Page 16 of K-9 Guardians

“You certainly think highly of yourself, don’t you?” King studied the photo of a warehouse. Ten years ago, the DEA had found thehefeof the Marquez cartel handless with a bullet between his eyes. This was where it had all started for Adam Dunkeld and Eva Roday. Investigators had needed to scrape the body of the former Marquez cartel leader off the floor to collect his remains that day, and King had been there. Was everything that’d happened since then punishment?

“With good reason.” Scarlett tapped the photo.

“What makes you think Muñoz stashed Julien here?” he asked.

“Because he knows you were there that day during the DEA operation.” Her brain had settled into strategy mode. Where she took apart the problem in front of her and figured out a way to go around it. Or through it. It was one of the skills her instructors and the army had taken advantage of more often than not. “Muñoz is smart. He’s managed to gather support for overthrowing the head of Sangre por Sangre while keeping himself alive these past few months. He doesn’t leave anything to chance, because one wrong move could take him out. Which means he’ll have studied you. Your habits, routines, the people you surround yourself with. He’ll want to know everything about you, including your operation history, which cases you seem to take a particular interest in, how you approach an investigation. He would’ve known Adam was your partner and started looking into him, too.”

“Doesn’t explain why Adam’s body was dropped outside Socorro headquarters. But you think he’s been watching me?” His voice hitched on that last word. “Watching Julien?”

“And anyone else in your life. It’s what I would do.” The plan was already taking shape in her mind. Where she would be, how she’d breach. All from a single photo. Though a decade-old surveillance picture wasn’t enough to make a move on. She needed up-to-date intel. “But I’d bet Muñoz’s fascination with you started when he suspected Eva Roday was closing in. She most likely led the cartel to Adam, then to you.”

“And now Julien.” King seemed to break free of the stiffness in his body. “Do you think... Do you think they know Julien was there the night Eva was killed? That he saw the person who killed his mother?”

Scarlett lost her train of thought, taken aback by his concern for a little boy he hadn’t even known existed up until a couple months ago. And remembering the utter look of sheer terror on Julien’s face from that surveillance footage. King had stepped into the role of father despite not knowing how the hell to take care of anyone but himself, and it looked good on him. All that intensity, all that defensiveness and lack of trust he applied to saving lives through his work was nothing compared to the obvious love burning through him. That was what would bring his son back now. “No. I don’t think the cartel is aware Julien was there that night. If they were, he would already be dead.”

There would be nothing left for them to save.

“Okay. What now?” He nodded, seemingly convincing himself this was the best course of action, that at the end of this, he’d have his son back. No matter the consequences.

She gathered the file together in one pile and whistled low to call the Dobermans from sleep. Each snapped to attention and got to their feet. “We need to get eyes on the warehouse. Photos help, but they don’t tell me everything I need to know.”

“All right. Let me tell Jen we’re leaving.” King stepped free of the hot, too-small office and headed down the lengthy hall to the back of the house.

Investigation file in hand, Scarlett caught sight of the interaction that seemed to stretch mere seconds into full minutes. Of King’s hand on the widow’s arm, of how he’d lowered his voice as another sob shook through the woman.

A knot twisted in Scarlett’s stomach, reminding her of a time when she’d needed someone like King there when her entire world had fallen apart. But she’d had no one. Too ashamed to tell her parents the truth, outcast by the rest of her unit. Dishonorably discharged with nothing and no one to fall back on. If it hadn’t been for Granger Moraise and Ivy Bardot, Scarlett would hate to think of where she’d have ended up. Who would’ve come for her if she hadn’t had Socorro’s protection.

Her throat dried as King secured his partner’s wife in his arms, and Scarlett didn’t have the guts to watch anymore. Jealousy had the ability to do that. To take a heartfelt moment and twist it into something ugly and lacking, and she hated herself for it. That no one had been there to do the same for her when the person she’d cared about the most had betrayed her and everything he’d believed in.

Didn’t matter. Rescuing a ten-year-old boy from his abductors mattered. It was theonlything that mattered, and the only way Scarlett could redeem herself.

King broke away from the grieving widow and headed toward her. “I’m ready. Just tell me what you need me to do.”

There was a level of trust in that statement. It dug beneath the shame and guilt of her past life and burrowed deep in her chest, annihilating any lingering layer of jealousy and resentment for not getting the care she deserved all those months ago. King was willing to give up the ego built over years of DEA operations for the slightest chance of recovering his son.

She had a plan. They could do this as long as they worked together. Scarlett headed for the door. “Have you ever handled C-4 before?”

HEHADN’TEVERplanned on coming back here.

Old yellow external spotlights peppered the building and chased back the closing darkness. Didn’t help. No matter what Scarlett had planned for them to get inside, they would be working in the dark. And King hoped like hell he’d be enough to get Julien through what came next.

“Place is registered under a shell company. It’ll take a while to untangle who really owns it, but that’s not the purpose of today’s field trip.” Scarlett swiped her finger across the tablet, casting a white-blue glow across her face and chest from the driver seat. “Doesn’t look like it has any active permits. At least not from what I can see, which means there’s a chance we could be walking into an empty building. It’s got a great security system, though.”

He ran his gaze over the harsh corners and along the rooftop. No cameras. “How can you tell?”

“The keypads on the doors.” She nodded through the windshield to the nearest side door, an outline that nearly bled into the rest of the building. “That brand is one of two Socorro installs for our clients. I’ve already checked. We weren’t the ones who put it in, but no one installs that kind of system on an empty building. They’re trying to keep people out for a good reason. Oh, they have Wi-Fi. That helps.”

“Or they’re trying to keep somebody in.” The words didn’t quite make it across the center console. King memorized the outlines of rows and rows of orange cable he usually saw on the side of the road during the summer lined up behind the warehouse. Construction crews always seemed to be closing lanes to lay it down somewhere, but it was hard to imagine Sangre por Sangre creating a utility business and benefiting the infrastructure of the state they were trying to take control of. Which could mean they were in the wrong place.

Dead flat landscape stretched out into a sea of nothingness. The other warehouses in the area had gone dark a long time ago. Years of threats and instability in the area had driven out a good chunk of businesses as the cartel grew. If King remembered right, there was a dried-up canal just on the other side of the single construction trailer to the right.

The warehouse itself wasn’t anything special—a rectangle with gray-white panels for walls. The bright blue rolltop door stood out, though. Julien’s favorite color of the week. His son could be behind that door. Scared. Calling for help and not getting a single answer back. The thought heated King’s palms. “Are we doing this or what?”

“I’ve piggybacked off their W-Fi and accessed the security system.” Scarlett’s fingers moved across the screen as though she were playing the most complicated piano concerto. Pure magic. “I can take it down from here.”

King tried to get a good look at her tablet screen, seeing nothing but a mess of code he didn’t understand. “Wait. You can do that?”

“Ride with me long enough, and you’ll see that’s not the only thing I can do.” Scarlett reached into the back seat, rousing the Dobermans as she pulled a heavy Kevlar vest forward. One for her, then one for him. “We have about ten minutes before the security company realizes the system isn’t reporting back and brings the system back online. You ready?”

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