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Chapters (50)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  4. DEDICATION
  5. CONTENTS
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. 42
  48. 43
  49. 44
  50. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

He shook his head; he was talking to a dog. It made no sense—or maybe it did. Trygg reminded Nick of the child prodigies he had read about in studies—the one-year-olds who had memorized the faces of all the U.S. presidents before they had even learned to talk. That was Trygg’s problem: The dog knew far more than she was able to communicate. She had detected the scent of death, but was it Alena’s scent or someone else’s? The dog was trained to detect the telltale odor of tissue and fluid and blood—but which one was it? Alena once told him that a dog’s chief ability was to distinguish between scents; where a man smells only beef stew, a dog detects the individual odors of carrots, potatoes, and meat. But which is which? Only the dog knows, and she has no way to tell. Did Trygg detect the odor of Alena’s dead body already beginning to putrefy? Or was it only her blood—in which case Alena might be wounded but still alive? The dog had no language to communicate the things that she undoubtedly knew.

But the dog could find Alena. She could at least track the scent she had detected on Riddick’s shoes or hands or clothing. She could find the source of that scent, and Nick would just have to hope for the best when they found it—and hope they got there before it was too late.

Trygg had picked up the scent of Alena’s blood or decomposing body, but there was no scent at Alena’s trailer—that meant Alena was alive and probably unharmed when she was taken. Riddick could have killed her and dumped her body anywhere along the way—or he could have brought her here to Bradenton. It was a definite possibility. A human body is a difficult thing to dispose of, and hastily dumping a body in an unfamiliar area is a sure way to have it discovered quickly; bringing it here would give him time to think. There were hundreds of acres of land at Bradenton—plenty of places to bury a body, and all on private land where no one would ever look.

It’s worth a try, he assured himself—but he knew that anything is worth a try when you have no other options.