Page 36 of K-9 Justice

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

No one raised their hand.

That was okay. She would find the person who shot Max. She would tear this whole building down to do it, too. Until then, Chief Halsey was taking care of the German shepherd the best way he could. She lost count of the number of soldiers taking aim at her and her team. One wrong move. That was all it would take to tear apart both of their organizations. Ivy raised her weapon, at Sebastian. “I’m going to give you one chance to put your weapons down and surrender.”

“You must be confused, Agent Bardot.” Sebastian’s laugh inspired the rest of his soldiers to participate. He spread his arms wide, motioning to the men and women prepared to shoot on his order. “You see, I have far more manpower. You, you have four operatives and some dogs.”

“You’re right. Doesn’t feel like a fair fight, does it?” Ivy scanned the room. Instantly landing on Carson. He’d been bound, beaten. Blood dripped down his arm and slid between his fingers. “Would you like to invite more soldiers to come help you? We’ll wait.”

Sebastian’s smile slipped off his face. He stepped away from the desk he’d put between him and her team. “You’ve been hunting me for two years. Sent your lapdog to identify me, to undermine my operation. You send your operatives to take out my lieutenants. All while you hide in your black tower. You are not ready for what’s coming, little girl. You are not strong enough to fight me.”

Strong enough. When the hell had she let other people determine what she was capable of? When had she let it haunt her to the point of paralysis? Ivy lowered her weapon. “Shall we finish what we started in that basement, Sebastian? You, me. No federal agents. No cartel soldiers to interfere. That’s what you want, right? To proveSangre por Sangredeserves to sit on the throne. That all of this leads to one outcome—you standing over the bodies of your enemies. I’ll give you that chance.”

“Ivy, what the hell are you doing?” Carson struggled to be free of his captives. In vain.

“I would love nothing more.” A wide smile transformed the cartel founder’s expression. “One weapon. No guns. To the death. I win, I will kill your entire team and your undercover operative. Socorro will be no more.”

“And if I win,Sangre por Sangresurrenders to the Alpine Valley Police Department and Socorro. Never to operate again.” Ivy passed her weapon to Granger, positioned behind her.

“Boss, you sure about this?” Scarlett kept her voice low, but the concern was louder than anything else in the room. “You’re still injured from the last time you two were in a room together.”

“I’ll be fine. I have something he doesn’t.” Her gaze cut to Carson as she stripped out of the sling meant to help her dislocated shoulder heal.

“What’s that?” Jones seemed to take inventory of the soldiers he would like to take out, that battle-ready energy coming off him in waves.

She handed off the sling to Granger and rolled her shoulder out. “A team who has my back, no matter what. As long as I have you guys, I can never lose. But for him? Every single one of these soldiers will put their own survival first if pushed.” Ivy turned to face Sebastian as his soldiers cleared away the desks and debris from the middle of the room. “See the C-4 strapped to the major structural beams overhead? He’s not confident in his plan to getto the rest of you. He plans on bringing down the building on top of us if this doesn’t go his way. Make sure he fails. Understand?”

“I have some experience with that,” Scarlett said. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Granger, Jones, Cash.” She didn’t want to say goodbye. She didn’t want to admit that this was a bad idea and that she had no way of knowing if her reason would hold up against a man who’d already killed four women and put another in the hospital. Not to mention the thousands of lives his organization had taken over the years when Socorro had failed to protect the people they swore to protect. “The moment he attacks, he’s going to let his soldiers have a field day. Don’t let your guards down. And feel free to take as many of them out as you can. Just make sure Carson isn’t one of them.”

“Wait. Are we friends with this guy again?” Cash said.

“Enough waiting.” Sebastian kicked a rock from in front of his foot. She’d misjudged him in the dark of a salvage yard before, then again when her eye had swollen to the point she hadn’t been able to see. The man had claimed to spend twenty years building his empire, but there was still a youthfulness to him. A strength she hadn’t considered before.

This was going to hurt. But the past no longer had a hold on her. All that mattered was the future. Hers. Her team’s. And Carson’s. Ivy shrugged out of her blazer and handed it off to Granger. The muscles in her shoulder still ached. The stitches in her side warned her not to take another step, but she wasn’t doing this to feed some ego-driven show of dominance. This was how she protected her family. Just as she’d done all those years ago.

Ivy took a literal and metaphorical step into the ring. “Sure you want to go through with this, Sebastian? That shoulder of yours isn’t looking too good.”

His laugh slid beneath her confidence and started to break it up into pieces. “How’s the side, Agent Bardot?”

She didn’t want to give away the pain she was already in. Not to him. Filling her lungs with as much oxygen as they could hold, she steadied her pulse with Carson in her peripheral vision.

“Ivy, you don’t have to do this. You don’t have to—” Her partner’s words were cut short from the sucker punch to his gut. He doubled over within his captor’s grasp.

Sebastian was the first to strike. He took advantage of her distraction and launched at her. She saw him coming. Ivy fisted his collar and rammed her forehead straight into his nose. The son of a bitch fell backward and hit the floor.

All hell broke loose.

Bullets sprayed across the room. Her team broke apart, each operative hunting for cover. Cash returned fire as his rottweiler, Bear, ran straight for the nearest soldier.

Ivy threw herself behind Sebastian’s desk. A soldier reached over the edge. He grabbed on to her tank top and pulled her across the surface. A knife arced down toward her face. She managed to lean out of the way, letting it embed in the wood. Gripping the handle, she pulled it free and returned it to its owner. Straight into his chest. The soldier fell back, and she got to her feet.

Two more came for her. Both tried to cage her between them, but she was faster. Ivy ducked out from the reach of one and kicked his knee out from under him. The soldier slammed into the floor face-first. The other got a good hold on her from behind. Locking her arms behind her. Her shoulder threatened to dislocate all over again.

“None of you are getting out of here alive.” Sebastian stumbled to his feet. Blood coursed from his nose and framed his mouth. Stained his graying beard. He withdrew a blade from a sheath on his belt.

“And here I thought we were going to play by the rules.” Ivy rammed her heel into the soldier’s foot at her back. He released his hold and tipped off-balance. He fell at her feet, and she made sure he would never get up again. Kicking her toes into his groin as hard as she could.

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