Page 74 of Lockout

As if it wasn’t already.

His eyes narrowed on me. “You crying?” he asked, sounding both worried and disgusted.

I sniffed and shook my head, waving my hand around. “Smoke messes with my allergies,” I said, giving him a tight smile.

He nodded, then went back to speaking with Seek.

It seemed to take forever before Sergeant Morris waved us forward and we were on our own. “Let me know if you find anyone. We think the place was empty, but we gotta check.”

“Will do,” she said. Then she turned and squatted down, taking the bag out of the side of the khakis she wore. She opened the bag and let both Auron and Jecht have a sniff. “Search, Boys. Go find Lockout.”

I wasn’t sure anyone could dream up a worse nightmare for me. This was pretty much it. Someone I loved missing, maybe hurt, or dying, or even already dead, and I was walking around what felt like aimless circles trying to find them. This had to be one of the levels of hell. I was certain of it.

But the dogs were moving quickly, noses down as they sniffed around the debris. They were our best hope of finding Lockout. I just prayed that he was in one piece—literally—when we found him.

The fire trucks arrived, blaring their sirens and horns as they moved through the line of cop cars. At least that was taking the cops’ focus off us. In fact, with Seek and her dogs here the cops didn’t seem to be searching very hard anymore.

Jecht disappeared into the smoke one way, Auron another, and before long high pitched barks sounded.

Seek frowned, looking back and forth. “They’re both alerting.”

Oh God. If he was split in two or something, I was going to lay right down and die. “Which one do you want me to go to?” I asked, barely keeping calm.”

“Go to Jecht,” she said, pointing to the right. “I’ll go this way.” She paused, her eyes meeting mine. “I can go to both if you need me to…”

“No,” I said, reaching out and squeezing her hand. “I’ve got this.”

She returned the squeeze and then disappeared into the smoke.

Turning, I picked my way through the rubble, following Jecht’s barks. I didn’t want to think about what I might find. All I could do was hope he was alive.

CHAPTER 29

Lockout

Something wet was wiping over my face. Coughing, I managed to pry my eyes open. And just like that, all the aches and pains slammed into my body, causing me to groan out loud.

A tongue snaked into my mouth, licking in a place it shouldn’t. Sputtering, I placed a hand on the dog’s face and lightly pushed.

Jecht hovered over me, a doggy grin on his face, his tail wagging so fast it was a blur. The place had been well lit by street lamps when we showed up. Now it was even brighter thanks to the random fires in the shell of the building.

“Good boy,” I said, patting Jecht’s neck as I surveyed myself. I was laying amongst rubble and there was a huge piece of sheet metal covering most of my body.

Gritting my teeth, I sat up and shoved the metal off. Jecht let out a couple of shrill, sharp barks. I knew enough from Seek toknow he was letting her know he’d found me. He’d keep that up until she got to us.

If Seek and her dogs were here, that meant Keely was here. No way she’d have stayed at home once Seek got that call. The LoS wasn’t stupid enough to come at us right now. Not with this many cops around. Looked like every squad car on the force was in the parking lot.

I shifted, then sucked in a breath when the movement made me see fucking stars. I grabbed my leg and huffed out a groan. A piece of rebar was sticking up. I tilted my head and got a better look. It was impaled through my leg. Right through my left thigh. Fuck. That hurt.

Jecht let out two more barks, circling around me. If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was checking me out for more injuries or something. But despite their intelligence, he and Auron were just dogs. He was nervous that I was going to get up.

I remember Seek talking about how she trained them to sit with people until she came to get them. She didn’t want people getting up when they might have injuries or be dehydrated. The threat of passing out was too real.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I told him. That seemed to calm him down a little. The barks were starting to blend into the background noise of sirens for me. Everything was a little hazy, which I knew meant I was close to passing out.

“Can’t do that,” I muttered. I needed to make my way back to my crew and get us all out of here. They were somewhere around here. Even if Jecht wasn’t here with me, I’d know that. They wouldn’t have left without me.

The tone of Jecht’s bark changed. It sounded more…happy. Glancing over, I saw the silhouette of someone rushing forward. “Seek?”

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