Rook and Vuur were content to hang back while the talented wild killers worked. The wolves stripped off Vic’s wolf-fur coat, almost gently, before he exploded in a violent flash of dark fur and spraying blood. The big mine boss was quickly separated into gory pieces by the boiling knot of savagely snarling wolves.
His head rolled under the truck and bumped into Rotty-wolf’s cardboard bed. The simple mixed breed dog licked the red smears running down the old scar on Vic’s face. A face that was now a frozen, terrified mask.
Smudge opened her paws and grabbed the big gear plate that was pinning her brother. Her back muscles shook and bulged as she yanked it off him with one great pull.
Blu groaned, and wiggled to free her cuffed hands and the pistol from her pants. She moved her shoulder around in a circle before she sat up. There would be a nasty bruise, and maybe a cracked rib, but she was pretty sure her vest had stopped most of Tavish’s shot. She smiled at Christa who was trying to bend her leg. There was a rip in her pants and one of her titanium knee joints was hanging in pieces. Christa returned the smile, and raised an eyebrow at the black circles in the police captain’s crotch.
As Blu scooched towards Tavish’s body to retrieve her handcuff keys she said, “Hamish is going to have a field day with this one.”
“Definitely not a place a lady should ever get powder burns,” Christa said as she crawled across the floor to get to Blu’s rifle and service pistol.
Smudge tossed another large truck part aside and pulled Spot up from the floor.
Where’s Ben? Spot asked as he spun in a circle.
Smudge sniffed the air and said, This way.
The two black dogs darted off together, disappearing into the shadows as they ran in perfect sync.
The pups flew through the dark maintenance garage, rechecking the path of Ben’s scent with every breath as they ran between the rows of racking and past pallets of parts. They came to a back door and crashed through it together.
Smudge had guessed Jia’s destination, and the pair of footprints in the snow confirmed it. She and Ben were almost to the fence that surrounded the electrical building, and the hidden black Suburban. They watched as Jia’s huge coat flapped in the wind as she dragged Ben through the snow.
The pups turned white and sank down. Jia had heard the door slam and swung the gun around towards them. She paused for a moment, sweeping the big pistol back and forth before yanking Ben towards the van again.
Vuur and Rook appeared in the shadows of large electrical panels that ringed the outbuilding’s chain link fence. They stepped into the light just enough to nod at the pups. Vuur looked straight up, and pawed at the snow.
Spot tapped Smudge and pointed to the raceway above them. A bundle of large gray conduit pipes exited the second floor of the garage and ran overhead, all the way to the electrical building next to the van. The pipes were bolted together inside a frame that was held up by several thick metal support posts equally spaced across the parking lot.
Smudge took two running steps and launched herself off Spot’s back. She landed deftly on the overhead pipes and raced off toward Jia and Ben.
Spot signed to the boerboels and then shot off along the edge of the parking lot, darting through the cover of pallets and equipment.
As Jia reached the outbuilding she put the gun in one of the large coat’s pockets. When she fumbled for the van’s keys Spot stepped from the shadows and signed to Ben.
Ben nodded, and looked up to see Smudge on the overhead catwalk.
He tugged against Jia’s grip on his arm and when she turned he swung his taped fists up, catching her square on the jaw.
Smudge dove from the catwalk and landed on top of Jia, grabbing her with split open paws as they fell backwards together.
Spot and the police dogs bolted from their hiding places.
Jia screamed from under Smudge as she beat on her sides and fore-limbs.
Rook and Vuur helped Spot to snatch Ben away. They each took an arm and leg and dragged him protesting through the snow. They tossed him down behind a dozer blade and the boerboels sat on him as he struggled to get up.
Spot spun, kicked hard and left a trail of flying snow as he shot back towards Smudge.
His sister was on top of Jia with her open paws around the woman’s neck. Smudge had pinned the sleeves of her coat under her back paws.
Do it, Spot thought as he closed on them, Fucking do it sis.
Smudge flexed her shoulder muscles as her paws found Jia’s carotids, noting one was nicely labelled just below her left ear by a triangle tattoo. It was the same tattoo she’d seen on Liko’s neck, and Mina’s, and they all shared the same strong jaw and high cheeks.
What in the bloody hell is the deal with this family? Smudge thought as she focused all of her strength on her tightening grip. She released a flood of adrenaline into her paws, and growled, For E’sra, bitch…
Jia gurgled and her back arched. She twisted and struggled wildly under the strong dog. Digging in the coat pocket she found the grip of the pistol. Her sleeves were pinned but the jacket was so large it gave her room to point the huge handgun up.
She fired it right into Smudge’s side.
Smudge tumbled away into the snow, turning from white to black as she fell.
Spot roared and added a burst of speed as Jia got to her feet and unloaded the clip at him. He darted from side to side as the snow covered gravel exploded in front of him.
Jia scrambled into the van, yanking the door closed and locking it just as the white dog bounced hard against it. She started the engine and pulled away with the dog still clinging to the door handle. She spun the van in an arc as the dog smashed his head into the window right next to her. The window spider cracked but remained intact as she aimed the van for one of the overhead pipe run’s support poles.
Spot leapt away just as the van sideswiped the pole. It tore off the side mirror and showered sparks as the metal pole screeched down the side of the van.
The van’s engine roared and its tires spun in the snow. It swerved as it clawed across the complex’s gravel lot and sped up the access road.
Spot rolled to his feet and snorted out a nose full of blood. He ran back to join Ben who was standing next to the boerboels.
They were staring down at Smudge, and the charred circle in the side of her vest.
Smudge was looking back up at them, and wagging.
“That Kevlar’s some amazing stuff,” Ben said, “We owe Christa big time.”
Spot signed, Excuse me, but it was my idea, and design.
I can’t believe that bitch just shot me, Smudge signed. She rolled to her feet and added, Ouch. That really, really hurt.
Chapter 88
The Suburban’s windshield finally defrosted as Jia crested the upper ridge of the mine. She passed a white work truck, and sitting next to it in the snow was a round man with thick glasses. He was rocking as he cradled a large white camouflage bundle in his arms. Jia noticed there were streaks of red smeared across the bundle, and the man didn’t even look up as she flew by.
The van spit gravel as it turned east down a fire road and moved away from the main road. As much as Jia didn’t like that smug shit Tavish, she had to admit he truly was a professional. He had mapped at least two dozen routes out of this horrible, frozen little town, including a dozen from the logging roads around this horrible, frozen mine. The roads crisscrossed across multiple valleys, and once she was free of any immediate danger she would have plenty of choices to get away clean.
The skies were beginning to lighten and the snow was starting to let up as she turned on the GPS unit. After a few minutes it got enough signal for her to choose one of Tavish’s zig-zagging routes out of the maze of mountain roads. It would take a few hours but she had a full tank of gas. Lucy may have been a smart-ass, but he too had been a professional.
Chapter 89
Fourteen minutes before Jia was selecting one of Tavish’s routes, Lissa Chogin got her last kiss from
her husband. She dropped Harry and his big cannon off at the rim of the mine and said with a wink, “Shoot that big thing straight, my dear,” as she pulled away.
She drove back around to the head of the south access road where Smudge and Glasgow were waiting for her. Lissa unlocked one of the tool boxes on the side of her truck as Smudge left Glasgow at the rim of the mine to keep watch.
Lissa held out a small bundle to Smudge and asked, “Are you sure you know how to use this stuff?”
Smudge nodded, and signed before she took the little orange control box from her, It’s just insurance. I’ll give it back if I don’t use it, maybe.
Lissa laughed, and as she taped the radio detonator to the tubes of ANFO said. “It’s only meant for stubborn granite outcroppings,” she said, “Not a whole bench line blast. The detonator range is only about a hundred meters so you have to be close…but not too close.”
Smudge zipped the items into her vest and signed, How about the tracker?
“Oh, right,” Lissa said as she opened one of the truck’s other toolboxes, “This is the smallest one I have. Range is about ten clicks.” She turned on the small device and held it up. The readout showed Glasgow’s collar was four meters directly in front of them. She clicked it off and handed it to Smudge as Glasgow looked back at them.
Lissa was still getting used to being close to the huge wild wolf. She’d seen her from across a valley on one of Hamish’s excursions, but now that she was less than a truck length away Lissa was as scared as she was in awe. She cooed, “You are such a pretty girl,” and to Spot she whispered, “Can you ask her to stop looking at me like I’m a steak?”
Eight minutes after Lissa handed her the explosives, detonator, and tracking device, Smudge was telling Glasgow to hold still. They were standing at the open rear door of Jia’s black Suburban van as the boerboels kept watch.
Smudge bit down on Glasgow’s radio collar and grabbed it in her powerful paws. She tugged, ripping the metal rivets out of the thick plastic collar before carefully sliding it off of Glasgow’s neck.
Smudge tucked the collar behind the thirty gallon drum of accelerator formula. She then unzipped her vest pocket and removed the small bundle of ANFO vials with the radio detonator taped to them. She pushed on the top of the drum where the labels showed it to be highly flammable and toxic, and the vile liquid sloshed around inside as the drum tipped to the side. Smudge wedged the pack of explosives under the drum before setting it back down. The lights on the radio detonation transmitter lit up green when she tested it, and so did the little receiver taped to the tubes.
Twenty-five minutes after Jia’s van left the mine, Glasgow burst from a row of trees. She left behind a cloud of snow and shaking pine branches and came to a sliding stop at the edge of a small rise next to a logging road. Her paws knocked snow from the rise’s lip and it tumbled down, creating little snow balls that grew as they rolled down the slope and onto the snowy road.
Four large, darker gray male wolves leapt from the same cluster of trees and came to a stop beside Glasgow.
She wagged, and rubbed against her new pack, having enjoyed running through the woods again with other wolves. She yapped over her shoulder and a fluffed-up Spot shot from the trees and joined the group at the small precipice overlooking the road.
A moment later Smudge ran out of the woods, panting as she stepped to the edge and pushed in between her brother and Glasgow.
Glasgow gave her a look and said, Trouble keeping up with the pack, domesticated runt?
Smudge shook the snow from her vest and thick black coat and said, Easy Balto, I was recently shot you know.
Spot unzipped his vest and took out the little radio collar tracker Smudge had given him.
Glasgow closed her eyes and raised her head to the wind. Her ears tipped forward and she said, You won’t need that anymore. She’s coming this way. Just over that hill.
Spot put the tracker away as Smudge unzipped her vest and removed a small orange box. It looked like a long thin pack of cigarettes. She put one end in her mouth and pulled it to extend the short silver antenna. Holding the box out for her brother, Spot slid down the protective clear window and flicked a small switch to the ARM position. It lit up green.
The pups heard the crunch of a vehicle’s tires approaching. As the black Suburban van came over the hill the RANGE light on the detonation control box started to flash yellow, and then it flashed green before finally turning solid green.
Spot placed a toe pad on the red DETONATE button as they watched Jia coming towards them.
Spot and Smudge started to wag in perfect sync, and the rest of the pack of wolves started to wag as well.
Jia checked the GPS unit as she crested a hill. It was telling her she’d be on paved roads in less than seven kilometers. In another two hours she’d be on the main highway. If all went well she’d be at the airport in three hours, and home by midnight.
She smiled, and looked out through the passenger window as the sun peeked through the clouds just above the mountains. It lit up the tops of the pines and the white valley stretching out below her. She said, “You were right, Lucy, it is actually rather pretty up here.”
Jia turned back to the windshield and saw a row of large gray wolves standing at the side of the road in front of her. She noticed Ben Hogan’s two dogs were standing among them. All of the dogs were staring at her, and wagging their tails.
Something in the back of the van beeped, once.
Chapter 90
Ben waded into the knot of wrestling dogs and smacked T’nuc hard on the rump. The lead sled dog released Spot’s leg and immediately spun to chomp down on Ben’s. She tugged him down into the snow with a playful growl. R’ekcuf bit his hood and the two Elkies played tug of war with him as the rest of the team joined in.
Christa came out of the barn and headed for her truck with her tablet and tripod. She smiled, and called over to the helpless, flailing boy, “Quit bullying my dogs, Skippy McArsemuncher. Next call’s in twenty, let’s get going.”
Ben waved to her as he shoved and kicked the pile of Elkhounds off of him. He stood, brushing off the snow as he called them to attention with a raised hand. He addressed the circle of seven wagging sled dogs while Spot looked on.
“You guys were totally utmerket today,” he said, “I’m proud of every one of you numpties. Looks like your new boss was pretty impressed. He said you’re going to be celebrities in Norway, so just don’t forget your humble roots…and the little people you peed on to get to the top.”
He gave each of them a rub and then waved them away. The sled dogs went back to rough housing as Ben and Spot padded through the snow to join Hamish and Smudge and Sholto.
His great uncle was leaning on the corral fence watching Glasgow and her four subordinate males disappear into the woods at the far end of the clearing. She had a new tracking collar on, and Smudge said she’d taken a shine to the cheeky lead male with the big scar on his forehead. Hamish thought it was typical that a wolf named Glasgow would fall for a bad boy, and also fitting that she be the only female alpha wolf he’d ever heard of. The pups had established her as the pack’s leader, and her new harem of males seemed fine with it.
Smudge closed up her little jar of Christa’s foot wax and wiped her paws on the leg of Hamish’s cover-alls. She’d applied a generous amount to each of the wolves’ feet, and Hamish didn’t need any translation of their closed eyes and deep groans.
Hamish and Smudge shared a nod.
He put an arm around his grandnephew and steading himself on his cane. They walked with the dogs past the barn to join Christa who was waiting in the idling pickup truck with the boerboels. Sholto was limping a little as well. She had a bandaged hip as Dave had grazed her back leg.
“Sholto’s last conference call,” Christa said, smiling, and then flinching as she touched her tender cheek.
They drove to the old saw mill and Christa setup the tripod, tablet, and sat tether inside the abandoned main build
ing.
Ben gave the boerboels a pep talk while Spot and Smudge brushed their silky brown coats. After listening to the way Hamish peppered his speech with Afrikaan’s slang when speaking to the big police dogs Ben had studied up, and had been trying his hand at it as well. “Okay me brus,” Ben said, pacing in front of them with his hands behind his back, “It’s all lekker. Let’s just have a jawl of a time with this thing. The Elkies made it look easy enough, right? It’s not a big deal. We’ve practiced, we’re ready. I’m not nervous, chommies, and you shouldn’t be either.” Ben shook his shoulders and flopped his arms, showing the dogs how to get loose. Rook and Vuur started to shake like they were wet. Their big black jowls slapped and sent out little sprays of spittle.
Ben said, “That’s befuck boys. Good. Breathe, always remember to breathe.”
“Would you please cut that out,” Hamish said as he limped into the building. To the boerboels he said, “And you two ignore that duf. Kom heir honden.”
The dogs bounded over to Hamish as the last of their shaking flowed down their backs and off their tails.
Christa raised her hand to shush them. She tapped on the tablet and said, “Theo, can you hear me?” She stepped back as Rook and Vuur walked into the picture with a stiff-legged Hamish.
On the tablet’s screen a handsome dark man in a periwinkle dress shirt smiled and said in a thickly accented voice, “Hallo Christa! Hallo Hamish, yes I can hear you.” He leaned his round face closer to the screen and said, “Christa, what the hell happened to your beautiful eye, and Hamish why are you limping, brah?”
Christa said, “Training accident. Theo, I’d like you to meet our young dog whisperer, Ben.”
The Glasgow Gray: Spot and Smudge - Book 2 Page 40
