Pendergraff didn’t blink. Bensen, on the other hand, looked like he’d just sucked a lemon.
“I have an hour or two to spare, but then I need to be on my way,” he said. “Unless you actually intend to arrest me for this?”
Wendy didn’t answer but merely pointed the men toward the exit. “I’ll call you later to find out how the dogs are doing,” she said to Lacey.
“What about Bensen? You know he’s fully aware that someone was holding a dogfight on his property.”
Wendy sighed. “Yeah, you and I know it, but I doubt I’ll get a chance to prove it, not with Bensen’s money and connections. The DA isn’t a big fan of prosecuting these kind of cases to begin with, and he’s definitely against it if the defendant doesn’t fit his idea of the typical person who runs a dogfighting ring. I’ll be lucky if Bensen spends an hour at the station.”
Lacey felt her hackles rise. People like Bensen thought they could get away with anything. “But you’ll still investigate him, right?”
Wendy shrugged. “I’ll do what I can. We don’t have the budget or manpower to conduct any real investigations. Plus, the DA will scream bloody murder if he hears we’re looking at an upstanding citizen like Bensen.”
Lacey seethed at the unfairness of it all as she helped the ACS officers carefully move the dogs to her SUV. She wished there was something she could do to help Wendy catch this asshole. But all she could do was care for the dogs he’d almost killed.
* * *
Alex slammed on the SUV’s brakes and slid the SWAT vehicle to a halt in front of the big five-story building on the RTC campus. A moment later, Max and Brooks arrived in a second SUV, parking beside him and Remy. This part of the campus was almost eerily quiet. Then again, you’d expect that after a school had been put into lockdown.
Brooks got out and strode over to meet the elderly campus security guard and a DPD patrol officer heading in their direction. Typically, Mike or Xander would be heading up the response team, but since Brooks had already been running the crew as part of the drug task force, Gage had put the Pack’s big senior corporal in charge.
“What do we have?” Brooks asked as Alex, Remy, and Max pulled weapons, tactical vests, and radio gear out of the SUVs.
“The assailant was seen going into the science building about ten minutes ago,” the uniformed officer said. “He was half naked, staggering around, bleeding, and swinging a big knife at anyone who got near him. He cut several people, but we have no confirmed fatalities. My partner and I cleared out a few stray students running around, then locked down the campus, including three classes in there.” He jerked his thumb at the science building. “One is on the second floor, and two are on the fourth. All the rooms have heavy metal doors, and we thought it safer to leave the students in there rather than risk bringing them out when we didn’t have a good location on the assailant.”
“Good call,” Brooks said. “If all he has is a knife, he’ll never get through those doors. Do you have a perimeter set up around the building?”
The DPD officer nodded. “There are three exits, and we have officers on all of them.”
“Any chance the guy slipped out before the perimeter went up?” Brooks asked.
“Don’t think so,” the cop said. “A lot of people saw him go in, and no one saw him come out. Unfortunately, no one knows where he came from.”
Alex loaded his M4 carbine, checking to make sure the safety was on, then slung it over his back. Taking the radio headset Max held out, he slipped the bud in his ear. By the time he and the other guys were ready, Brooks was on the line and calling out orders.
“Alex and Max, you two head into the building and get me a situation report. Remy, you figure out where the hell this guy came from. I want to make sure all that blood he had on him was his own.”
The uniformed officer gave Brooks a dubious look. “You’re going to clear a building that size with just two of your guys? Want a couple of us to go in with you?”
Brooks shook his head. “I appreciate the offer, but if that guy is bleeding as much as you say, it won’t be very hard to track him down in there. Plus, we really need you to keep the perimeter clear of people.”
But it would be difficult to do with regular cops along for the ride, Alex thought. He was heading for the front door of the science building with Max when the campus security guard spoke.
“What about your other guy?” he asked Brooks. “You think he can figure out where this crazy guy came from by himself?”
As Max pulled open the main doors of the building and led the way in, Alex glanced over his shoulder to see Brooks grin. “Officer Boudreaux was raised in the swamps of Louisiana. If it walks, crawls, or slithers, he can track it.”
Alex’s mouth twitched. Understatement there. When it came to finding someone, Remy was the best. The big front doors clanged closed behind him and Max before Alex could hear any more, but no doubt the cop and security guard thought Brooks was insane.
As the quiet of the building surrounded them, Alex and Max drew their pistols and moved toward the big central staircase that dominated the entryway of the science building. Max’s nose was better than his for sure, but in this case, it didn’t matter. The distinct metallic scent of blood was something that any werewolf could pick up, no matter how crappy their sniffer was.
There were dark red droplets about every three feet along the floor, with a few smears here and there along the walls, as if the man had put his hands out occasionally for balance.
“We have a track,” Alex said softly into his mic. “Heading toward the second floor.”
“Roger that,” Brooks said. “Witnesses only saw a knife, but I still want you two to be careful in there.”
“Copy that,” Alex answered.
