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“What’s on the rag?” asked the bikie.

“Chloroform,” he replied. “Not enough to knock them out. But it will slow them down.”

He gave the dogs a few minutes, then slowly opened the door and crept inside. Both adult animals were in front of the puppies’ cages. The male was standing over the female, who was looking worse for wear.

Kane aimed the gun at the male and fired. The dart hit him high in the shoulder, eliciting a snarl. He chambered another round as the dog took a few steps and shot him again before backing out of the shed.

“How long?” asked the bikie.

“A couple of minutes. It’s a fast-acting sedative, and I hit him with a double dose. Once he’s down, I’ll do the female. Then we’ll crate them all up and throw them in the truck.” He checked his watch. “The Commies will be waiting for us.”

“They’d better have brought a big bag of cash,” said the bikie, a grin on his goateed face.

“You just make sure those two SEALs make it down to the dock. The last thing we need is for them to get loose. We need them on the boat with the dogs and cash in hand. Till then, no one rests.”

The bikie spat in the dirt. “You’re getting a little big for your boots, Kane. Just remember whose outfit this is.”

The SEAL laughed. “What are you gonna do? Threaten me? Don’t forget what I bring to this party.”

“Yeah, whatever. Let’s offload your buddies and the dogs.”

Two bikies waved Mike and Rick out of the back of the van and onto the wooden pier. They’d already come up with a plan to kick them into submission before freeing themselves. Mike was poised and ready when barking reached his ears. The tide had gone out, and the workboat now sat lower than the dock. He glanced down and spotted cages in the rear of the workboat. Axe and Saber were in separate cages, while the puppies had been split between two.

“Rick, they’ve got Axe,” said Mike. “I need to get on board.”

“I’m coming with you,” the corpsman replied.

They allowed the bikies to direct them down a gang ramp under lights affixed to the workboat. Once they were on board, they were forced to sit at the rear of the cockpit where Kane was at the helm.

“Hurry up and cast off,” the former SEAL yelled to his bikie crew.

One of the men kept the SEALs covered with his pistol as the other man released the lines tying them to the pier. Once they were clear, Kane skillfully reversed the boat off the dock before throwing the massive outboards into gear and powering out to sea.

As the boat left the natural harbor, Kane killed the lights and focused on the vessel’s radar and GPS screens.

“Where the hell are we going?” said Rick, over the roar of the engines.

“He’s got a buyer for the dogs. Maybe some drug dealers or something,” said Mike.

“You two shut the fuck up,” yelled one of the bikies.

In the cockpit, Kane watched the GPS with one eye on the radar. Earlier that night, the bikies had brought the craft up from Victoria, reporting that the radar was on the glitch. They’d almost run down a fishing boat. Given that the gear was working perfectly, he thought it more likely that they were just shit sailors.

He spotted a radar contact as they approached the waypoint marked in his GPS. He throttled back and brought the boat to a halt. A moment later, a light appeared in the darkness to the west. It flashed four times. He took a flashlight from his pocket and shot two flashes back.

Moments later, a craft appeared from the darkness and pulled in alongside the workboat. Kane caught the lines sailors threw and tied the vessels together. The boat was similar in size to the bikie craft, but was wooden, with inboard engines and a weather-beaten central cabin. Its utility lights were on, revealing five men in the rear of the boat dressed in the oil-stained coveralls worn by merchant sailors. However, their hard Asian features and the submachine guns slung over their shoulders and across their bodies suggested they were anything but.

“Welcome to Canada,” said Kane.

“You have dogs,” one of the men replied in heavily accented English.

“Yeah, but the deal has changed. We don’t just have the pups; we also have a breeding pair.”

The man’s eyebrows rose, and he turned to confer with another of the men before addressing Kane. “How much extra?”

“Triple.”

“We can do that.” The two men had clearly already discussed what they were willing to pay. “Pass the animals across.”