Season of Mercy: The Sled Dog Series, Book 4

by Melissa Storm

  “Gross,” Preeti hissed, drawing the S sound out way too far. “Do they not take the dogs outside to use the bathroom?”

  Sofia stared at her in disbelief. Could she really be this dense?

  “It’s not like they’re pets,” D-Man answered with far more patience than Sofia had remaining. He jerked the flashlight around the room, which agitated many of the dogs. Some barked, some yipped, others growled, but soon all contributed to a sizable ruckus.

  And it would get them caught if they didn’t hurry.

  “We have to work fast!” Sofia urged the others. Her voice was barely discernible in all the noise.

  “No way, I’m not getting bit!” Preeti argued, falling back a couple steps.

  Matt pushed her aside and charged toward the wall of cages. “It’s a risk we have to take. If you can’t handle it, go keep watch outside.

  When Preeti didn’t budge, Matt thrust his bag of supplies into her chest. “Fine, you can hold my bag.” He rummaged inside until he found a leash and the first of many Slim Jims he’d filched from some gas station. “Sofia, you get one, too. Preeti, stay out of our way.”

  Preeti glowered at them both but kept hold of the bag while Sofia extracted a Slim Jim and a pair of heavy working gloves to protect her hands.

  “Ready.” She nodded at D-Man, and together they crept toward the cages.

  “Start with the ones that are whimpering instead of barking or growling,” she suggested. “They’re less likely to attack. Maybe they can set a good example for the others.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” D-Man unwrapped the Slim Jim and held it with shaky gloved hands. He took a deep breath and shook out his limbs before turning back to Sofia.

  “Okay, so when we open the cage, I’ll distract him with the meat and you loop the leash over his head. Easy, right?” His voice quavered just as Sofia’s stomach did a somersault.

  “Which one are we starting with?”

  She followed the direction of Matt’s outstretched arm, and for the first time, she shifted her gaze toward the dogs. Most of them were packed so tightly into their cages that they couldn’t even stand. Crates were stacked one on top of the other, allowing feces and urine to drip from the upper cages down into the fur of the dogs below. Open wounds attracted buzzing flies. Some had minor scrapes and others were missing chunks of muscle, ear, or muzzle.

  “They left these dogs to die,” Sofia choked out, zeroing in on their first rescue, a small, fluffy thing that had no business being mixed in—let alone fighting—the much larger dogs that surrounded it.

  “No, they didn’t leave them,” Matt growled as Sofia twisted the lasso leash in her hands. “They’ll be back to watch—and to bet money. Now c’mon, I’m going to open this one. Ready?”

  “Yes,” Sofia said, wiping away tears. She couldn’t cry, couldn’t compromise her vision or anything else about this important mission. These dogs needed her.

  D-Man unhinged the cage and held the door in place with his body, only allowing a few inches of open space for the dog to stick its head out and sniff for the meat. Luckily, the extreme hunger seemed to outweigh any fear or aggression. Maybe somehow the dog knew that Sofia and Matt were different from the other humans he’d come across before.

  Although Sofia was afraid of getting bitten, she was more afraid of failing. She bravely stepped forward and dropped the leash over the poor dog’s head, then gave it a firm tug. She held out another Slim Jim, and once the dog jumped down from its cage at the top of the stack, led it toward the waiting vans.

  “It’s okay,” she spoke softly to the dog as they walked briskly away from its former prison. “You’re safe now. I promise.”

  After shutting the petite husky mix into one of the waiting cages, Sofia returned to the inside.

  Preeti had drawn closer to the dogs now, a look of horror marred her normally arrogant face. “What happened to these dogs?” she whispered. “It’s so awful.”

  “People happened,” Sofia said with a frown. “Bad people.”

  “Ready for the next one?” D-Man called.

  “I’ll do it!” Preeti insisted, pushing the bag of supplies at Sofia.

  Sofia followed closely just in case the other girl lost her nerve again. This was a two-person job at minimum, and she’d hate for Matt to be caught without help.

  Sure enough, Preeti froze when D-Man opened a cage that housed what appeared to be a half-grown, fully terrified Pitbull puppy.

  “C’mon! I can’t hold him back forever. Once he finishes the meat, there’s nothing to stop him from attacking us.”

  Preeti shook so violently Sofia could see the tremor without the aid of her flashlight. “I-I-I-I I can’t!”

  “Move,” Sofia growled, pushing the supplies at their otherwise useless accomplice once more. When she turned around with the second dog in tow, she saw the backpack laying discarded on the ground with Preeti no place to be found.

  Until she and the dog broke into the night air together. Sofia realized then that this young dog may have never seen the world outside those four walls before. This thought made her even more determined to save and rehabilitate every single one of these dogs.

  “Help me!” she called to Preeti, motioning to the van with her chin.

  Preeti continued to shake. “N-N-N-No. I’ll just k-k-keep watch. Like D-Man s-s-said.”

  “Useless,” Sofia muttered, crating the dog and returning to help D-Man inside.

  Preeti finally brought her shivering under control around the time Sofia emerged with their fifth rescue. Each dog was bigger and angrier than the last, but so far both Matt and Sofia had managed to avoid getting bitten. Somehow these dogs knew that whatever lay ahead had to be better than what was behind.

  As Sofia coaxed the sixth dog into the last open crate in the first of the two vans, Preeti moved to a wooden bench outside of the salon next door. By dog number seven, she’d relaxed enough to bring out her cigarette and take long, luxurious drags while the others worked themselves to exhaustion in their mission to help the dogs.

  Still, D-Man and Sofia persisted, not even losing speed despite their aching muscles and labored breathing. Sofia had just brought their ninth dog through the open door when the sound of sirens wailed in the distance.

  “We have to go! Now!” Preeti jumped up from the bench and got behind the wheel of the van she’d driven earlier that night, the one that was already full of dogs. Of course, she had no idea where to go—Matt hadn’t yet revealed the second half of the plan—but that didn’t stop Preeti from peeling off into the night.

  “Matt, c’mon!” Sofia shoved the leashed animal into the back of the van without even bothering to crate him and called into the building which had almost been entirely emptied of dogs. Almost, but not quite.

  D-Man ran out carrying the last of the supplies and jumped behind the wheel so they, too, could get away in time. About a mile and a half down, they passed a nasty traffic accident.

  “They weren’t coming for us,” Sofia said with a relieved sigh. “Matt, we have to go back and get the others.”

  He shook his head and twitched so hard, he looked like the other Matt—like Blinky. “It’s too late now. They’re too close.”

  “But— “

  “At least we were able to save the others.”

  D-Man drove them to the textile factory while Sofia furiously texted Preeti using his phone. They still owed these dogs more. Nobody was out of the woods yet.

  After finally tracking down Preeti and getting all the dogs safely crated and fed in the abandoned textile factory, Sofia came home and fell into bed. They could plan the rest of it tomorrow. First, she needed to sleep before her brain and body entirely shut down on her—and without her consent.

  Cries from Wolfie the next morning rousted her from a fitful sleep. She’d tossed and turned with nightmares, flashbacks, and fears that felt almost like premonitions, but she did not wake until Wolfie nudged her with his wet nose and whimpered directly in her ear.


  “I’m sorry, boy,” Sofia said around a yawn. “Let’s go outside.”

  Because she hadn’t taken Wolfie out for a potty break after coming home the previous evening, he had to go—and go bad. She walked him around the building a few extra times to make up for this failure as a dog owner, then together they went back inside. The sun already hung high overhead, and Sofia found herself thankful that night had already completely disappeared from the sky. After all, it was during the night that all her most gruesome experiences seemed to take place.

  Back inside, she reluctantly collected her phone and took a deep breath. She’d powered it off before the rescue. And even though she knew she should check for any messages, Sofia was terrified of the texts that would be waiting for her when she booted back up.

  Wolfie laid his head in her lap for support and stared up at her with the huge amber eyes that always broke and healed her heart at the exact same time.

  “Okay, I guess we have to find out sooner or later,” she told him before letting out a slow, shaky breath and pushing down on the power button.

  No cops had shown up at her door, so the news couldn’t be too bad…

  Right?

  The list of notifications on her phone seemed to scroll down forever. Most were from Liz, demanding answers and telling Sofia how much she’d hurt her. D-Man had also texted, but all he said was “call me.” He’d sent the same identical text at least half a dozen times and left a few voicemails as well.

  Choosing the only slightly less horrifying situation to confront first, she dialed D-Man’s number and put the phone up to her ear.

  He answered on the first ring. “Where have you been? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you for hours!”

  “Sorry, I slept in.” She yawned again to prove her point. A newfound terror had already coiled in her gut as she waited to find out the reason for Matt’s many calls that morning.

  “We need to make a plan for the dogs, and we need to make one fast,” he said in a rushed whisper.

  “I thought we had time to rehabilitate them and find good homes—”

  Matt cut her off. “Not now,” he said. He seemed angry, even though she hadn’t done a single thing wrong. In fact, she’d risked a lot to help him. “They have every cop in the city on this after what happened last night,” he continued with an exasperated sigh.

  “The rescue?” Sofia locked eyes with Wolfie again, hoping she would find strength in his understanding pools of honey.

  D-Man groaned, as if she should already know all that he still needed to reveal. “The fire.”

  This revelation surprised her. “Fire?”

  “Yes, one they plan on ruling as arson.” She thought back to Preeti and her cigarettes. There was simply no way…

  “But we didn’t—”

  “It started minutes after we left. There was no one else there that night. They know someone broke into the laundromat, and it’s only a matter of time before they figure out it was us. They’re going to pin the fire on us, too.”

  Preeti had smothered her cigarette before driving away, hadn’t she? Sofia pictured the wooden bench outside the nail salon, the one Preeti had sat on while chain-smoking last night. Surely, she couldn’t have…

  Sofia’s brain shut down on her. The cause of the fire wasn’t what mattered here. “But the dogs we didn’t have time to save. Did they…?” She swallowed down the bile rising in her throat. Those poor, poor dogs.

  “No, that’s all over the news report, too. It’s made people even angrier.” Matt’s voice shook with a barely controlled fury. She’d never heard him like this before. Did he somehow blame her for what had happened?

  “The fire also did quite a bit of damage to the dry cleaner’s and nail salon,” he continued coldly. “Apparently all those chemicals made it burn faster and get out of control quicker.”

  Sofia let out a strangled sob. “So what are we going to do?”

  “We need to move those dogs. Now.”

  “But where? How?” She racked her brain but came up short. The only place that had enough room was Liz’s ranch, and she couldn’t put her friend at risk again—that is, if Liz even still was her friend now.

  Matt’s voice took on a panicked edge as he stumbled over his words. “I don’t know. Maybe we can drive them out of the city and leave them in a field or something.”

  “What? You can’t possibly be serious!”

  Normally when Sofia raised her voice, Wolfie dove under the table for safety. But this time, he walked straight over to her and laid his head in her lap so she could stroke his soft fur. Her tears fell freely, mottling Wolfie’s coat.

  “Sofia, listen to me,” D-Man said, at last with a small measure of kindness. “We haven’t got a choice anymore. If we get picked up for arson, we’re both going to jail.”

  “But the whole point was to help the dogs,” she sobbed. “If we abandon them, they could get torn apart by bears or a moose. They could freeze to death or starve. They could attack somebody. They’ll never get their chance.”

  For the first time, she realized that Matt was crying, too. Neither of them wanted this. “I wanted them to have their chance, Sofia. I did. But not at the expense of my own. Don’t you understand? They could lock us up. And with my priors I wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon. There’s nothing left to do.”

  “Yes, there is.” Sofia jammed down on the end call button, swallowed back the giant lump in her throat, and dialed Hunter’s number.

  Although Sofia didn’t say much on the phone, Hunter arrived less than half an hour after she’d placed her call for help.

  “I knew you’d get in touch eventually, but I’m kind of surprised it’s so soon,” he said when she and Wolfie greeted him outside the apartments.

  Sofia fell into his arms, finally allowing herself to sob freely in his presence. She cried for the dogs that had been burned in the fire. She cried for those she’d saved only to deliver to an uncertain future. She cried for Wolfie, and for Foxie, and for Liz. The only one she didn’t cry for was herself.

  She didn’t deserve a single tear.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?” Hunter asked, clutching her tightly in his strong arms.

  She took a step back and searched his eyes for the admiration she always found there. Sofia needed to remember Hunter’s kind eyes before that special glint vanished forever.

  His face crinkled in a smile as he reached forward and brushed the hair away from her cheeks.

  “I like you so much,” she whispered. “I’ve liked you from the beginning. But after I tell you the truth, you won’t like me anymore.”

  “Hey, let me be the judge of that.” Hunter’s reassuring smile only made her fall for him harder, made her wish there had been a way for them to work out in the end. But, no, they were over before they’d even started.

  “I’m going to tell you everything, but first…” She stepped forward and gently touched her lips to his. Their first kiss, their last kiss, their very best kiss. Selfish as it was, Sofia knew she couldn’t go on forever without knowing what it would be like with Hunter. Without tasting love on her lips at least once.

  When they pulled apart, her face was drenched with tears.

  Hunter stroked her cheek with his thumb and leaned in again, but she turned away. “No,” she said, her voice shaking. “Now I need tell you the truth. It’s what I should have done from the beginning, but I was scared.”

  “Sofia, you don’t have to do this. It’s okay. I’m just happy that you finally called.” He hugged her from behind, but Sofia pushed him off again.

  “Yes, I do need to do this,” she insisted, hugging her arms to her chest to keep herself from reaching back out to Hunter, from letting him distract her for even a second longer. “Can you drive us somewhere?”

  He placed a hesitant hand on her shoulder. “Sure, but I don’t understand.”

  “You will. First let’s go to the textile factory you took me to on our first date, then I’ll confess everything.”
Sofia turned to look at him one last time. When next she spoke, all the affection would drain from his hazel eyes, leaving them colorless and devoid of any love they might have eventually held for her.

  But this is what her crimes had cost her. It was only fair that she be punished, deprived of what could have been…

  When they pulled up to the abandoned warehouse a few brief moments later, Sofia could already hear the dogs barking from inside. Assuming she could keep them hidden here for weeks and that no one would notice was an insane fantasy. She had been so, so stupid. Confessing to Hunter was the first intelligent thing she had done for the better part of a month.

  At least the ubiquitous roiling in her stomach had finally quieted, knowing relief was near at hand. Her body had always reacted so strongly to Hunter, like it knew she needed him. She’d never have guessed that it would be to mete out the justice she so badly needed—even if it would cost her everything.

  “I don’t have a key,” he told her as they paced toward the door and the dog’s barking reached a fever pitch. “But I’m guessing you know another way in.”

  Sofia paused and turned toward him one last time. “Just remember,” she said, “I thought I was doing the right thing.”

  They pushed through the door and Sofia grabbed the flashlights she’d kept stashed inside. The dogs barked, howled, and whimpered as the two humans approached, spinning around in their crates like furry tops.

  Hunter paused as she continued forward. It was better this way. It meant she wouldn’t need to see the change in him as he slowly unrolled the truth.

  “Sofia…” he asked slowly, leaving her unable to discern his mood from the softly spoken words. “Are these the dogs from the building that was burned out last night?”

  Sofia bobbed her head as she filled a series of large metal bowls with kibble and handed them out to the dogs one by one. Fortunately, none of the rescues tried to leap from the cages and escape. All were just so happy to have another meal. When everyone had been fed, Sofia sank onto the dirty ground and hugged her knees to her chest.