Greg Iles - The Devils Punchbowl

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?”

“It took that dog about twenty seconds to kill him. Ripped his throat out. Then they let the rest of the dogs tear him up.”

“Why did they do that? To give them a taste of human blood?”

“No. They were testing the suit. The armor. I heard them talking outside. They just wanted to see how it would stand up to the dogs’ teeth and jaws. The suit is special-made. They killed that man just to find out how good it worked.”

Caitlin tries to shut out her horror and think logically. “Have they ever had a fight like that before? Dogs against a man?”

“Once. They have a videotape of it. He had it.”

“Who? Quinn?”

“No.

Him.”

“Sands?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Why did you wait till now to tell me this?”

“I didn't want to scare you. I know you’re brave…but I'm telling you, those dogs out there are devils. They’re war dogs. They’re like the one

he

has. He knows everything about them. Jonny’s dad raised dogs back in Ireland. When he was a boy, his daddy gave him a puppy to raise…and then he made him kill it. To teach him how the world was, he said. Sands knows dogs like no one I ever met. And the dogs he trains…you don'’t want to be close to them. You may fool them for a second or two with those cats, but what they live for is killing. I don'’t want to see you torn to pieces out there.”

“Linda, when is this fight supposed to take place?”

“Soon. That'’s all I know.”

“Will it just be another victim, some drunk or something?”

“No. A man’s coming in to fight them special. He’ll have a weapon. A knife, maybe two.”

“I wonder who he is.”

“I think he’s a convict, from what they were saying. One of those UFC-type fighters. Some walleyed redneck, I'm sure. But they'’re all getting ready for it.”

Caitlin takes this in, analyzing their situation in light of these new developments.

“Linda, have you ever heard of a man named Edward Po?”

“No.”

“What about a girl named Jiao?”

Linda hisses. “Oh, I know who she is all right. The Queen of Sheba. She don'’t know nothing about who Sands really is. How he screws all the girls on the boat. That Jiao…she lives down there in New Orleans, away from all this. At least she did until Katrina, anyway. Now…I don'’t know. Maybe that’s one reason he wants me dead. I’'ve seen her look at me like she knows I mean something to him. Or

meant

something.”

“Have you heard Jiao has a cousin? From China?”

“I did hear that. He flew in for one of the fights a while back. He brought his own dog with him.”

Caitlin is starting to see the outline of a larger picture. “Linda, lis

ten to me. I want you to tell me everything you know about Jiao and her cousin. And Sands. Everything, no matter how trivial it may seem. Will you do that?”

“I think that medicine may be working,” Linda says softly. “My God. The pain isn’t as bad.”