by Susan Stoker
He’d been doing some research on dogfighting, and what he’d read didn’t exactly surprise him, but it made him more determined than ever to get Sidney off the front lines. The men who participated in dogfights were almost always violent criminals, often gang members, who used the fights as a forum for drug trafficking and gambling. The fights were also used to intimidate younger members, and as a way to gain supremacy and respect in the dogfighting and gang worlds.
The last place he wanted Sidney was anywhere near that shit.
“Gumby!” Rocco yelled from across the room.
Gumby’s head whipped up from where he was looking at his phone, and he met his friend’s gaze.
“Caite’s on the line, and she said Sid’s in trouble.”
Shit.
Gumby knew immediately his talk with Sidney that morning hadn’t sunk in. If anything, it might’ve made her more determined to put herself in danger. He was at his friend’s side in seconds.
Rocco put the phone on speaker and the six SEALs hovered around it, listening as Caite told them what she knew.
“…was waiting here in the car for her. She said she was only going to look. Too much time had passed, and I was trying to decide what to do when I saw these two guys come out of the house. They were carrying a dog cage between them, and when the tarp fell off, I saw her inside it!”
“Was she conscious?” Gumby asked urgently.
“No. I mean, I don’t think so. She was lying on the bottom, not moving.”
“Did you see any blood or anything?” Ace asked.
Gumby’s heart almost stopped beating as he waited for the answer.
“No, but I was kinda far away. Sidney parked three houses down,” Caite said, her voice breaking.
“What did the truck look like?” Phantom asked.
“I took a picture of it,” Caite told them. “I didn’t know what else to do,” she said, the worry and sorrow easy to hear in her reply. “The keys were in the ignition, but I didn’t want them to see me if I ran around to get into the driver’s side or crawled over the console.”
“Send me the picture,” Rocco said gently.
“Okay. I also wrote down the license plate number.”
“Good job,” Rocco told her. “Send that too.”
Gumby’s hands clenched in anger and fear. Victor had taken Sidney. God knew what he and his friends had planned for her.
He felt a hand on his arm and looked over at Ace.
“Easy, man. We’ll find her.”
Gumby wasn’t sure about that. He knew they’d do everything they could to get to her, but what shape would she be in when they did?
The things Victor and his buddies could do to Sidney wouldn’t stop running through his head like a bad movie on repeat.
“What’s the address there?” Rocco asked Caite.
She rattled it off. “Oh, and she had her phone with her. At least, she had it when she left the car.”
“That’s good news. We’ll see if we can get a trace on it,” Rex said.
“Snap out of it, Gumby,” Bubba barked. “We need you on this one.”
Gumby blinked and straightened. His teammate was right. He had to stop thinking about what could be happening to Sid and concentrate on finding her. The sooner the better.
As Rocco did his best to reassure Caite, telling her to stay put, that he’d be there as soon as possible, Gumby clicked on Faith’s number in his phone. He waited impatiently for her to pick up.
“Hi, Decker,” she said in greeting.
“Sid’s been taken,” he clipped out. “She went back to Victor’s house and they knocked her unconscious and drove off with her. We need to find her.”
“Oh my God!” the older woman exclaimed. “What can I do to help?”
“I need the name and number of the contacts you’ve got in the Riverton Police Department. The detectives who investigate dogfights. They could have an idea of where these guys might’ve taken her.”
“Of course! I’ll text them to you in just a second.”
“Thank you.”
“I told her to back off,” Faith said. “Told her that those guys were dangerous.”
“I know,” Gumby said sadly. “I did too.”
“She was just too determined to do whatever it took to save the dogs.”
“Right…the names and numbers?” Gumby reminded her. He knew Faith was shocked about what he’d just told her, but he didn’t have time to talk about why Sidney did the things she did.
“Sorry. I’ll reach out to my contacts in rescue circles too. Maybe we can think of somewhere they might’ve taken her or something that will help.”
“Appreciate it. I’ll let you know if we hear anything.”
“Okay. I’m sending the text now.”
“Thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”
“I’ll be praying for her,” Faith said, then hung up.
Seconds later, his phone vibrated with her text with the names and numbers of the officers who would know the most about the dogfighting ring Victor was involved in.
Commander Storm North entered the meeting room just then—and every muscle in his body instantly tightened. “What’s going on?” he asked, obviously reading the tension in the room.
Bubba went over to explain the situation, even as Gumby was lifting his phone to his ear. He needed to get the cops on this immediately. Every second Sidney was in the clutches of the vicious dog fighters was one second too long.
Sidney came awake slowly. At first she was confused about where she was and what had happened…but she quickly realized she was in deep shit.
First of all, she was lying almost naked inside a dog crate. She had on her bra and panties, but that was it. They’d even stripped her watch and necklace from her. The latch was locked shut with a padlock and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t bend the metal bars around her. She couldn’t even sit up straight, all she could do was hunch over while sitting on her ass—or stand on all fours, which she refused to do. They might have her in a cage, but she wasn’t a fucking dog.
Her neck hurt, and Sidney realized how lucky she’d been. Victor could’ve easily strangled her. Had strangled her. But he’d obviously only wanted to make her pass out, not kill her…thank God.
Her thoughts turned to Caite. Where was she? Had she gotten impatient and come to check on her and gotten caught up in whatever was going on? Sidney would never forgive herself if that happened.
Looking around her, she had no idea where she was. She couldn’t see much, as there was a tarp covering most of the crate, but there was a small corner in the front that had been dislodged, and she could see a high ceiling overhead. At least thirty feet high. It didn’t look like she was still at Victor’s, the place was too big to be a house or garage.
Shivering, even though the air was actually somewhat warm, Sidney had never been so scared in her life…until she heard a few men begin talking nearby.
“I still can’t believe she actually showed up.”
“I told you she would.”
The latter was Victor. Sidney recognized his voice, but not that of the other man he was talking to. She could only listen in horror as they discussed the evening’s activities.
“So we’re set for the fight tonight?”
“Yeah. Dallas said we’d start at eight sharp. Bets start at seven.”
“How many are we expecting?”
“Full house.”
“Fuck yeah! This is gonna be epic! Those assholes are gonna have to give us mad respect for this shit.”
“’Bout time. Now come on, help me get this fencing up. Can’t have our bitch escaping the fun, can we?”
Sidney tried not to cry. She wasn’t stupid. She knew whatever they had in store for her wasn’t good, especially if it involved bets and fences.
Then shame threatened to drown out her fear. She’d done exactly what Caroline had told her not to do. She was putting Decker in a position where he might get in trouble. He might have to
seriously hurt or, God forbid, kill someone to rescue her.
She’d fucked up. Royally. She’d not only put Caite in extreme danger, but her own psychological issues had finally put her in a situation that she had no idea how to get out of.
Even knowing all that, despite knowing she was putting Decker in extreme danger, she whispered, “Please find me, Decker.” She lay back down and curled into a small ball at the bottom of the cage, and whispered those same words over and over, hoping the more she said them, the faster she’d be rescued.
Officially, the Riverton Police Department was in charge of the case. Unofficially, Gumby knew they were relying on the team’s strength and experience to assist them.
Sidney’s phone had been tracked…back to Victor’s house. So that had been no help. With Caite’s statement about what she’d seen, the cops had probable cause to search Victor’s house to try to find Sidney.
They’d found a lot of evidence of dogfighting, but not Sidney. Her jeans had been left in the middle of the kitchen floor, along with her phone still in the back pocket, but she was nowhere to be found.
The basement was a horror show, however—and Gumby understood why Sidney felt so strongly about rescuing animals after seeing it.
There were only two dogs in the basement, but they were in bad shape. They had scars all over their heads and chests, and were shackled with heavy chains around their necks. They were separated by a flimsy curtain, but the detectives who were experts in dogfighting explained it was enough. The animals were somewhat loyal to humans, but had been trained to go berserk when around another dog.
The officers were a treasure trove of information about dogfighting in general, and what everything they’d found in the basement was used for.
There was evidence of blood around the entire room, indicating that fights had been held there in the past. Blood-spattered wooden boards were stacked in a corner, having obviously been used as barriers for the ring the dogs fought in. There was a treadmill in another corner, used to run the dogs to increase cardiovascular fitness and endurance. Heavy chains were lying in a heap off to the side, and the cops explained the heavier chains helped build neck and upper-body strength in the dogs as they constantly bore the immense weight.
There were weights attached to some chains, and Gumby was told sometimes owners ran their dogs with the chains and weights attached to their collars, to help build strength as well.
But the most damning evidence in the basement was the vast amount of drugs, vitamins, and supplements. There were anti-inflammatories, epinephrine, speed, painkillers, antibiotics, testosterone hormones, vitamin K to promote blood clotting, Canine Red Cell vitamins, and a ton of first-aid supplies, including super glue.
It was all overwhelming and horrifying to the team, but even more so to Gumby.
This was what they’d had planned for Hannah. The idea of his sweet, docile dog living in this house of horrors was almost too much for him.
No wonder Sidney felt such a calling to help animals like Hannah. After seeing what she had while growing up, and knowing this was what people like Victor did to defenseless dogs, he understood her a lot better now. He still didn’t want her on the front lines of this madness, but at least he grasped why she was so vehement about doing something.
Though he wasn’t happy that she’d involved Caite in her obsession. Yes, she’d told Caite to stay in the car. No, she hadn’t told Caite everything she’d planned to do, but the fact remained that there had been the possibility of Rocco’s woman getting hurt.
And…she’d lied to him.
Gumby hated that. He’d said he’d go with her tomorrow to check out Victor’s place, and she’d agreed, when she’d probably known all along she was going to go without him. It hurt, and it rankled.
But at the moment, he needed to concentrate on finding her. On getting her back. He’d deal with the other stuff later.
“This isn’t helping,” Gumby said in frustration. “Yeah, it shows that Victor’s involved in dogfighting, but it doesn’t tell us where they took Sidney.”
“True. But now that we know definitively that he’s neck-deep in this shit, it gives us probable cause to search known dogfighting venues,” Detective Francisco Garnham said.
Gumby understood why the detective was being sure to follow every procedure to the letter, but it was frustrating as hell. Going the legal route always took time. And if Victor had known the cops were investigating him, he would’ve moved the dogs and hidden the evidence of his participation in the fights. Something Sidney had pointed out.
But just because going through proper channels took time—time the dogs maybe didn’t have—he still couldn’t condone her stealing the animals from under the dog fighters’ noses and putting herself in danger.
Still, Gumby was beginning to realize there was no easy solution.
“I’m going to take Caite home,” Rocco said. “She’s extremely upset and feeling guilty that she didn’t do anything.”
“This wasn’t her fault,” Gumby told his friend.
“I know, and I’m very glad you feel that way.”
“Did you think I would blame her?” he asked, upset.
“No.”
Gumby felt better at his friend’s immediate answer, but frowned when he continued.
“But I know you, Gumby, because we’re cut from the same cloth. I know you’ve already gone over what happened a hundred times in your head and have come up with a hundred different things that might’ve gone down differently to prevent your woman from being taken.”
Rocco wasn’t wrong.
“That doesn’t mean that I blame Caite for any of it,” Gumby said. “I love her like a sister, and pretty much every alternative scenario I’ve thought of ends with Caite being hurt or taken right along with Sidney.”
“The fault lies with Victor,” Ace interjected. “And we’re gonna find that asshole and his buddies and stop this shit once and for all.”
“If only it was that easy,” Detective Garnham said.
All six SEALs turned to look at him. “What do you mean?” Bubba asked.
“Dogfighting’s been around a very long time…since ancient Roman times, when they fought against each other in the Coliseum. In the early eighteen hundreds, the American Kennel Club actually formulated rules and had sanctioned referees because the ‘sport’ was so popular here in the US. It was outlawed by all states in nineteen seventy-six, but it continues to thrive, in part because the legal system is somewhat apathetic toward the practice.
“The street fights are out of control, and when one ringleader is taken down, two more pop up to take his place. Just about every child who lives in an urban environment is exposed to dogfighting in their neighborhood, and a lot of parents purposely expose their kids to it to ‘harden them up’ to life’s realities. Like violent crimes, it continues to fester throughout the country, and even worldwide.”
“Well, isn’t he a ray of sunshine,” Phantom muttered under his breath.
Gumby had to agree. But now wasn’t the time or place to discuss the social problems that gave rise to dogfighting. They needed to concentrate on finding Victor and his cronies and making sure Sidney was safe. “I get that your job is almost impossible, but at the moment, all I care about is my woman and making sure she doesn’t end up a statistic. What’s the next step?”
The detective nodded. “You’re right. My guys will continue to wrap things up here, including confiscating the dogs and all the equipment we found. There’s an informant I’m fairly close to that I’m going to see if I can find. He’s been very useful in the past in letting me know when and where impromptu fights will be taking place. He can be hard to find, though.”
“Can I come with you to look for him?” Gumby asked.
Francisco eyed him for a long moment. Then asked, “You going to control yourself if I find him and he tells me something you don’t like?”
Gumby nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m coming too. I can make s
ure Gumby behaves,” Ace said.
Gumby wanted to argue, but he knew he’d feel better with one of his team members at his back. The truth of the matter was, while he said he’d control himself…he wasn’t at all sure he could.
“Fine. Let’s head out then. We don’t have any time to spare. These fights usually spring up with very little lead time, to try to throw us off,” the detective said.
Gumby’s stomach clenched at hearing that. On one hand, it was good. If they could figure out where the fight was taking place, they could get in there and rescue Sidney that much sooner. But on the other hand, if they couldn’t find this informant, the fight could begin and end without them ever figuring out where it was. And Gumby didn’t want to think about what Victor and all the other bloodthirsty assholes had in mind for Sidney.
They were going to force her to watch, that much was certain. And seeing dogs tear each other to pieces was going to break her. Especially if they had some sort of bait animal, like a puppy or cat, that they used to incite the fighters.
But he knew it was more than that. These weren’t good men, and there was no telling what they’d do to Sidney after—or during—the fight. He needed to get to her. To make sure she was safe. His gut was screaming at him that the shit was about to hit the fan, and his gut had never been wrong.
“Keep me up-to-date,” Rocco ordered as Gumby headed out of the basement with Ace and Detective Garnham.
“Will do,” Ace said.
Rocco stopped Gumby with a hand on his shoulder. “Don’t do this on your own. She’s important to all of us.”
Gumby nodded. He knew there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d be able to get Sidney back on his own. The cops were involved, and it wasn’t like they’d simply stand back and let a SEAL team rush into an active dogfight and kick ass. He and his friends were a unit. They were only as good as their weakest member, and Gumby knew in this case, he would be the weak link. All he could think about was Sidney. Not the bad guys. Not any dogs that might be set loose. He needed his team, and he didn’t feel even the least bit ashamed about that.