by Dale Mayer
“No,” Tanya said, staring out at the yard. “He did bring up something though. … He thought they might be connected.”
“What do you mean?” Meg asked, her voice sharp.
“I never thought I would find myself here, dealing with another dogfighting ring. But that’s apparently one of the dangers to animals at shelters like this. It’s one of the reasons why Lucas was so adamant about tracking down the dog, to make sure he doesn’t end up in a dogfighting ring.”
“And that has what to do with your girlfriends?”
“Claire was mauled by a dog allegedly. I don’t know all the details though.”
“That’s got nothing to do with what happened to Alice though, does it?”
“I don’t know. Yet,” Tanya said.
“You were almost always with them, Tanya. That means you could be in danger too.”
“It’s possible,” Tanya replied.
“The sooner you guys get back here, the better,” Meg said, her voice suddenly nervous. “Are you okay?”
“We are okay,” Tanya said. “We’re talking at least. But nothing too personal.”
“As long as you’re clearing the air, getting it all out. You might end up with a friendship out of this.”
“I want more than a friendship,” Tanya said boldly, knowing that was not what Meg expected.
Meg sounded startled, and then she finally said, “Are you sure? He was really hurt last time. I’m not sure he’s up for more. Hell, I’m not sure I’m up for him going through more. Before you go down that path, you have to be damn sure you know where you want to go.”
“I want to go the same damn place I always wanted to go,” Tanya said. “I am still not sure about some of it, but I really don’t want to lose Lucas.”
“Losing Lucas is one thing. Kicking Lucas away again, now that’s a separate thing entirely,” Meg warned, her voice protective, edgy even. “Don’t do this to him again.” And she ended the call.
Tanya immediately called her friend back. “Meg, please. I don’t want to lose you or Lucas. And I especially don’t want to cause him any more grief or pain. He’s been through enough.”
“That’s for sure,” Meg snapped.
“Look, Meg. I understand you want to protect Lucas. I want to protect him too. He and I are talking things out. And, after losing Claire, and Alice too in a different sense, I really appreciate the friends I do have. The healthy ones. Like you, Meg. So just remember that I love you. And I love Lucas. Always have. And I have issues”—she laughed at the benign word—“that I need to work out fully. Or at least more than I have to date.”
Meg lightly chuckled.
“So Lucas coming here brought this all to a head. It’s time. It’s high time he and I fixed our issues.” Tanya quieted, could hear Meg breathing softly on the other end. “I want this to work out right for all of us this time.”
“Me too,” Meg said. “With all of us happy.”
“Exactly.”
He could see Top Hat’s tracks where he’d landed on the other side of the fence, his paws digging into the soft dirt, and then a few leaps as he had dug in and raced away as fast as he could. At least it gave Lucas a direction. He took off following the tracks, trying hard to keep an eye on where he was going. It was easy to get turned around and to lose sight of the landmarks. He’d been tracking for many years and instinctively kept note of north and south, so he could come back to his point of origin.
Running up a hill with a prosthetic was not an easy job. By the time he reached the top, he swore at himself for it. The tracks kept going downhill. He picked up the pace, even though the dog was a good day ahead, knowing the dog could have ended up finding a place and just sticking close by. Lucas could see farms and other properties at the bottom of the hill and wouldn’t be at all surprised if the dog had taken to resting somewhere out of sight at one of them.
If there was a barn, he’d have taken that himself. As he approached the properties, he saw a man working. He called out to him. When the guy walked over, Lucas asked if he had seen a dog.
The man shook his head and said, “Nope. But, during the night, I heard a bit of a ruckus. By the time I came outside, I saw no sign of anyone.” He glanced around. “I don’t have chickens anymore. Otherwise, I suspect at least one would have been dead by now.”
Lucas nodded. “In this case, the dog’s desperate. He’s lost. He’s a military dog, but he’s difficult to handle. I came to pick him up, but the rescue center that had him let him go to a trainer, and the trainer lost him.”
“Andy?”
“Yeah, at Andy’s place.”
“He’s been known to deal with a lot of difficult dogs.”
“But I’m getting the impression you don’t mean that in a nice way.”
“Let’s just say, I’ve had my suspicions about him. Don’t trust him. Maybe he’s turned over a new leaf. I don’t know.”
“What would his old leaf have been like?” Lucas asked, wanting to know more. Something about this whole setup was off. “Was he involved in dogfighting?”
The farmer nodded. “He was charged too. This was a long time ago, but I guess, from my point of view, you’re either an animal lover or you’re not. And if you are, you don’t put dogs into fights.”
“Right. How long ago was this. Do you know?”
“Ten years maybe? To be honest, for all I know, he’s completely turned over a new leaf and dedicated his life to protecting dogs. That’s certainly the line he feeds everybody, but I don’t know that I believe it.”
“Fair enough,” Lucas said. He handed over his card. “If you do catch sight of the dog, don’t approach him. Just call me, please.”
The farmer nodded. “Is that his picture on here?”
“No,” he said. “That’s one of my old dogs.”
The farmer smiled.
“I worked with a lot of K9s in the military. So I was delegated to come get him and take him home.”
“It sounds like you’re the right man to do this then.” The farmer waved and headed back to work.
Lucas headed to the next property and the next. He could see Top Hat’s tracks had slowed, and there were even several places where he lay down. He needed water, and he needed food. Lucas found a spot where the dog could go under one of the fences to a nearby watering hole for horses—a great big barrel with an automatic drip line attached. He could see the dog tracks up to the water and knew Top Hat had tanked up pretty well at that point.
But he was still a good twelve hours ahead of him and that could mean anything. Lucas kept walking to the next property and saw Top Hat’s tracks once again. The dog was limping now. But then he had had a hard run and was now very tired. Lucas kept tracking until he got to a creek. He stopped there. If Top Hat had walked down to the water, which he might have with a sore paw, it was hard to see where he would have come out on the other side.
Did he have a reason to cross the river? Well, if he had been chased, he would certainly do so, and a dog’s whim to carry on going north was rarely sidelined by water. He would have also taken the opportunity to have tanked up even more. Lucas crossed the river himself, using rocks to stay mostly above the water line. When he got to the other side, he searched the banks, looking for where the dog might have come out.
He was only up about twenty to thirty feet when saw it. The dog had come out on the side Lucas was on and had walked along a trail. Frowning, Lucas kept going, then realized this was becoming quite a trip. It was all one way so far. Away from Tanya. He picked up his phone and dialed her.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“About an hour’s run, up the hill, down the other side, and about ten properties away. The dog’s still heading down the creek path.”
“Interesting,” she said.
“How are you feeling there?” he asked, wondering how much he should tell her. Then he decided, if there was any chance the information he’d gotten was true, then she could be in danger. “I heard some d
isturbing news that maybe Andy isn’t as innocent in all of this as he led us to believe.”
He heard her small gasp. “What do you mean?”
“Apparently he was charged with dogfighting a decade ago and had a place potentially for breeding. Now maybe he’s turned a new leaf and is looking to protect dogs, but I’m not so sure. The man who shared the information didn’t seem to think so either.”
“Okay. That’s not good,” she said. “Why don’t I hop in the truck and drive down to where you are? Because I don’t like the sound of what you’re telling me.”
“I’m not telling you anything except that potentially Andy might not be as innocent as he said.”
“I’m already outside the house now,” she said. “Please tell me you left the keys in the truck.”
“A spare set’s above the visor,” he said. He heard his truck door open and her hop in. “Did you find them?”
“Yeah, I did,” she said through the phone. The engine turned over, and the gear shift changed.
“Good thing you know how to drive a truck,” he said with a bit of laughter in his tone.
“I’d be driving this sucker even if I didn’t know how,” she said. “Because anybody who’ll raise dogs to fight each other is not anybody I want to hang around with. Especially alone.”
“I’m more concerned about what he’ll do to keep his business quiet,” Lucas said seriously. “When you hit the bottom of that driveway turn right and go down the hill, then take a right. Look for some sort of open space, like a public park with a parking lot. I’m at the corner of that.”
“I’ll be there soon,” she said and ended the call.
He walked to the parking lot. What he needed to know was whether Top Hat kept going or whether he’d been picked up by someone or was hiding. He stopped when he got to the far end of the parking lot and swore.
There was a red stain on the ground. In his mind, he knew what had happened. Somebody had shot the damn dog. It didn’t mean that Top Hat was dead; it could have been just a graze or a tranq to subdue the aggressive dog. But it wasn’t good either way.
He pulled out his phone and looked up the numbers Andy had given him. He called the first one, and, when Detective Madison answered, Lucas identified who he was and what he was doing. “Any chance you can check to see if an aggressive dog was dispatched or if you had any incident involving one. I’m at …” He turned to look around. “I think it’s called Cedar Creek Park,” he said.
“I don’t have any report on file,” the detective said. “This dog’s military trained, did you say?”
“Yes,” Lucas replied. “It could be somebody tried to stop him, and he didn’t want to get stopped.”
“I don’t know if Andy told you, but we’ve got quite a problem here with people kidnapping aggressive dogs or big dogs and putting them in fights.”
“I heard something about that. I am also a little concerned that apparently Andy has a record for dogfighting himself.”
There was a long span of silence on the other end. “I’m not sure I heard that before,” the detective said, his voice flat. “I think I’ll have to look into it.”
“You do that,” Lucas said. “I’m not trying to cause trouble for anyone, and I’m certainly not in a position to know Andy, but one of the neighbors I stopped to ask if he’d seen Top Hat warned me about Andy’s history.”
“Interesting,” the detective said, his voice harsher than it had been. “We’ll keep an eye out for the dog. If you’ve seen blood, chances are he might have been taken.”
“That’s not good news,” Lucas said, swearing, “because it could just as easily have been Andy.”
“But you’ve got no reason to think that, do you?”
“No,” he said. “Not really. At least not without more proof. He seemed friendly and helpful, but I don’t know how much of that was part of his cover. He gave me a couple areas in town known to have dogfights and for breeding in the past.”
“Yeah, we’ve got two bad areas in town.” The detective told him the locations.
Lucas looked at the paper. “Yes, that’s the areas Andy gave me. Maybe I’ll do a drive-by and see if I come up with anything.”
“What’s that dog doing up here anyway?” the detective asked.
“Somehow he was mixed in with a group of rescue dogs coming across the border,” Lucas said. “But he’s definitely not one that should have been brought in. Uncle Sam’s already trying to figure out what happened to him but there are no clear answers.”
“Are you taking him back when you do find him?”
“My job is to find him and to make sure he’s okay, and, in this instance, he’s obviously not,” Lucas said, looking around and seeing his truck coming down the road. He waved at Tanya. “If he were to be in a decent home, then we’d be fine with it. But, at the moment, obviously we can’t leave him where he is.”
“No,” the detective agreed. “Because if anybody has him for fighting, we’ll end up with a whole pile of dead dogs.”
“Which is why I’m really concerned,” Lucas said. “Talk about a disadvantage for any other dogs in the pen. None of it is good news.”
“No, it’s not,” the detective cut in. “Keep in touch, will you? I don’t want to think you’re running off and getting into trouble. We don’t want to find somebody else dead in this game.”
“What do you mean, somebody else?”
“A young woman was killed not long ago, not in town here but a few hours away. She was one of our dispatchers. There’s a suspicion her death was linked to the dogfighting world.”
“Claire Lamont,” Lucas said, his voice harsh. “She was the best friend of my ex. Actually Tanya is here with me now.”
“Well, let’s hope nobody sees her,” the detective said. “Because we’re hearing from the underground that they killed one, potentially attacked another and possibly looking for the third.”
Just then Tanya pulled up, shut off the engine and hopped out.
Lucas watched her, his heart sinking as he realized he might’ve dragged her somewhere that was the worst place for her to be. “How serious do you think that rumor is?” he asked the detective. He reached out a hand, gratified when Tanya placed hers in his. “Because Tanya is here with me. I don’t want her in any danger.”
The cop hesitated. “I’d like to tell you to go right back home, but you came here on a mission. There is nothing I can say that will slow you down or stop you, is there?”
“No,” Lucas said. “But I can take Tanya back and keep her out of trouble.”
“You might want to keep her with you. That way you can make sure she stays safe.”
“Nobody warned her to be careful. Why not?” Lucas demanded. “If you had any suspicion, she should have been warned.”
“This tip just came in yesterday,” he said. “We passed the information on to the station closest to her last night. Chances are good they are trying to contact her right now.”
“I’ll talk to her about it,” he said. “Thanks for the heads-up.”
“You take care.” The detective ended the call.
Lucas watched Tanya as he slowly pocketed his phone. His face was serious as he asked her, “Have you had any phone calls from the cops today?”
She pulled out her phone. “I missed two calls. They were the same number, but I didn’t call back. Figured I’d do that when we got home.” She frowned as she looked at the number. “I don’t recognize it.”
“Cops. Apparently they’ve gotten wind of some rumors that Claire’s and Alice’s cases might have been connected. The people involved with that also might be looking for their roommate.” He watched as the color drained from Tanya’s face.
She reached out her free hand and placed it on the hood of the truck for support. “Seriously?”
He nodded grimly. “In other words, you’re in danger now.”
She gave a bitter laugh. “Both of my friends were attacked in my hometown. We’re almost four hours awa
y. Still in dogfighting country regardless. What difference does it make?”
He had to give her that. “True enough,” he said. “I am tracking down a loose dog that may or may not have been shot and taken.” He pointed to the cement so she could see the red patch.
She shook her head. “Surely somebody didn’t just shoot the dog and then throw him in the garbage, did they?”
“Or they shot him to wound him, and they’ll keep him for fighting. Once he’s healed, into the ring he’ll go.”
She stared at him. “Why are people such assholes?” she cried out. “That dog is innocent.”
“He won’t be soon,” Lucas said. “Once he starts fighting and killing, he’ll have a hard time walking back from that.”
“We have to find him,” she said. “And we have to find him now.”
He smiled. “That’s why I’m here. But—”
“No. I’m not going anywhere. I know you think I would be safe away from you, but I think the safest place for me is wherever you are. They might get me if I’m alone, but they won’t try anything when you are around.”
“No,” he agreed. “They won’t. I won’t let them.”
“Exactly,” she said, her voice faint. “Believe me. I never doubted that you cared all these years, and I always knew you’d do your best to keep me safe. But none of us could have expected this.”
He nodded. “None of us could have expected this.”
Chapter 5
Tanya hadn’t expected to have her life play out this way, but the added news that she could be hunted down by the very same people who had killed Claire and had almost killed Alice was not something that sat well. She knew her best chance at staying alive was to remain with Lucas. Her friends had been taken out fast and expertly. She didn’t know if losing her job was part of this or just shitty timing, but she’d had enough rough times. She wouldn’t put it past these people, but why would they bother? Easier to just kill her outright.
“Keep me with you,” she whispered. “It’s not how I wanted us to come together, and I certainly don’t want you to feel like you have to look after me. But I also know, if somebody is hunting me, I’m as good as dead.” She shook her head, tears filling her eyes. She brushed them away impatiently. “Both of my friends? That’s just too unbelievable.”