CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Matt rushed into a clearing. Greta had her front paws on the trunk of a tree. He squinted into the rain and spotted a man in the tree.
Good dog!
“Get away!” Sitting on a branch seven feet off the ground, Eric Zolek shook a branch at the barking dog.
Breathing hard, Collins stopped next to Matt. “Ha! She treed him.” She snapped the leash onto Greta’s collar and shouted a command in German. The dog sat, but her focus never left Eric. Her quarry was right there. She really wanted to bring him down. Part of Matt wanted to see her do it.
“Good girl.” Collins fished out Greta’s hedgehog reward toy, but she barely glanced at it. “She doesn’t think she’s done.”
Matt didn’t think they were done either, not till Eric was in cuffs and behind bars forever.
Todd had his weapon on Eric. “Come down. Now. Keep your hands visible.”
Eric climbed down. As soon as his feet hit the ground, the idiot bolted into the trees. Matt was not chasing this asshole through the dark in the rain. He would not take the chance that Eric could get away or that a deputy could get hurt. He waved to Greta, and Collins let the dog loose. Greta took five long strides and leaped. Her jaws clamped around Eric’s leg, and he went down screaming.
Matt cuffed him, and Collins dragged the dog off Eric’s leg. Greta snatched her hedgehog off the ground and squeaked it over and over, tail wagging, clearly very pleased with herself. Matt was also pleased with her performance.
“My ankle’s sprained, and that dog bit me,” Eric complained. He looked fine, except for minor cuts and bruises and one mangled thigh. “I’m going to sue.”
Matt had nothing to say to the killer, but Greta growled around the hedgehog in her mouth.
Collins patted the dog. “Good girl.”
Indeed.