire

by Dakota Rose Royce

  She had made it as far as the common area between fabricating and hydroforming. There a skylight made the visibility better, but Victoria caught up to her and slammed her against the wall. The maddened woman grabbed her throat and caused Otter to drop the steel bar. Otter couldn’t believe Victoria would be so stupid as to try to strangle someone when she had a broken hand. Otter reached up and grabbed the pinky of both of Victoria’s hands and bent them back as far as they could go. They made a satisfying snapping sound as did Victoria’s knee cap when it met the steel toe of Otter’s boot.

  “You never listened, you just did as you wanted,” Victoria shrieked at her. That phrase, the hysterical madness behind it just flipped a switch for Otter. Without warning, she became a mad thing herself. No longer a frightened child at the mercy of a mad woman, she was an adult and quite capable of defending herself. She jumped on an advancing Victoria and went wild.

  Victoria just kept screaming, an insane, shrieking sound of madness and pain at the highest possible level. And she just wouldn’t quit. Otter threw her across the room and backed against the wall. Victoria came at Otter again with her fingers curled in the position to scratch her eyes out. Otter grabbed the penetrating oil out of the side pocket of her cargo pants and sprayed Victoria directly in her face. Blinded, Victoria swung out in Otter’s direction and caught her on the side of the jaw, and Otter saw stars.

  Just then the lights came on. Otter found herself looking at the screaming wreck that was still trying to come at her. She bent down and grabbed the steel bar again. If she had to crush Victoria’s skull to keep herself alive, she would do it.

  Gonzo and two of the lathe operators appeared next to Otter with foam fire extinguishers and opened them up full blast on Victoria, finally putting her on the ground--retching and choking.

  “We heard the gun shots by your office Mee ha,” Gonzo said, keeping an eye on Victoria, “but I couldn’t find you—and there’s a big hole in your wall, especially in the hall on the other side. Good thing nobody was in the bathroom this morning. After all the alarms were turned off, we heard screaming, I followed the sound to this building and I see this crazy chica attack you. You’re a good fighter Meeha, I had no idea.”

  Otter laughed weakly and leaned against the wall.

  “So I tell my two guys here to grab the fire extinguishers and we came around so she didn’t see us. She is one chica loca, Meeha.”

  “Yes, she is.”

  “I’m only going to say this once while I’m sober,” Gonzo looked like he was going to cry. “You’re one of the best bosses I’ve ever had, Meeha; it sure would piss me off if some pendeja[13] took you out on my watch.”

  Otter closed her eyes to keep the room from spinning around her.

  “Kind of what I was thinking Gonzo,” she said.

  Otter concentrated on keeping herself breathing and from being sick to her stomach. Victoria must have punched her in the abdominal area somehow. She heard male voices all around her chattering rapidly in Spanish. Nobody had any rope, she gathered, so someone grabbed a couple plastic film dispensers from shipping and Victoria was plastic wrapped securely in place. She wouldn’t stop screaming so they stuffed a rag in her mouth.

  Otter crept sideways, holding onto the wall for support. Once she got to the corner, she made her way slowly back to Dan’s desk. She eased herself into his chair, even though she could hear her men call to her that the police and an ambulance were on the property. Carefully she put her forehead on the cool edge of Dan’s desk and felt for his wastebasket. She was violently ill for some minutes, grateful she had only had a protein shake for breakfast. Poor Dan, she thought, he always prided himself on a neat and tidy office. When he saw what she had done to it, he was going to be royally pissed.

  “My God Otter, are you all right? Let me look at you.” Joel’s voice came from somewhere above her. It was a nice voice, and it was rich and warm like beef and vegetable soup on a cold day. She savored the sound of it even though she was still afraid to move.

  “I think I have a concussion,” she said slowly. “If I move, I will throw up again.”

  “You really did a number on her.”

  “She tried to kill me,” Otter said. Her forehead was still resting on the desk and eyes were closed. “I did what I could to stop that from happening.”

  “Are you bleeding?”

  “I don’t know, probably somewhere.” She breathed for a moment. “You should probably tell the paramedics that she has penetrating oil in her eyes and foam fire extinguisher all over her. The fire extinguisher won’t hurt her, but the oil will do serious damage.”

  “Ooh, bet that stings,” Joel said and he went the few steps to relay the information as the ambulance crew were attempting to sedate Victoria for transport. He came right back and observed that Otter hadn’t moved.

  “You also should know there are pieces of a gun around here on the other side of the smaller press.”

  “We’ll find them.”

  “And another gun in a pile of scrap parts by my office.”

  “Good Lord, woman, anything else?”

  “No, but I hear there’s a good sized hole in my office wall.”

  “I heard about that too.”

  “Everything seems to still want to spin around me.”

  “They’ve called another ambulance for you,” Joel continued.

  “Yeah, I supposed I should get checked out.”

  “You certainly have some really good friends.”

  “I know that, but why would you say so?”

  “Because Tempest had me on my way down here this morning—we were almost here when we got the 911 call from your guy Gonzo.”

  “Why would Tempest call you down here?”

  “Because she said that she knew that if you were this worried there was something about to happen. She’s seen it happen with you before.”

  “Maybe she has a time or two.”

  “And she can be quite persuasive.”

  “That she is.”

  “Gonzo called when he heard a gunshot,” Joel said, “and he went to your office and couldn’t find you—but he did see the bullet hole in your back wall.”

  “My poor office has taken a beating lately,”

  “Not as badly as you,” Joel said, “Come on honey look at me, so I can see how damaged you are.”

  Otter rose slowly into a sitting position, keeping her eyes closed. Well, she couldn’t open one of them anyway; it seemed to have swollen shut. She heard Joel hiss and a moment later there was a cool wet rag on her face. It felt like heaven.

  “I think you’re right about the concussion, and you are going to have one heck of a black eye. Did she try to strangle you?”

  “Not for very long.”

  “You have bruises forming on your neck. I’ll bet you’ll be in the hospital for a couple of days like this.”

  “How is she?” Otter heard Addison’s voice.

  “Beat to shit,” Joel said.

  “Yeah, but you should see the other guy,” Addison chuckled. “She’s looking worse than Otter.”

  “She’s never had anyone fight back,” Otter said, leaning back in the office chair. “She’s always attacked people who had no reason not to trust her.”

  “The thing that’s bugging me,” Addison said, “Is how did she miss you in such close quarters? She was at your office door, your office isn’t that big, yet she missed and hit the back wall.”

  “The light was dim and I took a chance that she was like someone I used to know. I was lucky that I was right, or I’d be as dead as Clark right now.”

  “You’re finally awake, I was beginning to wonder,” Tempest said cheerfully. Otter slowly opened her eye and saw her best friend sitting by her hospital bed. Someone had brought Jabberwocky and tucked him under her arm. She pulled him onto her lap and wished he was Spooky.

  “I was under for a while,” Otter said. “The stuff they give you here must be really strong. I could swear there was a doctor in
here earlier wearing a satin bustier with half her boobs hanging out and a short pleather mini skirt.”

  “You may not have imagined that. I think I know her sister.”

  “Oh yes, Mitch’s sister. Victoria, you heard about her?”

  “I know you were almost killed by a crazy woman. How did you get away?”

  “You know something Tempest; she was a lot like my mother.”

  “Oh Otter, I am so sorry.”

  “Don’t be, it’s what saved me.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “I learned how to deal with Mom’s bouts of destruction; fortunately Victoria had a very similar pattern.”

  “That’s really interesting,” Tempest said. “For the first time in your life you can say that your mother prepared you in the event of a life threatening situation.”

  Otter would have laughed if it hadn’t hurt.

  “I’ll have to call my sisters later and tell them. They might find it interesting.”

  “Illuminating,” Tempest said.

  “It was actually quite cathartic,” Otter said, “A lot of the rage I didn’t know I held suddenly came out. I actually feel better.”

  “That’s funny, because you know, you look like hell.”

  “Feel like it too.”

  “Mom wanted to come and see you, but I told her you would probably be out of it most of today.”

  “Oh yeah, your mom is back. How is she?”

  “She’s doing yoga to the golden oldies, how do you think she’s doing?”

  “Well, she is your mother.”

  “And her suitcases are full of dinner napkins that she swiped and plans to use at her next dinner party.”

  “As to be expected.”

  “Uncle Leonard and Aunt Carole are on their way here, they want to make sure you’re in once piece too.”

  “I need to make sure I get a flu shot before I leave here then. You had better get one, too before they arrive at the house.”

  “I’ll stop at a pharmacy on the way home. Your boss was here earlier by the way, but you were asleep. So were Joel and his merry men.”

  “So did you talk to my doctor?”

  “Yeah, he said you looked like you spent some time in a cement mixer. Dammit Otter don’t do anything like this again, you scared 5 years off my life.”

  “Almost took the rest of mine from me. I knew something was wrong; I just couldn’t put my finger on it. When I saw her at my office door, I knew I was in trouble even before I saw the gun. Talk about dark, evil vibes.”

  “So what happened then?” Addison said coming into the room. “Excuse me for interrupting ladies, I was about to knock when I heard you talking.”

  “The power went out in the shop. Mitch must have told her where the breakers were.” Otter said. “Once the backup generator kicked in, I saw her in my doorway.”

  “She nearly had you at point blank range,” Addison said. “And she still managed to miss you?”

  “I dropped to the floor and the shot went over me. I knocked the gun out of her hand, slipped past her and kicked the gun down the hall into a pile of scrap parts.”

  “So there were two guns.”

  “At least,” Otter said, “I knew she was smart enough to bring a backup weapon in case there was a problem with the first gun. You will notice that the shot in my office wall doesn’t match the one by the door going out to the shop.”

  Detective Addison raised an eyebrow, but continued taking notes.

  “So what happened then?”

  “I ran out to shipping and tried to decide where to go to next. I didn’t want her shooting by the furnaces; she would have blown up the building if a stray bullet hit one of them. The same with the welding area, I knew a lot of people would get hurt if she shot a round in there.”

  “You have a crazed killer after you and you’re trying to lead her to the safest place for her to shoot at you?”

  “Not quite. I knew I needed a weapon, and one of the best weapons we have around the shop is a piece of bar stock at least an inch and a half diameter, about thirty-six inches long. I had to get to a department that had something that I could use. I certainly didn’t want her to kill all of us before I could stop her.”

  “I told you,” Tempest said patiently, “She figures out a way to bring metal into every conversation. Fortunately this time she did.”

  “So you’re having this rational, logical train of thought,” Addison said, “Then what?”

  “I knew the best place was Dan’s department. I ran for his office.”

  “Why did you choose Dan’s office?”

  “Dan is an interesting character. He was in the merchant marine and was severely injured while serving. He lost half an arm and one of his legs is shorter than the other. His office is equipped with all kinds of interesting tools that he made himself for heavy duty use for someone with only one hand. He is also a stickler for making sure all his tools are in his office in the exact place he expects them to be.”

  “So you went to Dan’s office for a weapon.”

  “Yes, he has a homemade pry bar that’s always by his desk. I grabbed the penetrating oil because he has the caps of all his spray cans cut and filed so you can flip them off with your thumb while holding it in one hand.”

  “Clever man,”

  “Yes, we’re lucky to have him. Since he runs the presses and they’re massive machines, it was perfect. I had a place to hide from any flying bullets.”

  “Sounds like you thought this through.”

  “I did, I’m the safety coordinator for the shop and I had to come up with a plan in case of attack. The hydro forming department was my choice for a fortress.”

  “That makes sense,” Addison decided. “Ok, then what?”

  “I crouched behind a press waiting for her to come after me and I smashed her hand as it was coming around the corner. I tried to run for it, but she caught up to me and tried to strangle me. I fought her as best I could.”

  “Her doctor found her injuries very interesting. He said it was like she was attacked by someone who knew the engineering of the human body. Every weak point and joint was hit like it was calculated to do the most damage.”

  “I had to stop her. She wanted to kill me.” Otter repeated patiently. “She would not stop and she went psycho crazy at the end and kept coming at me, so I pulled out the can of oil and sprayed her in the face, hoping to incapacitate her. Fortunately, Gonzo was there with a couple of the lathe operators and they hosed her down with the fire extinguishers.”

  “You have your people trained well.”

  “They’re good folks. All of them.”

  “I’m inclined to agree with you.” He hesitated for a moment, “Charlotte asked if you would come and see her. She would like to talk to you.”

  “Actually I would like to talk to her; I want to verify a couple of things.”

  “I can arrange it, but it will cost you.”

  “You want to see my security system.” Otter sighed. “Detective if it’s that important to you, I’ll show it to you.”

  He grinned at her and she rolled her one visible eye.

  There was a quick knock on the door and Michael strode in.

  He nodded at Addison and greeted Tempest. “How are you feeling?” He asked Otter.

  “I’m hoping Dan won’t kill me over what I did to his office,” Otter said. “I took stuff and made a mess.”

  “Are you kidding?” Michael said, “He wants to clear coat the floor where most of the blood is in the hall outside his office and have a plaque to you put on the wall next to the bullet holes. Everyone has tried to sneak in over there to see the damage.”

  Otter chuckled at that. “There are probably rumors flying all over the shop.”

  “Oh, you bet. It goes from a fist fight with someone’s crazy wife to a gun fight with someone who wanted to bomb the shop. You’re a folk hero. If I didn’t like you, I’d make you production manager right now.”

  Ott
er snorted out a laugh, it hurt but she couldn’t help herself. “So you have to dislike the production manager?”

  “Well, it’s a tough job and they guy doing it does better if he’s a bit of an asshole. Ron Defray was actually a pretty good production manager, I’m thinking of giving the job back to him.”

  “That would be ok,” Otter decided, “As long as he’s not my boss.”

  “Since you’re the manager of shop coordination and scheduling, he couldn’t be. I might make you his boss or at least his equal, so he’d have to play nice.”

  “He won’t like that.”

  “I’m counting on that.” Michael grinned. “Is there anything else?”

  “Well, there’s a rumor that Clark didn’t kill himself, have you heard?”

  “Yeah, I heard something like that.”

  “And I’ll probably need a couple of days off.”

  “I think we can accommodate that.”

  “Thank you.”

  They grinned at each other for a moment and Michael turned to leave.

  “Get some rest Mackenzie; I’ll see you in a few days.”

  “Ok, I will.”

  “Oh and Mackenzie…”

  “Yes?”

  “Thank you.”

  Otter smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  “Are you sure you’re up to this?” Joel asked Otter as they drove to the jail the day after she was released from the hospital.

  “Of course, I am. I have a lot of questions.”

  “It’s weird, but you don’t seem as traumatized as I expected.”

  “I actually feel quite good;” Otter said with a contented sigh, “Like a huge ball of cold has left me. It’s quite nice.”

  “Most people would be afraid to leave the house after confronting a crazed killer with a gun.”

  “I had the chance to confront a childhood nightmare,” Otter said, “and I won. Not many people get that opportunity.”