Rock Harbor Series - 03 - Into the Deep Read Online Free PDF Page B

wanted, or a proxy status for himself through their child’s accomplishments. She returned her husband’s hug. He just wanted what was best for them. She had to remember that.
    A sleek gray Acura drove along the gravel lane toward them. Zane released her. “What’s he want now?” He grabbed a beer from Jonelle’s hand and went to wait by the porch. The car stopped in front of Zane, but for several long moments, no one got out. The windows were tinted so darkly, Jonelle couldn’t see what he was doing. An uneasy stirring in her stomach made her half sick.
    The driver’s door finally swung open, and Simik got out. In his forties with gray touching his black hair at the temples, he was dressed in a spotless blue pinstripe suit. “Zane,” he said. “Ma’am.”
    Zane’s partner always gave Jonelle the willies. The schemes he’d gotten Zane mixed up in sometimes kept her awake at night. She could tell by the look on Simik’s face he had another moneymaking scheme up hissleek suit sleeve. She’d never heard his first name, but his last name was enough to strike fear in her heart.
    Simik’s eyes gleamed as he looked around the yard. “Our troll in town has a proposition for us.”
    “Oh?” Zane asked.
    Jonelle suppressed a sigh. The man’s connections to bigger dog gambling rings had reaped huge financial benefits for Zane, and her husband wasn’t about to walk away from him, even though dogfights were illegal in all fifty states and danger lurked in Simik’s muddy eyes.
    “When’s the next fight?”
    Zane shrugged. “Next month.”
    “You have a worthy opponent for Bruck?”
    “No one stands a chance against Bruck, and you know it.”
    “Our troll is willing to pay thirty thousand dollars for a dog he’s found who can take him on. And he’ll bet heavily in the actual fight.”
    Zane gave a bark of laughter. “It’s too easy taking money from our little patsy. He’s soft and weak. He always thinks he can recoup his losses on the next fight. You’d think by now he would have learned not to bet against Bruck. There’s not a dog alive who can take on my lean, mean killing machine.”
    “Seriously,” Simik said. He took a step closer. “He says he saw this dog drive off a wolf a couple of days ago.”
    Zane frowned. “So what? Bruck has killed plenty of wolves in his career. I trained him against wolves.”
    Jonelle knew it was a lie, but Zane liked to maintain some mystique concerning his dogs. Still, Bruck was a fearsome dog. He had been bloodied but never beaten in the three years he’d been in the ring. The muscular dog was at the height of his strength and ferocity. He was unbeatable. The graveyard behind the cabin held more dog carcasses than Jonelle could count—all casualties of Bruck’s mean streak. And Zane made sure he stayed mean. He fed the dogs only as much as they needed to maintain their strength, and they were always hungry for more. That gave them an edge over theirsofter opponents. And the steroids Zane fed them only added to their ferocity.
    Jonelle had tried to sneak them food, but she was always punished for it.
    Simik leaned forward. “Our troll says this dog has to be seen to be believed. And I’d like to see him lose his money on it.”
    Jonelle wondered what Simik had against this “troll.” She’d seen the way Simik had sucked the man deeper and deeper into the gambling ring, almost as though it was a personal vendetta to bankrupt him.
    “What ring did he see him in?”
    “Not a ring. In town.” The other man pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face. “This heat could break any day. I thought the U.P. was supposed to be cool.”
    “We get our hot spells just like anywhere else.”
    “You ever heard of Samson? He’s the search dog Bree Nicholls works.”
    Zane squinted his eyes. “Yeah, I seen him around. Big mutt, looks mostly German shepherd. That him?”
    “Yes,” Simik said eagerly.
    “He’s soft. I wouldn’t waste Bruck’s time on