The Wolf Code

“I understand,” Steve said.  “It’s between you and me.  I didn’t even ask them their names or anything.  Plausible deniability and all that.”

Steve laughed, and Dale felt a sense of relief.  The man was a fool, but this was perfect. 

He made it to the wildlife center in record time, hooking up the beat-up car to the tow bar and setting it in neutral before going inside to gather the teens.

They looked terrified, and when he walked in, one of them started crying.  Dale winked at Steve who was grinning like an idiot.  This man thought he was in on some little conspiracy, but really, he was sending these girls to a fate worse than death.  Maybe, one day, Dale would reveal that to Steve as the other man lay dying.  Dale would love to see the look on the man’s face when he found out what he’d inadvertently done.

He shuddered with excitement at the thought.

 Quietly and without saying a word, he handcuffed each of the girl’s behind their backs, then pointed them toward the door.  A second teen burst into tears, but Dale ignored them and Steve looked pleased with himself.

Sadistic bas*ard, Dale thought with a smile.  Maybe he and Steve weren’t that different after all.

Dale loaded the three of them into the backseat and buckled them in.  Child locks engaged, he went to the driver’s side and got in, then slowly and calmly drove out of the employee parking lot and down the private road that accessed the back of the facility.  Out of sight from the other visitors, no one would witness him leaving with the girls’ car.  Things were looking up, and this was perfect.

“Where are you taking us?” the girl who wasn’t crying asked.

“We don’t take kindly to outsiders messing with our wildlife center and its creatures,” he said in an exaggerated southern drawl.

“We just wanted to touch the baby.  We weren’t going to hurt it.”

Her expression was haughty, and Dale couldn’t help but laugh on the inside.  She was clearly the instigator, and she was about to get knocked down a few pegs.  He’d met her type before, and he knew that she thought she was untouchable.  She was about to learn the hard way that there were tougher people in this world than her, and worse things than missing an opportunity to get a selfie with the local wildlife.

He turned down the dirt road without seeing another car on the road and turned up the radio when one of the girls starting wailing in despair.  They were still under the impression that the uniformed Sheriff’s officer was taking them to the police station, and they were probably terrified that their parents would be called and they would have to spend the night in jail.  Little did they know, there were things that exceeded their imaginations and they would be begging to call their parents when he was through with them.

The day had turned out good after all.