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When Cassadines Fall ~ The Detour
Mir
Early the next morning, Maddy walks in the L&B building with Mir at her side. She walks up to the reception desk. "I got a call from my aunt Dara to meet her over here first thing?"
"Actually I asked her to call you." Venus Ardanowski rises up from behind the desk. She offers her hand. "I’m V. I was with Mr Cassadine when he picked up Mir." V’s voice goes light and singsongy. "Hey Mir. How you doing, Big Bear?"
The dogs tail starts going a million miles an hour in a approximation of pure joy. Maddy looks down at her new dog. "Looks like you two are good friends."
"He’s actually the reason why I had your aunt call you. I figured if I called out of the blue that you’d think it had something to do with Jerry or Jax and I really needed to see you as soon as possible. Have you had a dog before, owned a dog before?"
"You mean other than taking care of Cinnamon?" Maddy shakes her head. "No. I pretty much had my hands full growing up with other things." Like taking care of my mother. "And now Mr C has given me a pony."
"I’ve pretty much been around dogs all my life. I could give you some pointers." V indicates back toward the conference table. "Have time for a cup of coffee, some water, juice?"
"Coffee would be great." Maddy is still wondering where this is going. "Black is fine."
Maddy pulls up a seat at the conference table. Mir lays down right next to her plopping his big head right down on top of her feet.
V comes over to the other side of the table and hands Maddy her coffee in a travel mug. They wouldn’t be staying long. She remains standing and with a smooth movement pulls a Glock 9mm out of the holster under her jacket and sets it on the table between her and Maddy carefully pointed away from the both of them. "That is a glock 9mm. 13 round clip. There is one in the chamber. The safety is on. Do you have any experience with guns?"
Maddy’s eyes are wide. "No. Not really. One of the Grannies back in New Orleans.... What is this about?!"
"That..." V points to Mir. "Is a loaded gun with a round in the chamber. And you are the safety."
"Mr C would never..."
V interrupts. "Look I was around when Larkin was coming at you, coming at your Aunt. Everyone was freaking about you being out there while Larkin had the FBI out looking for ya. Mr Cassadine probably told you he wanted to put a guard on you. Have someone following you for your own protection. Any of this sounding familiar?"
"I told him Poppi had already volunteered to put someone on but I told him no tails because I wanted to know if I was being followed that it was a bad guy."
"But you had the pit bull and now-- you don’t. Mr C, as you call him, tried to get me fired cause he didn’t think I was representing Cassadine interests where you are concerned. And I’m okay with that. That’s his nature. Mr C has evidently decided that your safety is paramount and if someone else gets their face ripped off or their arm torn out of the socket that is an acceptable risk to ensure your safety."
"Mr C would never have the dog you describe around Lulu. Never."
"And Mir would never harm Lulu. Lulu is now part of his pack. Isn’t that right, Big Bear?" Mir’s tail thumps against the floor. "But you can never leave Mir alone with Lulu. Probably not with Dr Webber, she’s still in a cast right? Elizabeth Webber..." V shrugs. "I don’t know, that might be risky too.""If he’s not going to hurt them why do you say I can’t leave Mir alone with them?" Maddy questions. "That doesn’t make sense."
"Because if Mir perceived something as a threat to one of them I know Lulu or Dr Webber couldn’t stop him. And I have serious doubt about Elizabeth. She might be able to slow him down long enough to scream for reinforcements." V looks at Maddy and smiles. "I think you’re going to have to see this to believe it." She picks up her Glock and tucks it back into the holster at her back. "Some friends of mine from back in the sheriff’s office days are working out with their K-9s. I told them about Mir. They’ve never seen an Ovcharka before. Heard of them but never seen one. You want to talk to some pros?"
"I think I’d better." Maddy says hesitantly.
"Let me forward the phones to the machine." V forwards the phones and then grabs the keys. There weren’t any appointments scheduled for the morning anyway. This is going to be fun.
~~~
In a field outside of town there are a number of dogs, mostly german shepherds, accompanied by burly guys in navy colored jumpsuits and ball caps. At the back of one of the vehicles, the designated "threat" of today’s practice is suiting up in protective padding that covers him from head to steel tipped boots. Another cop helps him get into the gear.
Maddy following V’s directions pulls up on the line of Blazers and Suburbans. V tells Maddy. "Mir should be okay here with the other dogs even though most of them are males. It’s not on his turf. Course if one of these dogs came onto your property or tried to get into the van that would be a totally different story. Or if one of the dogs makes an aggressive movement toward him or you. He’s not going to start the fight but he’s going to finish it." Maddy puts the leash on Mir. She is starting to get a really bad feeling about this. The cop that had been helping "the threat" get ready comes over to the van but keeps his distance. V and Maddy come out of the sliding door on the side. "Maddy, why don’t you introduce Mir to Deputy Owens?" V suggests.
Maddy does and feels a slight relaxation in the dog. She looks at V who nods. "I felt that."
"Good. This isn’t about training Mir. Mir is already trained, well trained. This is about training you." V goes over and gives Owens a hug. "How you doing?"
"Great. Long time no see."
"I keep missing you at the firing range."
"So this is him. This is who you called me about." Deputy Owens checks Mir out. "Now that we’ve been introduced." Owens comes a little bit closer and holds his hand out for the dog to sniff.
"Some idiot gave her the dog and she’s never owned a dog before." V gets blunt.
Owens straightens and his face gets serious. "That’s a big risk. A dog like this is a serious commitment. You’re going to be responsible for him for 8-10 years..."
"Try 13 or more." V corrects. "The trainer used to work for the Soviet Army training dogs. He’s still got dogs guarding missile sites. His dogs are so good they came back to him to get more even after the wall fell."
"Really?" The cop looks at V. "Most big dogs don’t live that long. Wow."
"The trainer was given a lot of information about Maddy’s life. That she drives as part of work. That she is always in town, around people. He selected and worked the dog that way. In a van, walking all over Zakopane, being exposed to a lot of people all the time. Real soft on the training. His feelings are hurt very easily."
"ADR?" Owens inquires.
V winces. "He didn’t use those terms. He trains in English but it’s not his first language. Mir wasn’t selected for military training because he’s sociable. I don’t think the trainer would have said sociable if Mir had a high ADR."
"What’s ADR?" Maddy asks curiously.
"Active Defense Response." Owens answers.
"His trigger." V explains more. "A dog with a high ADR is considered a hair trigger, a lower ADR means that you might have a split second before the dog goes. Mr Cassadine was sending the trainer tshirts of yours because he wanted the dog to be familiar with you before Mir ever met you. And it’s just a damn good thing that Mir is sociable. Because if he had done that with one of the dogs that aren’t-- then Mir would have been bonded with you and that’s it. He would have tolerated anyone else that lived in the house and nobody visiting. God help the UPS guy or the meter man."
"Why would anyone want a dog like that?!" Maddy protests.
"Guarding Missile Sites. Maximum security prisons. Judges or other VIPs who have had kidnaping threats. I bet that Rushdee guy who had a fatwa put on him would have loved a dog like that. If the meter man might be trying to kill you then you need a dog with high ADR." Owens explains. "You’re out cold on the ground, a perp gets your gun away from you and you’re about to die. You don’t want a dog who has to hear sic him. You just want the dog to sic ‘em."
"If it’s okay with you, Maddy and I will watch the work out from the van so she can see how you run things."
"Probably best bet. Some of these guys have work later today anyway. Let me get rid of them first and then we’ll have a work out." Owens looks at Maddy. "It be okay with you if we video this? For the guys that have to leave early?"
"I guess." Maddy shrugs. They climb back in the van. Mir kicks back on the bench seat until he hears the first dog barking and snarling and then he is right between both of the seats with his feet up on the console checking things out. His close cropped ears are up and his forehead is furrowed as his eyes never go off the action. "You’re fine, Mir. Sit down." Maddy demands.
Mir does but he’s so big he can still see out the windshield.
"A lot of these dogs are trained in different languages." V says watching the action. "Especially any kind of trigger words. Cause you don’t want Joe Blow to be able to give your dog an order. Which was fine back in Poland. Mir was trained in English like I told Owens. In the US most of the police dogs are German Shepherds with some Rottweillers and Dobermans. They are all smaller dogs than Mir. Which means that if the cops are ever called to your house they are going to shoot your dog." V warns and then explains. "Because in a choice between your dog and theirs... they will chose theirs."
After about an hour, some of the cop cars have cleared out. Owens pauses the video tape and then comes over to the van. "You ready to do this?"
"I guess." Maddy puts the leash back on Mir.
"Maddy- "
"Yeah?"
"Keep your hand on the leash at all times." V figures that is enough of a clue.
Owens gives instruction to Maddy. "Okay, Mir has seen our "threat" been keeping an eye on things so he knows something is up I’m sure." He grins. "So here is what I want you to do. I want you and Mir to go for a walk.. like a walk thru the park. Let the threat get behind you. And just go with it."
Meanwhile V is over talking to The Threat. Then she goes over to where the video camera is. Maddy walks by the threat and Mir checks him out suspiciously but keeps pace with Maddy. They are quite a distance away and Maddy is wondering what the big deal when there is a sound of running behind her.
"Hey Lady! You dropped your purse! Lady!"
Before Maddy can even turn around the leash is halfway extended as Mir spins and lunges back toward the threat.
Her arm is half wrenched out of socket. "Sonofabitch." It’s all Maddy can do to keep her hand in the loop of the leash. "NO! MIR! NO!" The dog is dragging her toward the threat snarling and lunging. Maddy plants her heels in the turf and it doesn’t slow Mir hardly at all as her boots plow twin trails in the sod. Maddy hollers again. "No! Mir! Damnit! No!" She can feel a moment of hesitation and starts reefing on the leash pulling up that minute bit of slack. "No!" There is a little bit more hesitation and it allows her to get her feet under her again. She’d come about 2 seconds from doing a face plant and Mir would have been gone. She keeps taking up leash until she not only has the leash but a hand in Mir’s collar. "Knock it off. Sit."
Mir sits but snarls in the direction of the threat.
"Wow. Big dog. Maybe too much dog for a little lady." The Threat says with a grin you can barely see thru the grill that is protecting his face. "Guess I don’t have to ask if your dog bites. How is your shoulder?"
"It hurts." Maddy gasps still trying to get her breath. That had been zero to sixty, no-- ninety, in nothing flat. But the conversation does what the Threat had intended. It gets her to relax a minute to catch her breath.
Then The Threat comes at her with a rubber knife.
This time there is no holding Mir back.
~~~
"How is your shoulder?" V asks.
Maddy looks to the back of the van where Mir is sleeping the sleep of the just and happy complete with snores. "If that guy wouldn’t have been wearing padding...."
"He would have been dead." V agrees. "Owens was really impressed. I don’t think he’ll even charge you for the pads. But I don’t think that the Port Charles County Sheriff is going to be switching over any time soon. And you have to remember.. as far as Mir is concerned that guy came at you with a knife and he got what he deserved. I’m sure that’s what Mr Cassadine would believe."
"I’ll be having a chat with Mr C." Maddy gives V a look.
"Now you see why Mir can’t be alone with Lulu, with Dr Webber. They don’t have the strength to be his safety."
"But they’ll be okay with him." Maddy worries.
"He’s so damn big he might knock them over by accident and then he’ll be absolutely heartbroken. That’s what I meant by soft- the only time you get loud with him is if he’s gone aggressive. Then get Loud- it’ll be the only way you can get thru to him. Other than that all you have to do is look disappointed at him and he’s going to be miserable."
"When the guy first came up on me he was talking innocent. That could happen. What if Luke comes over to pick up Lulu. Just pulls up to the back of the house and Lulu is in the yard playing..."
"If Mir doesn’t know him? You know what is going to happen." V counters. "There needs to be a new policy at your house. If someone comes over they need to call first. And Mir will probably be okay. Just bark his head off to get your attention. I wasn’t kidding about him liking people. But he is going to love his people and not trust anyone else."
"Then maybe he and Luke will get on fine. They have a lot in common."
"I’ve been overstepping all day might as well go all out. Do you want me to do an assessment on the house? As it relates to Mir?"
"I think that would be a really good idea." Maddy nods. She adjusts her driving to go to the house instead of back to the L&B building.
"You did really great with him, Maddy. Considering you’ve never had a dog let alone a dog like Bear."
"Why do you keep calling him Bear?"
"Mir is bear in Polish. And that is what he is really- not a pony. Course he’s a cross between a Teddy Bear and a Grizzly. Maddy, you need to understand-- everything about Mir is as he was meant to be. He’s not unstable or vicious or untrustworthy. He is perfect for what he is. It took 2000 years to get him to where he is now. Once upon a time a long, long time ago a shepherd took some dogs out to watch the flock. And the flock was attacked by wolves, coyotes, lions, thieves..." V shrugs. "...whatever. And all but one of the dogs was either killed or ran away from defending the flock. That one dog was the dog allowed to have puppies. They had to be able to stand a Russian winter. They had to be able to think for themselves. Cause they would guard the sheep while the shepherd slept. Only the toughest, smartest, strongest dogs survived."
"Mir."
"Mir." Hearing his name and with his nap being over, the big dog walks up between the two seats and plops himself down. V gives him a pat on the neck. "You did good today, Pup. Maddy didn’t do too badly either."
"We’re here. Wyndemere Lite as Lucky calls it." Maddy pulls into the drive by the Carriage house. "Lucky and Elizabeth live in the apartment up there." She pulls up to where she normally parks between the carriage house and the big house.
"Lets walk the fence to start." V suggests. At Maddy’s nod the two of them with Mir at lead start along the fence. Maddy keeps a firm hand on the leash. She’d learned her lesson in the park. "You’re going to need to close off the drive. Gate it up and put it on a remote. That will contain that line of the fence. Wow! This is really nice."
"According to Niknik the houses on either side were falling down so he had them knocked down to get a decent size lot." Maddy explains.
"That too but I meant the fence."
"It’s basically the Cassadine version of a construction fence. This was a major project and it would have been dangerous to have people up in it. Not to mention there was a ton of things to steal- literally. The gate on the front of the house was put in last. For the longest time it was just solid fence."
"Oh that would have made things easy." V mutters. "How much company do you have normally?"
"Everyone here is a homebody really." Maddy shrugs. "If there is something to do it’s out there. Although Nik did the holidays this year. He had about 15-20 people over for Thanksgiving. Christmas the big todo was at the hospital. There might be a neighborhood watch meeting, Nik is watch commander but Louise up the street would just as soon have them at her place. And when I move out of here and into say... a dorm?"
V looks at Maddy consideringly. "Is that a possibility?"
"I’m supposed to be looking at schools now."
"Well I guess you could have Mir in a dorm. He couldn’t snore any louder than my roommate freshman year. But realistically, no dorm, no to most apartments. This is a dog that needs a house; he needs a... perimeter." V nods in Mir’s direction.
Maddy watches as her new companion checks every inch of the fence. "He did that this morning too."
"He’ll probably do it every time he comes out into the yard. That’s why you have to have a closed fence." V nods. "A dog this big is normally a kick back dog. They sleep and rest up for when they are needed. Short powerful bursts."
"Normally." Maddy hears the qualifier.
"Not Ovcharka." V shakes her head. "Easily bored." She enunciates clearly. "Luckily working the way you do, he’ll feel like he’s working too even if he is just keeping you company in the van."
"Nik and I normally walk the neighborhood after dinner or did with Cinnamon."
"That’s good. He wouldn’t mind going for a run with you either. Just make sure that you have a good hand on the leash."
"No doubt about that." Maddy agrees. "So when can he be off the leash?"
"The house. The yard if you have a closed, secure fence- which you don’t right now. You need to post signs everywhere. The fence, the house heck I’d put a sign on the van. I would never just let him out. And a doggie door? Bad idea. If he’s not with you then he should be protecting the house... from the inside. The meter man, the mail man will all thank you." Just then Elizabeth arrives back from school and has Lesley with her. Mir starts barking to let Maddy know that there is company. V raises her voice in order to be heard. "Oh and he’ll let you know when anything interesting is going on within hearing range. If it isn’t something he considers normal then it’s going to be announced."
"This isn’t Poland."
"It’ll be a period of adjustment." V understates with a grin.
~~~
"Only thru V could this collection of people be in one room." Jax answers the door to let the final couple in. Alexis and Ned had already arrived and were comfortable on V’s couch. "Counselor, Lieutenant." Jax ushers Dara and Marcus into the apartment over The Outback.
"We had a pretty good time after the Ward House Fundraiser." Marcus reminds.
"Dara, I wanted to talk to you about that." Ned leans in. "Now I know you don’t want to record for L&B but I’ve got an artist coming in that needs some help on back ground vocals. Just for the CD- no live performing."
"You had to bring it up." Dara glares at Marcus.
"Sorry, hon." Taggart grins. But he sneaks a wink to Ned. He knew that somewhere, in some safe place is a cocktail napkin with a contract on it. A contract that may or might not hold up in a court of law considering that both parties had been drunk out of their gourds when they’d written it.
Jax sees the wink but Alexis doesn’t. That has him curious as to what exactly the good Lieutenant and Ashton could be hatching together. "May I get you a drink? Take your coats? V called and she should be here anytime. She just has one errand to do on the way."
"So where did you and V fly off to?" Ned asks. "Monaco? Break the bank again and we’re all here to celebrate?"
Dara looks at Alexis. Guess V’s trip had ended up being under the heading of Attorney/Client if she hadn’t told Ned about the Cassadine connection to the trip.
"You picked a fine time to be heading out of town on your little gambling junket." Taggart tells Jax. "Leaving your mother all alone in Port Charles. With Jerry and your father out of town too."
Jax looks at all of them wondering what the hell. "Did something happen to Lady Jane? Mum didn’t say anything when I called."
"Nah. Lucas Jones made sure she was just fine. Course he was ditching school to make sure that the walks were clear and she didn’t need anything. Took his eight year old cousin with him. Put the school on lockdown. Child Protective Services called. PCPD. Maddy put an alert out with all of her connections. Nikolas Cassadine put guards on his grandmother and Dr Tony Jones to make sure they weren’t back in the kidnaping business."
"Oh bloody hell." Jax groans. "Somehow this is going to end up being my fault. Dad was in town when V and I left. And I haven’t cleared my schedule with my mother since I was fifteen!" Then he remember who Lucas was supposed to be staying with, with Jerry and Bobbie out of town. "Carly."
Taggart nods. "Oh you betcha. All in the same room- Carly, Luke Spencer, Lucas Jones, Lulu Spencer and your mother."
"What did that crazy bitch do to my mother!" Jax demands.Marcus starts grinning and just can’t stop. Having someone else on the receiving end of Carly is a refreshing change. Dara gives him an elbow in the side. "Don’t tease, Marcus."
"Carly took your mother home with her. It was the only way she could get Lucas to leave the house." Taggart relishes telling the story. He holds up one finger. "Your mother stayed one night. As soon as Carly got word that your father was back from his trip, she called your mother a cab."
V strides in the door. "Hi! Sorry I’m late."
"How did it go?" Dara asks. "I really didn’t like lying to Maddy."
"Oh by the end of the day she was okay with it." V sheds her coat, discreetly tucking the Glock 9mm into the kitchen drawer she normally keeps it in. "Did you give everyone a glass of wine?"
Ned quirks a brow on that. Maybe Jax has been having an influence on their assistant. "Are we celebrating?"
Jax thinks it’s a brilliant idea and tracks down the bottle of wine that he’d left around here and opens it up pouring glasses for everyone. He knew what V was going to do today. And since he’d seen Mir, gone cross country skiing with the big dog he had a pretty good idea that Dara would need a glass of wine. "You didn’t see Maddy when she stopped by L&B today?" He starts sorting out the glasses.
"No." Dara looks from Jax to V. "I just made the call."
V goes over to the combination VCR and DVD player and drops in a tape. "Jax and I didn’t go to Monaco. We ran into Stefan Cassadine at the airport. He needed a ride to Poland." V gives a frown and a look in Jax’s direction. He just shrugs. "Mr Cassadine needed a ride to Poland to pick up a dog for Maddy." V looks at Dara.
"A very big, very protective dog." Jax understates.
"I wanted to talk to Maddy privately to find out how much time she’s spend with dogs."
"She’s been taking care of that crazy guy’s dog?" Taggart asks Dara.
"Her Friend is much better now and has his dog back." Dara corrects.
"That’s pretty much the total of Maddy’s dog experience."
"Why are we here?" Ned whispers in Alexis’ ear.
"Because her idiot brother gave Maddy the dog." Jax pops his head down between the married couple and hands them their wineglasses.
V hits play on the VCR. "Marcus, you might recognize some of the guys. PCPD had their K-9 units here too."
Taggart starts paying more attention. As he watches one German Shepherd after another lunge and rip on The Threat’s outreached arm he starts to grow more concerned. "V, I’m getting this feeling that you aren’t talking grooming tips or pointing out the best vet in town."
"It’s coming up now." On the video it shows V walking over to the camera and then out of view as she stands behind it. Her voice sets up the test. "I told Bill to run two different scenarios."
"Jeez! That dog is a monster." Ned sees Mir for the first time on the video. The dog and girl are walking across the park.
"Lady! You dropped your purse. Lady!"
There isn’t a sound in the apartment, only the sound of the video.
Not until Maddy has the dog under control does Marcus say anything. "How much bigger is that thing than a German Shepherd?"
"Mir outweighed any of the K-9s there by about 30 pounds. Commando, the PCPD’s K-9 was the biggest one there. He weighs about 90 pounds. Mir’s sire weighs 160." V explains. She had pressed pause on the tape. "I turned the sound up as far as I could on this." She hits play.
"Wow. Big dog. Maybe too much dog for a little lady. Guess I don’t have to ask if your dog bites. How is your shoulder?"
Marcus can guess and V knows for sure what is coming next but nobody else in the room does. When Mir gets away from Maddy, Ned grabs Alexis’ face and turns it into his shoulder. Dara covers her face with her hands; she peeks thru her fingers and winces.
Even Jax fully aware of Mir’s size, hadn’t seen him react anything like this back in Poland. If he had the dog would never have gotten on the plane. "That dog needs to be put down."
V turns off the video after letting it run long enough to show Maddy getting hold of Mir’s leash and getting the dog back under control. "Mir saw Bill come at Maddy with a knife. Mir took him down." V looks at Alexis and then looks away.
"If my mother would have had a dog like that...."
