Page 14 of Shadow Games

Rowan lifted her brows at him. “Seriously.”

Wyatt nodded. “I'm supposed to protect you and help you. And figure out who's dirty.”

Rowan rolled her eyes. “It's SEAL Team Seven. Anybody could be dirty.”

Seal Team Seven had a notorious issue with command. More than once, their operators had been found derelict of duty. They'd been charged with misconduct, several times, and it kept happening. The higher ups had been shuffled around, with a new command structure and stronger oversight. It seemed to have straightened the team up, but who was to say for sure. Wyatt thought he had been placed with the team to try to instill proper conduct. Being a SEAL, and the ethos that went with it, had meant everything to him, and he’d done his best to instill it in others.

And look where it had gotten him.

They finished their meal, and he paid the check, putting a hand behind Rowan’s back as they exited the restaurant. Echo was watching for them as they approached and wagged her tail as she spied the doggy bag he carried. He’d ordered her a cheeseburger to go, heavy cheese and nothing else. Within three huge bites, the burger was gone. He stepped back to let her jump to the ground. She wandered off to the side of the parking lot to do her business.

“She's an amazing dog,” Rowan said.

“Yes, she is,” Wyatt agreed. “One of the best I've ever had.”

He'd had dogs all his life. Pets mostly. Having working breeds were so different.

“Come on, Echo,” he called.

“Is she a shepherd?”

“Yes. A Belgian Shepherd. I do some gunsmithing, and one of the guys I worked on a weapon for was part of the Sheriff’s department. He was talking about this dog that was too much for their K9 handler. I told him I used to be a handler. He made a few calls and the next week the dog was mine. They were going to put her down if they couldn’t find a home for her.”

It had also cost him a hell of a lot of gunsmithing work. He’d be working the contract off for years.

Echo ran back to the truck and leapt up inside. He could have put her in the far back, but she preferred to ride in the back seat, closer to him. Wyatt didn’t mind that, either.

Rowan held her hand out to the dog. Echo lowered her head and sniffed, then seemed to lower her head a little to allow Rowan to pet her. “Good girl,” Rowan murmured. “Thank you.”

“Are you ready to go?”

She nodded and circled the hood to climb into the passenger side.

It was going on 1:00 AM and the interstate was quiet as they merged on.

“Maybe when we get to about the middle of Pennsylvania, we’ll stop and get a room.”

She nodded her head. “That's fine.”

They were quiet for a while as they drove east. Traffic was minimal and he set the cruise at a little over the speed limit.

“I'm sorry he did all that to you,” she said suddenly. “And I’m sorry about Switch.”

Wyatt glanced at her, surprised she even knew the dog’s name. There was a knot in his gut as he remembered him. “You don't have anything to be sorry about. You didn't do any of it.”

She made a face. “I was taken in by him though. I feel like I should have seen what he was doing and the kind of man he was. My dad told me, and I knew you didn't like him.”

“How did you know?”

She gave him a soft smile. “I knew because of the way you looked at me.”

Wyatt winced, feeling his face flush. It was a good thing it was dark in the cab. “Was I that obvious?”

She shook her head. “Not at first. At first you were just friendlier than the rest. Then you got shot.”

“Yeah,” Wyatt agreed.

“I never really heard the story. What happened?”

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