Fight Or Flight

by Amy Shojai

  Hands reached into the cubby, and grabbed and pulled Lia away. Karma snarled and bucked hard against the rope, powerful Rottweiler haunches bunching and claws digging into the soft soil, but the tether held. She howled, bugling her anger and frustration. How could she protect her girls when she couldn’t leave the cubbyhole beneath the house? Karma wanted to bite something, especially the bad-woman who stole a good-dog’s family.

  It was her fault. She failed the test. If she hadn’t flinched from the fire to protect the kitten, she could have lunged and snapped at the thieving hands and kept Lia safe. Karma licked her burn-scarred paws, whimpering, remembering. Fire hurt.

  But losing family hurt worse. She nosed the kitten and its fluffed fur smoothed as it purred very loud, a self-soothing lullaby.

  Get away, she had to get away from this place, and go to her girls. She’d snarl and threaten anyone in the way, and Lia and Tee would call her “good-dog, Karma” and they’d go home together.

  She wanted to go home. Not to the cramped rooms, but back to the kennel-home where she could run and sniff, and roll in dirt, and have her girls nearby to scratch hard-to-reach itchy places.

  Karma pulled the kitten close to her tummy and went back to work. She growled as she gnawed, every so often tugging to see if the tether still held. When clattering footsteps tromped down the stairs, Karma bounded toward the fire-threat woman, and the rope snapped.

  Something was wrong! Her tummy ached, and constricted in that hurty-strange way it had done off and on all day. She’d ignored it, to better serve her girls, but now the pain demanded Karma’s attention. It would not be denied. Karma whimpered, and half fell in the drive. She watched as the bad-woman climbed into a car and drove away, leaving Karma alone in the dirt.

  Dragging herself upright, she struggled back to her sleeping kitten. The pain came in waves and wouldn’t stop. She settled herself, ignoring the chicken smell and decaying dead things. Something new had begun, something strange and scary and wonderful all at the same time. Something Karma had to finish.

  She wished her girls were here. But she was a brave Rottweiler girl, and smart. Lia and Tee told her so, and she believed them. Karma would manage by herself.

  And then she’d go rescue the rest of her family. And they’d go home. Together.

  Chapter 75

  Tee blinked when the door opened and brought in a whoosh of warm air. How had it become so cold? She moaned, wondering how long she’d been out of it. Her bare feet tingled and burned. She shook and shuddered from the cold, and one bare thigh felt hot where it made contact with the icy floor.

  A figure fell into the room, and the door slammed shut, plunging them back into darkness. She’d caught a glimpse of gold hair. “Lia?” Tee struggled to her feet and hugged her still-bound wrists to her chest. Lord, the cold hurt. Where were they?

  “Yes, it’s me.” Lia fumbled in the blackness until a dim light bulb came on overhead.

  Tee gasped. It had been better in the dark.

  Ice crystals covered the walls and door of the walk-in freezer. A young woman with long dark hair sat frozen to one corner of the room. Icy tears on her cheeks glittered. Tee looked away. But a glass thermometer at the door sparkled like crystal . . .

  Like the Lucite butterfly night-light in Tee’s childhood bedroom where, at age nine, Tony Kanoa turned her into damaged goods.

  Her vision darkened again, chest tightened, and then Lia’s hands clutched hers. Tee fought, struggled, crying to escape the faceless fog-demon from her past, but Lia wouldn’t let go. “I’ve got you, you’re safe. We’re together, and we’ll get out of this together.”

  Tee took a big cleansing breath, puffed it out, and nodded as the room swam back into focus. She pulled away from Lia’s bound hands and took turns standing first on one foot and then the other. “A freezer? Hell of a way to die.” Two women, hands bound, with no tools to escape. They’d be pau—finished, dead if they were ever found at all.

  The freezer measured six-by-five-feet. The temperature registered five degrees Fahrenheit. If standard issue, the walls, ceiling and doors, were four to six inches thick. No way out.

  “Aha! Look what I found!” Lia held up a box cutter, grinning, and cut off Tee’s zip-tie and waited for Tee to return the favor. She shrugged off her jacket and held it out, and Tee didn’t hesitate. No time to be a hero. She slipped it on but it offered little relief. Even with heavy clothing, they’d both soon succumb to hypothermia, if they didn’t suffocate first.

  “Aren’t these things supposed to open from the inside? Some sort of emergency switch?” Lia pushed through the swaying plastic curtains at the entry and banged on the door, searching the walls nearby for an emergency switch of some kind.

  “Even if this one does, I’ve a feeling that Boss made sure we’re not getting out.” Tee dumped a carton filled with frozen mystery meat—maybe chicken?—and watched them hockey-puck across the slick floor. She used the blade to break down the box, then pressed the cardboard flat to the floor to stand on. The barrier gave much needed respite to her bare feet that might as well be dead. Her blue toes had icy white tips.

  Lia noticed the body for the first time. “Oh my God! The poor woman.”

  Tee spoke through her shivers, her voice a herky-jerk staccato. “My guess, that’s Momma Ruth, but doesn’t matter at the moment. Lia, we don’t have much time. Walk-in freezers are airtight. One this size gives a single person maybe four to six hours of air, and that’s with no exertion. Divide that by two for both of us. And we need to cobble something together for shelter. I wouldn’t count on more than a couple hours at most, before we’re breathing carbon dioxide or worse.”

  Chapter 76

  Combs rolled into the yard minutes behind Gonzales and the rest of their team. He climbed out, and hurried to the front of the ramshackle diner, meeting one of the officers stationed at the front door. On the way here, they’d gotten confirmation that Tee’s cell phone was nearby. “Anything?”

  Gonzales shook his head. “They’re still looking, but no vehicles in the vicinity. Appears to be deserted.” He nodded behind him. “Except for all those chickens.”

  “Roosters. Fighting cocks. Sort of pretty, except when strapped up with razors and slashing each other to death.” He’d never understand the attraction, how anyone could enjoy watching. Money fueled the blood sport through gambling—always accompanied by drugs and illegal guns. As soon as law enforcement squashed one, two more operations sprang up.

  Combs squinted and stuck another stick of gum into his mouth. He took in the nearby barn and a lean-to shed. “We need to go over the outbuildings top to bottom. If we can’t find Tee, they have her and the sting’s still in play.” He hoped so, because if she’d been made, they’d dump her body somewhere they’d never find. “We’re chasing ghosts,” he muttered.

  His cell phone rang, and he answered without looking at it. “Combs. What’ve you got?”

  “I don’t have my granddaughter, that’s what.” The deep voice shook with anger and fear, and it took a beat for Combs to recognize Lia’s grandfather.

  “Mr. Corazon? I’ll have to call you back. I’m in the middle—”

  “You were just on a date with Lia. My buddy saw you at the bank. So you should care what happens to her. She just took off and I’m afraid I...” He cleared his throat. “Some harsh words were spoken. I’m worried, she got a ride with someone—”

  “You’ll have to excuse me.” They weren’t dating. His ears burned. Small towns loved gossip, and he’d had enough drama dealing with September’s adventures, not to mention her mother.

  “Dammit, boy, she went off with that Antonio Kanoa character. Wouldn’t trust him as far as I could toss a horseshoe. He’s crooked as a crik.”

  Kanoa? Why did that name ring a bell? “Okay, hold on. Lia got in a car with this guy? What make car?” He made a note. Finally, a lead he could get his teeth into. “Will get back to you soon.” He hung up before the man could make any further protestatio
ns or demands.

  Combs couldn’t resist a satisfied smile. Lia wouldn’t believe it. But the concern he’d heard sure didn’t sound like someone who hated and disowned their blood kin granddaughter.

  One of the officers waved from the barn, and Combs held out his hands with a “what’d you find?” gesture. The headshake made him want to spit with frustration. They were too late. If Momma Ruth and Tee had been here, they were long gone.

  He turned to walk up the steps to check the inside of the diner, and noticed a bloodstained rope sticking out from under the porch overhang. Combs bent to look closer and saw the hot pink gloves.

  Lia’s gloves.

  She was here, too, or had been! And, he’d be willing to bet, so was Tee.

  He reached for the glove. Low growls turned to snarls and stopped him dead in his tracks.

  Chapter 77

  Tee’s teeth chattered so hard, she bit her tongue when she tried to speak. Lia wasn’t much better.

  “Oh God.” Lia looked around, stamping her feet, and flapping her arms for warmth. “What do we do?”

  “Don’t move so much. You’ll use too much oxygen.” Tee’s nose ran, then froze as she inhaled the icy atmosphere. Her nose hairs crackled. “Then again, we’ll be unconscious before we freeze to death.”

  “Not funny.” Lia looked around. “We need a shelter to conserve body heat. The plastic works.” She used the box cutter to rip free the curtain barrier of heavy plastic. Designed to keep cold in, it would just as easily contain their body heat.

  “Good idea. Boxes build a scaffolding for plastic over top. Plus, we need something to sit on so our butts don’t freeze to the floor.” Snuggled together in the tiny space, their body warmth would keep them from freezing the same way an igloo made of snow became toasty with enough bodies inside.

  In theory, anyway.

  They hunkered side by side beneath the flimsy plastic canopy. Tee folded her legs and pulled Lia’s borrowed jacket over top of her knees. The pair hugged each other, not out of affection, but necessity. As long as their teeth chattered and shivers shook them, they were good. No shivers signaled severe hypothermia and impending loss of consciousness. “Let’s hope Combs is smart enough to track my phone. I put it inside Karma’s lamb.”

  “Of course!” Lia pulled the phone from the coat pocket with a “eureka” flourish.

  “Great! Don’t suppose you have my gun, too?” Tee dialed Combs.

  Lia shook her head. “I used up all the bullets but didn’t hit anything. Sorry.”

  Tee glared at the phone when nothing happened. “Shit, it’s out of juice.” She dropped it with disgust. “Had it muted so a call wouldn’t give me away. Must have left it on auto-answer by mistake.”

  “Huh? Auto-answer, you mean like blue tooth?”

  “No, it’s a setting for hands-off automatic answering. I use it when I run.” The plastic crackled when her shoulder bumped it, and she shifted away from its icy surface. “Somebody must have called. It answered but didn’t hang up and that ran down the battery.

  Lia looked stricken.

  “What. Oh, don’t tell me, YOU called?”

  “What was I supposed to do? You ran off without a word, took my car and my pregnant dog with you. So yes, I called. And I heard Karma barking her head off and a bunch of roosters crowing.” Her arms loosened, as if she might flounce off.

  Tee tightened her grip. “Don’t you dare leave. We can’t survive alone.” She sighed. “They can still find us if they started the tracking procedure early enough. We’ll just have to put up with each other.”

  “Until we pass out, right?” Lia loosened her hair tie, so her tresses spilled down both sides of her face and covered her neck. “I can’t feel my ears.”

  Tee grimaced. “Don’t suppose you messaged the police? We’ve been running an investigation into cockfighting, coordinating with several PDs in North Texas and Southern Oklahoma. Bet it’s all tied together.”

  Lia glared. “I wanted to do more than message the police. I wanted to report my stolen dog. Before I could, I got grabbed, too. And it’s your fault.” Her lip stuck out, making her look all of twelve. “And it’s your fault Karma is out there, maybe hurt by that maniac, instead of home having her babies. Wish I’d never met you!”

  “What are you talking about?” Tee stiffened. She always poisoned relationships. Something tainted in her spoiled things sooner or later. She’d kept Lia at arm’s length, not needing one more person in her life she’d disappoint, or the hurt sure to follow when the relationship ended. Tee’s relationships always ended.

  “I heard Boss talking. You had to run off half-cocked without calling Combs or even telling me. You thought your plan would catch ’em and make you a hero.” Lia’s shivers combined with angry shaking, her breath panted, and Tee could feel her sister’s heartbeat go from canter to gallop. “All the time, somebody knew all about you, and made a deal to get rid of you. And me, too, because—oh happy day—Wyatt Teves is my dad, too.”

  Tee had left Hawaii in part to distance herself from a bad situation. Now its tentacles reached clear across an ocean into Texas. “Wyatt’s in prison for his part in killing a very bad man named Simon Wong.” She’d heard rumors Mrs. Wong took over the Island Mafia after her husband’s death. And she held grudges. “We didn’t tell anyone about us, that we’re half-sisters.”

  “While you were out running around with Karma, I got a Skype call from our father.” Lia whispered the admission. “I confronted my grandparents. They wanted to give me up for adoption, can you believe it?”

  “There are worse things.” Tee pinched herself hard to keep focused. “Auntie Isabella adopted me. She saved me. You don’t know how good you have it, girl.”

  Lia scrubbed her face. “They lied to me for years.”

  Tee rolled her eyes. “They lied for the right reasons, to protect you, yeah?” She yawned, getting sleepy. “There’s lies, and then there’s lies.” Like the way her memory lied to protect her from hurt. “Besides, whatever they say about Wyatt Teves, he’s worse.”

  “At least he told me the truth!” Lia’s shivers had subsided, so perhaps their combined body warmth made the plastic atmosphere more livable. The tip of her sister’s nose had turned white, though, and Lia’s words slurred.

  “Truth’s over-rated. Sometimes it’s better not to know.” Tee couldn’t feel her feet, or her nose or ears. Her eyes watered, and tears froze and turned to fairy dust when she blinked. Despite the cardboard seat, her butt tingled like it had gone to sleep. If she looked anything like Lia, Tee guessed most of her own extremities had taken on the ghostly pallor of chalk. She yawned again. She remembered the notecard she’d saved from therapy back in Chicago, a touchstone to keep her grounded: Trust Your Heart.

  And trust the dog . . .

  A nap would be nice. Yes, a nap. And a dream...dream of misty volcanic peaks, plumeria blossoms perfuming the air, surf lapping her ankles, toes digging into hot sand beaches, a special dog’s warm kisses on her cheeks . . .

  Chapter 78

  Karma roused from a doze, still worn out from her recent labors. Nuzzled against her breasts, four furry beings suckled with enthusiasm next to her deflated lamb-toy. She nosed and licked each clean, top to bottom, as if counting the babies over and over again, reveling in the new emotion that overflowed within.

  The temporary peace shattered when cars with screaming sirens tore into view.

  She growled, and shifted further beneath the sheltering overhang, squinting to watch scrabbling activity as strange men and women poured from cars. Karma stretched her neck as far forward as she could, tasting the smells. The uniforms were familiar—sometimes Tee wore similar—but she didn’t recognize anyone by sight, scent or sound.

  In the past, she would have bounded forward with ferocious barks to announce a brave Rottweiler girl stood guard. But now, she preferred to stay unnoticed, but vigilant, ready to guard and protect her offspring to the death.

  Bathed in a flood of ch
emicals including prolactin, estrogen and the “love hormone” oxytocin, she considered the puppies and orphan kitten no differently. All belonged to her. Karma, now a creature of pure instinct, obeyed a single imperative: survive.

  Ignoring the shouting voices and stomping feet, Karma dozed as her newborn family nursed. A nagging worry wrinkled her brow. She’d not heard anything from her girls, but wished they’d come get her soon so they could all go home.

  At the thought, she inhaled the comforting Lia-smell on the pink gloves her girl had left behind, and Tee-smell on the lamb. Oh, how she missed them both! She’d seen bad people leave by themselves, so Karma’s girls were still here. Somewhere.

  But Karma couldn’t risk leaving her babies to find them. Home, with acres of grass to play and secure walls with warm places to sleep, that would be the safest place for them all.

  Another car drove up, one without annoying sirens, and a familiar man got out. Karma cocked her head with interest. She knew him. Lia and Tee knew and trusted him. Sometimes when Karma visited the place with uniforms, Combs fed her treats from his sandwich. She licked her lips. Bacon would be nice!

  She kept an eye on Combs when he walked close to where she lay hidden, but he didn’t speak and Karma didn’t make a sound, either. Sometimes, humans couldn’t detect even the most obvious things. To her, the scent of birth remained strong in the air, despite her best efforts to clean up. Once the police left, she’d move her family away from the stink, or the smelly beacon would draw danger to her litter.

  Again, she dozed, then started fully awake when a hand reached in to take Lia’s discarded gloves. Karma snarled and bounded forward, shaking with aggression. The babies, unceremoniously dumped, squealed and cried with high-pitched sounds that elevated her emotion. She didn’t look at them, though, but kept her attention trained on the face now lowered to stare into her own.