Page 3 of Colorado K-9 Rescue
“That was Sheriff Charlotte Stewart. There are two girls that have gone missing in her jurisdiction. She has a large mountain county but a small department. They don’t usually deal with anything like this and the girls have been gone about forty-eight hours now, so the chances of finding them alive are diminishing. I told her you’d go up there tonight and help. We will provide her department any resources we can. I’m also calling in our victim unit and sending Mckenna Parker and her K-9 to help with the families…”
“Sir, if I can say something,” Evan interjected.
“Yes?”
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea to have Mckenna Parker and her K-9 meet with the families until I can talk with them.”
“Agent Knox, you’re talented, you’re driven, you’re everything the FBI wants, but think outside the box. The victim services response team has grown. There’s almost three hundred peopleon that team now, including former agents. Why? Because the FBI has learned that it helps. They are an important piece to helping families out, and if we can offer support, they will be better witnesses. We have a greater chance of convicting people like human traffickers. For all we know, it’s scum like that who took these girls. Get over it and do your job. Mckenna Parker will do hers. And maybe we’ll get lucky and find these girls alive.”
“Yes, sir,” Evan said, as Adam handed him the address of the sheriff’s department. It wasn’t that he minded a victim specialist helping. Then why had he argued?
Admit it. It’s this particular one that’s the problem. She bothers you in a way that you can’t handle.
It was going to be a long night.
Mckenna and Mocha had arrived home when her work phone rang. She answered quickly. It was her boss, Marcia Jackson, the Administrative Assistant Special Agent in Charge, giving her orders for a new assignment. Mckenna wasted no time loading Mocha back into the car to get to work. All cases were important, but this one even more so. This one felt personal.
A little while later, after navigating the back mountain roads, they pulled up to a large mountain home with a deck that overlooked a breathtaking view to the west. Mount Blue Sky sat above the other peaks. She’d never driven on the highest paved road in North America to the top of the fourteener, but that was on her bucket list. She’d seen pictures of the shaggy white mountain goats that lived up there and would love to capture some pictures of them too. In reality, she knew she wouldn’t go—especially now that her captor walked free. Hiking on her own was not a good idea and only created more crippling fear.I have to get over feeling apprehensive, but I don’t know how. Oneof these days, I’ll make myself go on my own and start hiking without worrying.
It’s not as if he’s really out there waiting for me…but what if he is?
Taking a deep breath and focusing back on why she was at this house, Mckenna wrapped her fingers around Mocha’s leather leash. She reached over and straightened his vest that identified him as a crisis K-9 for the FBI. Her family’s ranch wasn’t too far from here—a ten-minute drive. While she loved the mountains and lived in Idaho Springs, another small mountain town about twenty minutes from Denver, she didn’t like coming to this area that was once home. It only brought up memories. This case would make it near impossible to block her thoughts about Toby Hanson walking free.
Is there any way he had taken these young ladies? Probably not.
Unfortunately, there was a good chance that someone had been grooming the girls and managed to kidnap them for human trafficking. That tragedy was happening more and more often. Even young adults could fall victim.
That was why she was here. She understood. Mckenna’s experience not only made her resilient, but it was also why she was doing this work. With her own case, she’d been assigned a victim advocate who helped her learn her rights, including speaking in court and gaining access to reports. Mckenna knew what it was like seeing law enforcement move onto their next case while the victim dealt with what happened to them for the rest of their lives.
Now she was doing the same thing after going to school and working her way into the FBI victim services response team program. Mckenna loved the feeling of giving back and helping victims have the epiphany that they could overcomewhat happened to them. Mocha sat next to her and gazed at her longingly. He’d been requested because the families of the two girls loved dogs. Her boss thought Mocha could help with the situation. Mckenna agreed. In her mind, her dog was a superstar and the best employee in the Denver office.
Even if he did eat an agent’s sandwich.
CHAPTER 3
She’d been given orders to wait for Agent Knox and the sheriff to arrive. She and Mocha stayed outside enjoying the cooler air rolling in as the sun started to set behind the mountains, casting rays up onto the clouds and creating an orange hue. Mckenna turned toward the light and closed her eyes, enjoying the heat across her face. Something so simple, and yet something she never took for granted anymore.
Tires crunching on gravel made Mckenna open her eyes and turn around. The sheriff’s vehicle parked next to hers followed by the stereotypical black SUV, or “bu-car,” as she’d heard the agents call it, with Agent Knox inside. Mocha gave a happy whine and wagged his tail.
“Be cool,” Mckenna said. “You may not be forgiven yet. What got into you today?”
Mocha tilted his head and Mckenna massaged his floppy black ears, receiving a happy sigh in response. The newly elected sheriff stepped out of her vehicle and Mckenna waved. She didn’t know Charlotte or “Charlie” well, but she’d heard good things.
The other sheriff had overseen Mckenna’s case, and she always suspected that he’d only wanted the limelight. He loved nothing more than giving press conferences and telling everyone howhe’dsolved Mckenna’s kidnapping. Something about him always rubbed her the wrong way and she hated it when she had to speak to him about her case.
Agent Knox took off his sunglasses and stared at her for a moment. Mckenna did her best not to lock gazes, but then decided why not? She wasn’t going to back down. An FBI agent didn’t scare her. Not after what she’d been through in her life. Putting a hand on her hip, Mckenna gazed back, vowing to make him break eye contact first. She hated to admit it, but it wasn’t hard to keep looking at him. “Rugged good looks” was one description that crossed her mind.
She would bet money that he was ripped and in good shape. Probably worked out every day. Nope, he wasn’t hard to look at, and for a second today, he’d seemed almost nice. Maybe there was more to him than everyone thought. Or maybe not. She’d heard he was unshakable when defense attorneys grilled him in court and that he’d closed some good cases, but there was supposedly one that went wrong. That was the case that preceded his transfer to the Denver office. That could explain his tough-guy persona.
Agent Knox strolled toward them, and Mocha started wagging his tail. Was that a small smile on Knox’s face? It only happened for a fleeting second, but Mckenna could have sworn that the tough-guy exterior broke for a moment. To her surprise, Agent Knox came up to her, “Parker.”
“Knox.”
“Sorry I yelled at you and your dog earlier. Here’s your ten bucks back. I appreciate your thought, but you were right, he was being a dog. Typical Lab trying to eat everything. You might need your ten bucks to replace other things he eats.”
Mckenna didn’t know what to say, but she took the money and shoved it into her front pants pocket. “Thanks.”
They all headed up to the front of the house. Before they could ring the doorbell, a pale, thin woman opened the door.
