I was a pretty good pitcher in the days when I had time to play ball. Shark made a strangled sound and doubled over. I followed up the soup with a big, heavy can of garbanzos that hit him in the temple. He collapsed, loosing a shot as he fell, but Maggie had ducked and the bullet went over her head.
While she was bent over, she scooped the other two guns from the floor. By that time, I had collected Shark’s weapon as well.
I yelled, “It’s OK in here, officers! I’m one of two customers. The three robbers have surrendered and given us their guns. Call an ambulance! The clerk is badly hurt.”
“Put your hands in the air!” the gruff cop voice called.
It wouldn’t be good for the police to come in and see three guns, so I set Shark’s way up on a shelf of canned goods. After I added Maggie’s two weapons, I raised my hands and yelled, “Come on in!”
The two thugs who were still standing looked a little dopey from whatever Maggie had done. The police entered in a wary crouch, weapons at the ready. When they saw the threat was over, they relaxed and cuffed the robbers. I guess I still looked harmless because they didn’t even suspect me of being one of the bad guys.
An ambulance arrived, and suddenly the deli was full of cops and EMTs looking to see if Rajiv was salvageable. One whistled softly as he checked Rajiv’s heartbeat and blood pressure. “This guy’s the luckiest man in New York City. He’s lost a lot of blood, but the bullets seem to have missed the major blood vessels.”
Fortunately, it wouldn’t occur to them that Rajiv had been healed by magic. “I did what I could to slow the b
leeding,” I explained. “He and I are both fourth-year med students and his father is a surgeon. Take good care of him.”
The EMT nodded as he and his mate stabilized Rajiv. Medical people look out for their own. “He’ll make it. You do good work, doc.” High praise.
As Rajiv was hoisted onto a gurney, he managed a crooked smile. “Don’t let the grands get too freaked out, Charlie.”
I patted his hand. “I’ll tell them you’ll be OK.”
His grandparents would go straight to the hospital, I suspected. His parents, the judge and the surgeon, would grab the first available flight from Dallas. Thank God the news about Rajiv was good.
As the barely conscious Shark was wrestled to his feet, a policewoman said to Maggie and me, “Stay out of the way while we take care of the perps and victim. We’ll need statements.”
I nodded and moved to the back of the shop, Maggie following. She looked as drained as I felt. I asked, “Want a latte?”
She smiled crookedly. “You’re a barista as well?”
“I helped out Rajiv sometimes when things got busy.” I made two of my favourite mocha lattes, heavy on the cream and chocolate syrup, but only single shots of caffeine. I figured both of us had had enough stimulation for one night.
Maggie accepted the latte, took a swig, then slid down to the floor, her back against the cabinet. “That was an impressive job of healing, Dr Owens.”
“Charlie.” I heaped as much whipped cream on top of my latte as I could, then joined her on the floor, only a few inches between us as we leaned back against the coffee cabinet. Despite all the noise and activity — there were now TV cameras filming outside - we had our own private little space to talk. I’d brought a handful of cranberry scones down with me, and I offered one to Maggie.
Scones are first-class comfort food. She tried to be ladylike, but failed. After demolishing one in two bites, she said, “Remind me to never again go out for food at 2 a.m. in New York City.”
“OK.” I bit my scone in half, chewed and swallowed. “What you did was pretty amazing. How did you tame those two guys? What kind of spell were you using?”
She looked at me in surprise. Nice long lashes around those honey gold eyes. “Couldn’t you tell?”
“You’re an enchantress!” I exclaimed as I realized. One of the rarest kinds of mage, enchantresses were almost always female, and they could project allure so powerfully that a man’s brain would turn to mush. The power has been studied in recent times and seems to be a matter of pheromones. An enchantress could turn hers on, calibrate the intensity, and focus them in an instant. Maggie Macrae could probably stun the whole male population of a New York borough if she wanted to. “I didn’t realize.”
Her brows arched. “I thought you knew as soon as I came in. I just arrived in New York, so I assumed jetlag had weakened my shielding.”
I thought back, then shook my head. “You weren’t sending out any enchantress vibes. If you had, I’d have passed out just looking at you.”
“You thought I was that attractive even though I wasn’t trying to attract?” Maggie said with interest as she nibbled more daintily at a second scone. This close, her lips looked even more kissable.
“I sure did!” Probably better if I didn’t say that my reaction to her had been, “‘This one! I want this one!” The men in my family tend to fall in love at first sight and stay in love until they die, but no point to scaring her off now that she was talking to me. “Sorry about demanding your energy when we haven’t even been properly introduced.”
She made a dismissive gesture. “It was needful. I was able to follow you well enough to see what you were doing. He wouldn’t have had a chance if you hadn’t been right here and a superb healer.”
Her admiring glance warmed me to my cockles, whatever cockles were. That wasn’t covered in anatomy class. I matched my shrug to hers. “It was needful.”
She closed her eyes, looking exhausted. “Enchantress magic doesn’t always work. My thanks for your timely and well-placed tin of soup.”