correct.
The trailer unloaded four white dogs that dwarfed the pit bulls outside. Their heads reached the men?s waists, and they had wrinkled faces with cropped ears that gave them the look of some hybrid fighting creature she had never before seen. The pit bulls went wild when the white dogs appeared; several cowered near the kennel. A few minutes later, a second trailer appeared with more men. They opened the gate of the kennel yard, gathered up the pit bulls, loaded them into their trailer, and drove away in a cloud of dust. Then the white dogs were released into the kennel yard.
After studying them for a while, Caitlin felt sure these new dogs must be Bully Kuttas, like the dog Penn described on his porch the night Sands revealed himself. Penn had thought the dogs that attacked him and Kelly on the river island were also Bully Kuttas, but he couldn'?t be sure. In any case, these white dogs frighten
Caitlin more than the pit bulls, something that hadn'?t seemed possible an hour ago.
The sound of a closing door pulls her away from the window. Linda?s door rattles the wall of Caitlin?s room, then she hears Linda?s gate close. Quinn says something too soft for Caitlin to make out, and Linda doesn?'t reply. Then the booted feet stump off down the kennel.
After the door closes, Caitlin says, ?Linda? Are you all right??
?My stomach hurts.?
?Did he hurt you again??
?No. He gave me some different pills. I think that?s why my stomach hurts.?
?Well, try to hold them down. Drink some water if you can. That will dilute your urine, and it won'?t hurt as bad when you pee.?
A sound like a scoff comes through the wood.
?Linda, I?'ve got an idea about how to get out of here. I want you to listen to me. Will you do that??
After a brief silence, Linda says, ?I'm listening.?
Quickly, Caitlin describes her plan to use a cat as bait to distract the dogs to one side of the kennel, while she and Linda make a break for the fence on the other side. She makes it sound as plausible as she can, but Linda?s lack of questions worries her. ?Well?? she asks at last. ?What do you think??
?It won'?t work.?
Caitlin tries to suppress her frustration. ?Why not??
?Because first you have to get the cats. And just getting the roof off won'?t get you through the Cyclone fence. It?s over my head too, not just walls.?
Caitlin starts to argue, but Linda?s still talking.
?And even if you get the bars off the windows, you?ll never get this chain off my neck.?
?I will. After everyone leaves, I'm going to get into that storeroom and find a way. There has to be a key in there. Or some kind of tool. didn't you say he takes the collar off when he abuses you??
?Sometimes. Other times he hooks it to a bolt on a table with a shorter chain.?
?Where does he get the key when he takes it off you??
?From the same ring as his car keys.?
Damn.
?You have to leave me out of it,? Linda says, almost too low to hear. ?You know that.?
?No, I don'?t.?
?You do. Because even if you get the collar off, I'?ll never make it to that fence. Not before the dogs get me. And I can?t die like that. I can?t.?
?You?re not going to die, Linda. You?re going to get out of here with me.?
Silence.
?What if I drugged the dogs??
?With what??
?There might be tranquilizers in the storeroom.?
?They took all that stuff out. I looked when I was in there a minute ago, like you told me to. When he was getting me the pills. All I saw was junk that looked like steroids and supplements. I used to date a bodybuilder in Oklahoma City, and he took the same kind of stuff.?
?Linda, you have to stop thinking it?s impossible. If you think that way, you make it so. I'm going to get us out of here.?
To her amazement, Caitlin hears what sounds like sad laughter. ?You think that because you?re different from me. Stuff works out for girls like you. That'?s just the way life is. But for me?it?s different. No matter what I do, something always goes wrong.?
?I want you to stop saying that kind of thing! There?s no difference between you and me.?
?You?re wrong,? Linda says wearily. ?I got away once. I risked everything and jumped off that boat. I put myself in God?s hands. And here I am. You can?t get me out. Go without me. Maybe you can bring help back in time.?
Caitlin considers this. The odds of Quinn leaving Linda alive once he knew Caitlin had escaped would be zero. And how long might it take her to find help?
?I'm not going without you,? she says.
?Caitlin?? Linda says in a tighter voice.
?Yes??
?I haven'?t told you everything.?
The hair rises on Caitlin?s neck. There is no terror like the terror of the unknown. ?What is it? Tell me.?
?I know what those white dogs are for.?
?What??
?They?re going to fight them against a man.?
Caitlin looks at the wall, as if she could read Linda?s face through it. ?What? You mean like feed a man to them??
?No. A man?s gonna fight them. Try to kill them in a pit.?
?How do you know that??
?I heard them talking, and I?'ve seen them getting ready for it.?
?What did you see??
?Yesterday morning, they brought a man into the kennel and put him in a stall. They were waiting for those white dogs to get here. The guy looked like a homeless man they pulled off the street. A drunk. Later Quinn told me he was.?
?What did they do with him??
?First they put some kind of vest on him.?
?Like that protective suit? The padded thing??
?No. More like a bulletproof vest. I saw a lot of those in Las Vegas. And they put some kind of plates on his arms. When they were done, he looked like a gladiator or something.?
Caitlin can scarcely form her next question. ?What did they do then??
?They took him out there and let one of those dogs loose on him.?
She closes her eyes. ?What happened??
