V: Vic and Matt Series

The V in Valor-7

By the time she arrived, the dog had inched out from its hiding spot and lain down on the ground beside Vic, head resting on its forepaws. It was a large dog—no mere puppy, from the size of it. Some sort of Labrador mix, Vic would guess. It had short hair mottled into dirty clumps, and the bloody ear flopped over one chocolate eye. Every so often, it would snort with an almost human-like sigh as it gave Vic the most pitiful of looks. He didn’t know what to do—was it injured? Hungry? Hurt? It had downed the rest of his lunch, and as much as he wanted to buy another sausage or three for it to eat, he didn’t want to leave it alone.

Or the boys, for that matter. Bobby’s angry mutterings were muffled by the strip of metal across his mouth, and his friends had given up yelling for help until they saw the police cruiser slow to a stop at the curb. As Kendra Jones climbed out of the vehicle, the kids started up again. “Hey! Help! Help!”

Ignoring them, Kendra ducked through the opening in the fence and crossed to where Vic waited. He rose to meet her; the dog stood, as well, one forepaw drawn up in pain. Kendra pushed the cap back from her heart-shaped face and smiled up at him. “I thought you said you didn’t touch them.”

“My prints ain’t on those bikes,” Vic assured her.

Casting a doubtful eye at Bobby, Kendra asked, “I guess they just did that themselves, eh?”

Vic shrugged. “You could say that. Can I press charges or something?”

“It’s not your dog.” Kendra glanced at the mutt, who woofed softly and rubbed its muzzle into Vic’s palm. Absently, he petted the top of its head. “Look, Vic. I’ll be honest with you. I can drag the kids downtown but they’re juvies, you know? We can only hold them until their parents come pick them up. They’ll get slapped with a fine or community service, if that. The dog won’t be so lucky.”

Narrowing his eyes, Vic asked, “What do you mean?”

Kendra looked off in the distance, unable to meet his gaze. “The pound is full of animals like this. Abandoned, thrown away. I called Animal Control on the way over and they should be here soon. We’ll take the dog to the SPCA, let a vet go over it, make sure it’s not somebody’s pet that’s run away. But after that, I’m going to have to take it to the pound. It’s an older dog, and not really…you know, cute and cuddly, see? It’s a little wild, a little ragged. It’s probably not a likely candidate for adoption.”

Vic’s fingers found a soft spot behind the dog’s ears and scratched. The dog leaned into him, loving the attention. Yeah, so it wasn’t picture perfect—neither was he. “You’re saying what, life in a cage, then?” Vic asked. “What’s wrong with that? At least it’ll have food and shelter.”

Kendra’s mouth twisted as if she’d bitten into a lemon. “Not for long. The pound keeps it a week maybe, less if they’re overcrowded.”

“Then what?” Vic wanted to know.

The look she gave him was torturous. He didn’t have to read her mind to see what it meant. Then it’ll be put down. As if it were a nuisance to be rubbed out, eliminated. Euthanized. Destroyed.

Vic frowned at the dog. Its sad eyes were closed as it savored the feel of his fingers rubbing behind its ears. Its weight felt heavy and warm where it leaned against his leg. He recalled the way it had approached him, tentatively at first, then confident he wouldn’t harm it. And here it sat, trusting as it let him pet it, with no clue Kendra spoke so casually of ending its life.

His voice was gruff when he finally spoke. “I’m late for work. Call me, will you? Let me know if it belongs to someone or not. Can you do that?”

Quickly, Kendra nodded. “Sure. Do you want—”

He cut her off. “I don’t know. Just let me think about it, will you? Don’t do anything rash.”

She nodded again. “I won’t. I think it likes you.”

Vic frowned harder, a built-in defense mechanism he used to keep the rest of the world at bay. But it didn’t work on the dog, who had leaned its head back and now let Vic rub beneath its chin, and he suspected it didn’t work on Kendra, either. “I got to get to work.” He heard the squeal of brakes and glanced down the street at a white van pulling to a stop. “Is that Animal Control? Make sure you call me. If I don’t hear from you by the time I clock out—”

“You will,” Kendra promised. “I won’t let them do anything with the dog until I talk to you.”

With a nod, Vic gave the dog a quick pat and moved away. It took a step after him, but at Vic’s stern look, it sank to its rear haunches and waited. “Good boy,” Vic muttered beneath his breath.

As if it had heard him, the dog woofed once. Vic hoped it belonged to someone. Maybe he wouldn’t have to be the one to decide the poor mutt’s fate. But somehow he doubted that.

When he headed for the break in the fence, Kendra cleared her throat, stopping him. “Vic?” she called out.

He turned, scowling.

With a sympathetic smile, she pointed behind him. “Can you maybe get these guys down for me? I can’t take them in like this.”

Vic held his hands out at his sides, palms open, and imagined his fingers linking through the holes in the fence’s chain. Closing his hands into fists, he felt the power surge from him to grasp at the fence; one hard tug and the metal posts bent like straws, folding into themselves until they snapped. The boys cried out as they tumbled down hard to the rock-strewn ground.

Kendra’s eyes went wide. With a smile of his own, this one mischievous, Vic pointed out, “I didn’t touch them, did I?”