Hounded

feeling depressed.
    » That’s right. It would greatly ease my mind if you took care of things, Perry. And if a guy named Hal tells you to do anything, you do it as if it came from my mouth, okay? He’s my attorney. Speaking of whom, here he is. «
    Hal returned from the inside of the store, and he had Fragarach clutched invisibly in his left hand. He knelt down on the other side of me, seeming to use his left hand for support, but in truth laying the sword down in the grass against my side. As he did this, he held out his right hand to Perry to distract him. » Pleased to meet you. I’m Hal Hauk, « he said.
    » Perry Thomas, « he said, taking Hal’s hand and shaking it. » I work for Atticus. «
    » Excellent. Let’s get you inside, then, past all the police. I’ll be right back, Atticus, « he said to me. They rose and left me there, and I took the opportunity to check on Oberon.
    Where are you now?
    › Where do you expect? I’m totally a ninja wolfhound. This car is ridiculous, though. He has a revolting citrus air freshener in here. Do you know when his birthday is? We should get him one that smells like steak or Italian sausage. ‹
    I’m not sure they make them in those scents, Oberon .
    › Why not? You’d think they’d sell like Milk-Bones, especially to a werewolf who’s trying to compensate for something with a slick sports car. ‹
    Ow! Don’t make me laugh right now!
    After giving Oberon a mental scratch on the head, I went to work on Fragarach. I dispelled the camouflage as the ambulance arrived, because I didn’t want anyone to accidentally touch it and freak out, then placed a binding on the scabbard that would prevent it from moving farther than five feet from me. I had wanted to do this in the shop in case Fagles ever got his hands on it, but the binding takes longer to cast than camouflage and requires more power, and I didn’t have access to much of either earlier.
    Jimenez came out to meet the paramedics and pointed them in my direction. Hal also came out and asked them to take me to Scottsdale Memorial Hospital, where my personal doctor could operate on me.
    I didn’t really have a personal doctor, but the Pack did. Dr. Snorri Jodursson was part of the Pack himself, and he was the go-to guy for the paranormal community in the Phoenix area. He didn’t raise an eyebrow at unusually fast healing, for example, and he was rumored to be an excellent bonesetter and a quick surgeon. He was also willing to do things off the books; he had a whole surgical team who would work off record for obscene amounts of cash. I’d met him a couple of times when I ran with the Pack—he was probably sixth or seventh in their hierarchy—but I’d never had cause to use his professional services until now.
    The reason people like me need people like Snorri is because of reactions like the paramedics had when they examined me.
    » I thought you were supposed to have been shot, « one of them said.
    » I was. Fluid in my lungs, « I gurgled. » I’m stable, but I need to see my doctor. «
    » Well, where’s the bullet hole? «
    Whoops. In my haste to prevent infection, I probably grew that skin over a bit too fast. It was still angry red, I’m sure, but not an open wound anymore. I’d put all my effort into closing up the skin and the lung, so the muscle tissue on either side was still pretty torn and would take some time to mend—and the skin and lung tissue needed time to strengthen too.
    » Um, it was a rubber bullet. Hit me there and caused internal bleeding, « I said.
    » Detectives don’t use rubber bullets. And even if they did and it caused some internal bleeding, you shouldn’t have fluid in your lung from that. «
    » Tell you what, sport. Put me on a stretcher and get me to my doctor and let him worry about it. « I was ready to go. I had done all I could here, including a recharge of my bear charm. Now I needed a surgeon and some time.
    » You mean to tell me your bullet wound healed up that fast? «
    » I mean to tell you to give me one of those oxygen masks and get me out of here. And this sword comes with me. « I patted Fragarach and the paramedic looked down, noticing it for the first time. » Doesn’t leave my side. «
    » What? We cannot allow weapons in the ambulance. «
    » It’s sheathed and it’s incredibly valuable. Look at my shop. « I gestured toward the broken door. » I can’t leave it here. «
    Hal, who had been hanging back silently watching the proceedings,