Rising Storm (7 page)

He was nothing like Marshall. Even with their dogs. Bob had that same cocky, I know more than you do, attitude his owner had. No, Ahmed was better for her than Marshall. So, she needed to stop thinking of him and focus on what was right in front of her.

She needed a secure man in her life. After the example of her mother, she quite feared anything else. Her mom had a thing for rich assholes like her father and the six or so men after him. She had watched her mom depend on these men day after day until she was shipped off to boarding school at the request of one of them that didn't want a little brat hanging around.

Her mom didn't want to work and the men she was with didn't want her to. Her identity was to be solely wrapped up in them. She’d go wherever they wanted, do whatever they wanted, all to make sure she had as much money to spend as she wanted on clothes and a fancy car to drive.

Even at seven years old she knew it was wrong. She wanted to be known for who she was, not as a trophy girlfriend to be discarded the second she became blemished or the man got bored. So she worked hard at school. Her father was too busy running his empire to "get away" and see her at boarding school. Her mother was the same way. She was always too busy with her latest husband to visit her daughter. But, every holiday or break, a plane ticket always arrived from her grandparents with a note begging her to join them.

Then during her senior year of high school her father showed up. She hadn’t seen him for three years. A bit of her heart leapt at the chance to show him what a good girl she was and to finally get approval. However, it was not to be. He arrived in pomp and circumstance. Bodyguards secured the area and ordered the principal of the school around as if she were a servant. It was all just part of the show. The real show was offering his daughter the chance to go to Yale - he had already secured her a spot - and intern with Jacks Hotels during the summers.

She had thought it wonderful until he told her it was because he was trying to take over a company that was family run and they didn’t want to sell to someone as cold hearted as he. So, he came to collect his ignored daughter and play father until the deal closed in two or three years. He was going to go in as minority owner and it would take him that long to win them over and out of the remainder of control.

With a broken heart she turned him down, and he threatened to cut her off when she turned eighteen. She cried as he left and knew it would be the last time she'd let someone have power over her. She decided to strike out on her own. When she turned eighteen she signed a contract with a small modeling agency for one year. It was barely enough to pay the rent. She luckily received a scholarship and attended Barnard College in New York City so she could pursue her modeling career at the same time.

She lived with some of her friends from the boarding school nearby. At the end of her first year she had almost failed out. With the pressures of modeling, she fell behind in the rough liberal arts’ curriculum. The teachers worked with her and she scored high enough to stay in school, but on academic probation.

That summer when her contract was up she signed with the premier modeling agency and started booking major shows. She worked every day during the summer. There was no more time to go see her grandparents. She was walking the runways in Milan, doing photo shoots for Victoria's Secret, Versace, and Ralph Lauren. Money was rolling in and she took a semester off school to continue modeling. She did manage to take online courses.

She moved into her own small apartment and saved every penny she could. She worked hard and constantly for two more years before taking time off and going back to school with photo shoots scheduled around her school schedule. By then, she had enough online credits to be a junior. Katelyn finished up school, nearly making honors in spite of the rough start, and applied for veterinary school. She had always loved the animals at her grandparents' farm and felt the calling. She had decided to go to Auburn. It was a good school and far away from the New York craziness.

Her agency had struck a deal with her. They'd only book shoots and runways around her school schedule. It turned out the more unavailable you were, the more designers wanted you. She was able to work her way through graduate school while enjoying the times she went on shoots because they weren't constant. She had lost her scholarship after the first semester at Barnard, but had made enough to pay her tuition for the online courses and to pay full tuition when she went back full time. She even had enough to pay for graduate school. She was free of debt when she graduated and that allowed her to focus on the next phase of her life.

After Katelyn graduated from Auburn, she knew she was getting too old to model and she now had what she wanted, a real career. She was a doctor and she wanted to start her own clinic. She left the modeling world while on top and came back to the only home she had ever known, only to mess up the peace by sleeping with Marshall.

But now she had a chance to correct that mistake… that hot, passionate mistake. Ahmed was here and he was doing everything right. An actual date! “A tough man with a soft side” she thought as she watched him pet and talk to Zoti.

"Thank you for such a wonderful dinner. How did you find that place?" Katelyn asked as Ahmed led her toward her door.

"I like to know all the places around town. The good, bad, and ugly."

"Well, this was definitely ugly, but it was the best catfish I’ve ever had," she laughed about the restaurant, which would be better described as a hole in the wall.

They had a wonderful time. Ahmed told her of the beaches and scenery of his home country of Rhami. They didn't talk about family though. She didn't want to talk about her parents and she had a feeling he didn't want to talk to about his either. He was kind, attentive, and everything a date should be.

"I had a nice time," Ahmed slipped his hand into hers and walked her up the stairs.

"I did too. Thank you so much for a wonderful dinner."

"I would like to do it again, if you’re free."

"That would be great. I’d love to." Katelyn's heart sped up as Ahmed raised her hand to his lips.

"Goodnight, Katelyn."

"Goodnight." She watched as he walked back to his car and got in.

She turned the doorknob and tried to open the door. It stopped short and she heard a thump as if something fell to the ground. Katelyn put her eye to the crack in the door and saw her grandmother flat on her bottom.

"Nana! Were you eavesdropping?"

"Me?" she asked innocently.

"Is that a cell phone in your hand?"

"Oh, um, I'll get the recipe to you first thing in the morning. Goodnight Lily." Then her grandmother had the audacity to smile at her and shrug her shoulders. Great, she could hear the phones ringing all around town.

Chapter Six

Marshall stabbed the last bite of his lunch at the Blossom Café. As if he wasn't agitated enough with having a dog-fighting ring in town, he now had to spend his lunch listening all about the date of the century.

"Then he raised her hand to his lips and kissed it!" Miss Daisy twittered to a table full of women.

He cringed as he heard the chorus of sighs. The second he set foot in the café he couldn’t go a second without hearing every single detail of the date. How long they were gone, where they had gone to dinner, how Ahmed was so gentlemanly, and about that damned kiss. For crying out loud, it wasn't even a real kiss! It was nothing like the ones he and Katelyn shared that night. He slammed his fork down on his plate and tossed some money on the counter before stalking out of the café.

He had something better to do. He had an investigation to run. He had started this morning with some research and was waiting to hear from Sheriff Nuggett from Lipston County. With the activities taking place so close to the county line, he thought it was best to bring in the neighboring law enforcement to make sure there were no gaps in information between the two offices.

The door to the café closed on some more sighs, which caused him to close his eyes and count to ten for patience. Who cared what Katelyn Jacks did? He had never been so happy to hear his radio go off.

"Hey Marsh, Sheriff Nuggett is in your office. He got your message and wanted to meet in person," Annie's voice told him.

"I'm just across the street, I'll be right there."

"Sheriff Davies, it's nice to finally meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too. Thanks for coming all the way out here to talk to me."

Marshall shook the sheriff's hand and sat down behind his desk. Sheriff Nuggett was what you’d call a good ol' boy. He was in his mid-forties, had brown hair cut short and looked like he was either retired military or some kind of sports player. He was muscular, but had started to soften with age. He wore a smile and was generally relaxed as he took a seat.

"Military or sports?" Marshall asked.

"Both. Kentucky National Guard and football. I'm guessing you were military."

"Ranger." They smiled and Marshall knew they'd be able to work well together. "Where'd you play ball?"

"Western Kentucky."

"In your time there, did you ever figure out what exactly Big Red the Hilltopper was?"

"No, but he was a very energetic mascot." Nuggett laughed. Turning serious he pulled out a notepad and flipped it open. "Tell me about this dog-fighting ring."

Marshall shared info about the dog Ahmed found and the assault on Mrs. Wyatt. He described the horrible sight they came upon in the clearing and watched as Nuggett scribbled on the notepad.

"Did the little dog live?"

"Yes, Katelyn did save the dog."

"Thank goodness. Well, what you’re describing sounds a lot like experiences I’ve been having in my county. A couple of boys came upon a site a lot like you described, but there were no animals found. Just some blood and the grass trampled down around the whole area."

"What do you think of a joint task force between our departments?" Marshall asked.

"I think it's the only way to cover the area. My guess is they are hosting these fights on the county lines in hopes of us not knowing what's going on next door, so to say. If we combine resources, then we'll have the whole picture and not just a partial one."

"I’ve started looking at people with violent charges and charges against animals in my county already," Marshall told him as he pulled out a stack of papers.

"I think it's also a good idea to get a map together of where all the known fights took place and then highlight the areas that are similar in hopes of catching them."

"I'll put that together and email it to you so you can put it on your map."

"I'll do the same. It's been nice to meet you Davies. Hopefully we can get these guys before they have another fight."

"I hope so too."

Marshall watched Nuggett leave and went straight to work on the map. If they could narrow down the areas, he could patrol them, hopefully stop a fight before it happened, and arrest all the participants. And, with any luck, diving into the investigation would drive a certain blonde out of his mind for a while.

*     *     *

Camille Watkins pushed the end button on her cell phone and smiled. She had been riding one heck of a lucky streak recently. Two of their dogs were close to champion status. With their breeding program up and running and the success of the regional Warrior's Association, they finally had enough money to buy a large farm of their own to expand their fighting dog kennel named Gladiator.

"Yo, Andre!" She screamed down the hall of their three-bedroom house they had bought a couple years ago.

She worked as a secretary at a medical office and Andre was an independent contractor. He was able to keep his schedule flexible so he could train their dogs. It worked out perfectly. They had started training dogs almost ten years ago. They met in high school and moved to Georgia right after they got married. That's where they fell in love with the sport of dog fighting. The glamour of the competition, the drama of the action in the ring. It was exhilarating. After a minor incident in Georgia, they moved up to Kentucky with Andre's brother and quickly rose to the top ranks of dog fighting. Now was their time to shine.

"I'm in the basement, babe.”

Camille walked to the kitchen and stirred the spaghetti sauce she had simmering for dinner before heading downstairs. The basement spanned the whole length of their brick ranch home. She was proud of her home, but even prouder of their kennel. Her husband looked up from where he was training their youngest puppy as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Did Crow kill that cat by himself?"

"Sure did. I tossed the cat into his kennel. He's a good pup."

She could see her husband's pride as he watched Crow. The pup had just turned eight months old and her husband had started his more aggressive training a couple of months ago. This was his first solo kill and she knew Andre would be ecstatic.

"I heard from our contact. The reports that were given to International on us were good. Luckily the scout left town right after the fight and didn't see the issue with cleanup."

"That is good news. That old woman came out of nowhere, but I gave us enough time to get all the dogs home." Andre stood up and wiped his hands on his gray t-shirt.

"Well, there's more news." Camille tried not to bounce up and down with excitement.

"Did International accept our application already?"

"No, not yet. However, the report from whoever saw the fight was enough to get us on the radar. Sometime in the next couple of fights a member of the International Warrior's Association will come and meet with us in person! We're almost there, honey! We're so close!" Andre lifted up his wife and swung her around with a yell.

"How much cash do we have on hand and how much can we get? We need our next fights to be big time." Andre paced as he waited for his wife to calculate the money.

"We have ten grand on hand and with proper marketing and listing online on the forum I'm sure we can get some sponsors to have the winner get $25,000 in prize money."