Betrayal: A Red Dog Thriller (The Altered Book 2)

by Blou Bryant

  She refused to turn away while he got dressed, but after the night he’d had, modesty seemed pointless. Especially in front of her. She couldn’t wipe the grin off her face, so happy to have the Dogs back together. “Damn, Wyatt, I told you to take charge, but that…”

  “How’s Ari?” he interrupted.

  “Good, she’s already been discharged. The bullet was a through and through, didn’t hit anything important, at least as far as the doctors could tell.”

  His happiness evaporated briefly. “Can we afford it?” A day in the hospital was a month salary for most people, and the Dogs weren’t most people. With a flash of regret, he remembered the pile of cash and wished he’d grabbed a couple handfuls.

  Sandra allowed a sly grin to creep across her face as he pulled a sheet up to allow himself to change underwear. He was surprised at her playful attitude, she’d been so closed down for the previous three years, it was a joy to see her unburdened again. “They met a friend of yours and he paid the freight.”

  Seymour? Wyatt finished with his underwear and let the sheet drop with a smirk. “Dirty old girl.”

  “Till the day I die,” chuckled Sandra. Although she had a couple tattoos and earrings, she didn’t take drugs, had no alterations, and no implants. It was her attitude that set her apart from society. With a playful blown kiss in his direction, she said, “Hannah went back to the hospital after we got here last night and she made arrangements. She stayed up all night with Ira and some other old guy. He brought them back this morning.”

  “Oscar?”

  “Sounds right. Did you take his car? He mentioned you had his Intrepid.”

  Oh, ya, he’d left it out front. Did he leave the keys in it when they got out? he wondered to himself, and became certain that he had.

  Sandra took a contemplative turn. “So, is that it?”

  He thought he understood. “Do you mean my plan? Yes, that’s everything. It’s not the end, though, not by a long shot.”

  She threw him his T-shirt. “How’d you figure it all out?”

  “That guy you mentioned from the hospital? His name is Seymour and he made dating software that builds profiles based on habits. The idea is that people with similar habits are more likely to be interested in each other—or at least have time for each other. Work the night shift? It’ll pair you with someone else who does. Like to go out for drinks from nine through eleven? It’ll find you a match.”

  “So, why’d it work, how’d you get around Jessica?”

  “So, Jessica and Joe have melded. Not only is she rich and powerful, she’s got an AI in her head. She used that power to wipe all tracks of our enemies from the various systems out there—police, NSA and all the private ones.”

  “But…” said Sandra, understanding. “They never deleted it from a simple dating app.”

  “Nothing simple about it. It’s got a spider that crawls the web for pictures, video and anything else that can identify habits. But yes, you’re right, we used this to find where the dealers spent their nights.”

  “And how’d you know they were holding the rest of the Dogs?”

  He shrugged because he didn’t have a good answer. “I guessed. I had figured out that it wasn’t the police who had them. They had a second building, but the twins and Hannah found it and ruined that for them, so all that left was whatever they had as a headquarters. I didn’t figure they had a lot of places to keep a group. My big worry was that they weren’t…”

  “Alive?”

  “Yes. Jessica and Joe, though, they only kill for a reason, so I hoped that everybody was being held hostage, they’d not be hurt unless necessary.”

  “A few of them were poorly treated, there were minor injuries,” she said. “The new director, she’s got a doctor here, he’s treating them.”

  Wyatt winced but wasn’t surprised.

  “So, she’s still after us?”

  “There are too many threads connecting her to murders, to drug deals, to corrupt cops. She’ll be quiet… for a while.” Wyatt had finished dressing. He was famished, it’d been days since he’d ate anything other than potato chips and pie. “Can we go eat?”

  “So, Jessica… we still will need to deal with her?” Sandra asked, but got up and walked with him through the house. “What about us?” she asked.

  She was letting him continue to lead, and he was surprised to find that he didn’t mind. “We’re going to do the same. We’re going to be quiet… for a while, too. The Dogs need a place to live and have a normal life.”

  “Normal? Dogs don’t do normal.”

  Wyatt paused at the entrance to the dining area, pleased to see it full of people eating. “How about we do a Dog version of normal? For a while?”

  “Sounds good,” said Sandra. “One last thing. I checked, and she’s fine. She wants to see you.”

  “She?” asked Wyatt.

  Sandra grinned. “Click, click,” she said.

  “Oh…” he said and stopped. Even mentioning Teri could put her at risk. “I can see her?”

  “Yes. Take a couple days, and we’ll make arrangements. It’s time you two got back together.”

  That sounded mysterious, but she clearly wasn’t going to tell him anything more, so he simply hugged her and entered the crowded dining room. As he entered, there was a cheer and people lined up to see him, congratulate him, or just gave him a handshake. Wyatt was surprised to find that everyone knew him, wanted to talk to him. How strange, to be popular for the first time in his life.

  “You!” someone yelled from one of the tables. Wyatt looked over, it was the fat guy from two houses up. Next to him was Andy. He walked over and was greeted with hearty handshakes. “Name’s Rich, and I hear you’re famous. Are you still wanted?”

  “Probably,” Wyatt said with a laugh. “Still thinking of turning me in?”

  “Na, the new director says we can stay in our house if we clean it up. Might even rent out rooms, make a buck. And we can eat here now. The old guy made us eat on the street, like dogs.”

  “Where is she?” Wyatt asked and both of them pointed to Trix, who was holding court across the room. “Mind if I go chat with her?” he asked.

  “Nope, not if you come over for a beer later.” said Rich.

  “And help us with some fixing up on the new place? We got work to do,” Andy said, sounding pleased at the prospect.

  “Done deal.”

  “When?” asked Rich.

  Wyatt paused. “Well, today?” he asked. Might as well do something other than run and hide. “What work?”

  “Tearing out walls.”

  Breaking stuff sounded perfect, “I’ll be there.”

  Two handshakes later, he joined Trix and gave her a big hug. She lifted him off the ground and gave him a kiss, right on the lips in front of everyone. “Boyfriend, you lived!” she said.

  Boyfriend? “Hi, Trix.”

  “Director Trix, but you can be informal, given that we’re going to be intimate.”

  Wyatt blanched and blushed. She hadn’t changed. If anything, her new authority made her even more confident than she already had been. “You’ve taken charge quickly,” he said, ignoring the other comment.

  “I’m a take charge sorta girl,” she said. “I need my money, when’s that coming in?”

  “It’s been a day,” Wyatt whined. “Not even a day.”

  “So? Gots things to do. Ain’t free.”

  “I’ll look into it,” he said.

  Trix put a hand up. “Damn it, people stuffing food in their pockets. Can’t have that.”

  “No?”

  “People used to sneak it, they weren’t allowed to take extra. We got bags for that now, can’t have them shoveling sausages into their pants.” She hugged him again, goosing him in the process. “Gotta do my work. Don’t forget our date. Better be soon,” she said and walked over to the offender.

  Wyatt found himself alone. He recognized some of the people he’d seen in the park. There were several Dogs as well,
a couple who’d been locked away were eating like they’d not ate in weeks. He left them be. Popular was good, he thought, but a bit of quiet time, that wasn’t bad either. With a big yawn, he realized he could sleep for a week. But that would have to wait, he had renovations to do. Then he’d really be ready for sleep.

  “What’s the laugh for,” asked Hannah from behind him. He jumped when she spoke, and he turned to see she and Rocky had snuck up on him.

  “Guys…” he said, not sure where to start, but he owed both of them an apology and an explanation.

  This was probably clear on his face, both of them smiled and hugged him. There’d be a lot of hugs today.

  Rocky clapped him on the back. “I hear you owned that guy. You’re lucky, I was going to beat you for losing the fight, but all that matters is that you won in the end.”

  “I did, didn’t I?” said Wyatt, remembering how he’d taken Criggs out. That was all thanks to Rocky and years of training.

  “Don’t get a big head,” said Hannah, but she was smiling as well.

  Regret was still there, and he responded, “I’m sorry.”

  She knew what he meant. “Oh, shut up. Don’t worry, I’ll make you pay for it, anyhow. You had to keep us in the dark, Sandra said.”

  He nodded. “Jessica controls so much; she has access to so much information. Video feeds, audio from phones, hell, our TVs, our fridges, home security systems, I didn’t know when she might be listening in.”

  “So, you kept us in the dark to keep her in the dark?”

  “More than that,” he said. “I needed to distract her, make her think I was going after her.”

  “And instead, you left her alone…” said Hannah.

  Rocky finished the thought, “And focused on getting the Dogs free.”

  Wyatt agreed. “I decided it was better to win the battle than to try to win the war.”

  “Well, shit, it sounds like you’ve listened to me occasionally,” said Rocky.

  “Perhaps,” he said.

  “So, what’s next?

  “Today? I don’t want any battles, I don’t want a war. I want to relax.”

  The two guys from the house up the street passed the four of them. “Ten o’clock,” said one.

  “I’ll be there,” said Wyatt and the two left.

  Hannah raised an eyebrow.

  Wyatt smiled. “I saved the girls, rescued our friends and defeated Jessica again. Now the hard work comes. I got some renovations to take care of.”

  Blou Bryant

  Peterborough, ON

  May 29, 2016

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Blou Bryant lives in Peterborough, Ontario and has worked on military bases in Alberta and Manitoba, in the deep bush of Canada's north, at Green Gables in Prince Edward Island and at the Fortress of Louisbourg in Cape Breton. He's been a chef, a sound technician and a stand-up comedian. His career has taken him, his wife and their many animals across Canada.

  Follow Blou online at:

  https://www.facebook.com/bloubryant

  www.bloubryant.com

  Watch for Revolution, the conclusion to the Altered Trilogy in Winter, 2017.