by Vella Munn
“Is he dead?” Melinda asked.
“No.” She averted her face in an attempt to keep what she was feeling from them. “I need to know something. Is he missing both of his feet?”
“Not completely,” Summer answered while the others stared at the ground. “About his head—we didn’t think about trying to cover that up until we were on our way ’cause the other wounds were worse. We weren’t going to stop.”
Because you were afraid hell would catch up with you? she was tempted to ask. She lived fifteen miles from town, which meant the ambulance wouldn’t be here for a while. For the second time tonight, she wished Jeff were here.
“I’m going to try to put on fresh pressure bandages,” she explained. “These aren’t doing much good.”
“They’re all we had.” Lyle sounded defensive.
“You did fine. But what you used is soaked.” Was she really saying this?
Melinda hadn’t bothered with Band-Aids, opting for large gauze pads and tape. Uncle George had stocked their cabin with nearly enough equipment for an emergency room. Until tonight, she’d never believed she’d use what she’d held on to. After telling Lyle to move the second trail bike so the beam from its headlight was on Kendall, she filled her lungs with cool oxygen and slid closer to the injured man. Teeth clenched, she eased off what had been wrapped around his hand. Seeing nothing where two fingers had been was almost a relief because at least, if he lived, he’d have some use of his hand. She wondered whether he was still in school and if he had a job, what he did. He wasn’t just the recipient of a dog attack. He was a human being.
“I didn’t see— Oh, that’s horrible.”
Ignoring Melinda, who’d ventured closer, she lifted Kendall’s arm to, hopefully, cut down on the bleeding. Doing so caused blood to drip onto her bare legs. Before she could decide who to ask to help her, Summer tore the packaging off one of the oversized bandages and packed it around one of the two ragged wounds. Kendall didn’t react.
“There’s probably going to be infection,” Summer said as she added another bandage to the second stump. She reached for the tape. “That’s what I’m most scared of, infection.”
If he lives. “The doctors will do everything they can to make sure that doesn’t happen. It’s amazing you got him down here. I know what that road’s like.”
“What else could we do? Even if our cell phones had worked up there, it would have taken forever for help to reach us.”
Instead of pushing the too-calm teenager in an attempt to figure out what was going on inside her, Mia waited as Summer secured the wrappings. Then she placed Kendall’s hand on his chest. Summer’s eyes were wide open with a lot of white showing and her lips trembled.
“Is he your boyfriend?”
“Yeah. Only now he’s— Damn those bastards. I’m going to kill them.”
With Summer’s words echoing, Mia started unhooking the belt around what was left of Kendall’s right leg.
Somewhere his family was probably sleeping. In time, their phone would ring or someone would knock on their door. Their lives would never be the same.
Do you deserve this?
* * * *
“I’m not sure why I’m calling you,” Mia said an hour later. “It’s just—that poor young man.”
“Where are you?” Jeff asked.
“At home. I want to go to the hospital, but I doubt if I’d learn anything for a while.”
“I’m coming over. Give me a half-hour.”
Despite the exhaustion pulling her toward her recliner, Mia stared out of the window at where the ambulance had loaded Kendall. Because she’d been concerned about the others’ ability to get back on the trail bikes, she’d insisted they call someone to come for them. Lyle’s parents had shown up shortly after the ambulance had taken off. They’d piled Lyle and the girls into their vehicle and left for the hospital. She’d told everyone they could come back later for the trail bikes. Right now the bikes and trailers served as unwanted reminders of what had taken place.
“You don’t have to do that,” she belatedly thought to tell Jeff.
“I want to. If you’re up to it, I have questions.”
Of course he did, since she’d told him little except that a Kendall Taft had been attacked by dogs on Dark Mountain and his companions had brought him down. They’d wound up at her place. As she hung up, she asked herself if Jeff had picked up on the horror in her voice.
How couldn’t he?
* * * *
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to find coffee this time of the night?” Jeff asked as he handed her a cup. “This is from the gas station south of town. I didn’t ask how long it’s been brewing because I don’t think we want to know.”
As he lowered himself into the recliner adjacent to the one she’d collapsed into, Mia cupped her hands around the hot container. While waiting for him, she’d gone from shock to disbelief and, finally, to a certain acceptance. By the time she realized she was still in her nightshirt and dried blood was on her thighs and knees it was too late to do anything about it. At least she’d thought to scrub her hands. She’d turned on a lamp. Other than that, the house’s interior was dark. Banshee was on the couch watching Jeff as if he was only mildly interested in his mistress’s middle-of-the-night visitor.
“Thank you,” she said. “I need this.”
“I wasn’t sure. If you have a chance of getting any sleep with what’s left of tonight maybe I shouldn’t have—”
“I’m not going to sleep.”
“That’s what I figured.” He repositioned himself so he was looking at her. He acknowledged her stained legs with a shake of his head. “How are you doing?”
Even though it was hard, she returned his gaze. “I don’t matter. Those poor kids—what they saw—I tried to tell Lyle’s mother what an amazing job he did of getting his cousin to help. I’m just not sure she was in any condition to hear me.” She sipped and followed the hot liquid’s path through her. “Someone has to tell Kendall’s parents.”
“But not you.”
“No, not me.” She concentrated on breathing. “What happens now? Once people hear what happened to that young man—will the dogs be tracked down and killed? Summer said they saw four. Four,” she repeated.
He sighed. “I can’t answer that. As soon as it gets light I’ll contact the sheriff, but maybe I won’t have to.”
“Oh?”
Jeff nodded and turned his attention to the window. He was as calm as she’d tried to be earlier, at least that’s how he appeared to her. “I thought about this on the way over,” he said. “A crime has been committed by wild animals. That’s my jurisdiction, but the hospital will inform law enforcement of what we have on our hands. And I will, if the hospital doesn’t. The young man’s family will probably do the same thing.”
It was too much to think about. “Why did the dogs go after Kendall? That’s what I need an answer to. Jeff, they could have killed him, but they didn’t. Why hurt him like they did, but leave him alive?”
Instead of answering, not that she expected him to, Jeff stood and walked over to the window. He stared out. “I wish those kids hadn’t decided to come here and that you hadn’t seen…”
“Hadn’t seen a young man without feet, fingers or hair.” The numbness that had enveloped her when she’d started taking the blood-soaked sweatshirts off Kendall’s ankles was wearing off. Strange that it hadn’t until now. Maybe having someone in control of his emotions around was responsible. “I’ll never forget that.”
“I’m sure you won’t.”
He was probably thinking that staring at Kendall would be the worst memory of her life, but she had another that had no place here tonight.
“So,” he said, “as far as you know the others were heading for the hospital?”
“Yes. Lyle’s mother told me she wanted her son and the girls checked out. I think, once they were no longer focused on getting Kendall to safety, shock started to sink in. They acted as if t
hey were glad to have an older person they knew around.”
“I have to talk to them about exactly what happened.”
“I didn’t push for details. Right then, only Kendall mattered.”
“Yeah.” Jeff faced her. He looked tired, but not as much as she was certain she did. “Look, before I try to question those kids, I want to run something past you.”
“All right.”
“I’m sure you’re thinking the same thing I am, that tonight you probably played host to whoever shot that elk.”
“I considered it.”
He cocked his head. “Only considered? Mia—I can’t believe I’m saying this—dogs don’t do what was done to Kendall just for the hell of it. If they were starving, they would have gone after the food supply.” He crossed the room and sat, his presence making more of an impact than it had when he’d first come in. “It was payback time.”
Remembering how Summer had rocked herself while caring for her boyfriend, Mia wished she could do the same. Banshee took his job as farm guardian very seriously, but her dog would never, ever try to kill an animal or human. He’d fight to defend himself, not initiate. And Banshee was more protective than most dogs.
“I don’t want to think that.”
“That isn’t the point.”
It occurred to her that he was waiting for her to say something, a specific something. “The dogs fed on the cow, but they left the calf alone. There’s an intellect involved, the ability to make decisions.”
“Could be.”
“Don’t do that,” she snapped. Did he have any idea how close she was to the edge? “I’m not the one being interrogated.”
“I’m not. I want to give you the opportunity to explore your thoughts.”
She relaxed enough to take another drink of coffee. “I’m thinking maybe I want to do the same thing.”
“Do you?”
She could point out that he still wasn’t saying much, but to what end? As far as she knew, the two of them were privy to facts no one else had. Either they jointly dug into the details or—what?
“Lyle told me,” she started, “that they were getting ready to go to bed when they heard a dog howl. The sound spooked them because they’d thought they had that part of the mountain to themselves. To let you know, while we were waiting for the ambulance, I got pretty close to all three. I smelled booze.”
“Which means they might not have been completely sober. Go on.”
“It was night, so they had a lantern on. Understandably, none of them was interested in trying to see where the howl was coming from. Then out of nowhere, a dog Lyle figured weighed well over a hundred pounds charged and attacked Kendall.”
“Just him?”
“Yes.” As telling as this point was, she had another. Wanting to be sure Jeff caught the full ramification, she paused. “Summer said the dog was gray all over. Lean with short hair.”
“Shit.”
“Yes, shit.” As she filled her lungs, she felt herself pulling back, a reporter taking in information for a news article. However, with her next breath, she had all she could do not to surrender to a nightmare. “Jeff, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t the same animal I saw.”
“And it zeroed in on Kendall.”
“According to Lyle it did. There’s more.” She tightened her hold on the Styrofoam container until a cracking sound stopped her. “He fought of course, but the gray dragged him into the woods out of sight of the others. Lyle and the girls—Lyle was armed and had put on a headlamp—went running after their friend.”
“That was brave of them.”
“Or reckless. When they caught up to Kendall, he was being attacked by two dogs. Another two, puppies Lyle thought, were watching, but not participating.”
Jeff stared at his coffee as if he’d never seen it. Then he scooted forward and reached out his free hand as if to pet Banshee, only to draw back. She was tempted to ask Jeff if what she was telling him was responsible for his hesitation. She couldn’t imagine ever being afraid of her pet.
“So this brings us back,” Jeff said. “Kendall was the target. Only him.”
“Because he’d shot the cow elk.”
“Look, I’d appreciate it if you don’t say anything to anyone about what we just discussed.”
The only other person she’d remotely consider confiding in was Niko, but instead of telling him, she waited.
“I want to hear what the kids have to say. See if the story stays the same.”
“And if it does?”
“This wasn’t covered when I was in training. I think what I need to do is talk to Darick.”
Because his co-worker and friend was the only person he trusted? Because he was planning a dog hunt and didn’t want to tell her? Her mind was on overload. It would take more than caffeine to straighten out the tangle inside her.
“When I first saw the downed cow,” she said, “I cursed whoever who had shot her, but I never wanted anything like this to happen.”
“Because you had no idea it would. I’m going to throw something at you. You saw the victim. Are you horrified through and through or is there a part of you that believes he got what he deserved?”
She focused on Banshee.
“Is there?”
Maybe. “That’s a hell of an awful question to ask.”
“And one you aren’t going to answer.”
“It doesn’t deserve a response.”
“You’re wrong. I think you owe both of us a response.”
Damn him. “Politically correct or from the gut?”
“Honest. Raw.”
Like she’d give him that. “Go to the hospital. See what Kendall looks like, particularly from his ankles down. Then let me know if that fits into your idea of justice.”
Chapter Ten
Jeff had been gone maybe five minutes when Mia’s cell phone rang. A glance at the screen verified what she’d already suspected. He was calling back.
“I’m sorry,” Jeff said in response to her clipped hello. “I had no business pushing you the way I did.”
“No, you didn’t.”
She hadn’t ordered Jeff to leave, but neither had she given him any indication she wanted him to stay. The truth was she’d had no idea what she wanted. His presence in her too-empty house, yes. His hard questions, no. In the short amount of time since he’d walked out without saying goodbye or telling her what he intended to do next, she’d replayed their conversation and thought about what she hadn’t told him.
“You were interrogating me. Pushing me to the wall when there was no reason.”
“I used to be a cop, a detective. Some habits are harder to get rid of.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Would it have made a difference? Mia, I don’t have a plan of action yet. Do I go after those dogs, try to kill them?”
“No, don’t.”
“Why not? They destroyed—forget I said that. You’ve been through enough for one night.”
“That’s an understatement.” She wasn’t sure why she was pushing back, except maybe she didn’t want him to suspect how fragile her emotions were.
“Watch an old movie, read a book, if you can concentrate on it. I’ll contact you later.”
‘Later’. Putting an end to this intense isolation. “All right. You’re going to the hospital, right?”
“Before long, yes.”
“Take my advice and leave the cop behind.”
“I’ll do what I need to, to get the whole story. I hate what happened to that young man as much as you do.”
Jeff had made an important point but, maybe, in the dogs’ opinion, Kendall had gotten what he deserved.
* * * *
As soon as they could no longer hear the bikes, Lobo had torn into the belongings the humans had left behind. It had taken him a while to destroy the fastening on the cooler, in part because his pups kept getting in the way. Instead of nipping them, he’d held back until they’d grown frustrated. Then he’d
used his stronger teeth and larger jaw to complete the job. He hadn’t known what to make of his children right after they were born, but now that they were weaned, he was proving to be a natural at teaching them how to hunt.
While Smoke and Gun watched, her mate and offspring had eaten most of the food that had been in the cooler. Smoke didn’t begrudge her puppies a single swallow. Because her mind was full of what her brother and she had done to the enemy, she’d paid little attention to Lobo, until he dropped a half-empty package at her feet. She didn’t know what the foodstuff was—something long and round that smelled mostly of fat. It tasted good.
When she’d finished eating, Lobo licked her muzzle. She licked back.
Her mate was waiting for direction from her, so after nodding at her brother, she led the way to where she and Gun had bitten off the enemy’s foot. Like right after it had happened, her puppies whined and whimpered as they inhaled the scent of blood. She hoped that as they got older they’d become less excitable and easily confused, more accepting of the force.
“We did what we had to,” she told them.
She couldn’t make out their expressions in the dark, but took their sudden silence as proof that they were trying to process what she’d just told them. She wasn’t sure whether her offspring had yet heard the force. All she could do was prepare them as best she could.
Lobo held back until the puppies had finished exploring the site. Then he straddled a large puddle of blood and urinated on it. His pups followed suit. Next, Lobo walked over to the poacher’s foot, picked it up, and dropped it in front of Smoke.
“Do it,” the force commanded.
She squatted over the useless appendage and bathed it in a yellow stream.
* * * *
So many people were in the surgery waiting room that staff had had to bring in extra chairs. Summer was crammed between her mother and Melinda wishing she was anywhere else. Lyle and Melinda had allowed themselves to be subjected to physical examinations, but she’d refused. People needed to leave her the fuck alone.
