Page 37 of K-9 Guardians

“I know. I’m sorry. I just... I wanted to fix this.” She didn’t know what else to say, what to think. Tears escaped her control. Humiliating and hot and uncomfortable. She swiped at her face to get rid of the evidence of her grief and triggered the underlying pain of her broken nose.

This wasn’t her. She was the one who was supposed to keep Socorro safe. She was the one who held it together for the sake of everyone else on the team. That was her job. To remain logical and strong and perfect so as to keep the people she cared about alive. But she wasn’t any of that. Hadn’t been for a long time.

Had she ever?

“Muñoz was the only one keeping King’s son alive. With him dead, there’s no telling what the cartel will do with a ten-year-old kid. My gut is telling me they’ll sell him as soon as they get the chance. I thought if I could reach out to my former CO—”

Granger slammed on the brakes, and the SUV jolted forward.

She threw her palms out first to keep herself from hitting the dashboard as the entire vehicle groaned to a stop.

“Tell me you didn’t.” The counterterrorism agent faced off with her from the driver’s seat. “Tell me you didn’t put us both at risk for a DEA agent you’ve only known for three days.”

Her stomach felt as though it’d shot up into her throat as the dust settled around them. Three days. Was that really all it had taken for King to convince her the past couldn’t hold her back anymore? That she could make up for all the wrong stacked against her by bringing a little boy home to his dad and solving a case he so desperately needed to end? That she was good enough?

Didn’t seem like any time at all, and in the same moment, an entire lifetime. Of her prodding him with jokes and getting a glimpse of that off-center smile in return. Of his hands on her waist as she dared to reveal the darkest parts of her soul. Three days had slipped through her fingers and into the void. She’d wanted more. So much more.

Mornings of waking up to him in her bed. Foot massages after hard days. The scent of him filling her lungs. King watching her back in the field. Him. It was all him. The one man who’d convinced her she could be the good in the world. Gravity suctioned her deeper into the seat and stole the air from her lungs. She hadn’t just left King back at that crime scene. She’d left her heart, and she wasn’t sure she could ever get it back. “No. You’re safe. I’m the only one who’s at risk. And if the army court-martials me, I’ll make sure your name never comes up.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better.” Pulling onto the road, Granger pushed the SUV through a dip and maneuvered them back on track. The hum of the engine and crunch of rock under the tires settled between them. “You want to know why I pulled you out of that hanger after your CO tried to gut you?”

“It wasn’t out of the goodness of your heart?” She’d meant it as a joke, a way to get rid of the heaviness constricting her chest, but the memories were there. Just waiting for her to give them the attention she’d fought against for close to a year. It’d been easier the past few days. Believing once she and King brought Julien home that she’d never have to think about them again.

“I clocked your operation while running my assignment for Socorro. I knew you and your crew were skimming from the resources the rangers confiscated from the other side.” Socorro’s headquarters—tucked back into the mountains with gleaming sharp black lines—came into view, and Granger hit the overhead button to signal the gate. The crowd of picketers had thinned over the past few days, but the ones left swarmed the gate with their neon signs and harsh words. No sign of added security though. Ivy must’ve decided a few protestors weren’t worth the extra effort. “And I followed you that night so I could use you to lead me to the others. It worked.”

Surprise pulled her attention from one of the protestors. A man wearing a thick coat in the middle of the desert. All this time, she’d imagined Granger Morais as the knight in Kevlar who just happened to come across her broken body and save her life. Not the one who could’ve put an end to it. “You could’ve turned me in. Why didn’t you?”

“Because of all the moving pieces in the smuggling operation, you were the only one who was doing what your CO told you everyone else was.” He locked that crystal clear blue-green gaze on her as the SUV dipped into the underground parking garage. “You were the one giving back what you took to the people in the region who needed it. Yeah, you were stealing cash and guns and drugs, but that money made it into the hands of women having a hard time feeding their kids and to organizations who were trying to help conditions in the villages.”

Her throat threatened to close in on itself.

“I heard you that night. Telling your CO you were going to expose them for the human trafficking.” Her teammate pulled the SUV into his assigned spot and cut the engine. Only he didn’t move. Shadows carved across his face, like he was some kind of villain trying to hide in the dark. “I saw the knife. I still remember the sound of it cutting into you. How you seemed so surprised. And I knew right then what kind of person you were.”

Pain flared through her midsection, and a rush of nausea pushed up into her throat. “What kind of person am I?”

“Broken.” That single word punctured through the pounding in her head, aggravated by the evenness of Granger’s voice. “Like the rest of us. The only difference is you don’t want to accept that being broken is what makes you stronger than anyone else on this team. You put everyone’s needs ahead of your own for that exact reason. Because you don’t want them to end up broken like you.”

“It’s still not enough.” Her lungs felt too tight. Like they’d somehow overfilled and emptied at the same time. “No matter what I do—how hard I try—it doesn’t work. I’m still the woman that got conned into believing I was making a difference.”

“That’s the woman I recommended for this job, Scarlett,” Granger said. “The one who fought to fix her mistake. And I know for a fact that’s who Agent Elsher believes in—”

An explosion rocked through the entire garage.

“Get down!” Scarlett brought her hands to her head as though she could stop the entire parking garage from coming down on top of them. Debris slammed against her side of the vehicle and cracked the bulletproof glass. A tingling sensation swept from crown to toe as cement dust cleared.

Shouts penetrated the SUV’s glass as she watched the armored garage gate hit the floor. She unholstered her weapon. “We’re under attack. I can’t see how many, but they brought more than guns.”

“Get to the elevator.” Granger pulled his weapon, keeping his head well below the window. “I’ll hold them off as long as I can and get them away from the civilians.”

“I’m not leaving you down here alone.” Trying to gauge the manpower waiting outside the vehicle was useless. There was too much debris. “You have no idea how many of them are out there.”

“Yes, you are. You’re the only one who knows how to trigger the building’s backup defense system.” Granger shouldered his door open and motioned her over his lap. “Go. Now.”

The structure’s alarms pierced through the garage. Red lights circled in distress to inform the entire team they were under attack. “You better be alive at the end of this.”

“Ditto. Now get out of here before this place collapses on itself.” Granger backed out of the driver seat, using the SUV as cover to get a count of how many attackers waited at the entrance.

She followed his retreat. Only she kept moving, past the back of the vehicle, weaving between the SUVs parked between her and the elevator. A light outline stood out against the black backdrop. She was almost there.

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