Page 10 of So Savage

Marcus drove them to a modest but comfortable hotel in Chester Park, a college community that served the University of Minnesota Duluth campus.Unlike most college towns Faith had visited, there were no raucous parties or reckless drivers present tonight.The cold kept everyone inside where they could be safe from the ravages of winter.

Meanwhile, a predator roamed the snow looking for those brave few who trusted in themselves and their dogs to protect them.This was truly a case where the hunters had become the hunted.

Faith was a hunter herself and confident that she and Turk could face any threat that came their way.But then again, so were Reeves and Walsh, and they had fallen easily.

Faith feared that the two of them might have met their match.

CHAPTER FOUR

Dr.Parker’s practice was located just south of the hotel near a small lakeside park.Marcus met Faith in the lobby of her hotel at five-forty-five in the morning so they could reach the office when it opened at six.

The practice, like the Army Reserve Center, was cozy and modest, nestled in between a pet store and an adoption center.Very smart business planning.Adopt a pet, take it to the vet, and buy it food and supplies all in the same day.

Most of the city Faith had seen so far was laid out like that.It wasn't spread out like a suburb or empty like a rural area.The properties were close together, and there weren't very many open spaces, but the buildings were small to medium size, and the crowds were light and manageable.

She could see herself retiring somewhere like this.Maybe not somewhere so cold, but a medium-sized city like Duluth that didn’t have the kind of traffic a metropolis like Philadelphia did but had services more conveniently available than a small town.She’d thought about a small Midwest town with wide-open spaces, but she had a feeling that the idea of living somewhere with open-air “freedom” was more appealing than the reality.

Not that she had any plans to retire anytime soon.Turk was a working dog, and she would keep him working as long as she could and stay in the FBI at least until he was done.Still, the end would come for her eventually.She didn’t have the right makeup for leadership, and she wasn’t enough of a rule-follower to go into training.She couldn’t handle a desk job, so analyst was out of the question.

That left field agent.Maybe she could be a field agent for the next twenty years.Other agents had done it.Desrouleaux was nearing his twenty-second anniversary with the Bureau, and Michael was within shouting distance of his twentieth.She was already at twelve years and counting.

But being a field agent without Turk?She wasn’t sure if she could do that.She couldn’t imagine ever having another working dog.She was realistic enough to know that she’d probably get another dog after Turk died, but that dog would strictly be a pet.It would be too hard to work a case with another dog and not wish it was Turk.

Marcus parked the truck, and Faith pulled her mind back to the present as they walked into the office.The doctor herself was busy when they arrived but promised to see them as soon as she was finished with her patient.

“Is Dr.Parker always busy this early in the morning?”Faith asked the receptionist, a bubbly young woman of maybe twenty who beamed at Faith with an attitude far too perky for six in the morning.

“Patients often schedule their pets early in the morning for routine checkups and quick procedures,” she replied.“That way they can finish everything before work and not ruin their weekend.”

“God forbid they ruin their weekends,” Marcus said drily.

Indeed, the waiting room was full.Faith counted six cats and ten dogs waiting to be seen.“These are all for Dr.Parker?”

“Most of them will see her assistant or one of the veterinary nurses,” the receptionist said.“It really depends on what they’re here for.”

“Do you know when the last time she saw Rooster before today was?”

The receptionist frowned.“I don’t believe she treats any roosters.”

Before Faith could explain, the door opened, and Dr.Parker said, “Okay, Detective Waring, I can see the two of you now.”

Faith and Marcus followed the short, rotund Dr.Parker into an office that was even smaller than Lieutenant Torres’s in addition to being piled nearly floor to ceiling with boxes of paperwork and more paperwork stacked on top of that.

“We’re in the process of transitioning all of our records to an electronic format,” Dr.Parker informed them.“I tried to get a jump on that while my IT guy is on vacation, but I am very much not competent enough to do that, so I’ll have to wait until he comes back.”She sighed and ran her hands through messy curls of hair.“Anyway, you didn’t need to know all of that.You two are here about Rooster’s handler.”

“Yes,” Faith replied.“We were wondering if you noticed anything during your examination that might help us in our investigation.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Dr.Parker replied.“I found somethingveryinteresting.”

Faith’s ears perked up.“Do tell.”

“So the tranquilizing agents are ketamine and xylazine.That’s pretty standard for large canids.It’s considered a fast-acting sedative too, but fast-acting is relative.Typical time of onset is two to three minutes.”

Faith shared a look with Marcus.Two to three minutes was fine if you were anesthetizing a wild animal for research in the field.Not so fine if you were trying to murder two NCOs.

“So there’s a third chemical that shortens the time of onset,” Faith guessed.

"Yes.An extremely fast-acting serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitor.In its pure form, this particular SARI can sedate a dog within ten minutes.However, the sedative effect is mild, certainly not enough to overcome the stress of watching their handler get murdered.But when combined with ketamine, the time of onset decreases to less than one minute, and the sedative effect of both drugs is multiplied.Ketamine and xylazine typically only puts a dog down for twenty or thirty minutes.In Rooster's case, he was unconscious for over eight hours."

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