Loki was pacing frantically in front of the door leading to the building when we reached it. The second Dallas ripped the door open, Loki tore through it. Despite how loud Gentry’s cries were, I could hear someone yelling.
“Dallas!” I shouted as fear for him took over every other thought.
But he ignored me and followed Loki into the building.
The scene I walked in on was something that had my blood running cold.
Three men surrounded Gentry’s cage. They’d managed to corral the bear into the smallest part of the inner enclosure that was used only to limit the bear’s movements when he needed to be darted for the vet. I knew that Gentry would have willingly walked into the cage, since Dallas gave him his favorite treat when he was in there.
It had made Gentry a sitting duck for his attackers.
And they were attacking Gentry as he desperately scratched at the door leading to the outside enclosure.
All three men were dressed in dark clothing, including knit caps on their heads. Two of the men were holding long black sticks in their hands.
Except they weren’t sticks.
I realized that as soon as one of the men turned the stick on Loki, who had a hold of the second man’s arm.
It was a fucking cattle prod.
And the second it touched Loki, he yelped and released the man.
Dallas slammed his fist into the jaw of the man who’d zapped Loki, then he tackled the man the wolf hybrid had been attacking.
I recognized the third man instantly, despite the cap. The black, stringy hair gave him away.
Jimmy Cornell.
A mix of fear and fury coiled in my belly when I saw the gun in Jimmy’s hand. I was moving before he even pointed the gun at Dallas. My body slammed into Jimmy’s hard and we both hit the ground. I managed to knock the gun out of his grasp and it went skittering across the floor. But I wasn’t a match for the heavier Jimmy. He rolled us so that he was on top of me and punched me hard enough to have me seeing stars. As he reached back to hit me again, I reflexively threw up my arms. But the punch never came because Loki chose that moment to latch onto Jimmy’s arm.
Jimmy screamed in pain and fell off of me as he fought to escape Loki’s grip. My head was still spinning from the punch, but I managed to see that Dallas was still grappling with one guy. The other had stumbled to his feet and was trying to help Jimmy get free of Loki. The second he reached for one of the cattle prods, I jumped to my feet and grabbed the shovel that was hanging on the wall alongside Gentry’s cage.
The shovel we used to clean up the bear’s shit.
I used every ounce of strength I had to bring the shovel down on the guy’s arm just as he activated the cattle prod and pointed it at Loki. The man screamed in agony and dropped the prod. He grabbed his arm and shouted a half-dozen curses.
The man Dallas had been fighting with managed to break free of his hold and he latched onto the uninjured arm of the guy I’d hit and dragged him out of the building. Loki was still grappling with Jimmy, but as soon as Dallas let out a loud whistle, the animal let go of Jimmy’s arm. The man appeared startled and then he turned tail and ran.
Before he was even out the door, Dallas had already turned his attention to Gentry, who was still howling and trying to escape the cage. Tears began streaking down my face as I watched the terrified animal struggle to get away from us.
“Dallas, what do we do?” I asked.
He looked at me and then he was at my side. His fingers gently tilted my head to examine my face. “I’m okay,” I said when I saw how worried he was. “We need to help Gentry.”
He nodded and grabbed his phone. Call the vet, he typed. Then 911.
He pulled up a contact on his phone and handed it to me. My hands were shaking as I dialed. As I waited for someone to answer, Dallas began whistling softly as he approached the cage. The panicked animal didn’t pay him any attention and I had to step away from the cage to talk to the answering service for the vet’s office, since Gentry’s howls were so loud. I explained the situation to the operator who said the vet was out of town, but they’d call another vet. By the time I made the call to 911, Gentry had quieted a bit. He was still jammed up against the door, his breath coming in heavy pants. There were spots of blood on the floor of the cage, but considerably more on the door.
I went to Dallas’s side and linked my fingers with his as he continued to softly whistle some kind of tune to the bear. Loki, who didn’t appear hurt, dropped down in front of the cage and tilted his ears back and forth as he listened to Dallas’s whistling. At some point, Dallas had picked up the gun and tucked it into his waistband.
“Did they shoot him?” I asked, my voice thick with emotion as I watched Gentry.
Dallas took out his phone and typed, It’s a BB gun. The blood on the floor is probably from them shooting him with it. The blood on the door is from Gentry breaking his claws trying to get out.
A hoarse cry escaped my throat at that, and I pressed into Dallas’s side. His arm went around me. He kept up the whistling until Gentry finally lay still. The bear had curled himself into a ball, his back to us.
When Dallas’s phone rang a moment later, he handed it to me. I could barely speak as I explained to the vet what had happened. He assured me he was on his way and then hung up. Sirens rang in the distance.
“I’m going to go meet the police,” I said.
Dallas nodded and then took the gun from his waistband and laid it on a shelf. He reached for my hand, but I shook my head. “Stay with Gentry. He needs you.”
Dallas began shaking his head, but I captured his chin gently with my fingers. “I’ll take Loki with me. It’s safe. They’re gone.”
He was clearly torn between staying with the bear and coming with me, but he finally nodded. I let my fingers skim over the gash next to Dallas’s left eye. It was the only injury he’d sustained.
“Be right back, okay?” I said softly.
He nodded, then kissed my forehead.
As I left the building, Loki at my side, I spared Dallas one more glance as he knelt in front of the cage and resumed his whistling. The tears I’d finally managed to stem threatened to fall again as a terrible question popped into my head.
What if the attack had been my fault?
They were words that kept repeating on a loop as I left the building and went to meet the police.
Chapter Twelve
Dallas
“And you’re sure it was Jimmy Cornell?” the sheriff asked for the third time. I didn’t bother typing my response again. I merely nodded and returned my attention to Gentry, who was pacing back and forth in front of the door leading to the outside enclosure. I’d managed to calm him down somewhat, but the arrival of the police had gotten him worked up again. As much as I would have liked to let him outside, I knew he needed to stay in the cage so the vet could administer a sedative before examining him.
“You sure, son? You recognized him?”
“He’s mute, Sheriff,” Nolan groused. “Not blind.”
The sheriff had wanted to hear our stories separately, so he’d questioned Nolan while his deputy had accompanied me to check on all the other animals to make sure none of them had been targeted. Fortunately, they’d all been unharmed.
Gentry had been the only casualty.
Upon our return, the sheriff had agreed to let Nolan stay inside the building while I was questioned, since it was so cold out.
On the condition that Nolan not interrupt.
A condition Nolan definitely was not happy about and that he had yet to actually follow.
Sheriff Tulley shot Nolan an irritated look and then scratched out something on his notepad.
“You didn’t recognize the other two?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“Gonna need an actual answer,” the man drawled.
I resisted the urge to deck the man and got my phone out. We’d been at this for an hour already, and I just wanted the man gone so I could take
care of Gentry.
No, I typed and then showed him my phone.
“Fine,” he said.
“I’m all done here, sir,” the sheriff’s deputy said as he showed the sheriff the three evidence bags holding the cattle prods and the BB gun. The younger cop’s eyes met mine for a moment and I saw a flash of something in them that I couldn’t pinpoint.
“Good. Take it to the office. You finished?” he asked the woman who was dusting the door for prints.
“Almost,” she said. There were black smudges all over the inside and outside of the door. “Looks like the lock’s been picked,” she announced. The woman had already taken Nolan’s and my prints to exclude ours from any she might find on the door.
The sheriff grumbled and then wrote another note on his pad.
“Any reason you know of that someone might wanna pester your…”
The man waved his hand at Gentry.
“I mouthed off to Jimmy the other day in the store he works at,” Nolan said softly. When I looked at him, he refused to meet my eyes. He had his arms wrapped protectively around his body. “I got him into trouble with his boss. He knows I work for Dallas.”
I could tell there was more that Nolan wasn’t saying.
“What is it that you two boys were doing out here so late tonight?” the sheriff asked, his lips curling into an ugly sneer.
I could see Nolan was about to answer him, and if the jut of his chin was anything to go by, he was going to tell the man it was none of his fucking business.
A sentiment I shared.
But since I knew Nolan was doing it to try and protect my reputation, I held my hand up and Nolan remained silent.
We were having dinner when we heard Gentry.
“You were having dinner? Together?”
“Yes, together,” Nolan bit out impatiently. He moved to stand at my side. “Can I ask what this has to do with anything?”
I knew Nolan was still dealing with the intense emotions the attack had caused, so, not caring that the sheriff was watching, I dropped my hand and linked my fingers with Nolan’s. He squeezed them hard, then let out a little rush of air.
I wasn’t surprised when the sheriff looked at us with distaste, but he kept his comments to himself.
“Fine, we’re finished here,” the man said.
“You’re going to arrest Jimmy, right?” Nolan asked.
“I’m going to question him,” he responded snidely. “Boy like that comes from good family.” His eyes shifted briefly to me as he spoke and I heard the unspoken comment.
“Wouldn’t surprise me if he’s got better things to do than hassle your” – he nodded at Gentry – “critter.”
“Sheriff,” Nolan began, but I pulled him against my side in the hopes he’d get the message.
He did.
He fell silent and didn’t say anything until the crusty old cop had left.
“Oh my God, what was that?” he snapped as he motioned in the direction the sheriff had gone. “It’s like we were making a damn noise complaint or something.” He turned to face me and said, “He’ll do it, right? He’ll arrest Jimmy?”
I typed a message for him.
Did you know that he’s related to Jimmy? Jimmy’s mother is his cousin.
“What?” Nolan said, his eyes going wide. “Then he needs to step aside, let his deputy handle the case.”
Won’t happen.
Nolan was clearly frustrated. “Why aren’t you more upset about this?” he snapped. “Those assholes hurt Gentry, Loki…they could’ve hurt-”
His voice fell off. He was pacing the small room, much like Gentry was still doing.
Sheriff Tulley was my father’s best friend, did you know that? I asked.
Nolan stopped long enough to read my message, then shook his head.
Short of me getting murdered, he’s not likely to lift a finger to help me, not after what happened to my parents.
“My mother said you weren’t arrested back then because the deputy forgot to have the hospital run your blood alcohol or something.”
I wasn’t surprised he’d asked his mother about me and that that was the story he’d been told.
It’s complicated, I hedged. I turned around to check on Gentry, then typed out, Kids and vandals come out here every once in a while. Luckily, none of the animals have ever been hurt, but that’s because Loki usually chases people off before they can do anything major. They’ve slashed my tires and cut some fences, but that’s been the extent of it.
“It’s not right,” Nolan murmured. I held out my arm for him and he immediately walked into my embrace. I wanted to tell him that he, more than anyone, should know that things didn’t always end the way they should.
I kissed the top of his head as my own adrenaline rush began to wane. I’d been so caught up in my own fight that I hadn’t been able to get to Jimmy quickly enough. I’d released the one guy I’d been whaling on so I could reach Nolan and get Jimmy off him, but the other guy had tackled me. Thank God Loki had jumped back into the fray or Nolan could have been seriously hurt.
Loki jumped up from where he was lying. A second later, the door to the building opened and a man with dark hair entered, bag in hand. I didn’t recognize him, but I knew who he was.
The vet.
Only, he wasn’t a vet I’d ever seen before. The state had vets specializing in wildlife on retainer throughout the state. Although my center was privately owned, I serviced multiple counties in the area, so the state had set me up to use the same group of vets they did whenever I needed them.
“Dallas Kent?” the man asked as his eyes shifted back and forth between me and Nolan.
“That’s him,” Nolan said as he reluctantly released me.
The man held out his fingers for Loki to sniff before approaching me and extending his hand. “I’m Dr. Sawyer Brower,” he said. His eyes fell briefly to my neck, but unlike the sheriff, they didn’t linger on my scars. I hadn’t had time to grab my bandana, and considering everything that had happened, I didn’t really give a shit.
I pulled out my phone and typed a message and handed it to him. He didn’t react in any way other than to take it and read what I’d typed.
Are you new, Dr. Brower?
“It’s Sawyer, and yes, I am,” he said. “I moved here from Alaska a few weeks ago. I was working for the federal government on a bear study, actually,” he said as he nodded at Gentry. “Before that I spent most of my years after vet school at the San Diego Zoo.”
He handed the phone back and moved past me, his sharp eyes settling on Gentry. “What happened?” he asked.
I glanced at Nolan and he immediately understood what I was asking. He quickly introduced himself and then told the vet the events of the evening. As Nolan spoke, Sawyer began pulling things from his bag.
His eyes never left Gentry. They blazed when Nolan got to the part about the cattle prods and BB gun.
He began asking me questions about Gentry’s health and patiently waited until I typed my response out before asking the next one. I flinched when he began preparing the dart gun that would knock Gentry out so he could get in there and examine him. To his credit, the man made sure Gentry didn’t see the gun, not even when he actually fired the dart. Predictably, the whole thing set Gentry off again. Nolan immediately sought me out and wrapped his arms around my waist, but I wasn’t sure if he was the one who needed comfort, or I did.
The sedative worked within a matter of minutes, and once Gentry was out, I went into the cage with Sawyer. It was painstaking work to catalogue all the injuries, but Sawyer worked quickly. He pulled at least a dozen BBs from Gentry’s body and there were nearly twice as many burns from the prods. In his effort to escape, Gentry had damaged several claws and torn one toe, which the vet quickly stitched up. Gentry was just starting to come around when we finished and stepped outside the cage.
“In an ideal situation, I’d take X-rays to see if any of the BBs are lodged in any organs,” Sawyer murmured as he cl
eaned up using the sink near the large freezer where I stored Gentry’s food. “But the nearest place that could handle him is a couple of hours away, and I think the stress of traveling would do more harm than good at this point.”
I nodded in agreement.
“Be sure to watch for things like labored breathing, lethargy, and limping. I’ll leave you with some painkillers, but he should be okay in a few days. At least physically.” He glanced at me and said, “Did you get him from a circus?”
I nodded and typed, Roadside circus.
“Fuckers,” the man muttered. He turned around and leaned back against the counter to study the bear before glancing at me. “I’m happy to testify against whoever did this.”
I nodded, then looked at Nolan. He was standing stiffly near the wall, arms crossed. The bruise on his jaw had swollen considerably and he looked wiped out. It was well after midnight and I knew we both needed to get some rest.
I went to his side, but he refused to look at me. His eyes were on Gentry.
“It’s my fault,” he whispered. “I pissed Jimmy off…I put you on his radar.”
I gently turned him and shook my head, but he was inconsolable. Tears began coasting down his face.
“I’m so sorry, Dallas. Gentry was doing so good and he trusted you and I know how much you love him.”
I was reluctant to release him long enough to get my phone out, so I just wrapped my arms around him and pressed my lips to his temple. He cried softly against my chest. I was dimly aware of Sawyer gathering his things. He was in my line of sight as he was leaving, so I saw him stop at the whiteboard I had on the wall to track Gentry’s food. He wrote me a note.
I’ll text you in the morning. I’ll do a re-check on him later in the day.
I sent him a nod. His eyes settled on me and Nolan for a moment and I saw an unnamed emotion go through him. He was gone before I could give it too much thought.
And it didn’t matter, anyway, because my sole focus was right where it needed to be.
On Nolan.
In the days following the attack, Nolan’s guilt had become an all-consuming thing, and when he wasn’t doing his work, he was standing outside Gentry’s enclosure watching the bear suffer through the remnants of the attack. Physically, Gentry wasn’t showing any signs of any additional injuries, so fortunately, it was less and less likely that he’d need to be transported somewhere for X-rays and further treatment. But that was as far as our luck had held out because Gentry had reverted to the animal he’d been when I’d first gotten him. He refused to come anywhere near me or Nolan, not even when we tried to coax him with his favorite treats, and when he wasn’t pacing the length of his enclosure, he was hiding in or behind the shelter I’d built for him within the habitat. He absolutely refused to go anywhere near the building where the cage was located, so we’d had no choice but to sedate him within the enclosure so Sawyer could confirm that the stitches he’d put in were holding and to check the bear’s vitals to confirm there was no additional potential damage.
Locked in Silence_Pelican Bay [Book 1] Page 15
