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“Sema? Who the fuck is Sema? Ain’t no bitch gonna take me down,” he said with bravado.
“Asshole, I assure you, if she were to get her hands on you, she’d take you down.”
Otto duct-taped his feet and hands, and as he started to tape his mouth, the man began to panic.
“Wait! Wait, wait, I’ll tell you what she’s looking for,” he said in a sweat.
“A gorilla,” said Otto matter-of-factly.
“H-how’d you know that?” Baptiste taped his mouth shout, giving him a light slap across his face.
“We finished high school.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Sheriff is holding him without charges for the time being. We asked him to give us seventy-two hours to figure out where the others are. We sat outside their place for hours, but no one came back,” said Otto.
“Good job,” nodded Nine. “What about Frances?”
“We’re sending a team back there tomorrow to see what she’s doing about her mental health issues,” frowned Baptiste. “I’ve never heard anything so disgusting in all my life. Next to child predators, this takes the cake, brother.”
“Are you okay?” asked Gaspar, gripping his brother’s shoulder.
“No. I’ve got an appointment with Ashley this afternoon. I can’t get the images out of my head.”
“Same,” said Pork.
“Me too,” said Otto. “We agreed to do a group session since we all heard the same thing.”
“We’ll make sure to let you know what we find when the team goes back,” said Ian. “You guys did good. I think we need to make sure the dogs stay around Sema for extra protection. She’s becoming very comfortable with getting out of her cage and wandering around. She’s pretty damn tame, which is also scary.”
“She hasn’t hurt anyone, right?” asked Pork.
“No. Fuck no,” smirked Ghost. “I’m not sure she could hurt you. She’s just a big, sweet teddy… gorilla. I don’t know. What do you call a sweet gorilla?”
“Anything it wants,” grinned Nine.
“Funny. Very funny. Alec, Tailor, Bodhi, Hannu, Magnus, and Cade have been ‘playing’ with her. I’m worried she might hurt them, but they say she knows the difference. Lucy says she’s enjoying it. Feels like they’re her family.”
“Well, they do look like gorillas,” smirked Baptiste.
“She’s very attached to Keith. I think she knows that he can’t speak, just like her. I’ve never seen anything so remarkable in all my life,” said Gaspar.
“Maybe if she likes him so much, she’d listen to him about staying put. For her own safety,” said Pork.
“Maybe,” nodded Nine. “We just might have him keep an eye on her. Stay close. Their cottage isn’t very far from her. Jake and Claudette can see her from the window of their bedroom in the big house. Besides, someone would have to get onto this property, find her enclosure, and get her to leave with them. I just don’t see that happening.”
“How’s the new kid? Jamie?” asked Otto.
“He’s doing good,” said Gaspar. “I was out there today, and he was playing with the puppies, truly enjoying himself. Mama even called him to help get a gator out of the family cemetery. I don’t know how he got in there, but she was calling him Alvin. God help me if she decides he can stay.”
“Man, I don’t think you can go against anything your mother wants. That woman is like nothing else I’ve ever seen,” grinned Pork.
“Well, at least we know that the puppies are being used by Pemberly-Marks. Did you meet Dr. Pemberly or only Dr. Marks?” asked Ghost.
“Only Marks,” said Antoine.
“That’s because Pemberly is dead,” said Riley, walking toward them. “I heard your interactions with Dr. Marks. It didn’t surprise me. I saw her speak at a medical conference a few years ago. She was nearly booed off the stage. Her callous, cold behavior really turned everyone off. That’s saying a lot when we’re talking about researchers who generally are very clinical.”
