Page 14 of K-9 Confidential

Granger forced himself to take a breath that wasn’t coated in Charlie’s scent. Soap with a bite of citrus. “Ivy recruited me after I left Homeland. Every operative is assigned a dog when we sign on with Socorro, but we all know the K9s are the real heroes. They detect explosives, identify remains, protect our handlers against threats. They have our backs when we’re in danger of taking our eyes off the mission. Loyal to the end.”

“And what does Zeus do other than suffocate people with his enormous weight?” Her fingers worked to straighten the bandages, though they didn’t need to be straight to do their job, and a piece of him realized it’d been years since Charlie had let herself connect with someone else like this. It was human nature to want affection and to give that attention to someone else. And she’d denied herself since the moment she’d run.

Zeus snapped his head to attention at the mention of his name, then slowly army-crawled closer until he was able to set his chin over Granger’s leg.

“This chunk is the best tracker the Pentagon has. Once he picks up a scent, he doesn’t let it go until he finds its location.” Granger scrubbed his hand between the K9’s ears. “I think that’s one of the reasons he’s been able to get into my stash of treats at the top of my closet. He never gives up.”

“You two seem close.” Charlie let her hands fall back into her lap. She’d taken care of his wound and ensured he wouldn’t bleed out before they came up with a plan to get the hell out of here. He owed her for that. “You’re different now. The counterterrorism agent I knew would’ve spent the rest of his life hunting down terrorists for Homeland Security. Not playing house with an overweight dog.”

Granger pressed back into the boulder to get his legs underneath him. A deep ache wrapped around his rib cage, but it was nothing compared to the initial pain. The cactus was doing its job. He just hoped it’d keep him on his feet.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t exactly have a choice.” He inventoried the supplies and weapons on his person. Not much. And not nearly enough if they ran into trouble. The sun had disappeared completely behind the mountains. His vision would adjust to the darkness, but they still had to figure a way out of Vaughn without coming across Acker’s path. “After that night at the Alamo pipeline, I had to come clean about my source. My superiors weren’t too thrilled I’d taken on a member of Acker’s Army as my CI. Not to mention the fact that I’d gotten her killed. Every piece of intel I’d gathered on your father and his army was questioned and discarded, especially since I had no way of proving any of it was real. Seems the United States government wasn’t willing to risk keeping me around.”

Charlie got to her feet. “You were fired? Because of me? Even though you knew I hadn’t died in that explosion.”

“Yeah. I knew.” He took another step. To add some distance between them. To make sense of what they’d gotten themselves into. Charlie had taken her father’s blueprints, and right now, they had no way of getting that information to his team without cell service. But the part of him that had believed she’d died in the attack on the pipeline that night didn’t want the distance. It wanted nothing more than to protect her like he should have that night. “Didn’t make a damn bit of difference though. You’d gone off the grid. And I realized after a few months you weren’t coming back. In the end, it was for the best. I moved on, landed this job with Socorro. With Homeland, I was always too late. Always at the scene of an attack after it’d already happened, but now I have a chance to stop attacks before they happen. I can save lives before they’re ruined.”

“Granger, I—”

Static cut through the trees.

Granger rounded on her and slid his hand over her mouth. Her exhale warmed his hand as they waited for a sign they weren’t alone.

There. North of their position. The static was louder now. Getting closer. He removed his hand, angling down for his sidearm. He whispered in Charlie’s ear. “Behind me. Move.”

She did as he asked.

But her impulsive move to redistribute her weight snapped a dry twig—too loud in the silence.

“Over here!” An explosion of brightness overwhelmed Granger’s senses as a flare shot straight into the air.

They’d been found.

“Run. Now!” He shoved Charlie ahead of him as multiple shouts followed them through the pines. The enemy would cut them off if Granger gave them the chance. He wasn’t going to let that happen. Zeus’s growl registered as the K9 struggled to keep up. Granger dropped back and hauled the dog over his shoulder. Pain ripped through his side from the bullet graze, but he’d have to rely on adrenaline to get him through. “Keep going.”

A second flare lit up their position. Only this one had been shot horizontally. It hit a tree ten feet in front of them and exploded on impact.

Granger grabbed for her. “Charlie!”

She protected her face as the tree burst into flames, falling back to counter her momentum. Granger rushed to keep her from losing her balance, but it was too late. He, Zeus and Charlie all hit the ground as one.

The flames jumped from the originating tree to the next and the next.

Blistering heat cut them off from escape as a wall of darkness and flames moved in.

CHAPTER SIX

Pain seared up her back and into the base of her skull.

“Get her to the truck. He’ll want to deal with her himself,” a voice said. “Leave the agent and the dog. Let the flames have the bodies.”

A glow penetrated the seam of her eyelids. Too bright. Too hot. Charlie fought to shake off the haze clouding her head. She was moving. Not being carried. Dragged. Gravel and rock cut through her thin T-shirt, her arms stretched above her head. The voice was too low to put a face to. Him. Who washim? Her father?

She wasn’t going back to her father. She wouldn’t help him in another attack. No matter what he threatened her with this time.

Movement registered in her mind, growing more distant.

Charlie forced herself to come around, struggling to escape that addictive pull of unconsciousness. Heat burned along one side of her body. Blistering enough to kick her brain into gear.Kill the agent.

---