Chapter 4: The Job
Nome, April 7, 1929
The tranquil silence of the night air was shattered by the shrillest of howls. It jolted Balto out of sleep, he recognized the howl immediately. He flung the blanket off of him and quickly stood. He jumped on top of the cabinet nearly knocking off Boris's basket and out the window. Boris was now also up after saying his basket from going overboard. Boris poked his head out the open window and called after Balto.
"Balto where do you think you are going?"
"Family." with that he bolted off in the direction of town. Duke was also awoken by the howl; he saw Balto darting off and instinctively switched on his light and opened the drawer next to his bed. Inside was his souvenir from the First World War, .45 army pistols in a leather holster. He snatched it up; threw on some clothes and put on his jacket. Next thing he knew he was running through the darkness with a flashlight and following a line of tracks after Balto had made in the soft snow.
Ten minutes earlier
Kodi had only just fallen asleep when he heard Victor barking, again. The sheriff had departed for his office in the center of town after the barbecue and Kodi had returned home. Kodi begrudgingly got up and walked out to the window that faced the street. Sure enough, Victor was barking up a storm and had probably managed to wake up half the street. Kodi was about to tell him to eat his tail and shut his mouth when he heard the window on their side of the room slid open. Kodi spun on his heel and saw two men climbing through it. The first one pulled out a net. Kodi ran at one and barked at him. Tony backed up and ran into Jimmy, who was still trying to work his fat body through the window. Jimmy fell and landed in the snow, dropping the shotgun he had brought with him as he fell. Kodi took the initiative and ran out the other window and onto the roof. Tony looked down into the snow were Jimmy fell. The man had fallen in a thankfully high snow drift and did not appear to be injured; he did make a wonderful snow angel however.
"Hey Jimmy, you good?" In response, Jimmy held up a hand with a thumb sticking up. He then switched the gesture his had made to something else. "Now that is just rude." Tony left Jimmy and turned back to his work. He squeezed through the other window and followed Kodi onto the roof. The red dog was on the opposite side of the building and was standing there waging his tail, Tony could swear he was smirking. Tony knew he had the dog cornered. He began to thunder across the slanted roof.
"Nowhere to run you stupid-" Tony stepped on the wrong patch of slushy snow and ice. The frozen mix slid out from underneath him and he went right after it. Tony tumbled down off of the roof and landed in the snow below. Kodi jumped off of the roof and caught the clothesline on the way, riding the line to the ground. Jimmy had stumbled around the corner odd the house and saw Kodi; Kodi saw the shotgun and bolted for the fence. He leapt over and cleared the five foot tall planks of wood. Jimmy ran to Tony and helped him up.
"Which way did he go?" Tony asked, still a bit dazed from falling off a building.
"He jumped the fence come on!" They opened the gate and saw Kodi jumping across the fence on the other side of the street.
"What is this thing a sled dog or an Olympic high-jumper?" Jimmy asked himself. The very second Victor saw Kodi jumping over the fence he started to growl.
"What do you think you are doing here?" Victor asked as Kodi landed.
"Playing a game of tag. What do you think!? I don't run from strange men with nets on a normal basis." Kodi was surprised at this dog's ignorance. "Do a fellow dog a favor and keep them away for a while."
"Dog is a stretch, but I like them less than you." Kodi took that as a yes and made a very high pitched howl.
"What in the world was that?" Victor said covering his ears.
"Distress call; keep my new friends busy while I get Dusty and the pups."
"Alright, get your kids and go." Kodi turned away and made for a back alley that led to the next house where Dusty lived. "You owe me one wolf boy."
"Bill me." Kodi made his way up to the room that housed Dusty and the pups. His howl had done its job. She was up and checking the pups, she counted six and turned to him.
"What is going on?" She asked.
"I wish I knew." He heard a crash outside and then more of Victor's thunderous barking. "We need to go, now!" He darted back towards the window and saw Victor taking a bite out of crime as he chased the two around the yard. Kodi was never so happy to live next to Victor in his life. All eight of them slinked around the corner and to safety. Victor continued to fight off the attackers; he leapt on the fat one and bit his leg. Jimmy threw him off and swung at him with a two by four that was lying next to him. Victor deftly dogged the piece of wood and tackled the man again. This time Victor rammed him in the chest and heard a cracking noise. A loud yelp of pain issued from Jimmy and he fell down. Victor completely forgot about the other. Tony came up behind him and picked Victor up.
"Gotcha." Tony said in a gruff voice. He heaved Victor, who flew across the yard and into a woodpile; the guard dog hit his head and blacked out. Tony walked over to his compatriot and looked him over.
"Jimmy, you there?" Tony asked, looking him over, the injuries weren't too severe; he could still do his job. Jimmy came to but was still in rather lucid.
"I ha fogs."
"Wha did ya say?" Tony asked, softly slapping Jimmy's cheek to bring him around.
"I said; I really hate dogs!" Jimmy hit Tony in the chest with the butt of the shotgun. "Get offa me you guerrilla!"
"Right, sorry." Both where now up and after the tracks in the snow. Kodi and Dusty herded their pups through the backyards and tight alleys of Nome. They knew the best advantage they had over the men behind them was the fact that the map of the town was ingrained in them. It was the best and only tool they had to keep their family safe. As they found their way through a cluttered side street, they heard the sound of footfalls behind them. Fearing the worst, they ducked under a pile of crates and Dusty pulled a tarp over them all. The footfalls came closer and closer, and then they stopped. The trap ruffled and Kodi sprang up, ready to attack when he saw Balto's face pop in.
"Finally, I found you." Kodi bounded out and was glad his father had shown up in the nick of time.
"I'm glad you got my message." he said, shaking off the tarp.
"How couldn't I? I spent months pounding that thing in to your head." Balto said, relived his ounce of prevention had saved him pounds of cure. "It won't mean a thing if whatever is chasing you catches up. We need to get moving. If we can make it to the sheriff, we have a fighting chance."
"We're right behind you." Dusty said. They got back to work, moving as quickly as possible without making too much noise. Once again, Balto's wolf instincts came in handy; he walked with one paw directly in front of another, making only one track and hugging the building. Making him seem smaller and harder to spot. The others followed suit and managed to stay relatively quiet no mean feat if you are the equivalent of a year old human child. After stealthily snaking through the town, they came out near the main street. This street was wide and open as it was the primary thoroughfare. It was dominated by two buildings. One was the town hall and the other was the hospital. Fifty feet down on the opposite side of the street was the sheriff and the safety therein. Balto began to move when he saw two men stumble into the middle of the street. One large one with a net and a fat one with a shotgun.
"I take it dumb and dumber out there are the reason we are running for our lives right?" Balto asked. Kodi poked his head around the corner and saw his playmates in their path.
"That would be them." he affirmed.
"Well that is just great." Dusty said. "How are we supposed to make it to the sheriff now? They can just shoot us."
"I don't think so." Kodi said. "See the big guy there, that net was meant for me, I think they are here to take us, not kill us."
"Then it's not too far to guess they're after me too." Balto said. "Dusty, if Kodi and I can make a distraction, can you get to the sheriff with the pups?"
"Wait, you're trying to tell me you are going to use yourselves as live bait?" she returned.
"More or less. Can you make it though?" Dusty didn't answer; she was too busy lost in the number of unfavorable scenarios.
"I will certainly try." She finally responded.
"That will have to do. Come on Kodi, it's show time." Balto ran out into the street with Kodi behind him.
"Hey, Tony look it's the other dog we came for! Let's get 'em!" Tony charged the two dogs. Dusty herded the pups in the direction of the sheriff's office. They all sprinted across the street, all while watching the mayhem ensue. Tony tried his luck and swung the net to grab Balto. He swiftly dodged it and ran past Tony, now behind him, Balto taunted the large man with a pair of sharp barks. He may have over done it just a tad; Tony whirled around and hit Balto with the net, knocking him over. The net came down over him and he was caught like a rat in a trap.
"Now you're mine." he said. Suddenly, Tony felt a pain in his leg and saw the other dog biting him.
"Ahh, get off." Tony kicked Kodi away and sent him end over end into the snow. Tony lifted up the net with poor Balto inside. They had lost the battle, but at least Dusty made it to the sheriff's office. She turned and took a last minute head count. She saw five pups in front of her; she counted again and came up one short. She frantically looked around and saw Suki hiding behind a crate. Unfortunately, her hiding spot was a poor one. Jimmy snatched her up by the scruff of her neck.
"Hey look, a bonus!" The man held her roughly and she began to softly whimper. At the sound of this, an uncontrollable anger welled up in Dusty. She charged him and all seventy pounds of her impacted him at top speed; his weapon and his captive were knocked out of his hands. Both of them were sent tumbling into the slushy snow underfoot. Jimmy felt a hot jolt of pain in his leg as he hit the ground. Dusty was not yet finished with him. She clawed and hit at him, attempting to do her best to cause as much damage as possible. Jimmy turned over, fighting off the angry jaws inches from his face. He kicked her away and made enough room to pick up his weapon and level it at her.
"This will learn you." She sat like a deer in the headlights of a car and waited for the flash.
"No!" A red blur dove into Dusty and covered her over. The report of the gun sounded and Kodi felt dozens white hot pin-pricks burn into his shoulder.
"Jimmy, you moron, don't shoot! You'll have every yokel with a gun out here!" Tony's warning came too late, the sheriff burst out of his office with a revolver in his hand and Tony also saw someone else in a brown jacket with a gun of his own.
"You there! Stop in the name of the law!" O'Neal shouted.
"Let's get the heck outtalk here!" Tony made a break for the side alley they had come from and scooped up the pup Jimmy had found on the way. Jimmy tried to run, but his encounter with Victor earlier had begun to take its toll and the fact that Dusty had used him as her person chew toy had not help his situation. Another solid and sharp pain shot out of his leg and he fell over. He dropped the empty shotgun and it skidded away. The sheriff ran over to him and pointed his revolver at him.
"Now, do yourself a favor and don't move." Jimmy just held up his hands in surrender. O'Neal saw Duke running towards him with a handgun. "Go after that other guy, he has Balto." Duke didn't even slow down, he charged past them and kept running. Tony found out it was hard to run quickly while holding a ninety pound dog in a net over his shoulder and a small wiggling pup in his other hand. He did have good reason to beat-feet however, mostly the furious Duke behind him.
"Stop!" Duke yelled. "Stop or I'll fire!" Duke knew he couldn't fire at Tony for fear of Balto and Suki, so he fired a round into the air. The gunshot startled Tony, but he kept on running. Duke could tell where they were headed, the place he was all too familiar with, the airstrip. The two of them snaked their way though alleys and over fences and sure enough, the airstrip was in front of them. Duke saw a tri-motor plane readying to take-off. Next to the plane were two men guarding a cage. Even though Duke was a hundred feet away, he could see the distinctive black and white of Steele and the grey of Loki next to him. Tony looked over his shoulder and saw Duke still hot on his tail.
"Boss! We gotta go! Cops are coming!" Tony yelled. That was all Andre and Rico needed to hear as they both drew their guns and fired at Duke. He dove behind a pyramid barrels and the bullets flew past. Duke fired back, but only clipped the side of the plane. Tony loaded Balto and Suki into a cage like the one that housed Steele and Loki and was hastily tossed it into the plane like luggage, next came up Steele and his pup. Then came the men, firing away as they boarded. The door closed and Balto felt something sharp in his back, a needle. Then he became drowsy and slipped into unconsciousness. Outside, Duke fired every remaining shot at the plane to no avail. The plane took off and flew away with his best friend. After shouting a mouthful of obscenities, Duke remembered the scene outside the sheriff's office and his thoughts turned to Kodi, and to the man who shot him. He sprinted back to see the sheriff carrying Kodi across the street to the hospital and the man handcuffed to a post with a deputy watching his every move. Duke ran into the hospital and joined O'Neal. He saw Kodi on a gurney and a pair of doctors began to look him over. One looked at O'Neal and gave a curt nod then took Kodi away. Duke walked to O'Neal and asked the burning question.
"Is he-?"
"He'll live, thankfully it was only birdshot." It was the first good thing he heard all night.
"What the hell would these bastards want with dogs?" Duke asked.
"I'm not sure, but I know how I can find out." O'Neal briskly walked outside. The former jolly poker player was replaced by stone.
"Wait for me; I have some questions of my own." Duke marched after the sheriff.