Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Some of the dogs looked perfectly fine. Some of them were being treated. The flames could be seen coming out of the back, and there were firefighters on scene as well.
Pat was already gone, and Ava rushed into the animal shelter, helping to gather the dogs. Someone placed a dog in her arms and just yelled at her to move it out.
She got to work, and the smoke was getting really bad. Making her way through the cages, she saw several were open and empty, but as she came to the last one in the line, the smoke was getting thicker and she coughed. Tearing off some of her shirt, she pressed it to her face, like she had seen so many times in the movies, not that it seemed to help.
One of the cages was locked. Ava squinted, trying to see, and there in the corner was a tiny dog. Ava pushed against the cage, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Son of a bitch.” She threw her full body weight behind it, and then yelled, because the damn cage wasn’t moving. She grabbed the wall, and started to shove her foot against it.
“You’ve got to go,” Doc said, suddenly banding an arm around her waist.
“No!” She fought against him. “There is a dog in there and I am not going to leave it to die.”
Doc glared at her, then he looked toward the cage and she saw his determination. She didn’t know how he was able to do it, but he landed a single kick to the cage, and it sprung open as if by magic.
She didn’t get a chance to go into the cage. Doc was there, he grabbed the tiny dog, and then two firefighters urged them out of the smoke. Stepping out, Pat was there, cupping her face, tilting her head back to look at her.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m good.” She let out a cough and then looked to see Doc. Violet was there, taking the dog from him, and she looked to Pat. “Do you think that is a good thing?”
Pat wrinkled his nose. “It’s not my problem. My dad will do whatever the hell he likes, and I can’t do anything to stop him.”
“Ava,” Lauren said, coming toward her. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” She hugged her friend, and then she turned to Pat. It seemed to be the day for introductions. “Pat, I’d like you to meet Lauren. She is the genius behind the coffee and baked goods.”
Lauren went bright red.
“It’s great to finally meet you.”
Lauren looked so embarrassed. “I better go and help.”
Ava looked around at the dogs. “Who could have done this?” she asked. “What kind of sicko sets fire to a damn animal shelter?”
She noticed Pat didn’t have an answer, and when she looked over at him, his expression appeared blank. He was looking at the smoking building.
It was going to be some time before they would be able to rebuild the shelter, if they were ever going to rebuild it. The animal shelter was as good as gone.
Chapter Thirteen
Several days later, Pat stood in church. Rusty looked like shit, but he was moving around. He was pale but was attempting to tell jokes. Only, no one, including Rusty, seemed to be in a good mood.
The last couple of days, they had attempted to house the dogs, but it was a lot of fucking dogs. By some kind of miracle, Hellen was able to sound the alarm, and without any plan, just began to open the cages. Not all the dogs were accounted for. Some were found wandering around town. A couple had been taken by the families who were in the process of adoption.
It was a big fuckup.
“Dylan confirmed. The bodies of that mother and daughter were discovered in her house within twenty-four hours after the hit on the garage,” Bull said.
“Shit,” Rusty said. “That kid couldn’t have been any older than five or six.”
“That makes it cartel,” Sweet said. “Right. The cartel are the only ones I know that will hit at kids and women.”
“Where’s Ranford?” Grant asked, after several seconds of silence.
Pat had a feeling that mother had no choice but to lure them out to the car. The cartel had a way of hurting people. They promised them riches, and when the time came, it was always taken from them and they always ended up dead.
No one got to profit off the cartel, other than the cartel. They never turned a blind eye to a missing fortune. The guns, the drugs, the money, even the women all had to be accounted for. The cartel could do what the hell they wanted. Anyone else had to be kept in line.
“He reached out. He’s got his army. He’s building it and says he’s on the way to Carnage,” Bull said.