by Vella Munn
“Why did you come here?” she asked Zachary.
“What the hell does it matter? He won’t listen to me. Never has.”
“Won’t listen to you about what?” She was already cold, so what did standing in the rain a little longer matter? Besides, doing so brought her closer to the elements and what might be out there.
“About anything. Zed, I mean it this time. I’m leaving her.”
“No, you aren’t,” Zed said.
“Yes, I am. I can’t take it anymore. She’s gone crazy crying about that stupid horse, saying nothing’s going to stop her from getting it back. She doesn’t give a damn how I feel.”
“You’re just figuring that out? Look, if you’re serious about leaving, that’s what you should be doing instead of talking to me.”
“I thought you’d want to know.”
“I don’t.”
The conversation, such as it was, was falling apart. Either she let it happen or she made one more attempt to break through the men’s barriers.
“You aren’t the only one contemplating a move,” she told Zachary. “So is your son.”
Zachary muttered something she couldn’t hear, but his upturned hands and slowly shaking head provided her with what she needed to know. Zed hadn’t told his dad of his plans.
“What about you?” she asked Zachary. “Maybe what you just said isn’t about your relationship with your wife. You’re afraid you’ll be attacked if you stay here.”
The older man slapped a hand over his mouth.
“Do you know what a victim of the grays looks like?” Someone other than her had control of what she was saying. She couldn’t stop, couldn’t even pause to think. “It isn’t something I’d wish on anyone, not even whoever nearly killed Hope.”
“Shut the fuck up!” Zachary shook a fist at her. “And get the hell out of here. What we do is none of your damned business.”
“You’re wrong. I—”
Chinook let loose with something between a howl and a whine. Shuddering, Niko glanced back at the Doberman. Movement in the trees behind the empty space next to Zed’s RV distracted her. She reached for the Jeep’s doorknob and pulled down. The door opened a crack and Chinook squeezed through it.
“No! Chinook, no!”
The grays. Two adults and two that soon would be. They moved with a grace Niko compared to floating. There was another animal with them, smaller but just as intense. Wolflike. Zachary and Zed stared at the canines.
“This is what you want,” Masauwu told her. “Don’t deny it.”
The spirit was wrong. She didn’t, couldn’t! But Hope and Mist had been facing death sentences until she and the grays had intervened. The responsible party deserved—what?
“Do you know who you’re looking for?” she asked the grays. “Is it one of these men?”
She hadn’t brought her pistol, but even if she had, she wouldn’t shoot. Whatever happened now was the animals’ agenda. Theirs and Masauwu’s.
Instead of heading for Gun, Chinook pressed against Niko’s side. She wrapped her arms around her dog’s neck. The grays continued their measured and beautiful approach. Their fangs were exposed, but they weren’t in a hurry. It was as if they had no doubt they were in control. What needed to happen would, when they were ready.
“Oh shit!” Zachary started backing toward his vehicle.
“Damn. Oh damn.” Zed didn’t move, just stared at the grays as if he was looking into hell.
“How can you be sure one of these men stole and starved Hope?” she asked Masauwu.
“It isn’t me. The grays know.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Their instinct. Watch. Learn. You’ve done your part. Now let them do theirs.”
Groaning, she tightened her hold on Chinook.
As if they’d rehearsed it, the grays split up, with Smoke and one of her offspring heading for Zachary while Gun and the other pup approached Zed. Zachary screamed and dove for his vehicle, but mother and youngster overtook him. Each gray grabbed a leg and dragged him to the ground. His scream continued. In contrast, Zed made no sound as he raced into the trailer. Before Zed could close it, Gun slammed into the door. Human and animals disappeared into the dark interior. A moment later Zed howled.
Chinook shuddered and whined but didn’t move. Gripped by the same inertia, Niko rocked while using her dog for balance. The grays weren’t destroying Zachary. Instead, they were intent on keeping him on his belly in the mud and gravel. He screamed without pausing to take a breath, the sound inhuman.
“Oh god, oh god,” she repeated. She wasn’t sure whether she was praying, just that she had to do something and this was the only thing she could think of.
Zed! What’s happening to him?
As if answering her, Gun emerged, dragging Zed behind him via his hold on a calf. The younger dog had buried his teeth in Zed’s hand and was pulling so the young man came out sideways. He hung up on the jamb, then Gun jerked. Rain splashed on Zed. Water ran off the two dogs’ backs.
“Help me!” Zed screamed as his attackers hauled him into the open.
Frozen, Niko watched as Gun tightened his hold. Blood started to stain Zed’s jeans.
“Help me. Oh damn, help me!”
“Do something!” Zachary yelled. “Stop them!”
How? she wanted to demand, but maybe she didn’t. Did she have any business trying to stop justice? Did she want to?
Zed was only a few feet from his father now, his arms over his head. He reached for the man responsible for him being alive. Clearly the grays had no intention of allowing the two humans to touch. Smoke and her youngster sat on Zachary’s back with their teeth buried in his jacket. Zachary’s head was up and he was crying.
“They’re killing me!”
Fighting the bile that kept rising in her throat, Niko squeezed Chinook. The puppy, not that he or she could be called that any longer, chewed on Zed’s hand, the bites slow and deep. Zed jerked and thrashed, but the pup didn’t let go. It was as if the dog was playing with Zed, drawing out proof of who was in charge, of the act of killing.
Zed’s screams made no sense. It sounded as if his throat was filling with moisture, maybe vomit. Gun lowered his haunches to the wet ground, repositioned his hold on Zed’s lower leg and bit down. Zed bucked. His head flung from side to side, and he continued to try to reach his father.
Then the pup released what was left of Zed’s hand and settled himself near the young man’s shoulder. The dog looked at Gun. Gun nodded. A nearly adult-sized mouth opened. Teeth closed around Zed’s hair.
More screaming, bloodcurdling howls, Zachary loudly praying, Gun growling, even with his mouth full.
At first the new sound didn’t register with Niko. Then she realized she’d heard a shot. She whirled around. Darick and Hank were on the other side of the road, standing outside the cruelty investigation officer’s vehicle. Darick had both hands extended and was gripping a pistol while Hank yelled into his cell phone.
“Niko, get away!” Darick commanded. “Come here.”
“Don’t shoot them! Damn it, don’t kill them.”
“I’m not aiming. I can’t risk hitting the men.”
Relief that the grays were momentarily safe kept her in place. Zachary was yelling for someone to, “Shoot, shoot, shoot!” There was nothing human about what was coming from Zed.
Hank waved his phone. “The police are on the way.”
If the grays understood, they gave no indication. Zachary was still being held down. Gun and the pup continued to work on Zed.
“Stop!” Darick fired a second time. The wolf-dog that had remained apart from the attack howled. At the sound, the immature dogs left their captives and slunk toward Lobo. Despite the poor lighting and downpour, Niko noted the resemblance between the three. Obviously, Lobo had fathered the puppies. He let them lick his muzzle. Then the trio disappeared.
Niko didn’t know how she’d wound up beside Darick, just that they were together. He gl
anced at her before his attention returned to the attack. Hank jammed his cell into his coat pocket and pushed the coat aside so he could grab the pistol that was under his left arm. Like Darick, he gripped the weapon in both hands.
“Don’t shoot them,” she said.
“We won’t. We don’t dare,” Hank said.
“Help, help, oh god, please, he’s killing me!”
Zed sounded broken, a mass of disbelief and pain. What was left of the fingers the puppy had been mauling flopped. Gun released Zed’s calf, straddled him, grabbed the man’s hair like the younger dog had done, and pulled, arching Zed’s back. Then, his movements a blur, Gun spit out the hair and dug his fangs into Zed’s forehead. The gray shook his head as if toying with a rodent.
“No-no-no!”
“Hank?” Darick lowered his weapon. “Damn it, we can’t let—”
“Go!” Niko yelled. “Run!”
As one, Gun and Smoke released their victims and ran in the direction the others had gone.
“You understand. You approve.”
“Yes,” she told Masauwu.
Chapter Sixteen
Everyone who’d come into the surgery waiting room had acknowledged Chinook, who was at Niko’s feet, but no one had touched the Doberman. Detective Anders and another detective had talked at length to Darick, Niko and Hank. Darick wasn’t certain, but he thought they’d spent more time with Zachary, who didn’t need surgery but had been admitted for shock. Talking to Zed wouldn’t happen tonight and maybe not for several days.
Livia had stuck her head in long enough to inform him and Hank that she hated hospitals. They made her barf. Zachary would probably try to talk her into letting Zed recover at home, but she wasn’t about to let that happen unless she got paid. She had more important things to deal with, namely convincing everyone to let Angel and her colt recover at home. According to her, she’d spent a couple of hours at the vet hospital and had gotten Angel to eat out of her hand. If Angel continued to improve, Doc was going to let Livia take the mare for a short walk tomorrow.
Niko was curled in a chair identical to the ones he and Hank were using. She appeared to be asleep, but maybe she was deliberately shutting herself off from him. She’d been doing that since the grays had run away and he’d demanded to know how the hell they’d shown up where they had. She hadn’t answered, not that he’d expected her to.
He didn’t want to keep studying her, didn’t want to think about what she’d gone through and how she was handling it, but he couldn’t silence his mind. She looked so small and vulnerable, not that he was in great shape himself.
He was debating whether to get another cup of coffee he didn’t need when a tall man in scrubs entered the room. Niko straightened. Hank put down the sports magazine he’d been staring at.
“The surgery’s over.” The surgeon deposited his lanky frame in a chair across from them and stretched out his legs. “I’d hoped I’d never have to do something like this again.”
“Again?” Darick asked.
“I was part of the group that operated on Kendall Taft. I trust I don’t have to say more than that.”
He didn’t. Kendall was the young elk poacher who’d had his feet chewed off.
“Is Zed going to live?” Niko asked.
“I believe so. He didn’t lose as much blood as Kendall did. He did lose four fingers, and there isn’t much left of his right calf.” The surgeon acknowledged each member of his audience in turn. “Did you see him before he was brought in?”
Hank nodded. “We were there during the attack.”
“Then you know he was pretty much scalped.”
Darick couldn’t read Niko’s expression.
“He’s fortunate he didn’t lose his sight,” the surgeon continued. “He’s going to need considerable plastic surgery. I can’t say whether he’ll ever have hair there again. His eyebrows are gone. The wound where the flesh was torn from his forehead is extensive.”
“Four fingers gone,” Niko said softly. “And maybe not enough muscle left for him to be able to walk without crutches.”
“That’s possible. In addition to the damage to his scalp, the grays put deep punctures in the thigh on that side. He probably has nerve damage. Do you have any more questions? I want to check him again before I head home.”
Even though they hadn’t been given a full description of the surgery, Darick was in no shape to hear more and didn’t want Niko to have to either. He still couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Maybe she was satisfied because Zed had paid for his crime.
“Let’s go for a walk,” he told her. “Hank, we’ll be back.”
Hank yawned. “I’m heading home myself. I’m not going to be good for anything, specifically dealing with Livia Ross, if I don’t get some sleep.”
“What’s going to happen?” Niko asked. “Will she get custody of Hope and Mist?”
“That remains to be seen, but if she does, I’ll monitor her. If I see anything that concerns me, I won’t hesitate to step in.”
“Good. It’ll be interesting to see how she handles not being able to throw her weight around.”
“I talked to Doc a little while ago,” Hank said. “He thinks Hope has turned a corner.” He shrugged. “Who knows? Maybe having Livia show up helped.”
“Maybe she responded to the massages I gave her,” Niko said. “I wonder what Zachary is going to do. If he’s serious about leaving Livia, he’ll probably wind up being responsible for his son’s recovery.”
“Maybe it just being father and son is what those two need.”
Darick stood and held out his hand, hoping Niko would take it. “I’m out on my feet,” he told her, “but I think this has to come first. Niko? Please.”
Not looking at him, she got to her feet under her own steam. Chinook sighed and stood. With their hands inches apart and Chinook matching their pace, they walked down the empty hall and went outside.
It had stopped raining, but the world still tasted and smelled wet. He wondered if the rain had washed away the Zed’s blood, wondered even more how the young man would face the rest of his life.
“Are you all right?” he asked. “What you saw was—”
“You saw the same thing.”
“Not as much as you did. You might need to talk to someone.”
“I will. My grandfather.”
“I’m glad. Are you disappointed? You wanted whoever tortured Hope to pay the ultimate price.”
“That isn’t my decision to make.”
She led the way to a stone bench in the middle of a small rose garden, swiped at the water on it and sat. As he joined her, he guessed the bench and roses were a memorial to someone whose life had run its course. Zed had come close to that tonight.
“Other than putting my question on the table, can you guess why I wanted us to talk?” he asked.
“I believe so.”
“Tell me.”
Niko didn’t think there’d been overhead lighting where Zed lived. In contrast, the hospital’s illumination forced her to focus on Darick. He appeared to be as rubbed raw as she felt, and she guessed his repaired back was responsible for the tightness at the corners of his mouth. Chinook paced and whined.
“You want me to explain how the grays knew that Zed was the one who nearly killed Hope.” She looked beyond the nearby parking lot to the rain-washed evergreens she loved. Judging by her dog’s behavior, that was where Chinook wanted to be.
“Yes.”
The grays might’ve been just out of sight, with Gun hoping Chinook would join them. In order for them to have gotten there, they would have to had to have traveled several miles from where they’d attacked Zed, but creatures that could follow her vehicle were capable of anything. Maybe they were watching, judging, listening.
She settled her hand on Darick’s knee. “Masauwu was there.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I heard him. We had—a conversation.”
They were being watched. It didn’t ma
tter that she didn’t see anything, she now had no doubt that Smoke, Gun, the puppies and Lobo were out there.
“He understood how much I needed answers,” she continued. “He wanted the same thing.”
“What did he do, read Zed’s mind?”
“Maybe. He also mentioned the grays’ instinct.”
“Are you saying he gave them credit for zeroing in on the guilty party?”
“In a way. Darick, I don’t think we’re ever going to know what happened, but I have no doubt Masauwu was with me today. Inside me.”
Darick covered her hand with his and brought both to his mouth. Touched his lips to her knuckles.
“If he was, it’s because you’re Native American,” he said.
“You believe that?”
“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t. That’s it then?” He again ran his lips over the back of her hand. “No question in your mind? Justice has been served.”
She laid her head on his shoulder. It might have been her imagination, but she thought she could hear his heart beating. “I can’t say. It’s possible the grays aren’t done with Zed.”
“Damn. Is that what you want?”
“What I want doesn’t matter. What’s important is what Masauwu and the grays consider justice.”
“Zed needs to be told. Warned,” he whispered. “People are going to hunt for the grays like they were during their earlier killing spree. They’ll probably disappear for a while, wait until they feel safe.”
“I’m in no shape to try to make sense of everything that happened or attempt to project the future. I need to get Chinook home, and I have to get some sleep. So do you.”
He indicated Chinook. “Is she in heat?”
“She might be.”
“Don’t let her out of your sight.”
She closed her hand around her dog’s collar. “I can’t help but wonder what puppies with Chinook’s and Gun’s DNA would be like.”
He stroked Chinook’s back. “Smoke and Lobo’s puppies participated in tonight’s attack. Do you want to risk putting more dogs with that mindset out there?”
