Page 56 of So Savage

“Faith!”

Faith looked up at Marcus, who pointed at the door.She looked at it and gasped.Stickers covered almost every square inch of the door's interior.

Every single sticker sported an image of an old aircraft hangar.Several of the stickers named the airport as Birding General Aviation Airfield.

It was a long shot if there ever was one, but it was better than nothing.

***

The truck bounced and jostled up the hill toward the airport.Birding Airfield had closed thirteen years ago, and just like James Cooper’s property, the structures had been left fallow.Faith immediately recognized the hangar from the stickers, and when they pulled up close, she recognized the Jeep Gladiator.

She pumped her fist with excitement and said into her radio.“Okay, everyone.We all go in at once.If you see Kane, shoot him.Nonlethals first, but have your lethal rounds ready if that doesn’t work.”

Besides, herself, Turk, and Marcus, six of the officers from Kane’s home had joined them.Marcus was taking no chances.

Neither was Faith.Though she was terrified of coming in too late, she understood that Kane could be laying in wait for them, and if he managed to take them out with some darts, then all of their lives would be in danger as well.So, she waited for all of them to be positioned outside of the door.

“Okay.One.Two.Three!”

A few things happened at the same time when they burst into the hangar.First, Faith saw a rope hanging over one of the exposed beams of the roof.One end of the rope was tied in a noose.

Second, Faith saw Jennifer Martinez, hog-tied and struggling against Peter Kane, who was lifting her head into the noose.Kane lifted his eyes to them and cried out, “Shit!”

Turk sprinted for Kane, but Kane pressed a handgun that looked very much like the kind that shoots bullets up against Jennifer’s head.“Call him off or I kill her!”he shouted, turning so that Jennifer stayed in between him and Turk.

The other officers trained their weapons on Kane, but no one risked firing with that gun pressed to Jennifer’s head.Marcus whispered, “Dispatch, we have a ten-sixteen.Need a ten-twenty-two and a ten-twelve, stat.”

Faith assumed he was calling for SWAT.They had sharpshooters who could give them a more secure shot.

If they got here in time.She needed to try to slow things “Hey!”she called.“Peter!”

Kane looked at her, his pupils wide.“Don’t you dare send that dog after me!”

“I won’t.But you know what, Peter, I also know you won’t hurt him.”

“I don’t want to hurt him, but if you give me no choice, I’ll do what I have to do.”

"I won't put him in harm's way.I love that dog.I love him more than anything else on Earth."

Kane’s lips pulled back in a snarl.“Oh yeah?Well, I loved my dog too.You know what happened to him?”

“I don’t.Why don’t you tell me?”She was just stalling for time, but anything she could do to hold out until sharpshooters got here or someone else had a shot was worth the effort.

“He was killed on a mission because some asshole didn’t know how K9s worked.Then they tried to blame me for that.Can you believe that?They tried to blamemefor their stupid mistake.They said it wasmyfault Monkey died.”

Tears streamed down his face now.He whimpered and sniffled, his hands shaking.

“Hey,” Faith said, taking a few steps closer.“I get it.Bosses are assholes.It wasn’t fair what happened to you.But killing innocent people won’t change anything.”

“They’re not innocent!”

“Why?Why is Jennifer Martinez not innocent?”

Kane blinked.He looked at Jennifer as though seeing her for the first time.“It’s just not fair.Why does she get to keep her dog, but I don’t?”

"What happened to you was terrible," Faith agreed, "but she didn't do anything to you herself.That was the bosses.The brass.Trust me, I know how it feels to have the brass make idiot decisions, and then we're the ones who have to suffer for it.I was USMC in Afghanistan.Three tours.Oo-rah, but let's not do it again, if you know what I mean."

Kane released a sound that could have been a chuckle, a sob or both.“I just hate it.It’s not fair.They said it was my fault.”

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