Ethan

by Dale Mayer

  What he couldn’t count on was the dogs’ reactions when they reached the men. Would they see them as friend or foe? Would they listen to Ethan’s commands or to the enemy’s? Surely some of the men had befriended the dogs? But he would never get a better chance than here and now to see where their loyalties lay and to see if, in any way, he could redeem them. Bella had already proven herself to be trainable and loyal to him, but she hadn’t been put to the real test yet. Sentry, on the other hand, he’d been trained to kill for these men, making him the bigger problem.

  Still, Sentry had listened to Ethan over the intruder they had caught at Cinn’s house. Would Sentry welcome a chance to go after these men? Or would he welcome them with yips and howls of joy and jump all over them? Ethan could only guess what would happen. Sentry certainly wasn’t pulling back or resisting the run. Right now he wanted to tear ahead. Ethan just didn’t know for sure why.

  The men seemed to turn and look toward their vehicles; then they slowly marched back. Ethan stayed where he was, watching as, every once in a while a man turned his gaze, sweeping around, probably looking for Cinn, and maybe for Ethan. The question was, where was Cinn? And would the dogs pick up her scent? Was she hurt? Had she been shot again? Was she running for her life in a completely different area? Did she have any water?

  It was too easy to lose somebody in this countryside. Without helicopters, without motion sensors, without any GPS tracking, finding her, especially in time if she was injured, would be hard. He didn’t know if Levi had access to any satellite imagery, but, if they would be so lucky to have the police involved with similar technology, then maybe they would catch sight of her. Deeming it safe, he got up. Instead of running, he walked slowly, as the men were now all in their vehicles. Two of them drove ahead of the other two. Ethan didn’t want to push his luck, waiting until they took the first corner.

  Then he picked up the pace and ran toward the area where they’d been. Another vehicle drove toward him, but he couldn’t tell who it was. He wished he had a better view. It would tell him if it was Levi meeting up with that group of gunmen, or if it would be more of the foes.

  Taking a chance, he bent down, unclipped Bella, gave her a sniff of Cinn’s jacket and told her to search. And Bella took off. Sentry tried to jump behind her, but he was still leashed. Ethan picked up the pace, running behind Bella, who was now flat-out racing across the countryside toward the road.

  And there she stopped, milling around, and started to sniff. She wasn’t a bloodhound. She was an attack dog. Ethan knew it was a slim chance that she’d pick up Cinn’s scent, but all dogs seemed to have a sense for tracking that completely outshone anything humans could do.

  He didn’t know for certain about that with Sentry or Bella.

  Finally reaching Bella, he gave her another sniff of the jacket, and she walked up and down the road, whining. “I know. Where could she be? Maybe she hitched a ride from someone?” He thought about that. There were just too many unknowns. As he looked to the left of the road, he realized nobody had gone that direction. He moved forward along the road to where the men had gotten out of their vehicles. Bella and Sentry started to whine and howl, barking as they picked up the scent of the men who’d been here. He just didn’t know what their reaction meant. He led the way to the trees, with Bella now racing ahead, following the men’s trails.

  “Sure, Bella. But do you want to see these guys, or is it because you can also smell Cinn’s scent here?”

  They were a good two minutes away from the trees. He walked slowly, his gaze roaming carefully across the sand and dirt.

  She had to be here somewhere. His worst fear was that she’d collapsed, had been shot and was even now bleeding out into the dry ground.

  Shots split the silence. He dashed into the tree line to make sure he and the dogs were out of the firing line. He peered through the trees to see what was going on. But there was just dust and chaos where the vehicles had met, face-to-face.

  “Well, that answers that question,” he muttered. “I’ll take that as Levi met up with the enemy.” Ethan bent down and gave Sentry a good scratch as he whined. “It’ll be fine, buddy. I don’t know about the fate of your previous owners, but you’ll be fine. We need to focus on finding Cinn.” He called Bella to him, and slowly, carefully, methodically went through the trees. He looked up in the branches, just in case she’d climbed up.

  Deeming they were safe enough, he called out, “Cinn? Are you here? Call out if you’re hurt. It’s me, Ethan. I’ve got the dogs.”

  In a gentle voice he kept calling to her. But there was no answer. As he came to the end of the trees, he thought about going back down for another run, but so much land surrounded him. He couldn’t spend too much time here.

  He also couldn’t be sure the men hadn’t seen her, shot her and left her somewhere. He hadn’t heard a sound, but, depending on how close they’d been, he might not have. If the wind had been moving up the hills, sweeping away from him, it could easily have been disguised. He glanced down at Sentry and held Cinn’s jacket to his nose.

  Sentry barked and strained at the leash. Bella came back over, milled around the two of them, sniffing the air and sniffing the jacket.

  Ethan was taking a hell of a chance to let Sentry off his leash. He could disappear on Ethan. But he made a decision to give the dog some trust and to hope the dog would trust him back. Ethan reached down, unclipped the big harness off the dog’s shoulders, and Sentry bolted cross-country into the area Ethan had not searched when coming in.

  There was still a good mile of land out here that the dogs ran flat out into. But this time Bella was ever-so-slightly behind, and Sentry moved with intent. Ethan picked up his feet and raced forward. He didn’t call out to the dogs. For all he knew, Sentry was headed back to the compound. But Ethan had to give Sentry a chance.

  And suddenly Sentry came to a complete stop and barked.

  Chapter 13

  Cinn woke to a horrific barking above her and a heavy weight on her chest. She shifted and then groaned. But she could hardly hear her thoughts. A dog barking outrageously stood on her torso, his head above her head. He terrified her. He was huge, looming over her, barking in her face. She wasn’t sure, but she thought it was Sentry. But wasn’t Sentry under Ethan’s command? Or was Sentry now back under one of the assholes’ control?

  She knew she wouldn’t have much time to make a decision. She could either bolt, and the dog would likely take her down, or she could lie here and hope the dogs didn’t belong to the bad guys. Her heartbeat slammed against her chest, and the dog’s drool dripped on her face. But she didn’t move.

  And then suddenly she heard someone call out, “Easy boy, easy boy.” She strained her ears. Ethan?

  “Bella! Come on, Bella.”

  Bella?

  She smiled. “Ethan?” she called out weakly.

  “Cinn?”

  She managed to get her good hand under her and lifted her body. Dirt slid off her shoulders as she cried out, “Yes, it’s me.”

  And suddenly there he was. He bent beside her, moving Sentry off to the side, clipping him on a leash. His hand went to her head, brushing off the dirt. “Are you okay?”

  She gave a broken laugh. “Yes. Bruised, my feet are killing me, but I’m alive. I buried myself in the dirt, so the assholes wouldn’t find me. When the dogs arrived, I was terrified Sentry was working for the wrong team.”

  Ethan cleaned the dirt and rocks off of her. When he could, he reached down, grabbed her under the shoulders—careful of her injury—and helped her to a sitting position. She cried out when her bloody feet scraped along the ground. He lifted her feet, took one look at her soles and the gentlest wince whispered across his face.

  “I couldn’t find any shoes,” she whispered, holding her feet up in pain. “The best I could do was these socks.”

  He gently removed the socks and held them up so she could see she had worn the soles right out of them.

  She stared at them. “I rea
lly don’t want to see what my feet look like.”

  “No,” he said grimly. “You do not.” He slowly lowered her feet so her calves rested sideways on his legs. “What about other injuries?”

  She shook her head and shot a hand up to her head. “A headache—from those assholes knocking me out, I presume—and, of course, my shoulder,” she admitted. “But everything else appears to be in good working order. I ran and walked as much as I could, following the road back out. But then I saw the vehicles coming after me, and I had to hide.”

  He glanced around at her hiding spot and smiled. “You did a great job.”

  “Not really,” she said, motioning at the dirt. “Once I disturbed it and opened up a dark slash of dirt, the sun didn’t have a chance to dry it out and turn the camouflage the same color as the rest of surroundings.”

  “But it was enough that you stayed hidden. They all headed to the trees.”

  “I know at least one was very close. I didn’t dare look around to see where the others were,” she said, her heart hitching at the reminder. “They were almost upon me. If they’d had the dogs, for sure they would have found me. And I couldn’t keep my head completely buried because I had to breathe. But I was between the rocks, so it was deceptive. I was hoping they’d think some animal had disturbed this part of the dirt.”

  “It worked,” Ethan said in an admiring tone. “You did good.”

  Just then she felt a wet nose against her face. She looked up to see Bella. “Hello, Bella,” she murmured, gently scratching her thick neck. “Did you help find me?”

  Bella nudged her, when her hand slowed down, and Cinn chuckled.

  “Bella, lie down,” Ethan ordered.

  Bella lay down and dropped her head lower on Cinn’s lap, so Cinn could scratch the rest of her.

  She glanced over at Sentry and asked, “And him? Was he okay?”

  “He found you,” Ethan said proudly, reaching out to scratch the big male who again stared in the direction of the vehicles. “But we’re still not out of danger here.”

  She looked in the direction Sentry was focused on. “What are you talking about?”

  “Two vehicles came down and met up two of Levi’s vehicles.” He pointed to the other side of the trees. “I heard a lot of shooting, but I can’t be sure who’s left standing.”

  “And we’re in the open,” she cried out. She shook her head. “You should have left me here. I can’t run anywhere right now.”

  He stood, looped her arms around his neck and picked her up. Moving at a steady pace, he walked back toward the trees.

  “Not that I have anything against being carried,” she joked, “but aren’t the trees where they’ll look for us?”

  “Indeed it is,” Ethan said. “But out here, like you said, we’re sitting ducks. In the trees, we have a little more opportunity. Besides, the sun is very hot.”

  He walked steadily. She marveled at his strength. She wasn’t a big woman, but, at the same time, it wasn’t easy to hike while carrying someone else like this.

  Finally they headed into the cooler shade of the trees. He found a large downed tree and sat her gently on the stump. “Now stay here, rest up against this tree. I would like very much to find out what’s going on over there by the vehicles, but I don’t want to leave you.”

  “No, please don’t,” she said. “Can’t you stay here with me?”

  “I’ll leave Bella with you. I’ll take Sentry and go over there.” He pointed up ahead about forty feet. “I promise I’ll stay in sight.”

  She nodded and let him go. She was too tired to protest. Her feet were killing her; her head pounded, and she wished he’d left her some water. She checked her bottle. There was just enough to wet the inside of her mouth. She hugged Bella and marveled at a dog who’d gone from being part of a killer pack to being part of a defending pack. And then she realized it really had nothing to do with choice. The dog was being swept along by the same nuances of society as Cinn herself was. There were only so many choices the dogs could make on their own, and they had to deal with the hand they were dealt. Bella was doing the best she could. At the moment she seemed happy to be with Cinn.

  Cinn reached over and scratched her, pulling her ears gently, moving her hand down the side of the shepherd’s face. “You’re quite the beautiful girl, aren’t you?”

  Bella turned her head to look at her and then turned to follow Ethan’s and Sentry’s progress. Cinn could see the two sneaking out from behind one of the big trees, and she looked toward the vehicles. They might have been shooting at each other earlier, but she couldn’t hear anything now.

  And just then a cry rang out.

  She almost fell off the log in surprise. She turned to see one of the men from the compound run in her direction. She swore gently, gripping Bella as she tried to get into a better position, but, as she tried to stand, her feet collapsed out from under her, and she fell onto the ground, leaning up against the log.

  He was on her in an instant, his hand at her throat, closing around her windpipe, as he gave her a slap. “You little bitch,” he roared. “We were looking for you.”

  Bella barked and launched herself forward.

  “Down, Bella,” her attacker ordered.

  Bella subsided slightly, confused.

  “I thought you were all shot,” Cinn gasped when she could, her hand gripping his. His grip eased, and she choked and coughed.

  “Not me,” he said. “As soon as the shooting started, I snuck away and came back. I’m not up to face-to-face gunfire. A sneak attack is much more my style. Besides, I knew you had to be out here somewhere. But I checked here earlier, so I don’t know how the hell you got here.”

  “I crawled,” she lied. She could only hope Ethan and Sentry were well hidden from this asshat. “Besides, what do you want with me? I didn’t do anything to you.”

  “I want that asshole boyfriend of yours,” he said. “He’s the one who came in with the cops, stole the dogs and blew up the entire operation at the compound.”

  She wanted to cheer Ethan’s work but knew she would get a punch in the face for it. “Then why are you after me?”

  “Because coming after you will lead to him.” He sniggered. “That’s the way it works. Use a piece of pretty bait, and the men just keep coming around.”

  She glared at him. “So you’re the one who came after me? Broke into my house, terrorized my own dogs?”

  “Me and Tom, yeah,” he said. “Why? You didn’t like that treatment? We were planning on coming back and showing you a good time. Imagine our surprise when you weren’t there anymore.”

  She could hardly swallow for the bile rising up her throat. Just the thought of what these men would have done to her if she hadn’t escaped …

  He released her suddenly and said, “You didn’t escape alone though, did you?”

  He jumped behind the log, his hand going out to Bella, who stared at him, her lips curling. Cinn could understand Bella’s confusion. He’d been aggressive but not deadly. And Bella was confused as to who to work with.

  Cinn reached out and stroked Bella who whimpered and pushed her hand into her nose.

  The man stared at Bella and said, “Jesus Christ, did you ruin her too?”

  “Is she a killer?”

  “No. She was like the other bitch, too soft. They said bitches make the best killers, but we always found they were too soft. Boris, on the other hand, now he’s got the making of a killer.”

  “And what about this poor girl? What did you do to her?”

  “We were training her to attack. She could run them down with the best of them,” he said in a conversational voice. “But she held back from doing the final kill.”

  “It’s not her nature,” Cinn said, her fingers stroking and scratching Bella’s neck.

  The man sniggered and said, “It’s every bitch’s nature.” He reached an arm around Cinn’s neck and pulled her back, choking her.

  Bella jump forward and barked.

&n
bsp; The attacker glared at her. “Bella, stand down.”

  Bella sat back down again and started to whimper. But her whimper turned to a growl, and then she barked again. Cinn understood. So much confusion, double masters, which way should Bella go?

  “You could leave her alone and let her have a decent life,” Cinn gasped. She reached up and clawed her attacker’s arms. If nothing else, maybe the DNA in her nails would help catch this asshole if he did kill her.

  He roared, snapped her head back against the tree and let her go. Then he smacked her on the side of the head and said, “You’ll be sorry you did that.”

  Only Bella, it seemed, had enough evidence to make her decision. But he didn’t give her a chance. He reached out and smacked her hard on the side of the head, knocking her to the ground. Cinn could hear Bella crying as she landed, but she bounced back up, growling and howling, this time darting in and darting back out again, avoiding his hands, snapping at his legs.

  Cinn’s head pounded, throbbing, as she lay here, desperate to move. The only thing she could do was roll. She stretched out and rolled onto the main path, hoping Ethan would see her.

  But her attacker stood and lunged at her. Only a huge furry body jumped over Cinn and attacked first.

  The man screamed in terror and pain.

  Ethan’s voice roared over the din at Sentry to stand down. Cinn rolled several more times until she saw Bella snapping at her intruder and Sentry looking for an opportunity to go in for the kill. A kill they couldn’t let happen. She lay there trying desperately to stay out of the way.

  Ethan stepped up and ordered, “Sentry, down.”

  Sentry’s shoulders hunched, the ridge on his back high and long, his teeth bared, growling as he argued with Ethan’s command.