Page 27 of K-9 Justice

And found a body.

“Son of a bitch.” Holstering his weapon, Carson dropped to both knees and flipped the uniformed officer onto his back. Blood leaked from a head wound most likely caused by someone bashing his head in from behind. The man’s phone lay in pieces beside him. Would explain why Ivy’s calls never made it through. “I’m guessing this is the chief you’re looking for?”

Ivy abandoned her search. “Baker. Damn it.”

“He’s alive.” Carson almost lost himself in the relief at the feel of the chief’s pulse against his first two fingers. Broken skin and blood across the officer’s knuckles told a good story. “Busted up, from what I can see. Man put up a fight. Whoever was on the other end isn’t going to get far.”

More details came into view as Max bounded for another body across the room. Only this one wasn’t human. She sniffed at the unconscious German shepherd in concern.

The chief’s groan filled the room. Baker Halsey blinked at Carson a few times before some deep-rooted pain no one could see set in. Alpine Valley’s elected hero pushed his upper body off the floor. “Please tell me you’re here to get the recipe of Jocelyn’s famous chocolate chip cookies.”

“Chief, you were attacked,” Ivy said. “Did you see by who?”

“No. Sons of bitches caught me from behind. Must’ve been waiting behind the front door when I got home.” He set sights on the K-9 still unmoving a few feet away. Chief Halsey practically crawled to the dog and brought the German shepherd into hislap. “I got you, bud. Hell, Jocelyn’s going to murder me for letting them touch Maverick. Where is she?”

“She wasn’t with you?” Carson asked.

“What? No. I just got off shift. I came home. The house was dark, but I saw Maverick…” Fear contorted the chief’s face, and he maneuvered Maverick off his lap. Baker shoved to stand—unbalanced and grabbing for the nearest wall. Carson moved to assist but was rejected. “Jocelyn never goes anywhere without Maverick. They’re a team. Ivy, where the hell is my partner?”

Chief Halsey didn’t wait for an answer. He shoved into the hallway. “Jocelyn!”

“We’ve already searched the house. She isn’t here.” Ivy tried to keep up with the chief of police. In vain. The man was on a mission, the same kind of mission that had held Carson in its grip in that damn warehouse: getting to the woman he loved. “Baker, think. What can you remember up until you blacked out?”

“Jocelyn!” Baker flipped on every light in the place. The chief was reaching for his weapon, but the holster on his hip was empty. Whoever had attacked him had stripped him of his weapons. The man was close to losing it. He threaded both hands into his hair. “All right. Give me a minute. The sliding glass door. It was open when I came home. I thought something was off. We never go out there.”

Ivy bolted for the kitchen and out the back door.

“Stay here, Chief.” There was no telling what they would find. Carson followed Ivy into the backyard.

“Go to hell,” Baker said. “That’s my partner.”

The motion-sensor spotlights lit up.

Exposing the woman left for dead in the middle of the yard.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“He’s targeting us one by one.” Ivy couldn’t forget the images of Jocelyn as she’d lain there. Left in the middle of her own yard. The message gouged into her back was the same as the one found on Dr. Piel.

There’s no escapingSangre por Sangre.

Except Jocelyn had somehow survived. EMTs had managed to get a breathing tube down the logistics coordinator’s throat in time. Ivy’s operative was recovering in the hospital with Chief Halsey and Maverick refusing to leave her side. The dog had been taken down with a sedative but would make a full recovery.

It had been too close.

Too personal.

Ivy stared out the wall of windows in her office. The weight of her team’s attention pressed between her shoulder blades. She was supposed to keep things like this from happening. She’d been responsible for training them, for getting them through the hard assignments and out onto the other side. Now two of her operatives had been attacked, with one of them dead.

“I’ve sent Elena and the baby to her parents’ house.” Cash Meyers, Socorro’s forward scout, prided himself on seeing the threat from a distance, on knowing when an attack was coming. But there was no way for him to see this. His new family had been put at risk. Because of her.

This threat had come directly from Ivy’s past. Something she’d never shared with any of them. She’d never seen any value in being anything more than their fearless leader. Who wouldfollow her if they knew she couldn’t face the nightmares she’d created, let alone send them out into the field to confront new ones? She faced what was left of her team and, in that moment, felt considerably under-experienced in finishing what she’d started two years ago.

Carson stood in the corner of her office, so out of place, and yet necessary. To this mission. To Socorro. To her. He hadn’t contributed to the discussion, and the truth was, she hadn’t expected him to. It was easy to imagine him shouldering the responsibility of what had happened, just as she had. Being crushed underneath it. The only way they’d get through this was together. He’d said that. “What about Maggie, Jones? Have you been able to get any information?”

Jones Driscoll—Socorro’s combat coordinator—wouldn’t take an attack on this team lying down. He’d risked his life to pull a war correspondent out from the cartel’s grip without hesitation and brought down a corrupt senator in the process. Of every operative she employed, he would be the one to burn everything to the ground. And maybe that was exactly what she needed now. “We thoughtSangre por Sangrehad gone to ground before—the entire organization is a ghost now. No chatter. No corner deals on the streets. I’ve been monitoring the smuggling routes, but all I found was a bunch of abandoned trucks with product still inside. The cartel’s been forced to cut back on operations over the past few months. Now it’s like they’ve given up entirely. Maggie reached out to a couple of her contacts, but all she’s managed to uncover is a couple of low-level soldiers who don’t know what the hell is going on. We’ve got them in one of the holding cells downstairs, but they’re not talking. Whoever killed those women and attacked Jocelyn is staying to the shadows. Feels like he’s waiting for something.”

“Not waiting. He’s compartmentalizing.” Carson unfolded his arms and raised his chin. Confident and ready to take charge.Ivy needed a bit of that right now. “There are protocols the cartel follows when it’s in danger. First, consolidate information. The fewer people who know of his plan, the less chances there are of a betrayal. Sebastian will only trust the people he’s known since he joined the cartel twenty years ago. Next, he’ll take an account ofSangre por Sangre’s assets. Safe houses, cash, product and alliances. The cartel hasn’t had any luck attacking Socorro directly. Picking us off one by one is his only option, but he won’t do it slowly.”

---