Let Slip the Pups of War: Spot and Smudge - Book Three

by Robert Udulutch

  Smudge translated for One Ear and the wild dog chimed in from time to time, detailing how she trained her hunters and how she was handling the humans, and being a female Alpha.

  As a top level canine trainer Hamish had spent most of his adult life fascinated with domesticated and wild dogs. The backstage pass Spot and Smudge provided into that world was like a drug to him. Hamish had a million questions, and was intent on understanding the similarities and subtle differences between this coyote pack and Hamish’s wolf pack. He was also immediately in love with One Ear, like he had been with Glasgow back home. Both of the she-dogs had a quiet confidence, a total command of their environment that was impressive, and humbling.

  Hamish had been watching her mate eyeballing him. The big coyote was slower to warm to him but eventually dropped down in front of him for some scratches after a head-to-toe sniffing. Hamish was aware it was mating season for all northern wild dogs and males could get cantankerous and protective around their females. As he yanked on the dog’s ears and received an appreciative grumble One Ear watched him closely, and that’s when Hamish noticed she was pregnant. He had seen hundreds of bitch dogs carrying pups and this coyote was most certainly in the early stages. She was well fed but there was still an unmistakable little bump sitting low on her abdomen.

  Ben and Smudge were ecstatic when he told them, but the wind was let out of their sails a little when they told One Ear and she replied blandly, Of course I am.

  Ben congratulated her mate. He didn’t seem to understand what he was being praised for but accepted it anyway with a happy snort.

  The young hunters had apparently grown tired of grooming and started rough housing behind Ben. They kept accidentally bashing into him until he conceded and got up to let them burn off some energy.

  They were showing off for Smudge and their new guest, practicing their attacks and trying to assert dominance with feats of strength and bravado.

  Ben described some of their basic maneuvers and ambush tactics as he was getting pounced on. He explained to Hamish that the pups had taught the pack to be effective fishers as well as hunters, and the rivers and kettle ponds in The Bogs held a variety of fish and crayfish. Mimi had also shown them a dozen edible fruits and nuts coyotes didn’t often eat, and the pups taught them how to crack open walnuts without breaking their teeth. She had even agreed to letting the pups show the hunters how to become better birders using her chickens for practice. Mimi did stand nearby with a broom in case the coyote in training didn’t drop the bird immediately after they caught it. They had been successful in limiting the pack’s foraging so they didn’t have to come in contact with humans as often, and Aila pointed out it also kept them from eating junk food out of people’s trash.

  Smudge explained that the pack still hunted meat but it was mostly to keep up their skills, and because Aila said they needed to get enough b-twelve, zinc, and iron.

  Hamish laughed. He had noticed the entire pack was healthy. They were all bigger and stronger than normal coyotes, and he wasn’t at all surprised. He suspected that once Mimi had taken a shine to them they would have been fit as a butcher’s dog in a week. He wondered what would happen when generations of the den’s new pups were so uncharacteristically well fed and protected. They wouldn’t lose many young and the pack’s population would likely explode. Hamish knew that would come with its own challenges.

  They stayed in the den for the rest of the afternoon and Hamish was enjoying spending time with Smudge and Ben as much as the wild dogs. It was fascinating to watch the boy and his smart pup converse at lightning speed while seamlessly incorporating the verbal and nonverbal communications from Hamish and the pack. He wished a few of his neuroanthopologist brainiac pals, or those arrogant bastards at the Canine Cognition Center, were sitting next to him. They’d have to rewrite some of their doctoral theses.

  The pack was interesting to Hamish as well. Its members were smart, and fun, and now that he had a window into their thoughts and motivations could see they had their own silly way about them. They seemed less serious than wolves and a little rougher around the edges. He’d learned a lot from the pups about reading body language and subtle verbal ques, and he could tell these wild dogs were no strangers to humor. The young runt hunter excelled at faking an attack and forcing his brothers, or Ben, into a defensive posture before just walking away as though nothing had happened while Piff chided the victim.

  By the end of the day the young hunters were letting Hamish show them some new ways to coordinate ambushes, with Smudge’s help. The adults were less willing to jump in but just like their human counterparts the juvenile wild dogs had no fear of new things.

  Hamish thought about the attack in Canada and the coyote sentries at the farm, and about the high tech weapons they may face if the worst were ever to happen. He figured the ability to avoid thermal detection and night vision may come in handy for this group so he showed them some simple ways to evade and confuse shooters. The young coyotes were like sponges, especially the runt, Lum. He seemed to learn the moves before Hamish finished showing them.

  As dinner time approached they said goodbye to the pack and on the walk back to the farm Ben asked Hamish how long he was planning to stay at Mimi’s.

  “I think I’ll hang here for a tick or two,” Hamish said, putting his arm around him, “Just to make sure things here don’t go tits up. I’m also kinda taking a fancy to that wee runt. I might need to snatch him away with me and hook him up to a sled.”

  “Christa would shite,” Ben said.

  Chapter 12

  Dan stood at his office window and watched a plane drop from the low clouds over Dorchester Bay. It leveled off over South Boston with its wings rocking as the pilot fought the winter crosswind. Flights on approach to Logan from the south always looked like they would fall short and splash down in Boston Harbor just before they touched down and disappeared peacefully behind the terminal buildings.

  He watched a water taxi leave the airport and sway in the stiff northeasterly breeze as it crept through the whitecaps, heading for Rowe’s Warf and downtown. On the streets below his office a spattering of midweek tourists and late commuters were braving the chilly gale whipping up Atlantic Avenue and blowing through the marketplace.

  From his thirty-fourth floor vantage point Dan could see the clock mounted high on the curved façade of South Station. The station where Ben had disembarked the commuter rail line a month ago with his dogs who were sporting their new service vests. His son wanted to prove he was ready to travel to Canada by himself to visit his great uncle Hamish. When Ben and his pups strolled into Dan’s office he had been far more impressed than he was mad, and had given his canny boy and those smart pups a pass for that little stunt.

  “Should have tanned his backside,” Dan said to the blowing snow with a smile, “and both of theirs, too.”

  Dan’s boss rapped on his open office door and joined him at the window.

  She hugged her tablet to her chest and they stood together in silence for a while, watching the next plane land.

  “You’re going to miss this view,” she said, “but probably not this weather, assuming you’re smart enough to go someplace warm.” She turned her back to the window and said to him, “I can’t get you to reconsider?”

  “Trust me, Sarah,” Dan said, “I don’t want to go, and I appreciate your half-hearted attempts to get me to stay.”

  “Well fuck you then,” she said with a little smile, “The bulk of your partnership distribution has been liquefied and the accounts are setup the way you asked. You can access them securely from anywhere, I used the outside firm.” She looked down at the two issues of Genetics Today sitting on the end of his desk. It wasn’t the first time she’d noticed his strange medical periodicals. They had started showing up a few months ago, around the same time as her handsome head numbers guy’s new muscles. She said, “You can leave anytime. Just don’t come to work one day and I’ll say you’re away on an assignment for me. You’l
l remain on the books until I hear from you.”

  “Thanks boss, this means more to me and my family than you’ll ever know,” Dan said.

  “Yeah, well you’re really pissing me off Daniel,” she said as her sharp eyes turned back to stare into his, “You know how I hate to be in the dark, and not being able to help really sucks. I suspect you’re trying to do me a favor by keeping all of this to yourself, which scares the hell out of me.”

  It wasn’t often she used ‘Daniel’ on him, and he saw real concern on his normally light-hearted CEO’s face. He put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, smiled, and said, “It’s probably nothing. I’m just being my typically overly-cautious, bean-countery self. Hopefully this will blow over and I’ll be a thorn in your ass again real soon, if you’ll have me.”

  She put her hand over his and said, “You are truly the biggest pain I have ever worked with, and I wouldn’t trade one minute of the last fifteen years. Go get your shit figured out and keep in touch.”

  Sarah walked to Dan’s desk and put a thick sealed envelope down on top of his odd magazines.

  “Don’t open this here,” she said as she tapped it, “Inside are three things, starting with a big wad of cash. Don’t shoot me, mister CFO, but it’s totally off the books and untraceable. Do with it what you will and never mention it to me. You’ve made me a wealthy woman and this shamefully small amount of payback is embarrassing. There is also a secure phone number that has no connection to me or the firm. If you’re ever in trouble call the number and leave a message. I’ll send whatever you need as soon as I can.”

  She walked to the doorway of his office and paused. “And there’s also a note from me,” she said over her shoulder, “Like I said, you can’t open it here. I already feel like enough of a sap for having written it.”

  Sarah walked out of Dan’s office, waving without looking back.

  After his mentor disappeared around the corner he locked the envelope in his safe and grabbed his gym bag.

  Dan went down to the large private health club on the third floor and changed into his workout gear. It was late morning and the place was empty, save for one woman pumping away on one of the elliptical bikes by the window.

  He walked through the club to a row of large rooms along the back wall. They were personal training rooms, each with a mirrored back wall and cubbies stuffed with colorful yoga mats, kettle bells, and various pieces of workout equipment.

  Dan closed the blinds on the last room. He tossed his bag into the corner, and as he turned to close the door he noticed the woman was no longer on the bikes.

  She had come into the room behind him.

  She kicked the door closed as he spun to face her.

  Chapter 13

  Katia lit a cigarette and slid from the platform bed. She walked naked to the window wall and looked down through the light snow. As she watched the rows of tiny taxis creeping south on Lexington towards Gramercy Park the lights of the Chrysler building came on in the distance.

  “I want them,” Katia said as she stepped up onto the low window sill and stood on the heating grate, “Who are your best five?”

  She stretched, lifting onto the balls of her feet with her arms above her head. The hot air blowing up her muscled body raised goose bumps on her flesh, and perked her nipples as they slid against the cold glass.

  “Aside from me?” Harley asked from the bed, adjusting himself as he appreciated the view, “Boba, Mu, Jixi, all of my cousins are tough, smart, and lethal. It runs in the family, but Liko’s brother Tian is an artist. He’s a virtuoso, savant killer. A true wolf in pacifist’s clothing that one. I’ve seen him kill four men without dropping the wonton from his chopsticks.”

  “Excellent, how soon can you have them here?” Katia asked as she spun, paused for one last stretch, and returned to the bedside table to snub out her cigarette. She climbed onto the bed and said, “And I need more weapons. The new assault rifles with the combo scopes. I want Simpson auto tranqs, the four-mil ones, and I want under mount M-two-oh-three grenade attachments with incendiaries, flash, and tear gas.”

  “I think you’re getting a little ahead of yourself,” Harley said as he pulled aside the sheet covering his growing enthusiasm, “You’ve compensated my family well for our losses but we may need to make a new arrangement. My grandfather is concerned.”

  “I’m sure my father can find a way to ensure our continued partnership,” Katia said, raking her fingers down his heavily tattooed front and taking Harley into her mouth. When she drew back she said, “And I hope you feel this is a symbiotic relationship, you’re not the only snakehead around.”

  Harley put his hand on the top of her head, moved it down again, and said, “I happen to know that five of your people got held up trying to come through London, and your whole company is entangled in travel restrictions. I am the only snakehead who can get what you want, and hit your timeline.”

  “So we’re agreed then,” Katia said, turning her head to the side and biting him, “But I need no mistakes this time.”

  “I had nothing to do with that fuck show in Canada,” Harley said, flinching, “All I know is I’m out ten expensive assault rifles, we risked exposing our border crossing, and my family is dropping like flies for your little war.”

  “We appreciate the sacrifices the Tzeng family has made,” Katia said, sliding a hand under Harley as she whispered, “Our deep commitment to your family should be evident. I just need you to enthusiastically support me, and setup a meeting between Semion and your grandfather. My father can be in Hong Kong tomorrow.”

  “Fine,” Harley said, gasping, “I’ll call him.”

  “Now?” Katia asked with a smile. She wiggled her finger and looked up at him.

  “Yes,” Harley said, drawing a breath and squeezing the sheet in his fist, “In about fifteen seconds.”

  Chapter 14

  Dan stopped the woman’s low kick by raising his knee, but the kick had just been a decoy that allowed her to grab his wrist and roll him fast and hard to the hardwood floor. As they fell she snapped her legs over his torso, capturing his arm.

  Arching away from him she clutched his hand to her chest and pushed her hips out, forcing his arm to straighten out. Before the arm bar hyperextended his elbow Dan launched himself over her, spreading his feet wide for balance and getting top position as he slapped his free hand over her face. His thumb found her eye socket, pausing just before it dug out her eyeball.

  She released his wrist and quickly tapped on his forearm.

  Dan collapsed next to her, panting and rubbing his burning elbow.

  “Good,” she said, “Very good. No hesitation at all. You’ve come a long way, Daniel San. You ready?”

  Dan nodded and said, “Yeah. Andi, I think—”

  She cut him off with a hard heel shot to the groin followed by an elbow strike to the cheek. Andi rolled away to one knee and swept the floor with her free leg. Dan pushed off towards her, ignoring the hard shin crashing into his shoulder. In an instant he assessed the position of Andi’s body, her right arm and leg were strongly defended but she let her left arm fall too close to him, and her weight was leaning too far back from her kick to protect it.

  Almost instinctively he rifled through a dozen appropriate options, flipping through a mental rolodex of tactics. He discarded a Kao strike or a leg lock and picked a reverse style choke. He snatched her elbow and threw his legs up and around Andi’s shoulders as he clasped his hands under her arm. He arched and tightened the triangle choke.

  Satisfied he had the submission hold sunk in tight, and confident she was going to give up by tapping on his thigh, he released tension for a fraction of a second.

  It allowed an eighth of an inch gap to open up between them and it was all Andi needed to get free, shove off hard with both feet, and pick him up from the floor. She tied up his arms and tossed him backwards. His face was heading unprotected for the wood floor as the strong young woman moved to slam him down. At the last instan
t she yanked hard and pulled him to the side. They collapsed together and Andi kicked him away with a hard blow to the solar plexus.

  Dan rolled onto his side, sucking air as his sweating forehead left a puddle where it rested on the floor.

  She moved in close to his face and yelled, “Never, ever stop.”

  For the next hour they beat each other up. They paused only once when Andi slapped him hard on the head, repeatedly, until he remembered the best option to escape her current hold.

  Dan had advanced to the point where Andi submitted and tapped out almost as often as he did. Their attacks were just short of full open brutality. The accountant had learned to follow hard rules about joint locks and strikes to keep both of them safe, but the pain was real enough for either of them to tap out fast when a limb was trapped or a vital spot exposed. This all happened at blinding speed, nothing like the slow motion moves of their first sessions just a few short months earlier.

  Dan had started coming to the gym the day after the big gang thug Liko Tzeng attacked his family.

  That night had played over and over in his head hundreds of times. He didn’t want to ever forget it, but it often came rushing back in amazing detail at the worst possible times. Often when he was looking at his wife, or his daughter.

  He had been checking his cell phone at the little hall table when he heard heavy steps on the front porch, and then the rattling of the door handle. As the front door started to open the huge German shepherd Max knocked Liko right through it, tearing the door from its hinges. The dog clamped down on his arm and Liko raised his insane dragon engraved gun and blew the top of the poor dog’s head off. As Dan watched wide-eyed, and as if in slow motion, Liko had turned the cannon towards him. Another dog, a wild coyote, flew into the house and bit down hard on Liko’s leg. He shot the wild dog, and again turned the gun towards Dan. His wife ran from the kitchen with a knife and Liko moved the gun barrel towards her. He fired, but hadn’t aimed well as their fifteen year old daughter had launched herself down the stairway at him. She struck the huge man three times as they fell, and one of those punches had broken his nose. Two more coyotes shot through the door and pounced, and all three of them descended on the flailing man.