Javi blew past the Feed Lot.It was closed up for the night, shutters down.A handful of cars and vans were still parked in the lot, dim lights just visible through taped-up windows and doors.
The sat-nav display on the dash flickered as it zoomed in to highlight the right-hand turn he needed in a quarter of a mile, 600 yards, 300 yards.
Now.
If he was honest, Javi couldn’t see the turn in the dark.He just took it on adrenaline and blind faith in the GPS.His tires clipped down the side of the road, spraying up gravel and dirt behind him, and he felt the car try to fishtail under him.The bumper took out a cactus, and sage branches scraped along the side of the car.
Javi locked his elbows and bullied the car back up onto the road.The beams from his headlights bounced off the road ahead, the empty sprawl of it making his jaw tighten.This wasn’t the time for his sat-nav to get the address wrong.
Then he followed the curve of the road down into a dip.He saw the sign for the storage company first, the blue and yellow painted lettering peeling from exposure but lit up with a handful of spotlights.Then he saw the patrol car parked under it next to a black sedan.
Javi didn’t bother to try and park.He just hit the brakes and fishtailed to a stop in the middle of the road.He left the car running as he grabbed his flashlight, drew his gun, and got out of the car.His feet scuffed through the thin layer of sand that covered the concrete as he walked cautiously forward, gun hand braced on top of the fist that held the flashlight.
The light flicked over the patrol car first.
Empty.
The door was left open a crack.
Javi took another step forward and felt plastic crunch under his foot.A furious snarling outburst from the sedan made him flinch, the raw, furious sound hitting directly on some primal reaction to things in the dark, and he swung around.
“Bon?”he said.
It didn’t sound like her.He flicked the flashlight across the windows of the sedan, which rocked on its tires as the dog inside threw itself about.It was empty.Just smoked glass and empty seats.The dog snarled and tore at what sounded like fabric.
Javi backed up a step and saw the bloody teeth and muzzle of the dog that was trying to force its head through the hole in the bumper where the dislodged taillight had been set.There were bloody gashes gouged across the nose and under the jaw.The gums were raw and ripped up too, from tearing at the bodywork of the car.
Any hope Javi had that he’d been overreacting dried up.
“Bon,” Javi said.He stepped forward and then jumped back again, nearly tripping over his own feet, as the dog snapped blindly at the sound.Javi hesitated for a second as he tried to work out the next step.She knew him, but he wasn’t Cloister.“Bourneville.Aus.”
Maybe he hadn’t said it right.Bon responded by throwing herself against the inside of the sedan again, teeth gouging into the bodywork as she tried to tear her way out.
The clear-headed thing would be to leave her and come back later.Javi couldn’t bring himself to do that.He walked up to the driver’s side door and tried it.Unlike him, they’d locked it.He put the gun against the window, turned his head to the side, and pulled the trigger.The kickback jolted up into his elbow as the bullet punched through the glass and tore into the nice leather seat.
Cracks spread out from the punched hole in neat geometric lines.Javi used the butt of his flashlight to knock out the loose glass until he could reach in and pull the trunk release.
The clunk of it managed to sound louder than the gunshot.Javi ran to the back of the car and grabbed Bourneville as she lunged out.The fingers of his free hand dug down into her thick ruff, the hair sticky with blood and grease, until he found the slip-collar.For a second, as she strained against him, teeth bared as they snapped together, he wasn’t sure that grip would be enough.
He gritted his teeth as he remembered Fowler’s shredded arm and infection-puffy sausage fingers.
“Bourneville,” he snapped as he twisted the rope collar around his fingers.“Place.”
It wasn’t a work command, just a home one.The only time Javi had used it was to stop her staring at him while he cooked.Itwasa command she’d heard from him before, though, and Cloister had told her to heed.
The ears plastered flat to her head came up, and she stopped mid-bark.They stared at each other, both panting raggedly.Then she whined at him and twisted to try and get down, back feet kicking at the torn-up liner of the trunk as she tried to scramble out.
He kept hold of her collar as he got his other arm under her and lifted her out.His hands and sleeves were covered with blood and chunks of hair, but he couldn’t tell in the dark if it was superficial or if she was badly hurt.
There wasn’t time to find out either.
He set her down, and she tried to bolt.Javi nearly ended up face down in the dirt.He managed to keep his balance, drag her back,andavoid shooting either of them.It was close.From the way she strained against his grip, despite the collar half-choking her, he knew she’d try again.
There was no lead.
Javi put the flashlight between his teeth and tugged his tie loose one-handed.He fed it through her collar and doubled the end of it around his wrist.The minute he loosened his grip on her collar, she tried to dart away from him again.The jolt of it nearly pulled Javi’s arm out of its socket, but the tie held.
It should, the amount he’d paid for Italian silk.
