Page 30 of K-9 Justice

“How did you find us?” the first soldier asked. “How did you know we were here?”

“I’ve got my ways.” They didn’t have time for twenty questions. There was no telling if Ivy’s two-hour head start would hold with the other operatives. They had to move. Right the hell now. “Do you want to get out of here, or do you want to wait to see what Socorro is going to do to you to get you to talk?”

“Right behind you.” The second soldier added a hitch to his step, and the three of them and Max retraced Carson’s steps. He hit the elevator call button, every cell in his body on fire considering the possibilities waiting for them downstairs.

But Ivy had kept her word.

Carson, Max and both cartel soldiers hit the parking garage, located an SUV with keys sitting in the front seat and sped out of the garage. Leaving Socorro—and Ivy—behind.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“You’re just going to let them leave?” Granger’s logic wasn’t going to help her right now.

“Carson made his choice.” Ivy watched plumes of dirt kick up behind the SUV racing across the New Mexico desert. Her heart twisted hard every second it kept driving away. “Give them thirty minutes, then activate the GPS.”

Though she already had an idea of where Carson and his fellow soldiers were headed. This final war betweenSangre por Sangreand Socorro had practically been fated. She’d only let him leave because they could track him.

“Do you know what it took to capture those two?” Jones extended one hand toward the massive wall of windows, motioning to the retreating vehicle. “The woman nearly gutted me like a fish. I’m lucky to be alive, and you’re just letting them leave?”

“Easy, tiger. The boss knows what she’s doing.” Scarlett’s insistence on being the voice of reason didn’t sit well. Socorro’s security operative didn’t usually agree with Ivy’s strategy, which had led to the installation of a hundred pounds of C-4 lining every hallway in the building in the past in an effort to protect the team. It had worked. And also destroyed the garage during a cartel ambush a few months ago. Scarlett’s calm demeanor made Ivy wonder what the woman had up her sleeve. “You gotta make them feel safe, give them a reason to let their guard down. Then when they least expect it, you trigger the explosive.”

“Come again?” Granger asked. “Are you telling me you’ve wired our SUVs to explode? How far is the frequency?”

“Anywhere in the world. That’s the beauty of satellites,” Scarlett said. “Don’t give me that look. The next time you or Charlie or any one of us is abducted, you’ll be begging me for a kill switch. This way, we’re prepared.”

“Wait. Does King know about this?” Jones asked. “Does he let you drive his son around in an SUV wired with explosives?”

“I’m not allowed to drive Julien,” the security consultant said. “But that’s not connected to the C-4. No.”

“Enough.” Ivy couldn’t deal with this right now. She swallowed to counteract the emotion clogging her throat since her final conversation with Carson. But, worse, the idea of coming face-to-face with him on opposite sides of the divide triggered a grief so intense she couldn’t breathe. She’d trusted him. Counted on him. She’d…loved him, damn it.

They’d agreed how far they would go to see this through, and now… Now he was choosing the wrong side. He was choosing the enemy over her. Over their partnership. To make matters worse, he’d taken her dog in the process. Part of her was still in denial. She’d wanted him to turn back, to choose her over the mission. Wondered if she’d been right in letting him go, but if he was hell-bent on saving a few cartel soldiers, she’d at least use his exit to her advantage. “Jones, check in with the hospital. I want an update on Jocelyn’s recovery. Get ahold of Chief Halsey if you have to, and let him know of our plans to initiate contact withSangre por Sangre. Granger, contact the medical examiner and see if he has any more to add from Dr. Piel’s autopsy. And, Scarlett, get those explosives off my SUVs before someone ends up hurting themselves.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Scarlett said. “But to be clear, it’s not easy to trigger the explosives. There’s a whole security code you have to put into the system to connect to the devices, and—”

“Thank you, Scarlett. That will be all.” She just needed to be alone. To figure out what to do next. She’d given Carson a two-hour head start with the intention of providing him the opportunity to change his mind, but he’d called her bluff.

Movement registered behind her as the team headed for her office door. And her heart hurt, damn it. As though Carson had taken it between both hands and squeezed as hard as he could just to see what would happen. Air rushed from her lungs as the betrayal hooked into her. She was about to fall into a thousand shards of glass from the invisible pain.

“Boss.” Granger’s reflection took position behind her injured shoulder. Then Jones and Scarlett and Cash. “We’re your team. Every single one of us has experienced loss and betrayal. Sometimes from the people we love the most. You don’t have to hide from us. We’ve got your back. Whatever you need.”

“I need…” She didn’t know what she needed. A single tear escaped her control, and a rush of embarrassment flooded through her. Ivy immediately swiped it away as she turned to face them. The men and women who’d devoted themselves to carrying out her own personal crusade. Except two had been taken from their ranks. Jocelyn was recovering, but Dr. Piel would never step foot in this building again. “I need this to make sense, but no matter how I reframe it or pull it apart, it just doesn’t.”

“Which part of this war has made sense in the past two years, Ivy?” Cash asked. “Sangre por Sangredoesn’t follow the rules. Because no cartel has gained this much power in the entire history of the drug epidemic. This is all new territory, for all of us. But we knew one day they would come for us. They’ve tried en masse in the past. Now it seems this Sebastian guy has figured out how to slide the blade in without us even noticing.”

“Doesn’t mean he gets to walk away in one piece,” Jones said.

That hadn’t been at all what she’d meant, but exposing her lack of judgment—her grief—wasn’t in her DNA. Maybe that was the problem. She and Carson were supposed to be partners. Had made a commitment to one another. They’d started this war against the cartel together. Only now… He was gone. He’d been there when she’d needed him the most, but had she returned the investment? Had she been as committed to him as Carson had been to her, or had she let her past dictate their relationship? Was her stepfather still finding ways to show her she wasn’t strong enough—for this job, to finish what she started, to keep a partner—from beyond the grave?

Ivy wanted to deny that man had anything to do with the life she’d built for herself, that he’d encouraged her to rise above her trauma and finally take control. Except she couldn’t. Every experience, every conversation, every fantasy and hope she’d had since the age of ten had made her into the woman standing in this office. Including the abuse she’d suffered at the hands of a parent who was supposed to protect her. She couldn’t forget any of it, and that failure to disassociate from that part of her life had followed her into the most important relationship she’d ever had.

And cost her everything.

What that meant for the future, she didn’t know. All she could do was focus on the next step. “Every battle between this team and the cartel has ended in one place.”

“Sangre por Sangre’s headquarters.” Granger folded his arms across his broad chest. “Hell, is there even anything left of that place? Charlie and I were nearly crushed to death when all of the new underground tunnels collapsed last month.”

She remembered. Having been the one to pull him out of the collapse. “Check out the latest satellite images before disabling the explosives you installed on the fleet, Scarlett. If there’s movement, we’ll have a better idea of what we’re up against.”

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