Page 55 of So Savage

She sighed.“I really think I need to do something other than sit on my ass.Do you want to come with me?”

Marcus nodded."Yes, I'll come with you.I'm not much of a fan of sitting down, either.There's nothing more we can do here anyway."

The three of them left the house, Marcus pausing only to say a quick word to Tranh.

The night had deepened to its full darkness when they pulled onto the street and accelerated back the way they came.The truck’s headlights reflected off of the snow eerily, making it look to Faith like they were in some sort of supernatural horror movie.

Hell, my life is a horror movie, and none of it seems natural.

Kane’s house was lit by the half-dozen emergency units that remained there.Faith wasn’t sure what the point was of having so many officers sitting around doing nothing.Unless they were actively searching for clues to Kane’s whereabouts inside.

They weren’t.As nearly as she could tell, they were standing around and looking important.Her brow furrowed, and she nearly flew off of the handle at them, but she just managed to remain professional.

“All of you, stop whatever you’re doing right now and search this house.We need to know where Kane plans on taking Jennifer Martinez.Look for anything that might yield a clue.”

The officers blinked and looked at Marcus.“She means now,” Marcus offered helpfully.

The officers—to their credit—jumped into gear.Within a minute, they had partitioned the house into sections and begun searching.Faith and Marcus reserved the garage for themselves.

Turk jumped in with his nose to the ground, doing his best to help the humans.Marcus used his flashlight to look for anything that might be hidden or dropped.Faith went to the table that contained the dossiers on the victims.Maybe she’d get lucky and find the location he planned to take Jennifer buried somewhere in there.

Besides the stack of papers that Kane kept on his victims, there were piles of articles related to K9s in law enforcement and the military.Many of them focused on policy changes and scandals.Some of the clippings were highlighted and more than one stained with tears.Kane’s obsession had clearly grown catastrophic.She wondered what had finally pushed him over the edge.

Worry about that later.Find Martinez first.

She moved on from the newspaper clippings to a box of different chemical formulas.Faith didn’t recognize any of them until she read a note in the margin of one page that said TOO UNSTABLE AND INTERACTS POORLY WITH XYLAZINE.

Evidently, these were the chemical formulas of different drugs used to quicken the time of onset.Faith skimmed through them, and when she found no notes that said, TAKE JENNIFER TO THIS EXACT ADDRESS AND HERE ARE THE COORDINATES, she tossed the papers to the side.

She got to her feet and put her hands on her hips, frustrated.He had to have a reason to take her somewhere.Marcus had units searching the forest behind her house, but he wouldn’t take her somewhere that close.He had to have a place picked out.Winging it had nearly gotten him caught on the Air National Guard base.He would have planned this one out meticulously.

She caught Marcus’s eyes and saw the same frustration on his face.He sighed.“I can’t find shit.Nothing.”

She shook her head.“I don’t accept that.There has to be something.”

Her eyes landed on the safe.“Has anyone opened that yet?”

“The safe?Not yet.We planned to have a locksmith come out tomorrow.”

Faith shook her head.“No, we need to get in there now.It’s the last place we haven’t checked.The answer must be in there.”

Marcus sighed.“Faith, I know this is important to you, but—”

Faith’s eyes flashed.“Don’t finish that sentence.Find a way to open that damned safe ASAP.”

Marcus sighed again, but a slight smile came to his face after.“Of course, Special Agent Bold.”

His tone sounded more admiring than sarcastic.He lifted his radio to his lips.“Ralston, can I borrow you?”

A moment later, a uniformed officer arrived.He looked about three years too young to shave, but when Marcus asked him to break them into the safe, he pulled three odd-looking tools from his pocket, and, using a combination of movements that looked random, he opened the door.

Faith stared at him, impressed.He blushed.“My cousin installs safes in homes.He’s taught me a few things.”

“Well, thank you,” Faith said.Here’s hoping you saved a life.

The safe, as expected, contained Peter’s actual guns: an AR copy, a sawed-off shotgun, a handgun, and a compound hunting bow.She felt her hope fade as she felt around for a hidden compartment and looked underneath the boxes of ammo for something, anything.

“Come on, come on, comeon!”she shouted.“Damn it!”

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