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The scene I walked in on was something that had my blood running cold.
Three men surrounded Gentry’s cage. They’d managed to corral the bear into the smallest part of the inner enclosure that was used only to limit the bear’s movements when he needed to be darted for the vet. I knew that Gentry would have willingly walked into the cage, since Dallas gave him his favorite treat when he was in there.
It had made Gentry a sitting duck for his attackers.
And they were attacking Gentry as he desperately scratched at the door leading to the outside enclosure.
All three men were dressed in dark clothing, including knit caps on their heads. Two of the men were holding long black sticks in their hands.
Except they weren’t sticks.
I realized that as soon as one of the men turned the stick on Loki, who had a hold of the second man’s arm.
It was a fucking cattle prod.
And the second it touched Loki, he yelped and released the man.
Dallas slammed his fist into the jaw of the man who’d zapped Loki, then he tackled the man the wolf hybrid had been attacking.
I recognized the third man instantly, despite the cap. The black, stringy hair gave him away.
Jimmy Cornell.
A mix of fear and fury coiled in my belly when I saw the gun in Jimmy’s hand. I was moving before he even pointed the gun at Dallas. My body slammed into Jimmy’s hard and we both hit the ground. I managed to knock the gun out of his grasp and it went skittering across the floor. But I wasn’t a match for the heavier Jimmy. He rolled us so that he was on top of me and punched me hard enough to have me seeing stars. As he reached back to hit me again, I reflexively threw up my arms. But the punch never came because Loki chose that moment to latch onto Jimmy’s arm.
Jimmy screamed in pain and fell off of me as he fought to escape Loki’s grip. My head was still spinning from the punch, but I managed to see that Dallas was still grappling with one guy. The other had stumbled to his feet and was trying to help Jimmy get free of Loki. The second he reached for one of the cattle prods, I jumped to my feet and grabbed the shovel that was hanging on the wall alongside Gentry’s cage.
The shovel we used to clean up the bear’s shit.
I used every ounce of strength I had to bring the shovel down on the guy’s arm just as he activated the cattle prod and pointed it at Loki. The man screamed in agony and dropped the prod. He grabbed his arm and shouted a half-dozen curses.
The man Dallas had been fighting with managed to break free of his hold and he latched onto the uninjured arm of the guy I’d hit and dragged him out of the building. Loki was still grappling with Jimmy, but as soon as Dallas let out a loud whistle, the animal let go of Jimmy’s arm. The man appeared startled and then he turned tail and ran.
Before he was even out the door, Dallas had already turned his attention to Gentry, who was still howling and trying to escape the cage. Tears began streaking down my face as I watched the terrified animal struggle to get away from us.
“Dallas, what do we do?” I asked.
He looked at me and then he was at my side. His fingers gently tilted my head to examine my face. “I’m okay,” I said when I saw how worried he was. “We need to help Gentry.”
He nodded and grabbed his phone. Call the vet, he typed. Then 911.
He pulled up a contact on his phone and handed it to me. My hands were shaking as I dialed. As I waited for someone to answer, Dallas began whistling softly as he approached the cage. The panicked animal didn’t pay him any attention and I had to step away from the cage to talk to the answering service for the vet’s office, since Gentry’s howls were so loud. I explained the situation to the operator who said the vet was out of town, but they’d call another vet. By the time I made the call to 911, Gentry had quieted a bit. He was still jammed up against the door, his breath coming in heavy pants. There were spots of blood on the floor of the cage, but considerably more on the door.
I went to Dallas’s side and linked my fingers with his as he continued to softly whistle some kind of tune to the bear. Loki, who didn’t appear hurt, dropped down in front of the cage and tilted his ears back and forth as he listened to Dallas’s whistling. At some point, Dallas had picked up the gun and tucked it into his waistband.
