Page 41 of K-9 Guardians

Shock stole Scarlett’s confidence to win this battle. “Are you sure?”

“This firm is a direct connection to the Pentagon and every other federal organization we’ve partnered with to undermine Sangre por Sangre.” Socorro’s founder didn’t wait for an answer. “If the cartel gets their hands on any of the intel we’ve used, they’ll be able to identify our inside source, and there will be no stopping them, and that is something none of us can come back from. Get the system ready.”

Jones let his rifle drop to his side as he threaded his fingers between the elevator doors. Muscles Scarlett would never have in her life flexed as he tried to pry the doors open by hand. “Why does that sound like we’re launching a nuclear missile?” he asked.

“Because that’s basically what we’ll be doing.” Scarlett brought up the program she’d built from the ground up. One press of the button. That was all it would take to appease Socorro’s enemies and ensure the team never interrupted cartel operations again. Because none of them would make it out of here alive. A chain reaction of fear and determination and grief knotted her nerves. “The entire building will be demolished.”

“Whoa. What the hell are you talking about?” Wind caught Cash’s last word from the roof and made it difficult to hear through the earpiece. “What is the secondary defense system?”

Scarlett took a deep breath as a flood of cartel members spread through the garage. They searched every SUV and confiscated individual weapons from the back of each vehicle. She let her hand slip to her sidearm, hoping beyond hope it would be enough. “C-4. Wired over every square inch of this place.”

“It’s not every day you get a front row seat to the end of the world, but at least we’re all together.” Jocelyn’s voice cracked a split second before a dog bark pierced the open channel. Her German shepherd, Maverick, had been the logistic coordinator’s partner as long as Scarlett could remember. “I’m going silent. I need to call Baker.”

The green LED connected to Jocelyn’s earpiece on Scarlett’s monitor went red as her teammate reached out to her life partner, Alpine Valley’s chief of police.

“Got it!” Jones pried the elevator doors apart and leveraged one leg into the gap to keep it from closing.

Granger slapped a hand onto the tile and hauled himself free of the elevator that wasn’t quite level with the floor yet. Only he wasn’t alone.

The desk bit into her sore midsection as Scarlett tried to get a better view of the man following the counterterrorism agent, but her instincts had already put two and two together. Her nails bit into her palms as she recognized the sharp jawline and dirty blond hair. “King.”

She pushed away from the desk to intercept him but caught another range of movement on a monitor. One of the armored vehicles. An outline of white in the middle of so much darkness and destruction.

A woman stepped down from the back of the vehicle. So out of place. Long dark hair lay in tendrils past her shoulders and framed a heart-shaped face. Her white blazer and pant set put her in a whole other category of wealth and security as the soldiers around her fanned out.

Catalina Muñoz.

“It’s her.” Scarlett wasn’t sure who she was talking to, but the comms were still open. “Catalina Muñoz. She’s here. This is all happening because of her.”

“Who the hell is Catalina Muñoz?” Jones’s question seemed to catch King’s attention on the monitor.

“Who are you talking to?” The DEA agent fought her teammate for his earpiece and won out, shoving the device into his own ear. “Who is this?”

Their last conversation—his accusations—undermined everything she knew about herself and her ability to get her team out of here alive. “Agent Elsher.”

“Scarlett.” King searched the corridor until he found the nearest camera and limped toward it, his gaze searing straight through the monitor. “I put it all together. Hernando Muñoz was a source. Adam and Eva were using him to get to the triad. If Catalina’s here, that means she’s the one who killed him. She’s the real brains behind the operation. Taking out the other cartels, partnering with the triad, abducting Julien. It’s all because of her. Where is she?”

Scarlett turned her attention back to the monitor overlooking the inside of Socorro’s garage. Instantly on high alert as Catalina stared into the camera lens. “In the garage.”

Catalina turned toward someone or something still in the truck before facing off with the surveillance. Another pixelated outline—smaller—appeared on the screen. And then Julien came into view.

“King,” she said. “She has your son.”

KINGDISLODGEDTHEEARPIECE.

“King! There are more on the way!” Scarlett’s voice crackled just before he handed the device back to the operative in front of him.

Pointing to Granger, King backed toward the elevator car still uneven with the floor. “You’re going to want to get him to a doctor.”

“There’s no way out of here that doesn’t put you in their sights, Elsher.” Granger’s usually frustratingly even voice dipped as he latched on to his shoulder. “They’ll kill you the second they get eyes on you.”

“Not before I kill them first.” King’s gaze caught the surveillance camera. He knew Scarlett was watching, and he got as close to it as he could. He didn’t know whether or not they had sound or if she could make out his words, but it didn’t matter. He had to tell her. That he was wrong, that she meant something to him, that she was everything he’d tried to avoid in his life and everything he needed at the same time.

“I love you.” There wasn’t any more he could say.

King turned his back on the camera—on whatever future they might’ve had—and headed for the elevator door. He set the rifle against his chest, ready for whatever waited on the other side. Because it was the only way to get to his son. And save the woman he loved. If he could slow Sangre por Sangre down, there was a chance the entire Socorro team could live to fight another day.

Only one way to find out.

---