3. Thad
Thad
The six of us got out of the rented SUV and I took in the animal shelter in front of us.
“You sure this is the right place?” I asked.
There was no sign, no indication the building housed abused pit bulls. There was a pickup truck parked next to us, and a compact car a few spaces down, but no other vehicles.
“Yeah, this is Faith’s place. She doesn’t like to advertise what the shelter does, or that it’s even a shelter at all.
Dog fighting is big business. The rings they rescue these dogs from are not happy their dogs have been confiscated.
She also knows there are plenty of people who think pittys should just be put down, and not rescued then adopted out,” Tatiana answered.
Brooks nabbed his wife’s hand and mumbled, “That’s fucked.”
“That’s a fact,” she returned. “Faith doesn’t want any trouble, so she keeps everything as low-key as she can.”
We made our way to the front of the building, and I was surprised when the front door was unlocked. After what Tatiana had shared, I figured this Faith woman would have some level of security even if it was a locked door.
I walked in and stopped dead. Standing in the reception area was Decker “Gumby” Kincade. A beautiful woman stood by his side, long shiny black hair and arresting blue eyes.
Goddamn .
There was also a not-so-happy pit bull growling at his feet.
“Hannah, easy girl.” I assumed Hannah was the name of his dog and he wasn’t speaking to the beauty that had taken a step closer to him.
“Gumby? What are you doing here, brother?” I asked, but made no attempt to move closer for a handshake.
“Hey, man, I was going to ask you the same thing. Do me a favor, yeah? Don’t come any closer. Hannah can still be a little skittish around people. Let me settle her down.”
The big man didn’t wait for my answer and crouched next to the pup. To my amazement the badass SEAL spoke in a hushed soothing tone to the animal and gently grazed his hand down her raised hackles, smoothing the fur as he went.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Kyle muttered as Hannah nuzzled into Gumby’s neck, finishing with a long swipe of her tongue across his face.
“Hi, I’m Faith,” the elderly woman introduced herself. ‘Elderly’ may’ve been pushing it—she looked to be in her late sixties, but there was nothing geriatric about the fit woman.
“Thanks for agreeing to meet with us, ma’am,” Declan said, then made the introductions. “I’m Declan Crenshaw, that’s Kyle Smith, Max Brown, Brooks Miller, you already know Tatiana Miller, and the big guy is Thad Bench.”
“It’s my pleasure. You already seem to know Decker. That’s Sidney Hale over there.” Faith motioned to the black-haired woman. “She’s a volunteer here. ”
“Hi, do you all work with Decker?” Sidney queried with a tentative smile.
“No. We’re with a private company,” Declan told her.
Gumby stood to his full height and put an arm around Sidney, claiming her. “They all used to work at the command, but they’ve left the team and…”
I tuned out the conversation Gumby was having with Sidney, unable to pay attention to anything other than the missing hair on the pit bull’s back.
There was a long, angry, pink hairless welt.
I knew with a hundred percent certainty Gumby didn’t inflict those injuries on Hannah, making me wonder what the fuck had happened to the poor animal.
“The asshole Sidney rescued her from was training Hannah as a bait dog. She was drug behind a car as part of her “training”. Hannah has no toenails and her paws are just now starting to heal. The burn on her back was caused by some sort of acid Victor poured on her,” Gumby explained when he saw me staring at his dog.
What the hell was wrong with people?
“Mother—” I stopped myself from finishing my expletive, remembering Faith and Sidney were in the room. Instead I asked, “Sidney rescued her?”
“She did. Went head-to-head with Hannah’s abuser.” Gumby’s features hardened as he spoke. “Why’d you come here to talk to Faith?”
“We’re leaving for an op this afternoon,” Declan started. “Our target is hosting a dog fight. We’ll have less than an hour for recon. Zane thought it would be a good idea to reach out, any intel will be appreciated.”
“So, easy day,” Gumby mumbled.
“They’re bad.” Sidney winced, her statement barely above a whisper.
“Let me put Hannah in a playroom,” Gumby said. “I’ll be right back. ”
Gumby started toward the hallway and a now-happy Hannah trotted beside him.
“Come in, please. Sorry I don’t have much seating but make yourselves at home.”
“Thank you again for meeting with us.” Tatiana smiled and stood closer to Faith.
Now that Hannah wasn’t in the room the rest of us freely moved around.
Sidney looked mildly uncomfortable, rooted in place while waiting for Gumby to return.
Not that I could blame her—being in a room full of strangers—but there was something more.
The way she’d said that the dog fighting rings were bad.
Not that they weren’t, however, there was a sadness in her tone and fear in her blue eyes when she’d said it, that gave me pause.
I’d also noticed there was a gleaming ring on her left hand. I thought back to the last time we saw Gumby and his team. We’d met Caite, Rocco’s woman, but he couldn’t remember if Gumby had mentioned finding himself a girlfriend, or fiancée, if the ring was any indication.
“Sorry about that,” Gumby said, entering the room. “Hannah’s a great dog, but Victor worked her over pretty bad, so she’s still a little scared of strangers.”
“Don’t blame her, brother. I’m amazed she lets anyone close,” I told him.
“Hannah took right to Decker. The second he picked her up she knew she was safe,” Sidney said but didn’t take her eyes off Gumby.
The familiar ache in my chest bloomed and I silently cursed the bitch who’d shattered my heart. The woman who ten years later I still loved, even if she’d left me broken.
“Where are you headed?” Gumby asked.
“Venezuela,” Declan answered. “As I said, we’ll have under an hour to acquire our target. Any intel would be helpful. ”
“Dog fighting is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry. The dogs are treated so poorly that most will never recover enough to be adopted out. They’re run on treadmills until they simply fallout from exhaustion.
They’re starved to near death then pumped full of anti-inflammatory drugs, steroids, and sometimes the high-value dogs are given antibiotics,” Faith told us with a deep, sad frown.
“Most likely the dogs will be kept in crates until their fight. I can’t tell you what they’ll use for bait.
Sometimes it is a weaker dog, sometimes they’ll just use food. ”
“Why would they put a weaker dog in with the two they want to fight?” Kyle asked.
“Entertainment. The two main dogs will fight over the weaker dog until that one is… you know… then they’ll fight each other. It’s also done for gambling. They take bets on how long the bait animal will live, on top of which dog will come out victorious,” she explained.
“They…um…” Sidney paused and looked over to Gumby.
When he gave her a solemn nod she continued, “There will be people guarding the dogs in the crates that are waiting to fight. And also when a dog loses if it’s not already, they’ll take it outside to…
” Sidney’s eyes welled with tears. “Anyway the point is, there’ll be people outside of the building where the dogs are fighting.
But when you’re in the area where the actual dog ring is, it’s loud and there’s a lot of commotion. ”
“How do you know?” I asked. “Have you been to one?”
Sidney’s haunted gaze came to me and I wished I could withdraw my question. The pain it obviously had caused her was unbearable.
“Sidney was kidnapped by the man, Victor, who she rescued Hannah from. Let’s just say she has firsthand experience what it means to be used as bait and leave it at that. Sid spent weeks in the hospital recovering from her injuries. ”
My gut twisted and the vibe in the room had turned menacing.
“Please tell me I’m misunderstanding,” Declan growled.
“’Fraid not.” Gumby pulled his woman close and tucked her to his side.
“Thankfully the team got there in time, but what we walked into was nothing short of disturbing. We see a lot of bad shit but I’m warning you, when you breach that building it will be some of the worst. You’ll need to be prepared; the smell alone is overwhelming.
And these men will not give up easily. They’ll fight to keep their dogs as well as the money and drugs flowing.
Best advice—get in, take out your target, and get out.
Don’t try and rescue the animals. Not with only five of you going in with no backup. ”
“He’s right,” Faith said. “And it breaks my heart to have to agree, but if you don’t have the manpower to save the dogs, you’ll be in extreme danger if you try.”
My mind spun with the information Gumby had given us. It seemed I needed to dig into dog fighting rings on the plane ride down to Venezuela. I knew it happened, but I’d always thought dog fighting was simply low-level underground gambling.
“’Preciate your help, especially knowing what it cost you to talk about it. Glad you’re okay, Sidney,” Declan said. “Faith, thank you for allowing us to stop by.”
“Anytime. And, Tatiana, it was nice to see you again. I was so sorry to see you leave, we miss you around here. But I’m happy to see you smiling again.”
“Thanks, Faith. I miss you, too.”
“Did you volunteer here, too?” Sidney asked Tatiana.
“I did. Not with the dogs, though. I just swept up, cleaned the rooms and kennels, and hauled dog food.”
“That’s great. So are you living in the area again?” Sidney continued.
“No.” Tatiana shook her head .
“I wish I could say if you guys needed anything to call, but we’re headed out in a few days, too,” Gumby said. “But if you have time for lunch today before you head out, I could call the team.”
“Wish we could, but our flight leaves soon. We’ll catch you when you’re back,” Declan answered.
“Maybe when you get home, you’d like to have dinner and drinks with my friend Caite and me?” Sidney asked Tatiana.
“Yeah, I’d like that. Though, I don’t know when we’ll be back in the area,” Tatiana answered.
Gumby groaned and Sidney’s gaze slid back to him. “What?”
“Nothing.” Gumby’s lips twitched before he broke out in a full-on smile.
“Why’d you make a noise?” Sidney continued.
“No reason. Just that the last time you and Caite got together you polished off a bottle of rum.”
“That was one time, Decker.”
“Still happened,” he gently teased.
How many times had Emerson and he finished off a bottle of rum—making fruity drinks he didn’t even like but still made them—then drank them because they were what she liked?
What amazed me, was all it had taken was a single glance at Emerson in Mexico and now I couldn’t stop reliving our life together. Everything reminded me of her.
I had to get my shit straight. In less than ten hours it would be go-time.