CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

     “Hey, everybody, listen up,” Wiley said loudly. The

Blue Collar gang began to stir as he explained what was

happening in front of Kate’s house. “I think our gig is up,”

Wiley said. “Crazy Dr. Howl and his staff are out front

trying to convince the cops to search Kate’s property for us,

and I don't think Kate can stop them.”

     “What can we do?” the gang asked in unison.

     “The way I see it is we have two choices,” Wiley

answered. “The gang breaks up and we all go our separate

ways.”

     Before he could say another word, the gang

interrupted him. “No way!” they shouted.

     “Or,” said Wiley, letting that thought sink in.

     “Or what?” asked the gang.

     “Or we can make a final raid on that institute of pain

to free as many dogs as we can,” Wiley said in a matter of

fact manner.

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     Again the gang answered in unison, “That’s a no-brainer.”

     “Many of us will not come back,” Wiley added

grimly. “It looks to me like almost everyone from the

institute is in front of Kate’s house. We have to take

advantage of that and make our move now.”

     Bouncer headed for the storage room’s exit, “I’ll be

head scout.”

     “Astro should stay. Kate will take care of him,” said

Gibraltar with concern.

     But Astro stood up and gave everyone a determined

look. “I'm going. Anybody object?” There were no

objections.

     The gang members quickly got to their feet, headed

out of the old shed, and walked quietly through the back

yard into the alley, with Bouncer in the lead and Wiley and

Buster following behind.

     Out front, the debate raged on. The crowd had grown

larger with the addition of neighbors, onlookers and

another police car. “Arrest both of them and let me have

my dogs back,” Dr. Howl argued.

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     “He has no right to my dogs,” claimed Kate.

     “Does anyone have proof they are the dog’s owners?”

asked one of the police officers. There was silence from

both sides. Kate tried to explain, “These are abandoned

dogs, lost dogs. Sometimes the dog will have an

identification tag and we will call the owner, but most of

the time they refuse to come and claim their dog. The

majority of the dogs have no proof of ownership.”

     “She has 12 of my blue collar dogs and a van full of

dogs that my associates just rescued off the streets,” said

Dr. Howl.

     The police officer looked at Kate and said, “I need to

see the dogs.”

     “You are going to have to attain a search warrant,”

said a determined Kate.

     A few blocks away, the Blue Collar Gang was

making its way back over the railroad tracks toward the

institute. As they walked along, they were thinking they

might not survive their mission, “I can't believe it,” said

Wiley.

     “Can’t believe what?” Buster asked.

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“I didn’t realize how good I had it,” said Wiley

reminiscing. “Back at home, I had a special meal prepared

by John twice a day, and a daily massage by Nancy, my

own old velvet chair to sleep in, rides in the car, and

patrolling the back yard. I had the good life.”

“You had it made,” confirmed Buster. “You had what

I could only dream about.”

Duke asked Bouncer. “You never mentioned how you

ended up on the street.”

“I was a member of a military family and we moved

around the county a lot, but my family was assigned

overseas and couldn’t take me,” said Bouncer. “They left

me with another family who couldn’t adjust to taking care

of me, so I was dropped off at the animal control center.”

Astro had regained some of his humor and kidded, “I

wonder if Dr. Howl has visiting hours?”

Back at Kate’s house, the confrontation was still

going on with the police, who were upset at being asked to

get a warrant. “Listen lady, I'm running out of patience,”

said the police officer.

“Officer, I want my dogs,” demanded Dr. Howl.

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     The technician with the monitor came up to Dr. Howl

and tried to get his attention, “Dr. Howl, look. The dog

with the chip is on the move.”

     The doctor grabbed the monitor and studied it for a

moment. Then he spun around and shouted. “Everybody,

get back to the institute.”

     The crowd broke up and dispersed in different

directions, leaving the police officers and Kate and Jan

standing there. Kate said. “We told you that Doc was a

loony. You should investigate his institute not us.

Something is very wrong over there.”

     “We’re going to check it out,” said the police officer.

     “Good,” said Kate with relief, as she and Jan returned

to Kate’s house. Once inside, Jan noticed that Kate

appeared quite upset. “I know that was quite an ordeal, but

that insane little man is gone and we still have the dogs,”

she said.

     Kate turned to Jan. “That beast has Maggie,” she

burst out. “He smiled when he saw the picture of Maggie in

my locket. I'm going to that horrible place to look for her.”

     “I'll drive,” volunteered Jan.

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     In separate cars, Brad and John arrived at the rear

entrance to the institute where Brad had delivered Wiley

and Buster. They got out of their cars and John followed

Brad to the rear entrance. Brad used his key, unlocked the

door, and the two men entered the large gym like facility

filled with dogs in large holding cages. A stench and

agonizing mournful sounds greeted Brad and John as they

walked by the holding cages. On the second floor of the

institute in the security control room, one of the two

remaining security guards yelled out, “Take a look. There

are two guys entering the rear receiving area.”

     The chief security guard came over and checked the

monitor. “It’s ok,” he said. “I recognize the tall guy. He

works for the county and Dr. Howl. I think his name is

Brad.”

     John couldn’t believe his eyes as he observed the

color collared dogs in the cages, clearly now research test

subjects. Some were completely shaved except for a few

patches of hair, while other dogs had tubes and wires

protruding from them with monitors attached. Many just

stood in their cages with blank drug induced stares.
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     Brad was white as a sheet and continued to shake his

head in disbelief. “John, you have to believe me. It was

dark. I didn't see this,” confessed Brad.

     John was in a daze and just kept walking by the

different cages searching for Wiley, “God! What did they

do with him? Where’s Wiley,” John wondered anxiously.

     Brad surveyed the area. “Where is everybody?” he

said.

     John began calling out Wiley’s name. “Wiley! Wiley!

Where are you?”

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