Page 32 of Special Agent Joseph

“Don’t know. He changes it a lot. The prick lives nearby in a small room.”

“Address?”

“Don’t know that either. Just know he keeps a place. One of my girls used be his roomie. In those days, she called him Juan. The bastard’s not a street dealer but he is a user. Dude picks up the strays and cons them into believing he’s in love. Gets them to solicit for him, steals their earnings, and keeps them needy for the product themselves. Sum-ma-bitch uses them up and eventually throws them away like trash. Then he moves on, changes his name and address so they can’t find him and does it all over again. Guess this time he hooked up with the Farina girl.”

“I’m taking it that he’s an addict himself.”

“Oh yeah. But that Mexican freak is one of those who can maintain control. Know what I mean? Uses different product so his sneaky animal brain hasn’t fried yet. Them bastards be the most dangerous kind around here.”

Joe took out his clip and peeled a couple of hundreds off, rolled it into a small portion and wedged it into a wall crack behind him. He then dropped an FBI card accidently on purpose and before strolling away, he said, “Thanks, man. Call me if you hear anything else. And... I’d like to know the name of your church group. Came into a bit of extra cash lately and need somewhere to make a donation.”

Listening to the sputtered thanks following him, he lifted a hand as if brushing away a bug but meaning it as a motion of ‘noproblem’ and left the corner to head back to his car. He walked the two blocks, his head in constant motion, looking through the night wanderers for a dark-headed girl called Lucia.

By the time he got close enough to the vehicle to hear the growled warnings, he started to run. Jack had a giant of a man pinned against the wall, his hands clutching his testicles, while blood streamed down his sweaty face. What hit Joe hardest was seeing Megan laying in a heap on the ground nearby.

Chapter Twenty-three

Walking back to the car, Megan sensed being followed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw three youngish males, two coming up on each side of her while the third, a big dude, passed her by on the other side of the street. This area lacking the normal Vegas lights didn’t give one a feeling of safety, and she found herself glad to have Jack by her side.

Jesus, where’s my side-arm when I need it?

Pulling the pepper spray from her purse pocket, she palmed it close and continued ignoring those around her. All was fine until the two behind her began to close in. That’s when she heard Jack issue his first warning. If she’d only had to deal with the two losers, between her and Jack, they’d have had no problem. It was the big dude who suddenly began to cross the street that overloaded the playing field.

Releasing Jack’s lead, she was ready when the couple sprinted forward, getting too close for comfort. Rushing her in their attack, one had a long stick he began wielding at the dog whilethe skinny asshole focused on her. Just when she sensed him reaching out his dirty hands, she swung around and sprayed him in the face, stopping him from doing the damage he’d intended. Unfortunately, she didn’t expect his lunge at her to continue, bringing her down so hard that she dropped the canister and it rolled away.

Pushing the screamer off of her while shuffling to get the spray back in her reaching fingers, a foot came into view that kicked the fucking thing out of reach. Big hands descended to her shoulders and hauled her to her feet as if she were nothing heavier than a bag of groceries. Taking aim at the stomach of the cussing man who’d witnessed one of his gang clutching his face, she shoved her fist as hard as she could into his belly only to hit concrete. Christ that hurt. The dude was huge with multi layers of fat that blocked her from making any damage.

“Hey, stop that.” His voice came out sounding perturbed and whiny.

He held her back so she couldn’t do much damage. Her mind frantically searched for a way out of her dilemma while struggling and wriggling to break his hold. Finally, he swung her around like a puppet on a string, shaking her and grunting words like “Cut it out, bitch. Be a good girl, and Bear’ll treat you right. Don’t wanna hurt you. Come on now, stop messing around. Behave.”

Fed up with her fighting him, he threw her against the wall behind her, holding her upright with his arm in her throat. This seemed to provide him pleasure, knowing she was in his power. Panicky now, she tried to call out for Jack. From the corner of her eye, she saw the man using the stick to fight off the dog lose it. Jack had grabbed it between his teeth and ripped it from the man’s hands. That’s when the idiot took off running, screaming as the dog took a chunk out of his backside, chasing him a good distance.

Seeing as she was on her own with dumpy, she tried bringing her knee up, hoping to make contact where it would hurt the most, but the asshole expected that move and shuffled aside, his white teeth gleaming in the dark of the night. “Oh, no you don’t, princess. Bear’s already had that treatment. I don’t play that game no more.”

Still pinning her in place, he pushed his face in close to hers and stared into her eyes. “You’re pretty. You and me, we’re gonna party for sure.” Before he could even expect her next move, she wrenched her face close to his, opened her mouth, and bit his bulbous nose, clenching it with her teeth like a rabid dog with a ham bone. He screeched his pain and tried to pull away, but she wouldn’t release her hold. Well, not until he used his fist and awkwardly hit her in the stomach, which made her catch her breath, thereby releasing her jaw.

Just as she hit the ground, she saw a flash of fur fly past her through the air, the raging growl making her smile before the blackness descended.

***

Breathing hard, running full out, Joe’s heart flipped over and ended up in his throat. Seeing Megan lying so motionless, his first thought was that she’d been killed. But then his brain kicked in, and he rushed to her, ending up on his knees next to her body where his shaking fingers checked for a pulse. Thankfully it was strong.Stay cool man, she’s not dead.

Actually, being thankful didn’t begin to cover his emotions. The joy of finding her alive overcame him, which meant that his legs didn’t work for long seconds. Weakened and choking back unexpected heart-wrenching fear kept him kneeling beside her. He searched her body for signs of wounds but only noticed bloodnear her mouth and cheeks. When she groaned, he leaned closer to hear over the loud sounds of the turmoil in his head.

“You’re okay, baby.” Before he could help himself, he scooped her close and rocked back and forth. “You’re not dead. Thank God.”

“I’m fine.” She began to struggle. “Let me go. Help. Jack.”

The dog’s noisy fury mixed in with the screaming entreaties of a man fearing for his testicles finally sunk in. Joe whipped around to see his monstrous pet intimidating a fat man, basically holding the guy in place against the wall. Obviously, the dude was in fear of being ripped apart if he moved.

Helping Megan stand, he supported her weight until she pushed away from him. Both moved closer to the sniveling fool with a mess of blood and tears on his face, rivers of sweat mixing in. With the whites of his eyes standing out, fear shining like a beacon for anyone to see, he begged for help. Joe finally called to the menace. “Stop, Jack. Get off him.”

The first few words made no impact, but the word ‘off’ seemed to be the magic command for Jack to step back, his snarling still in full throttle but his threatening force now under control.

Bending, weak and shaken from his close call with Jack’s jaws, Bear looked traumatized. And in this condition, his size appeared not nearly as intimidating as earlier. With his hand cradling his bloody nose, he glared at Megan, shooting daggers of blame her way for the damage he felt. She moved in close before Joe could stop her.

Wiping her mouth and cheeks, she looked first at the blood on her hand and then at the prisoner, her understandable gesture clear to them both. Then she turned to Jack and back to Bear, again letting him see a meaning in her behavior. By the time she spoke, she had his full attention. “You want for us to keep the dog under control, then we’ve got a few questions that needanswers. If you help us, I promise we’ll walk away. What do you say?”

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