Page 43 of K-9 Guardians

“You might’ve gotten away with the murders of my partners, Catalina, but you’re wrong about one thing.” He heard the doors part. “I didn’t come empty-handed.”

Something hit the cement.

King didn’t have to know what it was. He lunged for his son, securing Julien in his arms as the explosion rocked through the garage. Cement rained down on top of them as King rolled to put his son underneath his body.

Gruber’s growl pierced through the cacophony of screams and gunshots, and King stuck a hand out. “Gruber!”

The K9 collided into King’s back, every muscle the dog owned rippling in response to the attack. King loosened the choke collar from around the Doberman’s neck and tore at the muzzle.“Pass auf.”That was what Scarlett had said to get Gruber to protect Julien, and King needed the K9 on that job now more than ever.

A second bark registered from near the elevator, and a dark blur of lean muscle and sharp teeth burst through the circle of gunmen. Hans pounced on a soldier coming up on King and Julien, taking him down in a mess of claws and teeth.

King kissed the top of Julien’s head. “Remember what I said, buddy. Stay with Gruber.”

“Shoot them!” Catalina’s voice was broken up by a series of coughs. Distant. In retreat.

King pushed upright as a glimpse of Catalina’s white blazer disappeared into the back of the armored truck. The engine growled to life. “You’re not getting away that easily.”

Return gunfire cut through the haze of dust and debris still clouding the garage, and Scarlett shoved her way into the fight. She took aim at a soldier coming up on King’s left and pulled the trigger. The gunman dropped. “Go! We’ve got this!”

It was then King realized she hadn’t come alone. The operative who’d loaned King his vest rocketed his fist into a cartel member’s face off to the left as another Socorro contractor unsheathed a knife from her cargo pants and sank it deep into an attacker’s side. One by one they were picking off threats to give King the opportunity to finish this.

“Take care of my boy.” He scratched behind Gruber’s head, then ran for the armored vehicle. His leg protested every step, but he wasn’t going to slow down. He wasn’t going to let Catalina get away with what she’d done.

Her smile cut through the interior of the cargo area a split second before the door secured.

He ran into the two-inch steel and slapped his hand against the door. The vehicle lurched backward toward the entrance. “No!”

“King!” Scarlett’s voice penetrated the haze of adrenaline and anger combining into a toxic cocktail under his skin.

He turned to face her just as she tossed him a brick of white clay. Only it wasn’t clay.

King caught the mass and hurried to stick it under the armored vehicle’s front wheel well. Catalina was in the passenger seat, that smile still in play. Until he unholstered his sidearm and took aim. Not at the windshield. At the brick of C-4 he’d planted on the armored truck.

He pulled the trigger.

The truck shot into the ceiling of the garage, the entire engine bursting into a thousand different pieces.

Strong hands grabbed the shoulders of King’s Kevlar vest and dragged him to the ground. He slammed into the cement as a wall of gear and muscle and red hair shielded him from the blast. The explosion triggered a high-pitched ringing in his head, but through the aftermath, Scarlett’s voice crystalized. “And you made fun of me for preparing for the zombie apocalypse.”

Sirens screeched through the garage as two police patrol vehicles cut off the cartel’s exit. The passenger side door of the armored vehicle fell open, depositing Catalina Muñoz onto the ground with a huff. Her white pantsuit would never be the same.

Nondescript SUVs skidded to a halt beyond the police wall and unloaded a dozen DEA agents, and Catalina had no other choice than to raise her hands in surrender.

The fight was over. King’s son was safe. His leg would heal, and the world would keep turning. Without Eva and Adam in it. And all King could think to do was pass out cold.

Chapter Fifteen

Scarlett reset the ceiling tile in place.

Despite two explosions in the garage, her secondary defense system sat untouched. Everything was stable. Well, apart from the fact the entire building could suddenly collapse underneath her without warning. The engineers were working on it, and she’d have to remove the bricks of C-4 she installed through all four levels, but she wasn’t able to stay away from this place. Socorro had become a home. A safe haven that’d given her life purpose after she’d thrown it away at the slightest misguided chance to do something good.

Only now she really had made a difference.

“Come on.” She whistled low for Gruber to follow.

The K9 had followed her orders and protected Julien to the very end, taking a few samples of cartel member DNA in the process. There were more than a few gunmen sporting bite marks, and she’d made sure to give Gruber extra treats as a reward. Though it had been hard to separate him and Julien once the chaos of the attack had settled down. Even now, she was convinced the Doberman wanted to be with the kid instead of her.

Hans was still recovering from a broken rib sustained during the fight in Muñoz’s warehouse. Socorro’s alarms had triggered her training to defend the team, but after reuniting with Gruber, the K9 finally seemed convinced that she could go to the vet clinic in Alpine Valley to serve out the rest of her recovery. And Scarlett made sure to check on her every chance she got between disarming the building so the construction crew could get to work.

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