Rescuing Mattie by S. E. Smith Read Free Book Online Page A

where Marcus was standing. One minute Marcus was standing, the next he was covered by a huge creature covered in thick scales. Thick, silver scales the size of half-dollars that belonged to Marvin, only it was a Marvin she had never seen before! She stumbled backwards when Martin charged the stands. Turning, she fell to her knees and crawled across the floor until she could curl up under the cage holding Katarina’s tigers. She whispered to the dogs to come to her. They crawled on their belly’s imitating her until they were up under the covered cage as well. Mattie pulled Chia into her lap and shivered as she listened to the tigers pacing and snarling under the covers concealing them.
    She covered her ears against the screams and yelling. Images of the males cutting their friend up danced through her mind and she started rocking and humming in an effort to drown out the noise of the fight. She had no idea how long she stayed hidden. It wasn’t until Jo came up and called her name several times that she opened her eyes to stare in terror at the slender blonde.
    “Mattie, I need your help,” Jo whispered. “Please, I need you to get the dogs to find someone.”
    Mattie crawled slowly out from under the cage, looking back and forth. “Who?” She asked, her voice trembling.
    She watched as Jo pulled a small piece of fabric out by the corner. “Tai Tek. Please, I know your dogs can find him,” Jo said.
    Mattie looked at the torn cloth. She reached out a trembling hand and took the piece of torn material from Jo. She called the dogs to her. Giving them a quiet command, she dropped the piece on the ground and watched as they sniffed it. Once she was satisfied they had a good scent, she gave them the command to ‘go find’. Oscar took off running as fast as his little legs could go, the other dogs following close behind.
    “Let’s go,” Jo said with a grin as she turned to follow the dogs.
    Mattie nodded not saying anything. She doubted if she could over the lump of terror threatening to choke her. She averted her eyes from all the blood soaking into the floor of the center ring. She pushed aside the huge flap of the tent and breathed in a deep breath of the clear night air. She glanced and saw Oscar running toward the animal compound.
    They were rounding one cage when Mattie heard Jo cry out as a dark shape came from behind it. She watched as Jo fought against a huge male. He was darker than the ones who had held her but he had the same look in his eyes. They were cold and deadly. She bit her lip to keep from crying out when she saw the male knock Jo backwards. She waved her hand to signal the dogs to move in. If they got a chance, they would attack.
    “You will lead me out of here,” the male growled out to Jo. “Dead or alive, I will use you to get out of here.”
    Mattie’s head turned when she heard another voice speak softly out of the darkness of the night. “Dead sounds good to me.” A moment later, the male crumpled to the ground, dead from a knife to the back.
    Mattie sank down and pressed her body against the side of one of the fences. She bit back the sob that threatened to escape. She was so tired of death. She had never been around so much violence before and to see people actually killing for enjoyment was too much for her. She hated violence. She hated anyone or anything getting hurt. Mattie listened as Jo and Shannon, the young FBI agent that had snuck aboard the warship disguised as one of the crew, asked each other questions. She was about to stand and tell them she had to get out of there, that she couldn’t do this, when the dogs started growling again. A moment later she heard Shannon’s soft exclamation as she drew a gun from her waist and pointed it, firing rapidly twice.
    “Bingo!” Shannon muttered darkly.
    Mattie screamed and covered her head as a huge male fell forward, dead near the first one. She tried to jerk away when she felt a set of slender arms wrap around her