been nice enough to keep me from freaking the fuck out earlier. Although that was more likely just him wanting to keep his own ass safe. Before I could come up with an articulate way to tell him to go jump in a lake, he drove faster and took a sharp turn. “Who else knew you were there? Are there security cameras around the facility? Do you have to swipe a badge to enter or check-in?”
I blinked, struggling to keep up with the rapid-fire questions. “Uh... Just Geordie and the people who were working earlier. The last one left around... three thirty, I think? I wasn’t paying attention to the time. There are security cameras but they’re mostly focused on the animal pens and the vet block where the tranquilizers are kept. I don’t know if there’s anything where... where we were. There’s no badges or ID swipes. They keep talking about putting a system in, but Ms. Bridger hasn’t had it installed yet.”
He shot me a sideways look. “Bridger? That’s the woman who’s running this place?”
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “Do you know her? She’s older, blonde, has dark eyes...”
“Yeah, dark eyes,” he muttered. “As black as her fucking soul.”
I reared back in surprise. “What are you talking about? She’s done a lot of good, and –“
Dodge shook his head and pulled out his phone, dialing without taking his eyes off the road. I faced him, feeling one more thing spiral out of my control. “You don’t know her. You must be thinking of someone else.”
He didn’t look at me. His phone must have connected because he said, “I’ve got her. There’s a problem.”
Someone responded, then Dodge grunted. “Well, there’s two problems, then. Maybe three or four, come to think of it. Can’t talk about it now. We’re going back to her apartment tonight. Meet tomorrow at the Korean barbecue place. Right, near 5th. Twelve. Make a reservation for one of the private rooms. Easier that way.”
I stared at him. I must have missed something. It felt like I’d closed my eyes and at least an hour of events had passed, because nothing he said made any sense. “What – we’re not going back to my apartment. I mean, I am, but you’re not – there’s no way in hell you’re going to my apartment. And I’m only going back to pack a bag and get on the next bus out of here.”
“You have to act normal,” he said, not looking at me as he put his phone back in his pocket. “Like you didn’t see anything fucked up in that kitchen. Right? If you scamper off like a frightened baby bunny and they see it, they’ll know that you must have seen something that frightened you. Those guys won’t stop to ask what you saw, they’ll just kill you.”
My stomach unbalanced and gurgled in warning. I couldn’t take my eyes off his face; he looked far too serious to be joking around or trying to scare me just for the hell of it. He said it so matter-of-factly that it almost sounded reasonable. Of course men who chopped up bodies with meat cleavers wouldn’t mind killing me if they thought I’d seen them. Sure. Apparently things like that happened in a world where bodies were chopped up and...
I gripped my knees until my hands ached. “Oh my God. Are they going to feed that – that man to the animals? To the tiger? The tiger’s going to eat him and then – then – oh my God. Oh no. Oh no.”
“Shit,” he muttered, then abruptly reached over and grabbed the back of my neck. He shoved my head down between my knees, his grip surprisingly gentle. “Breathe. Hands on the dash. Just breathe. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Don’t think about it.”
It was easier said than done. Tears burned my eyes and nose and throat as I fought down the bile that wanted to escape. “That poor tiger,” was all I could think to whisper. Like he hadn’t suffered enough already. Those bastards would feed him – human meat, and then if anyone found out, they’d kill the tiger.
“I would have pitied the poor son of a bitch getting eaten,” Dodge said under his breath. “But that’s me.”
I must have made a disgruntled noise, because his thumb started stroking the back of my neck and he squeezed my neck and shoulder just a bit. “And poor tiger, too. Can’t imagine that guy tastes very good. From