Kellie and Brad Ch. 10

Cathy Wainwright retrieved a couple of items from the supply room. She suddenly had a strong sense of being watched by an unfamiliar set of eyes. As unnerving as it was, she tried her best to suppress it. But when she turned to look at who was watching her, she immediately remembered who the man was, and the uneasy feeling inside her rapidly intensified.

"Can I help you?" she asked the intruder, as she attempted to show more bravado than she actually had.

"You know what I want," Paul growled with menace.

"No, I don't," Cathy replied. Which was a lie. She knew exactly what he wanted.

Paul slowly advanced, ignoring the doctor's words. "Where's Anita?" he asked.

"I don't know," she answered, and this time she was telling the whole truth and nothing but.

Still he moved forward. "Where is Anita?!"

"I don't know!"

Before Cathy could react, Paul closed the remaining distance between them and clamped one of his large hands around her neck and squeezed.

"You're going to tell me where Anita is, bitch," he snarled, "or else I'm going to choke the life right out of you!"

Cathy struggled to break Paul's grip, but he was so big and strong. She started to become light-headed from the lack of oxygen. He suddenly let go, and she bent over, coughing and gasping to fill her lungs with air.

"For the last time," he said, "where is she?!"

"I'm telling you, I don't know, you have to believe me..."

He closed his hand around her throat again. She tried to yell for help, but all the sound she could make was a low, harsh croak that no one outside the room could possibly hear.

A male resident physician who worked with Cathy regularly happened to walk in at that moment, looking for her. "Dr. Wainwright, you... oh shit!" he yelled as he saw her in trouble. He rushed in to help release her from the man's grip. Paul heard him coming. He turned and swung his fist, landing it squarely on the resident's jaw. Cathy tried to use the distraction to strike back, but Paul's attacks had weakened her and slowed her reaction time. He easily batted away her efforts and choked her for a third time.

The mistake Paul made, he'd realize later, was forgetting about the other guy. He didn't see nor hear him scramble away in search of reinforcements.

Cathy's head was swimming, and her strength was ebbing away. She tried not to panic, but it was hard... so hard, not to. She wondered if this madman was really going to choke her until she died, and that caused her to think about all the things she still wanted to accomplish in life. She definitely knew she wasn't ready to die just yet.

She was barely aware of the resident physician returning, and she was barely aware of the four large men he brought with him. Two of them were paramedics and former champion wrestlers in university, and the other two were policemen who just happened to be at the hospital in the course of bringing someone in off the street for medical assistance.

She barely felt herself slump to the ground after the four large men finally broke Paul's grip on her and subdued him. She barely heard Paul's incoherent screams of rage as the cops handcuffed him, read him his rights and led him away. She barely recalled the resident doctor pulling her up to her feet and carefully walking with her to the staff room.

The next thing she did clearly remember was the doctor offering her a cup of coffee. She silently but gratefully accepted it. She took a sip, swallowed and winced at the pain.

"You'll need to get that checked out, Dr. Wainwright," the young doctor said soothingly.

Cathy saw the one side of his face, where the attacker's fist had connected, was badly swollen. "I will," she replied in a low whisper, "as long as you get yourself checked out too. That's an order."

He smiled and said, "Yes ma'am!"

The doctor momentarily left the room. He soon poked his head back in and said, "The police don't want to rush you, but they will need to take your statement soon."

Cathy nodded. "Give me a few minutes," she croaked. At that, the doctor nodded and stepped out again, leaving her to her thoughts.

Cathy reached for her belt holder and pulled out her cell phone. She looked through the address book and found the number she was looking for. As she was about to press SEND to start the call, she stopped herself.

She had been about to call her other "rescue" partners. They had another "intervention" for another woman in an abusive relationship that they were planning to do the following night. Cathy considered calling the whole thing off. The attack by this man scared her badly, and she wondered if he knew too much and spread the word, meaning their cover might well be blown for good.

But then she thought of Anita, the young woman she had freed from this madman's clutches, and her young son. She hoped they were doing well and taking full advantage of the freedom she and her team helped them to gain.

Cathy then thought again about this new woman, the one she and her team were next planning to assist. How could she deny her the same chance at freedom she had helped grant to Anita and her son, as well as the others she and her team assisted in the past?

So she cleared the number and set her cell phone back to idle mode before returning it to the holder. No matter the difficulties, no matter the personal cost, she could not walk away from this path she had chosen for herself.

Besides, she was nothing if not a professional.