Chapter Thirty-Seven – The Dragon’s Favorite Strays
Chapter Thirty-Seven
DAKOTA
Why am I not surprised that the nomad was a prick running a scam? I should have guessed.
“Curtis took us in circles,” Aggie says. “Running our tab up just for fun cause he didn’t have anything better to do. And we were stuck, so we had to go along with him because we didn’t know the way. We guessed what he was up to when we passed the same billboard for three days straight.”
It’s not the worst thing I’ve heard unscrupulous people doing. The horror stories about most nomads would curl your hair. The After has brought out the worst in humanity and people take advantage of others all the time. “What were you going to pay him with? Did you still have electronics?”
“Nope. We were going to give him one of Stella’s puppies. It was one reason why left the fort.” Aggie’s small face grows angry behind her huge glasses. “Since I wouldn’t get rid of my dog at their urging, they stole her from me for two days when someone else came through with a male dog. Now she’s pregnant. I know they want to breed her to sell the puppies, and I didn’t want that life for her. So we snuck out a few nights later with Curtis as our guide.”
“May he rot in hell,” Dottie says grimly. The kitten in her hands squirms and she rubs its ears. “He was the worst.”
Aggie nods. “By the time he got us to the outskirts of the Dallas area, he told us it was our fault it had taken so long for him to get us here. That because we were old he had to take different routes than his regular ones. And instead of just one puppy, he wanted all of them and Stella, too.”
Ugh. “He does sound like the worst.”
Aggie’s mouth quivers and Dottie picks up the story. “He told us we could ‘earn’ Stella back, but we’d have to pay him in kind. When he ran across you guys, he told us to go in and see if you were worth robbing. If you had anything good, we were supposed to put a red handkerchief on the door at night. That would tell him if there was anything worth taking.”
It sends a chill up my spine. “And if there wasn’t?”
“Then we were supposed to herd you towards Fort Oklahoma. They have a bounty on nomads that are brought in.”
Rabbit shoots me a panicked look, scooping the newest kitten out of Dottie’s hands and moving over to my side. “We’re not nomads!”
“They don’t care, honey,” Dottie says, voice gentle. “But we didn’t put the handkerchief out anyhow. We wouldn’t do that to you ladies.”
“Especially not with Big Meat up there on the roof,” Aggie says.
Which is another point that’s been bothering me. “How did he know we’re working with a dragon? Did you send him a message? Murr was gone when we ran across him the other day.”
“He’s got eyes, don’t he?” Aggie waves a hand at the old bookstore we’re currently in front of, comfortable in the parking lot. “Dragons aren’t exactly the invisible. It’s pretty obvious when you have a dragon sleeping outside your porch every night or on the roof in the daytime that you’ve made friends with him.” She cracks a huge smile. “Curtis is probably spitting bullets that his big plans have a dragon-sized kink in ’em. He works best on bullying people and robbing them, but you can’t bully someone with a dragon.”
Dottie glances over at her friend. “It doesn’t get Stella back, though. We’re at an impasse.”
Rabbit crouches next to me, stroking the kitten in her arms. “Murr won’t let anything happen to us. He’ll kill the guy. Eat him in two gulps.”
“That doesn’t get us Stella back, either,” Dottie says gently. “He’s been hiding her from us, keeping her chained up somewhere. If he doesn’t have her, he doesn’t have anything.”
Hmm. “Do you know where he’s hiding out?” When both women shrug, I keep thinking. I don’t like problems that don’t have a solution. “So we need to find Curtis and get him to confess where he’s hiding your dog so we can rescue her.”
“He won’t talk about it. I know he won’t. That dog represents a fortune to him.”
I point at the roof. “He hasn’t met our dragon, has he?”
Aggie looks worried. “How do we know Murr isn’t going to eat him? Or my baby Stella?”
Rabbit makes an offended sound in her throat. She holds up the kitten in her arms. “Murr loves animals! That’s why all these cats are here all the time. He would never hurt your dog.”
“But he could eat Curtis,” Dottie points out. “Just because he hasn’t eaten us doesn’t mean anything. It might be that he doesn’t like the taste of ladies.”
“Obviously, I’ll have to have a conversation with him,” I say. I don’t know how I’m going to convey the help we need, but Murr needs to be part of this. He’s integral to our rescue mission.
Aggie clasps her hands under her chin. “So we’re going to make a trap for Curtis? How do we do it? Bait of some kind?”
“I can be bait,” Rabbit volunteers.
My heart leaps into my throat. “What? Absolutely fucking not.”
As if I’m overreacting, Rabbit rolls her eyes. “Oh, come on, Mom. I’m the most helpless looking one of us four. I can pretend to be out foraging and oops, pretend to break an ankle or something.”
“And then we throw a net over the bastard!” Aggie crows.
Dottie makes a face at her friend, nudging her. “Where’d you get a net, you old fool? This isn’t a cartoon.”
“Maybe we just spring the dragon on him instead,” Rabbit says.
Both elderly women light up. “I like the cut of your jib, young lady.”
My daughter beams. I’m less sold on everything. I’m not about to use my daughter as bait to lure out some dog-trafficking nomad. “We’re not making any plans until I talk to Murr about the situation. No one does anything until I say so, understand?”
“Yes, Mom,” Rabbit says.
“Yes, Mom,” echoes Aggie. She makes a shooing motion at me. “Now, go. Schmooze that dragon and get him in on things. Bat your lashes and giggle a lot. He likes you the best out of all of us and if you want it, he’ll do it for you.”
Does he like me the best out of all of us? Why does that make me want to blush?
