Page 19 of K-9 Guardians

The twins released their death hold on the soldier and promptly fell back in line at Scarlett’s feet. Blood spread over the gunman’s arms and stained his shirt. The sight of which held her hostage for far too long. She’d signed on with Socorro to do good. This...wasn’t it.

Groans escaped up his throat. Still alive. Swiping the back of her hand beneath her nose, she stood over him, weapon ready to finish the job. “How many of you are there?”

Cradling his arms to his chest, he spat at her boot. “You don’t have a chance.”

Scarlett was ready to leave him there. Ready to make him suffer, but she couldn’t have him following after her. She slammed the butt of her pistol against his head, knocking him unconscious. “I already know that.”

She moved slower than she wanted to. The click of Hans’s and Gruber’s nails kept her focused. In the present. On alert. Dead silence seemed to settle through the warehouse and vaulted her unease through the roof.

Something was wrong.

The return fire she’d identified from King’s weapon had gone quiet. Did that mean...? No. She couldn’t think like that. Couldn’t let herself get distracted. Find King. Get him out. That was all that mattered. “Please still be alive.”

A howl pierced through her ears.

Every cell in Scarlett’s body fired in defense as she turned. Hans was down. Unmoving on the cement.No. No, no, no, no.

Gruber launched at the threat coming from ahead. They were surrounded, being pulled in two different directions. Gruber took down his target as strong arms locked around Scarlett’s neck from behind. Oxygen locked in her throat and chased back that sinking feeling that’d taken control.

“I was hoping I would be the one to get my hands on you.” The man at her back pulled her into his chest, his grating voice at her ear. “Scarlett Beam. Socorro’s most feared operative. Let’s see how feared you are on your own, eh?”

Scarlett didn’t have time to think about how he knew her. Only that the attacker Gruber had gone after seemed to be wearing some kind of protective gear. As though the cartel had known they’d need it.

Because they’d been expecting her.

She brought the gun up, aiming over her shoulder, and pulled the trigger. The bullet went wide by a mile. But the resulting percussion did what she’d hoped.

Her attacker jerked her to the left, his grip around her neck faltering. High-pitched ringing drowned out the sounds of Gruber’s growls not thirty feet away as Scarlett swung the gun up.

Too slow.

Pain spiked through her hand as the weapon ripped free and hit the floor. Giving her the first look at the man standing in front of her.

Muñoz. Not just a construct of King’s investigation. But in the flesh. Her heart threatened to beat straight out of her chest as she tried to gauge movement elsewhere in the warehouse. No more shouted orders. No more gunfire. As though the fight had already been lost before it started. “Where is Agent Elsher?”

“Right where I want him,” Muñoz said. “As are you.”

No.She launched forward with a kick of her own and elbowed the son of a bitch in the chest. With no impact. She swung her fist toward his face as hard as she could, but he shoved her backward.

She hit the ground. Air seeped from her lungs, but she wouldn’t give up. She wouldn’t stop. Not until she couldn’t fight anymore. Scarlett pressed herself up and went in for another strike.

Muñoz caught her fist in his palm and squeezed, but she wasn’t going to let him slow her down. She spun to dislodge his hold and rocketed her knuckles into his face.

Disoriented, Muñoz stumbled back, and Scarlett took advantage.

She wedged her toes into the crease between his abdomen and thigh and hauled herself higher up his body. Wrapping her calf around the back of his neck, she increased the pressure until he was the one who couldn’t breathe. But it wasn’t enough.

Muñoz dug his fingers into her legs and threw her off.

Gravity gripped her insides a split second before she hit a packing crate. Boxes of fentanyl and baby dolls did nothing to counter the pain overtaking her entire body, but she couldn’t let herself give in. Clawing from the mess, she grabbed for the blade tucked in her cargo pants. She rolled until she hit the strength of Muñoz’s ankles and hiked herself to her knees.

Stabbing him in the back of the thigh.

His scream filtered through his teeth, just before the lieutenant locked his hands around Scarlett’s throat and dragged her to her feet. He was strong. Stronger than her, but she had something he didn’t. The will to save lives. And there was nothing that would stop her from keeping her word to King.

“You’re going to regret that.” Muñoz backed her into the edge of the oversize metal support. “I’m going to take everything you love and kill it, Scarlett Beam. Those people you work with—even Agent Elsher and his son—I’m going to make you watch as I burn your entire world to the ground. Then I’m going to kill you.”

She worked to pry his hands from around her neck, but his grip only seemed to intensify. White pinpricks invaded her peripheral vision. It was no use. He would strangle her if she kept trying to physically overpower him. Scarlett went for the blade lodged in the back of his thigh, but Muñoz had expected that, too. He swiped her attack away as easily as he swiped at a fly.

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