Page 19 of K-9 Confidential

Gripping her arm, the cartel soldier stared down at her. Just before rocketing his knuckles into her cheekbone. “I didn’t want to do this, but now you leave me no other choice.”

She lost her balance and hit the dirt. Zeus’s whine echoed through her head, as though the dog actually cared about what happened next. The crackle of flames grew louder in her ears. Growing closer. They’d outrun the brunt of the fire, but it was always meant to catch up to them. To her. Charlie gripped onto the only thing she had left of that old life.

And stabbed it into the soldier’s foot.

He threw his fist into her side and knocked the air out of her lungs.

Charlie collapsed. Desperation told her to keep moving. She climbed to her feet, dizzy from blood loss and swiped at him again. Another strike took the last of her energy reserves, and she went down again. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think.

The fight slipped out of her as she stared up into the smoke-darkened sky.

Her attacker spit blood and saliva at her feet. Bending to meet her, he fisted the collar of her shirt and started pulling. Her remaining boot caught against rock and dead pine needles. “I have to admit, I didn’t expect so much fight from you, Charlie. Maybe if your sister fought as hard as you, she wouldn’t be dead.”

Charlie reached for her abductor’s hand, trying to get free, but she wasn’t strong enough anymore. Maybe hadn’t been in a long time. Zeus whimpered as he watched. His bark shook through her, but worse was the battle she saw in his eyes, as determination to go against his command took hold. “No.”

“Don’t worry, Charlie. This will all be over soon,” her attacker said. “You and I are going to do great things together. You’ll see.”

* * *

“Zeus!”Where thehell was that dog?

“You expect me to rely on a mutt who can’t control his weight to find my daughter?” Henry Acker had called a temporary truce at the sound of those gunshots, but Granger didn’t trust a single word out of the man’s mouth. “What kind of agent are you anyway?”

They jogged to stay ahead of the fire while Acker’s men worked to put it out from the other side, but the wind wasn’t cooperating. Soon, this entire side of Vaughn would be nothing but ashes.

“I’m not an agent anymore, and Zeus is a purebred bull terrier. I’m the only one who gets to call him a mutt.” Granger’s heart pumped harder every minute they didn’t have eyes on Charlie or his K9 partner. “And that mutt is a better hunter than you’ll ever be, Acker. Dress it up any way you like, you need me and my partner to help find Charlie.”

Henry Acker had no problem keeping up. Despite the grief from losing one daughter in the past week and the effects of age, the man had stayed physically fit. At least enough to keep up a panicked search for Charlie. “If we don’t, the last thing you’ll be worrying about is your dog.”

Granger didn’t have time for petty offenses. Charlie was out here. She had to be. Acker’s men hadn’t reported any conflicts with intruders other than Granger and Charlie in the past twenty-four hours, which meant those gunshots had been meant for her. And the thought of her out here—alone, possibly injured—pushed him harder. Socorro wasn’t going to get here in time. He had to rely on Acker’s Army to recover Charlie. “TheSangre por Sangrecartel has surveillance photos of Charlie. They’ve been following her ever since she came back to New Mexico three days ago.”

Henry Acker didn’t respond.

“But you already knew that, didn’t you?” Granger pulled up short. As much as he hated to stop the search for Charlie, he had to know what they were walking into. He turned on Charlie’s father as his anger built. The son of a bitch put his family at risk, and for what? To make a statement? For power? “You got into bed with a drug cartel. They came here tonight to get to her. All this time, you knew exactly what they were capable of, and you refused to protect your own daughters from falling into their hands.”

Acker suddenly seemed so much smaller than Granger remembered. Unsure of himself. It was a mere glimpse of the man behind the army, but in an instant, that glimpse was gone. Henry Acker rolled his shoulders back, once again every inch the man Charlie had described. “The last thing I’m going to do is explain myself to the federal agent who used one of my daughters to get to me and the people I protect.”

The accusation stabbed deep. Because Henry Acker was right. Granger had used Charlie just as her father had used her: to fight a war nobody could win. “What does the cartel want from her? What are they planning? What do they need her for?”

“It doesn’t matter. They won’t kill her. At least not until they get what they want.” Acker maneuvered around Granger and picked up the pace. “Charlie is strong. She’ll hold her own against interrogation just the way I taught her.”

Granger had been put through interrogation training during his stint with Homeland Security, and he didn’t want to think about Charlie strapped to a chair and physically tortured until she broke. And now she was potentially in the hands ofSangre por Sangre, the most bloodthirsty and brutal drug cartel Granger and Socorro had faced. There was nothing in the world he wouldn’t give up to ensure Charlie never had to go through that kind of nightmare. “Everyone has a breaking point.”

“If you truly believe that, then you don’t know my daughter.” Henry Acker kept moving, the topic reaching its end.

Movement registered up ahead. Granger reached for Acker’s elbow, but the man was already slowing down to get a better read. A whine filtered in through the rustle of trees.

“Zeus?” The K9’s yip spiked Granger’s pulse. He maneuvered around Henry Acker and stepped into a clearing. Searching for signs of an ambush, he grabbed onto Zeus’s collar. The bull terrier barked, unfazed by the appearance of his handler. “What do you have, bud?”

Another bark—louder this time—triggered a ringing in Granger’s ears. Granger ran his hands over the dog’s frame to check for wounds and turned Zeus’s head toward him. A ring of something wet and dark disrupted the pattern along the dog’s face. Granger swiped it from the K9’s fur, rubbing it between both fingers. “He’s got something.” Granger shoved to stand, facing off with Acker. “Blood. Whoever Zeus attacked, he caused some damage.”

“I’m starting to like that dog.” Acker pushed ahead. “He’s trying to tell you they went this way, but something is keeping him from following. Like he’s been told to stay.”

“Zeus doesn’t listen to anyone but me.” His confidence waned as he took in the K9’s restlessness. Zeus had been trained to follow Granger’s commands from the time he was a pup. Then again, Granger had never given anyone else the chance to try. It’d taken months for the bull terrier to establish trust in Granger. There’s no way Charlie could’ve done it in mere hours. Right?

“A lot of people underestimate my daughter’s influence.” Acker shouldered his rifle and forged ahead. “Take it from me. I made that mistake once. Cost me something I loved in the end.”

Granger found himself trying to keep up with the Acker patriarch. He whistled for his partner, and the K9 followed on his heels. “Go get her, Zeus.”

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