Ferocity Page 14

Just as I loaded up the last cat into one of the smaller cages separated from the dogs in the back of the van, Theo stopped next to me with a black lab in tow. He was an older dog who seemed to be having issues walking, so Theo helped him into the truck and went to secure him in one of the longer cages so he could stretch out some.

  “That’s the last of them,” he said, looking at the truck full of dogs with sadness in his eyes. These moments were some of the few Theo actually showed his serious side.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Pretty positive. I’ll get this all closed up if you want to take one last look just in case.”

  I nodded and ran back to the kennels. I peered into each one, making sure no one was left behind. Just as I turned to go back, sure we’d gotten them all, a small whimpering sound caught my attention behind me. I whipped around but saw nothing. Thankfully, the whimpering kept happening, so I moved farther down.

  There was an area hidden at the back by an even larger tarp, easily missed in the darkness out here. I lifted the tarp and came face to face with one of the prettiest dogs with a rather enlarged stomach. She was filthy and shaking, and obviously just as underfed as the others. Which didn’t bode well if she was pregnant.

  She was a Dalmatian with a heart shaped pink spot on the tip of her nose. She was lying on a tattered blanket, whimpering softly. I could only assume that this sweet, pregnant girl had a bigger purpose than the others here if she was separated. There was a good chance these people were waiting to see if she gave birth so they could sell her puppies.

  “Hey, pretty girl,” I soothed to her as I knelt down, slipping a hot dog through the kennel bars.

  She sniffed at it cautiously, eyeing me warily. I pleaded silently that she’d trust me. It was the only way I could get her out of here. Thankfully, she licked at the hot dog a few times, then gobbled it up in the blink of an eye. Seeing that I wasn’t a threat to her, she stood and moved to push her nose through the cage toward me.

  “I got you, pretty girl.” I stroked her slender face, then slowly took out my bolt cutters slung at my hip. When the lock was broken, the Dalmatian wasted no time in coming out, darting from the cage with a happy yipping sound. She immediately leaned against me, her tail wagging back and forth behind her.

  “Come on. Let’s get you warm.” I stood and began to walk, having a feeling she’d follow me to the van. Sure enough, she needed no prodding. She kept at my heel, occasionally looking up at me as she did. She knew we were here to bring her to a better place.

  “Well, who is this pretty girl?” Theo said when we came up to the back of the van.

  “She was separated from the others and hidden. We would’ve missed her had I not heard her.” I patted her head, earning a lick from her.

  “Glad you went back to check,” Theo replied, opening back up the truck’s doors.

  “Me too. I think she might be pregnant,” I said, rubbing the head of the Dalmatian leaning against my leg. “I’m not sure though. Her belly is pretty distended, so we need to get her looked at.”

  “Yeah, no kidding. With these conditions, it’s hard to say if they’re healthy if she is. Come on, sweet girl.” Theo knelt down and gently pulled the dog into his arms. He stood and cautiously stepped up inside and deposited her onto a blanket in one of the cages. She went without a fight, licking his arm as if saying thank you. He closed the cage and jumped back out so he could shut the doors.

  I walked to the passenger side of the truck and quickly climbed in, nodding my head to Zoe that we were good to go.

  “I’ll close up the gate and follow behind. Same place as always?” Theo asked as he stepped up to my open window.

  I nodded. “Be quick. We need to be gone with some miles between us and this place as fast as possible.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” he replied, giving me a goofy grin and a two finger salute before running back to close the gate.

  Whenever we did big breakouts like this, we usually brought them to a few different shelters a few cities over to avert suspicion. The owners who took them were perfectly fine with our ‘Don’t ask. Don’t tell’ policy. They were just as happy as us to take the animals away from bad living conditions.

  “Do you think Giselle or Tonya will have enough room for all of them?” Zoe asked as we pulled out from the alley connected to the shelter. “It’s a big batch and we already brought them another group just over a month ago.”

  I sighed. “I sure hope so. I know we should’ve waited, but after seeing all those animals being treated so badly, I knew we couldn’t. I don’t understand how they’ve gotten away with it. Inspectors check the shelters all the time.”

  Zoe pushed a hand through her multicolored braids. “Honestly, if these people are as wealthy as we believe they are, they could’ve bought any inspector’s silence.”

  “True. While the conditions were bad outside, the inside of the shelter had some pretty expensive equipment. But to sell the dogs, how could anyone see that and not report them?”

  “I don’t know. But something shady is happening there. Unfortunately, we might never know. It’s our job to save the animals, not bring down corrupt shelters.”

  She was right. We were just three people. We could break into facilities all we wanted to, but we were no match for taking these places down. We had tried once, of course. We’d taken pictures at a shelter in San Francisco about a year back and turned them into the authorities. Somehow though, when they went to investigate, everything was put in order. Our guess? Someone in the shelter had some police on the payroll. When the police had basically chastised us for the false report, we waited and went back a week later. Nothing had changed. That was the first time we ever broke into a shelter to relieve them of the animals.

  Of course, we don’t take them from everyone. There are plenty of great shelters that do their job well. We only hit the corrupt ones that treat the animals horribly. This place has been the worst though. It wouldn’t surprise me if these people had the same setup.

  Robert and Nita Darling—from what I researched—were well respected in their community and practically swimming in money. Why they even owned a shelter at all was beyond me when they were well off from their real estate business.

  “We’ll figure it out, Ell. We always do,” Zoe assured me, grabbing my hand and squeezing it.

  I could only hope she was right.

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  About the Author

  TL Reeve, a bestselling, multi-published author was born out of a love of family and a bond that became unbreakable. Living in Alabama, TL misses Los Angeles, and will one day return to the beaches of Southern California. When not writing something hot and sexy, TL can be found curled up with a good book or working on homework with a cute little pixie.

  You can sign up for her newsletter at: http://eepurl.com/bv07fn or join TL’s and Michele’s group: www.facebook.come/groups/RandRravingreaders