The Glasgow Gray: Spot and Smudge - Book 2

by Robert Udulutch

  “Okay,” she called out loudly as she moved into the dim light at the center of the building. She held the assault rifle out by the barrel and her sidearm pistol swung from her outstretched finger. As she turned in a slow circle to show them her back she noticed Spot was no longer on the metal table.

  Tavish slipped out from behind a tool rack in the back of the garage, not far from where Dave’s cruiser had gone. He had his silenced pistol out and his assault weapon slung over his shoulder. “Where’s Hamish?” he asked as he stepped forward. He waved the end of his gun down, indicating Blu should send hers over.

  “He’s injured. Took one in the leg,” Blu said as she dropped her weapons and kicked them across the concrete floor towards him, “He went back up the north access road to get Harry and Lissa, and to go for help.”

  Tavish stepped over her guns and motioned for her to turn around. He yanked the handcuffs from her belt and cuffed her hands behind her back. He fished in her pockets for the key and dropped it into his vest pocket.

  “Fucking Chogins. Sacre crisse,” Vic said as he stepped from the shadows next to Tavish with Christa in front of him. Her hands were taped together and her eye had started to bleed again. They hadn’t bothered to roll down her sleeves before wrapping her wrists tight. Vic had Dave’s radio in his hand and his assault rifle pointed at Christa’s back. “Mon Dieu,” Vic said, “how I wish it was me who’d gotten to shoot that sapper chienne,” He clicked the radio talk button and said, “Hamish, ecoute? You there buddy?”

  Blu had wondered how Dave had driven down into the mine without Lissa stopping him. She was having trouble deciding if she wanted to rip his pimply face off with her bare hands or arrange for him to be gang raped in prison for the next twenty years. She decided both would be fitting.

  “Yes Vic, I’m here,” Hamish’s voice said over Vic’s radio speaker.

  “I need you and Harry to come back down here in the next three minutes or your annoying little bastard here is getting a new hole in his head, comprenez vou?” Vic asked as he beckoned behind him with a wave of his big hand.

  Jia came out of the dark next to Vic. She was holding Ben’s shoulder. His hands were also taped in front of him and he had a bad scrape on his chin. A thin trail of dried blood ran down his neck from the cut to his collar.

  Jia had folded back the sleeves of Lucy’s big coat but it still hung past her wrists. With the huge gun in her hands she looked like a kid playing a sick game of thug dress-up.

  “Aye, I got it,” Hamish said, “Don’t hurt them, we’ll be right down.” The radio clicked and went silent.

  Over his shoulder Vic said, “You two go watch for Hamish’s truck.”

  Ty and Dave came out of the shadows behind him carrying assault rifles.

  As Dave walked past Blu she spat at him and said, “Fuck you, you little piece of shit. I always knew you were a stupid fucking punk.”

  Dave changed course and came up in front of her. He tried a tough guy look but the effect was lost as he had to stand on his tiptoes. He reconsidered and hit her hard across the face with the butt of his rifle.

  The blow rocked Blu’s head back and she fell to one knee.

  Dave danced on his toes while waving the assault rifle at her. “Fuck yeah!” he yelled, “I have wanted to do that for a long fucking time!”

  As Blu spat blood on the concrete floor Dave laughed and tried to high five Ty. The big thug just stared as the short deputy’s hand hung in space in front of him. Dave shrugged, and was still smiling as he pranced behind Ty to the windows at the front of the garage.

  Dave spun to shoot Blu one last middle finger as he ducked into the shadows under the catwalk. He slipped on an oily slick on the dark garage floor and tumbled backwards as his feet flew out from under him. Flailing in the mess, he struggled to stand up and flopped onto his back again. He had to crawl to the stairs and use the handrail to pull himself back to his feet.

  Everyone in the garage watched as the deputy wiped his hands on his uniform pants and cursed while trying to rub the goopy oil from between his fingers. As he moved into the light of the window he noticed it wasn’t oil. The deputy had slipped in the pool of bloody remains from the shooter Harry had decimated. Gore dripped from the catwalk over Dave’s head and ran down the wall next to him. He fought hard to keep down the contents of his stomach. Between dry heaves he said, “What in the happy hell?”

  “Quit fucking around you two and pay attention!” Vic yelled from across the garage, and then mumbled a string of profanity as he watched his two remaining idiots and shook his head, “Criss de calice de tabarnak d'osti de sacrament de trou de vierge…”

  Tavish and Jia exchanged a look, and a smile.

  Blu was still down on one knee, and slowly moving her cuffed hands down her back and into the waistband of her pants. She winked at Christa, and then caught Ben’s eye as he looked up at the top of the rock truck. Blu tipped her head back in an attempt to stop her nose bleed, and watched as Spot ran along the top of one of the gantry cranes. He leapt to the next crane, and then split open his paws to climb down one of the chains used to support the massive hanging transmission. He stopped at the chain’s big hook.

  Tavish had been staring at Dave. The deputy’s pale face was grimacing as he continued to pick at the clumps of red flesh stuck to his uniform.

  Tavish looked down at Blu and said, “Protege of yours? Doesn’t speak well for your branch of the service I’m afraid. I despise working with non-professionals.”

  “Yeah,” Blu said, “me too.”

  Tavish smiled and said, “I would offer you my handkerchief for that bloody pecker of yours, mum, but I doubt you’d need it for long.”

  Blu spat some more blood, right at Tavish’s too-clean boots. She nodded at his bandaged elbow and said, “Looks like I’m not the only one who got a boo boo.”

  Ben rolled his shoulders and stretched his neck so he could look up at Spot. From his perch on the chain Spot was staring in the direction of the big sliding door at the back of the garage. After a few moments he nodded, and then looked down at Ben and quickly signed.

  Ben bit back a smile, and winked up at his smart pup.

  “Yeah, Blu, would you look at that,” Ben said loudly as he turned to face Tavish, “That’s a big bandage you have there, little red riding hoodlum. What happened? Did you have a run-in with a WOLF?”

  Tavish turned to look at the boy, as did Ty and Dave from the front windows.

  Ben looked around the room and raised his voice as he said, “No wait, let me guess, was it a WOLF and a WHITE DOG? Yeah, you got your Nancy asses kicked by a girl wolf and a little white dog in a sweater. Ha! My uncle was right, you are a bunch of poof-buggering wankers.”

  He looked at Ty and said, “And what is up with that stain on your pants, Chug?”

  “Shut up!” Ty yelled back at Ben, louder than was necessary. His voice echoed in the huge garage.

  Ben raised his bound hands and pointed at the angry red scratch on Dave’s face as he said, “You know how it feels, don’t you deputy dip shit? I bet you leaked more than a trickle into your Batman underwear when our old gray-muzzled shepherd almost took your pussy-ass backstabbing head off, didn’t you, Skippy McArsemuncher?”

  Dave yelled across the garage, “Fuck you…you…you little fucker!”

  Ben laughed out loud and said to Ty, “And what happened to that midget Cro-Magnon lover of yours, ese? I didn’t know my bear even liked Mexican food. I bet my big brown furry buddy tore his God damn roided throat out. That unlucky number thirteen is a little more messed up looking now, isn’t it?”

  “How the fuck do you know about the bear, you little asshole?” Ty screamed at the top of his lungs.

  “Fermer!” Vic shouted. “All of you shut the fuck up.” He pointed a finger at Ty and said, “And quit with your fucking delusional bear bullshit already…just watch that fucking window!”

  Jia said to no one in particular, “It really was a bear that attacked us.”


  “Well isn’t that funny,” Ben said as he turned around to face her, “Cause while you were getting bear-whooped deputy dog fart over there was executing your bodyguard.” Her brow twitched and Ben said, “Oh, wait, he told you Lucy died in the firefight? Well you’re just lying to every motherfucker up in this bitch today aren’t you, DAVE?”

  Dave swung his rifle around and pointed it in Ben’s direction. He yelled, “I thought we told you to shut the fuck up!”, but his eye were darting between Ben and Jia as she nervously tapped Lucy’s big gun against her leg.

  Ty was still shouting across the garage at Ben, “It was them, wasn’t it? Those fucking dogs of yours. I knew it was them that attacked us at The Grub!”

  “That’s right, pants-wetter boy,” Ben shouted, “You just now putting this together? Hey, aren’t you part Inuit? I’m sure you’ve translated the sign that hangs above our ranch…even your drugged-out brain must have figured out why it’s called Amaruq Irriq.”

  Christa flashed Ben a slight nod, and a little smile.

  Ty’s brow bunched as his mind raced back to the deranged aunt he was sent to live with when he was ten. He could see her rocking in her chair by their little fireplace, drinking herself into oblivion as she beat the clicks and guttural notes of their Inuktitut language into him. Her harsh face spoke the words and he could still feel her crisp backhands until he got it right. His eyes widened as the translation of Christa’s ranch washed over his strained face.

  Ben watched, and nodded as Ty mouthed the words silently to himself in English.

  “Well done, eskimook,” Ben said loudly, “You finally understanding what’s happening here?”

  Ty’s face snapped back from its haze. He looked at Ben, and then around the room.

  Dave didn’t like seeing trembling lips on the normally tough man’s broad face. He yelled, “Well?...What the Christ, Ty, what the fuck does it mean?”

  Ty just shook his head.

  Ben laughed out loud and yelled, “Ty’s not home right now, leave a message at the beep.” He turned to Dave and said, “It means Mountain of the Wolves.”

  Ty’s head shake turned into a nod as he started to back away.

  As Ben looked at all of the gaping faces staring back at him he shouted, “Don’t you people get it? All of our dogs are Loup-Garou! They can turn into a bear, or a wolf, or a fucking fanged ghost if they want to,” he pointed at Ty and added, “And you’ve gotten my pack plenty pissed off, Thibault Lavoie.”

  With his eyes darting around the dark garage Ty whispered loudly, “Where are they?”

  Ben ignored him and turned to look at Jia again. He bugged his eyes at her as he said, “And what the fuck were you thinking poisoning those poor wolves? Are you batty, you daft bitch? My hell hounds just gutted those vile creatures this morning. Thankfully, those abominations were nothing but a light snack for my WEREWOLVES…but they’re really not happy with the way you’ve treated their friends.”

  Jia let go of the strange boy’s shoulder and took a step away from him. She was standing right under Spot.

  Vic screamed, “Ta Gueule! Stop this shit everyone, just stop this shit right now!” He stepped around Christa as he shouted across the garage, “Dave, is that fucking truck coming yet?”

  Dave ignored the window and said, “Wait, what’s this about Loup-Garou? That shit’s not funny, seriously.”

  Blu worked her hands all the way down the back of her pants as she watched Tavish stare at Ben. It looked like even the professional was getting a little rattled. He touched his elbow and took a few steps away from everyone.

  Ben cackled a crazy laugh and said loudly, “Where are my killers, Ty? Well you won’t have to wait long to find out. They’re coming for you. They’re coming for all of you motherfuckers. You better have some silver bullets in those fucking guns or you might as well just drop them and run.”

  Ben slowly raised his hands and pointed in the direction of the big metal sliding back door.

  The Rotty-wolf started barking his head off from around the corner of the office. Everyone jumped as the dog’s bellowing echoed inside the garage.

  A moment later the huge rear metal garage door started to bang loudly.

  Jia swung her gun towards the slamming and the roaring barks. She tried to yell over the noise, “What the hell is that?”

  “Ty, go check that out,” Vic said as he raised his rifle.

  “Fuck that, and fuck you!” Ty yelled. He swung his gun wildly back and forth as he backed away. He was moving towards the corrugated metal door under the catwalk Blu and Spot had come through earlier.

  A huge gray wolf and an improbably muscular white dog bolted around the corner of the office stairway and shot into the garage.

  Jia screamed, and Dave screamed louder.

  Smudge and Glasgow zig-zagged across the floor towards Ty and Dave.

  Ty screamed, dropped his weapon, and ran. As he reached for the handle of the door it opened in front of him. He just got his fingers around the grip of his hidden knife when Hamish placed the muzzle of his pistol against Ty’s forehead and pulled the trigger.

  Ben ducked as Spot leapt from the chain and knocked Jia backwards, cutting off her scream as they crashed back into a rack full of large metal truck parts. The rack canted and its heavy shelves collapsed as Jia rolled into the shadows. Spot jumped forward and knocked Ben out of the way before the heavy parts crashed down on him.

  Christa rolled to the side and swung her legs, driving them hard into Vic’s knee. As the big miner fell he pulled the trigger of his assault rifle. The bullets cut across Christa’s legs, and then danced a row of sparks across the floor between Blu and Glasgow until they shattered the red-smeared window behind Dave.

  Dave dove away and landed on a metal table, tumbled off the far side, and slammed into a large tool chest.

  Blu rolled onto her back. Tavish looked away from Dave to follow her with his pistol as Blu flung her legs open wide. That move distracted him for the second she needed to get her hand around the backup pistol’s grip. When he looked at the bump in the crotch of her pants he barely had time to raise an eyebrow before flames shot out of it. She shot Tavish twice, once through the forehead and once through his strong jaw. He reflexively pulled the trigger and his pistol spit flame, hitting Blu in the chest before he fell face first to the concrete floor.

  Ben got up and tried to lift the shelf off of Spot. He could see his pup’s feet moving under the pile of parts but the rack was too heavy to budge.

  Jia came from the shadows behind him and pointed the huge handgun down at Spot. She pressed a finger to her lips and whispered, “Come with me now or I shoot everyone you care about in this room, starting with Houdini here.” She yanked Ben away with her into the dark of the garage.

  Vic got to his feet and limped towards the office stairs. He was heading for his truck as he fired behind him and sprayed bullets in Hamish’s direction.

  Smudge dove over Ty’s body and hit Hamish in the chest, knocking him back through the doorway as the metal wall and concrete floor next to them pinged and sparked.

  Dave got up from the floor and knelt behind the metal table. He brought his assault rifle up, and just as he sighted down its barrel at Blu something huge thumped down on the table next to him. A big paw stomped down on the gun, shoving it away as claws raked Dave’s already blood smeared hand. He looked up and came face to face with Glasgow.

  As the big gray wolf lowered her head she stared deep into the deputy’s eyes. Dave felt the weight of the hundreds of generations of killers that gave Glasgow her confident stare, and he shared the desperation of their prey. Dave’s lips quivered but he couldn’t get the scream in his head to come out. Glasgow’s muzzle curled up, exposing her large fangs as her deep growl finally managed to pull a soft whimper out of the terrified traitor.

  Smudge rolled off Hamish and checked him for holes.

  He grabbed her paws and pointed at the garage as he said, “I’m fine. Go girl, make su
re they’re safe.”

  Smudge nodded and left him. She shot back through the doorway, jumped over Ty’s body again, and saw Dave pounding on the metal table under Glasgow.

  Glasgow had raked Dave’s face and then clamped down on his neck in one move. She was enjoying the gurgling sounds coming from his compressed windpipe. Her eyes were closed, and her daughter was bounding around in the snow in front of her. The little wolf was wagging, and it was Spot’s message she was yapping at her mother, Everything will be good again.

  Blu saw Dave flailing and she spun to yell at Smudge, “Don’t let her kill him!”

  Smudge shot a bark at Glasgow as she continued to race through the garage.

  Glasgow heard Smudge and opened her eyes, and her mouth, and Dave dropped from the table onto the floor. His hands flew to his face as he tried to put the thick red flap of skin that was his cheek, upper lip, and nose back into place.

  Smudge saw Christa and Blu were on the ground. They didn’t look happy, but both were moving and seemed to be unhurt. She didn’t see Ben or Jia and noticed Vic limping towards his truck and raising his rifle again…and then she saw Spot’s legs kicking below the collapsed pile of parts.

  Smudge changed direction and ran for Spot, and as she crossed the garage sucked in a huge rush of air. She reared back and without slowing let a massive bark fly at Vic.

  The big mine boss staggered as the too-loud bark punched him in the gut. It echoed through the building and shook the corrugated metal door. He abandoned his shot, cursed, and lunged away towards his truck.

  Smudge was happy to see she’d rattled him, but the bark wasn’t intended for Vic.

  Vic paused at the truck’s door to dig his keys out of his coat pocket, and that’s when he heard the pair of low growls. Standing in front of him were two massive black faced guard dogs. Their heads were lowered, their feet were spread, and their muzzles shook. He slowly reached for his slung rifle when both dogs tipped their heads at him, wagged, and then looked at the row of wolf cages. Vic turned, and saw the cages had been unlatched. Before his finger could find the trigger the brown dogs let a quick yap fly, and the cage doors blasted open. The four wolves were on him in one leap.