Page 38 of K-9 Guardians

Gunshots popped in succession. A bullet whizzed past her ear, and Scarlett lunged for the keypad as Granger returned fire. A groan broke through the drone of lead. She punched in her security code and turned to face the onslaught of the attack as the elevator doors took their time. Weapon raised, she caught sight of movement to her left and took aim. She compressed the trigger. The gun kicked back in her hand a split second after the round found its mark. The man she’d noted outside, dressed in a coat. The cartel was among the protestors. Using them as cover. Damn it. The attackers were inside, maneuvering behind Granger’s position. One wrong move, and she’d lose a member of her team.

The elevator announced its arrival.

Two more shots. Another moan of pain.

“Move it, Beam!” Granger retreated behind his vehicle and repositioned. He fired another round of shots. “Get out of here!”

Scarlett stepped backward into the elevator against her heart’s will. He was right. She was the only one who could put a stop to this attack before it had a chance to reach the others. The doors started to close.

Just as Granger took a bullet and hit the ground.

KINGHADTHECIPHER. Now he just needed Eva and Adam’s notes to test his theory about Muñoz’s involvement in the case.

Except smoke was spiraling up from Socorro’s headquarters a mile out. Black and wispy. Like the place was on fire.

“Step on it.” King held on to the dashboard and the passenger side door as the Albuquerque PD officer hit the accelerator. His heart rate rocketed to dangerous levels as the last curve onto the one-lane dirt road gave him a straight view of the building. “Call for backup. Albuquerque, Alpine Valley. Everyone. Socorro Security is under attack.”

The officer detached the radio from the dash and called in the orders to any available officers in the vicinity as King mapped out the source of the damage.

“Head for the garage.” He pointed to the west side of the structure, automatically leaning forward as though he could somehow make the patrol vehicle go faster.

“Sir, we need to wait for backup and fire and rescue. There’s no telling what we’re walking into,” the officer said.

“Then wait, but I’m going in there.” His leg be damned. There was only one organization stupid enough and with enough resources to attack a private military contractor like Socorro. The cartel wanted whatever intel Muñoz had given up to the DEA and ATF. They wanted the case file King had left in Scarlett’s possession.

His ass left the seat as the patrol car throttled over the uneven landscape. Unholstering his weapon, King released the magazine and counted the ammunition inside. Hell, he’d gone through it all while trying to give Scarlett and Julien an escape in the warehouse, and he hadn’t slowed down long enough to restock. He couldn’t go in there without a weapon.

“Drop me here. Wait for backup and tell whoever’s in charge that Sangre por Sangre is inside, armed and highly dangerous. Oh, and if you have any extra 9mm Luger ammunition, that would be greatly appreciated.”

The car skidded to a stop, threatening to throw him through the windshield, but King didn’t have time for any other injuries. Scarlett was in there. He had to go. King kicked the passenger side door open. He reached back in and threw a thank-you to the officer who handed him a box of fresh ammunition. “Reach out to the supervisory special agent of the DEA in Albuquerque. Tell him Agent Elsher is on the scene. He’ll know what to do.”

King slammed the door behind him, effectively putting an end to any change of mind. He packed the magazine of his weapon and jammed the heavy metal casing into place. Intense desert heat beaded sweat at the back of his neck, but it was nothing compared to the heat coming off the building. Flames licked at the garage entrance he and Scarlett had slid beneath two days ago. She’d spent her entire career with Socorro building defenses against attacks on this place. He wasn’t going to be able to walk through the front door.

He had to go straight into the belly of the beast.

King tested his weight on his bad leg and regretted the choice immediately. But there was no other option. No other way for him to get inside. And he had to. He had to get to Scarlett.

She was the only reason he was standing here.

The past three days had blurred into a chaotic stream of bullets and blood and loss, but all the while, she’d been the one to keep him grounded. Their ridiculous debates and jabs at one another had kept him from spiraling. For the first time in years, someone had made him laugh, but it was her determination to leave the world better than how she’d found it that had convinced him she could bring Julien home.

And he wasn’t letting her go. Not yet.

Scarlett’s personal mission to make up for the past by giving her all—including her own life—for a kid she hadn’t even met outweighed everything she’d told him about her involvement in the smuggling ring overseas. And he’d been an idiot to think a single cell in her beautiful body could be corrupted so easily. That she could hurt anyone.

All she’d done was prove over and over again that he needed her. Back in the warehouse. In this case. In his life. And, damn it, he wasn’t ready to give that up.

Because he loved her.

In a matter of days, Scarlett had broken through the wall he’d built around him and Julien over the past two months and given him something to look forward to. A reason to keep going.

“I’m coming. Just hang on a bit longer.” King added weight to his leg and took that first step toward the garage. Adrenaline raced to block the pain in his nerves, but it wouldn’t be enough. The stitches around his wound screamed for his crutch. No. He could do this. He had to do this. His heel caught on a rock and worked to tip him off balance, but he was stronger now. Because of Julien. Because of Scarlett. Everything they’d been through had led him to this moment.

A gunshot echoed from the garage entrance.

He took a second step. Then another. His body adapted to the barbed wire curling through his thigh muscle, and he picked up the pace. He had no idea what he was walking into, but it didn’t matter. His future was in that building, and he wasn’t going to turn his back on it anymore. They were going to get through this. Together.

Two SUVs angled inward on either side of the entrance ahead.

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