Page 42 of K-9 Guardians

“You really think you’re going to survive whatever is down there without a vest?” The operative King hadn’t met before—the one who had forced open the elevator doors for them—stripped the Velcro from the side of his ribs and pulled his Kevlar vest over his head. Offering it with one hand, he hiked Granger’s arm around his shoulder for support with the other. “Thought you DEA types were smarter than that.”

“You’d be surprised.” King hauled the rifle strap over his head, took the vest and slipped into it before replacing the weapon. There were more on the way. That was the last thing he’d heard Scarlett say. The cartel had most likely surrounded the place, cutting off any chance of escape. Socorro operatives would have to prioritize, Scarlett included, leaving him to fight this particular battle alone. “Thanks.”

Electricity powered up behind him, and the elevator car closed the distance to the last level. Scarlett. With a half salute toward the camera, he smiled. “Wish me luck.”

King stepped into the elevator, facing off with his own reflection as the doors closed down the middle. Gravity suctioned his stomach into the bottom of his torso as the floors counted off on the LED panel overhead. “I’m going to need it.”

The elevator pinged just before a thud registered from under his feet as the car landed on the garage level. One second. Two.

The doors parted.

Smoke and dust and diesel infiltrated his senses as King stepped out. A circle of soldiers took aim, and he raised his hands in surrender. “I come in peace.”

“I’m not entirely sure that’s true, Agent Elsher.” The semicircle parted down the middle, exposing the source of the voice. Catalina Muñoz, in the flesh. “I seem to recall having to clean up quite a few bodies at my warehouse two days ago. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to get blood out of cement.”

He wasn’t going to apologize for that. He wasn’t going to apologize for anything concerning this investigation. “Where is my son?”

“Right here.” Catalina half turned and reached behind her. Long fingers wrapped around the back of his son’s neck and drew him forward away from the soldier guarding the ten-year-old. “Julien has done a fine job of keeping me company, haven’t you, dear?”

“I’m here, buddy.” Every cell in King’s body wanted to rip Julien out of Catalina’s grasp, but that would surely get him a few bullet holes of his own. And Julien had already watched one parent die in front of him. King couldn’t do that to him again. He balanced his weight onto his good leg, just in case he had to move fast. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

“The lies parents tell their children,” Catalina said. “No wonder betrayal trauma has become so prevalent these days.”

His son flinched at the comment. Or maybe from the woman’s grip around his neck. King couldn’t tell which, but one thing was clear. Nothing was going to stop him from getting Julien out of here alive. “Let me guess. You’re here for the intel your husband handed over on your operation.”

“You’re smarter than you look, Agent Elsher.” Catalina stepped fully into the ring of armed cartel members, putting Julien that much closer to the barrel of an assault rifle. “I’ll make this easy for you. Give me what I want, and you and Julien are free to leave this place.”

“While you burn Socorro to the ground.” That wasn’t an option. “Why? Why dump Adam’s body at Socorro’s doorstep? They didn’t have anything to do with this until I approached them for help finding your husband.”

“Is that what she told you?” A weak, sad smile creased crow’s feet at the edges of Catalina’s dark brown eyes. “Ivy Bardot knew about your partner’s investigation long before you recruited Socorro into your little revenge plot, Agent Elsher. How else would he and that ATF agent access satellite images and intel about my operations over the years without raising federal suspicions? I imagine that’s why she offered you her resources in the first place. Because once I took care of your partners, Socorro lost their hold in my dealings. And she couldn’t have that.”

Was that true? Had Ivy Bardot already known exactly who he was and what he wanted before he’d stepped into that conference room? Had she used him?

“Only now it seems I’m presented with the opportunity to take out two birds with one stone,” Catalina said. “My uncle would still be alive if it weren’t for Socorro. Metias raised me, you know. Taught me everything I know, made sure I went to the best schools, supported me. He shaped me into the woman I am today. One who’s going to lead Sangre por Sangre into the future.”

Blah blah blah. King didn’t have time for this. Cartel reinforcements would only skew the chances he and Julien had of making it out alive. “Then I was right. You were the one behind taking out the other cartels in the area. Not your husband.”

“Hernando served his purpose well. Kept the DEA and other federal agencies focused on him while I moved the deal with the triad forward,” she said.

A ferocious growl resonated from the back of the armored truck, and Catalina let her hand slide from Julien’s neck.

“It worked for a while.” She backed toward the truck. “But after you and your friend—Scarlett is her name?—breached my warehouse, I discovered Hernando hadn’t been as true to me as he promised in our wedding vows. And, well, I couldn’t have that.”

The widow motioned for one of the gunmen, and Gruber lunged from the darkness. A restraint prevented him from opening his mouth wider than a few centimeters while the choke chain kept him from attacking. The K9’s dark eyes focused on Julien before the animal went wild all over again. As though he were trying to live up to his orders to protect King’s son.

King locked his gaze on Julien. “Stay with Gruber.”

His son’s terrified face relaxed slightly.

“I’ve given you my terms, Agent Elsher.” The widow was losing her patience, her voice icier than a moment ago. “But you seem to have come down here empty-handed. Am I to understand you won’t be giving me what I came for and that I’ll have to do to you what I did to the other two agents who crossed me? What were their names again? Eva Roday and Adam Dunkeld, right? Were they friends of yours?”

Rage bubbled up his throat. “You were there that night. The night Eva was killed. You ordered her murder.”

“No, Agent Elsher,” Catalina said. “That’s one tradition I don’t follow in the cartel. You see, I do my own dirty work.”

Eva. Adam. Muñoz. This woman had killed them all.

The elevator pinged again, drawing the attention of every gunman in the garage.

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