Page 12 of K-9 Confidential

Her father and his homegrown army had never plotted something this big before. Age was supposed to come with wisdom. Where the hell was Henry Acker’s common sense? Attacking a state capital building would put him behind bars for the rest of his life. However long he had left anyway.

Charlie grabbed for the blueprints, crumpling the thin paper between both hands. No. She wasn’t going to let this happen. She’d find a way to stop him, even if it meant taking the few notes he’d made in the margins. Heavy footsteps echoed through the house from the porch. “We need to go.”

“Leave the blueprints. I’ve got photos.” Granger grabbed her arm and tried to maneuver her toward the door.

She tugged herself free, looking for anything else that might slow Acker’s Army down. They were already responsible for so many lives. She couldn’t let them do this. “We can’t leave these here.”

The front door screen protested, just as it had when she’d pulled it open to come inside.

Granger got close—too close—pressing his chest against her arm. His mouth dropped to her ear. “If you take them, he’ll know we’ve been in here. He’ll know we found them, and he might change his plans. Right now, we have a way to stop him, Charlie. Do you really want to risk that?”

He was right. Of course, he was right. But the thought of allowing her father to do what he did best knotted panic deep in her gut. The front door creaked open with two even thuds. Only her father wasn’t coming inside the house. At least not completely.

Charlie nodded, forcing herself to release her hold on the blueprints. “There’s a hatch that leads under the house on the left side of the closet.”

Granger didn’t hesitate. He released her, leaving a cold trail of sensation around her arm. Swinging the closet door open, he shoved her father’s hunting camo hanging across the metal bar out of the way and exposed their only escape.

Sundown had passed.

They were out of time.

Charlie quieted her breathing to listen for signs of movement as Granger worked to clear the hatch. There was nothing to suggest her father suspected she hadn’t left town as ordered, but the one mistake she’d made growing up was underestimating the monster he kept inside. The one he only let out when he was in the middle of one of his operations.

Her gaze cut back to the blueprints, then to Granger. She already lived with the guilt of four innocent lives taken that night at the Alamo pipeline, not including her oldest sister. She couldn’t handle the weight of any more. She couldn’t give Henry Acker the chance to even try. Charlie closed the distance between her and the desk for a second time and folded the main blueprint as quickly as possible. She shoved the plans down the back waistband of her jeans.

Granger hauled the hatch open and reached back for her. “You first.”

Old wood whined from the hallway. Just outside the office door.

Air caught in her throat as she watched a shadow shift beneath the crack between the floor and the bottom of the door. Fear and a thousand questions bubbled up her throat. She needed to know why. Why her father had become an enemy of his own government. Why he’d decided the lives of the people of this town were worth sacrificing in a losing battle. Because no matter how many attacks Acker’s Army carried out, they were going to lose.Hewas going to lose, and when that happened, everyone she’d ever loved would be gone.

“Charlie, we’ve got to go.” Granger latched onto her hand and pulled her into the closet. He shoved her into the square opening and pressed her head down.

Cold air whipped her hair into her face. She kept low and moved fast as she headed for the back of the house. Zeus dropped out of the opening behind her with a huff.

A gunshot ripped through the wood flooring.

“Go!” Granger was out of the opening and shoving her forward.

Her nerves shot into overdrive. Charlie clawed out from underneath the house.

Another bullet exploded from behind them. “Charlie!” Her father’s bellow seemed to shake the house right off its minimal foundation. “Get back here, girl!”

Granger’s hand found hers as they ran for the trees. They kept pace with each other as though they’d been together this entire time. Like they’d never lost touch.

Twigs and pine needles scratched at her hair and face as they broke the line of trees that’d stood guard over her family’s property her entire childhood. Once upon a time, she’d known these trees as well as she’d known the back of her own hand. Dozens of summers of her and her sisters playing hide-and-seek struggled to fit into the overgrowth and darkness. Despite the encroaching desert and miserable temperatures throughout most the year, this patch of paradise went on for miles. Her family had relied on it more than once for wood in the winter, for mushrooms in the spring and growing produce not meant to survive in this part of the world in the summer.

They’d made a mistake coming here.

Henry Acker never gave up, and he never surrendered. Even when faced with the exposed involvement and potential arrest of his daughters for his dirty deeds, he hadn’t admitted anything that could implicate him in his attacks. And he wouldn’t stop looking for her. Not after knowing she was the one to take his blueprints. There was a chance she and Granger would never make it out of Vaughn, and she’d lose the one tie to that old life she’d never wanted to let go of. Him.

Her breathing overwhelmed the pounding of her footsteps until it was all she could hear. She’d been running for so long she wasn’t sure she could stop. Her body wouldn’t let her. Not until she got them as far from this place as possible. It was the only way to survive what was coming for them.

“Charlie.” Granger grabbed for her, but she wouldn’t slow down. She couldn’t. “He’s not following us. You can stop.” His hand latched around hers, and he seemed to anchor her to the spot. Her momentum swung her into that comforting wall of muscle, but the need to keep fighting was too strong. Arms of steel secured her against his frame. “Charlie, stop.”

She couldn’t contain the sobs. They cut through her like thousands of shards of glass. “He’s coming for us. He’s never going to let me go. No matter how hard I fight or how long I hide, I’ll never escape this place. I’ll never escape him.”

“I’ve got you.” His hand threaded through her hair as something warm and slobbery collapsed against her leg. The dog. “I gave you my word when you agreed to be my CI. I’m not going to let him touch you. Ever. Understand?”

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