Chapter 21 Choices and Consequences
The first thing Balto smelled when he awoke was mildew. The cold and wet metallic cage in which he was once again entrapped inside sat on the stone floor. Judging from the dampness of the brick and the smell, it was not too difficult to figure out he was underground. Above him the only light was from a single hanging bulb on a wire. Through the barred door, he could see another cage identical to his own in every way. Inside was the black and white mound of fur that was Steele.
"Steele, hey Steele!" Steele did not move a muscle in response. The gentle rise and fall of his side hinted that he was still under the effects of the tranquilizer they had been shot with. Outside his cell, Balto could hear some men talking down the hall.
"Andre, you are a genius. Catching those mutts again, pure magic." It was the voice of Capone. "Keep this up and I might actually like you."
"Thank you Mr. Capone." Andre said hastily. Both men turned down the hall which housed the cells, behind them were a pair of large men toting automatic weapons.
"It is a shame we could not recover the young ones, but our client should be well pleased with these two." Capone stepped in front of Balto's cell; to avoid being noticed; Balto put his head down and made it look like he was still asleep.
"When will they be ready to be put on the boat?" Capone asked.
"A day or so, just to be sure they have no disease."
"Good, I don't want anybody to think I sell damaged merchandise. So then, let's continue, I also heard you caught the two men that have been looking for them?"
"Yes sir, they were a regular pair of walking arsenals. Had enough firepower to wipe out a small town."
Capone laughed at Andre when he said this.
"A small town huh, well that just proves how dumb they are, this is my big town. Let's have a little talk with our bright boys." Capone turned and went back the way he came with Andre close behind him. "How did you find them?" Capone asked
"We just tailed em and when they came up to Vito's place they all got out and started snoopen around. The two boys in there had some fluttize with 'em and she left in her car. Then we just followed them down the alley and grabbed them."
"Easy as that?"
"More or less."
"Good man Vito, he always had the best hickory ham come Christmas. We always used to buy one and carve it up, best in town."
"I'll have to try it sometime." Andre said as he opened the metal door to the room he was interrogating Duke and Jake earlier. Andre waived Capone in and the sharply dressed mob boss waltzed in. "They're in there boss." Andre pointed to the storage room door. Capone took hold of the doorknob when a thunderous bang made the dust come out of the ceiling of the back room and spats of gunfire could be heard throughout. "What the heck is going on here?" Andre asked, dumbfounded to what was transpiring outside the door. Capone's bodyguards burst into the room and shoved Andre to the side, he hit his head on a pipe and he fell, dazed and confused on the ground.
"Mr. Capone, the feds are here we need to leave now!" The brick of a man said as he practically carried him out the door and into the dark and obscure tunnels. Andre remained on the floor, speechless; he tried to stand when a large boot stood on his chest. He looked up and saw Jake's piercing grey eyes in return. Duke stood next to him holding his bobby pin.
"You are officially the world's worst jailer." Duke said mockingly. The sounds of many footfalls thumped around outside the door. Duke saw them out of the corner of his eye at first and nearly fainted. Four men charged into the room with everything from Tommy guns to shotguns. The men pointed their weapons at Duke and Jake and yelled at them to put their hands in the air. Duke froze in place and the blood drained out of his face. Another man ran into the room, waving his arms.
"Lower your weapons, damn it lower them, these are the good guys!" Duke took one look at the man and recognized him instantly. It was the cab driver from the airport.
"Tomas?" Andre looked at the tall man as well and his jaw dropped.
"Jefferson?" The man reached into his coat pocket and held out a wallet with a badge on it.
"Neither, special agent Leroy Anderson, FBI. But he was my favorite president. Now what in the Sam heck is-, ah hell, put them all in the wagon; we can sort this out later." The other men, presumably four more FBI agents took out hand cuffs and placed them on Duke, Jake and Andre and began to walk them out.
"Wait! Wait!" Jake yelled. "These assholes have our dogs; please you need to get them!" The agent held up a hand stopping Jake before he went completely off the rails.
"Easy son, we already picked them up, they will be taken to a hospital and looked over, same as you." This statement was enough to finally let Jake be at ease for the first time in days; Duke let out a breath he seemed to have been holding since they left Nome. "Now let's get out of here before the whole Outfit shows up to introduce us to the neighborhood." Everyone began to funnel out of the tunnel system and up the stairs. Outside of their little hole in the wall looked like a warzone. A pair of army trucks sat outside with no less than thirty soldiers and FBI agents with rifles and machine guns. A pair of police transports idled in the alleyway. One was already filled with the assorted hired guns bodyguards and hitmen. In this bunch sat Tony and Rico. Across the street, Liz leaned against her car and waved to them when she saw them.
"She followed you here and called in the cavalry."
"You said your name was Anderson, right?" Duke asked.
"Who do you think taught her how to shoot? I just wish I spent more time teaching her how to drive." Agent Anderson motioned them into another black and white police van. Duke and Jake sat down on one side of the bench seats while Andre and Anderson took the other side. Outside the van, Duke saw two strapping soldiers carrying the cages that held Balto and Steele to an ambulance. Jake then saw two familiar fuzz-balls running at them. He didn't know how Loki and Suki made it out and he didn't really care. All he could do was smile as they hopped inside and jumped on their laps.
"Hey, what is this?" Anderson laughed out.
"Meet Loki and Suki, the pups that our mutual friend here dog napped." Jake said, staring daggers at Andre.
"About that." Anderson said in an apologetic manner. "I would like to introduce you to agent Krinkov. He has been undercover in the Outfit for nearly a year now." Duke had a slack-jawed look on his face.
"Sorry about the deception at the airport back in Anchorage, I just got assigned as your handler and didn't want to tip anybody off."
"Wait a minute, you are an FBI agent?" Duke asked.
"I have been for quite some time." The mild Russian accent was replaced by a typical Midwest drawl. "I would have said something but I needed to maintain my facade."
"Oh, well, thanks for the bobby pin." Duke said. "But next time can you give it to me in a way that doesn't involve you breaking my teeth in?"
"I make no promises." Krinkov cracked a smile.
"Hey this is all well and good but can we get these two back to Balto and Steele?" Jake said holding up Loki.
"Alright, I'll make sure they go with their parents to the hospital." Anderson called over one of the paramedics. She came over and picked up the two pups and brought them to the ambulance that now had Balto and Steele inside. The paramedic plopped them both next to Balto and Steele. Balto was so happy he could burst. He looked across the yard and saw Bismarck with Lucas and Jo in an entrance to the many tunnels underneath the city. The great German shepherd let out a soft howl and turned back down the tunnel towards his home.
"Hey Howler, looks like we owe Bis 'ol boy a bone." Steele joked.
"If I'm ever in the neighborhood, I'll drop off one." Balto just simply smiled and put his head down on the metal floor of the ambulance and felt Suki climbed onto his back. They could now finally rest.