Ethan (The K9 Files Book 1)

When Cinn didn’t hear from Ethan, and she saw no sign of him, she couldn’t settle. She wandered around the house, unable to do much as she waited for news. Dark clouds had moved in overhead, and the atmosphere had an ugly feel about it. The humid static in the air made her sticky at the same time as it made her edgy. What she really wanted was for the storm to break to release all that tension. Instead, it just seemed to sit heavily above the property.

Finally her phone rang. She picked it up to hear Ethan’s voice on the other end. Overwhelmed with relief, she snapped at him. “Is this really the earliest you could contact me to let me know you are okay?”

Silence hung like the heavy, dark clouds above her.

“No,” he said thoughtfully. “I might have called while I was in the middle of gunfire. Or I might have called when I was facing three extremely angry dogs, who were ready to rip out my throat. Or maybe when I was explaining to the sergeant afterward that the dogs were worth saving. Or maybe when I was driving with all three shepherds tied down tight in the bed of my truck.”

“Okay, so now I feel like a piece of shit,” she said jokingly. “Please tell me all that happened calmly and quietly, and that none of you were hurt.”

“I have a big male shepherd cross here that’s got a burn on his shoulder from a bullet. But that appears to be the only injury, which is rather remarkable considering a lot of dead bad guys are at that place.”

She gasped. “Seriously?”

“They opened fire on the cops.” His tone said he didn’t give a damn about the dead men. “I was more concerned about saving the animals.”

“So was it a drug lab?”

“As far as I know it was,” he said. “Did you hear that part about I cared more about the animals? Once I had them calmed down and secured, I didn’t want to leave them there for the cops to change their minds. If Animal Control becomes involved, I figured the animals would be taken to a cage and probably put down as soon as possible. I wanted a chance to rehabilitate them, to see just what they were trained to do.”

“So now you have four dogs to look after?” she asked incredulously.

“Apparently four vicious dogs,” he said cheerfully.

She stared out the window. “Why?”

His voice gentled as he answered, “Because I can.”

She sagged into the kitchen chair and thought about that. “It won’t be an easy job,” she warned. “I thought you were looking for something different or some sort of new start.”

“Can you really think of any better start than helping some animal with no future? Or, in this case, four?”

She sighed. “You know who you’re talking to. I’m the one who moves hell on earth to get animals in desperate situations moved to new countries where they can have a chance.”

“Exactly.” His voice was quiet and pensive. “I saw those dogs and the guns pointed at their heads, and I realized how much I could do to help them. They have really good useful lives ahead of them. They were doing a job. It’s not their fault that job has now been taken away from them.”

“Do you think you can retrain them to do what you want them to do?”

“Absolutely,” he said. “That process is already in progress. Whether they like it or not, they now see me as their new leader. We’ll have to do some heavy training and come to an agreement of sorts. But I’m pretty sure we’re well in hand.”

“But you need a place suited for these animals,” she stated.

“Yes. That’s a bit of an issue. I’m at the house I rented here in town where I’m staying,” he said thoughtfully. “I might look for a place with kennels, or at least a big enough spot for kennels I can pull together fast for them.”

“That won’t be cheap,” she warned. “You don’t just need kennels but you also need a training space.” She could almost see him nod in agreement. “This is rather sudden, isn’t it?”

“Sure, but necessity is what drives a lot in our lives,” he said. “I have to try.”

She nodded. “I understand. The thought of having three killer dogs at your place is enough to terrify almost anybody. And a fourth to join them soon.”

“What if I said they follow my commands and listen to the orders I give?”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, absolutely. Give us a few days, and we’ll have a completely different relationship.”

“But how will they view the rest of the world?” she asked. “You don’t live on an island. You look after dogs ready to kill at a moment’s notice. That won’t sit easy with the townsfolk in general.”

“No, but it’s not that bad,” he said. “It’s not about dogs that will kill at a moment’s notice because every animal has that potential. But it’s knowing a dog will attack when instructed. And not just attack but attack properly. These dogs need some more training. No doubt about it. That male would go for my throat. He needs to learn to disable, not to kill.”

All the horrible scenarios ran through her head, and she couldn’t believe what she had heard. “This is so much above what most of us deal with.”

“Which is why I have to do this,” he exclaimed. “And I get it if that makes me something you don’t want to be around …”

“No, that’s not what I meant at all.” She groaned. “I guess I’m shocked at how fast this all happened. You went up there to hopefully help these dogs, but I didn’t expect you to take them away with you.”

“I did,” he said calmly. “There really wasn’t much else in the way of options. They could have been put down on the spot, or Animal Control might have come and taken them, but the end would have probably been the same. But did Animal Control have the ability to remove these dogs safely? I doubt it. I was the best option.”

“That is often how it is,” she admitted. “If the dogs are a problem, they take them out.”

“Exactly,” he said. “So I stepped in. Now the question is whether I can make them do the job they need to do and have a decent life or whether I’ll have to make a difficult decision down the road and put them down myself.”

She winced. “Ouch.”

“No,” he said. “That would be almost impossible for me to do.”

She smiled. “So when do I get to meet them?”

“Not for several days,” Ethan said quietly. “As much as I would like to think they would allow strangers into their space, for the first few days, if not a week, it will need to be just them and me.”

“That makes sense,” she said lightly. What did she expect? It wasn’t like the dogs would accept Ethan into their world easily, and they sure as hell wouldn’t accept her, a complete stranger, either. “Can you add the injured shepherd to this group?”

“I think she was part of this group to begin with. I’m pretty sure she belongs with them,” he said. “I have to see what kind of reaction I get when I reintroduce her. She’s still weak and needs care for quite a while. If the other dogs won’t accept her, I can’t keep them together.”

She winced. “If those dogs are vicious to Sally …”

“I know,” he said. “Which is why it needs to be just us for a while.”

She nodded and smiled.

“Any sign of that truck again?”

Startled she remembered the truck she’d seen up on the highway. “I never did see it again. I’m taking a look now.” She walked over to the window but saw no sign of anything. “I think I was just being supersensitive,” she said. “With you going after this group, I don’t know, I guess for some reason it made me nervous.”

“Of course it did,” he said in reassurance. “That’s normal, and it’s not an issue. I’m glad you at least thought to let me know it was there.”

“Why?” She laughed. “It’s not like you were close enough to do anything about it.”

“That’s true,” he said. “But I could have been there within a few minutes, and I would have called somebody closer to help.”

She smiled. “Well, if I see it again, I’ll let you know.”

“Let me know if you see anything odd again,” he urged. “Just because the raid went off successfully doesn’t mean the police got everyone.”

“Thanks,” she said. “I really needed to think like that.”

“Yes, you do,” he said as if not understanding her sarcasm. “One should always be aware.”

Sure enough, as soon as she clicked off her phone, instead of feeling better about what he’d said, the reminder that the truck had been there on the highway made her feel worse.

She needed an outlet for her nervous energy, so she changed into her running gear. With the dogs barking happily at her side, she grabbed a water bottle and headed out the back door. It was late in the afternoon, almost evening, and the worst heat had started to settle back.

She opened up the back gate to the state land and took off at a fast run. With the dogs running happily at her side, she crisscrossed over the terrain, checking out some of her favorite spots, shaking off the tension of the day and her added worries about Ethan. She hadn’t realized just how much she had been focused on Ethan. You had to love a man who would go in after the dogs.

But she wasn’t sure his particular project would be worth his time and trouble. And that felt awful coming from her. After all, she loved animals, and she spent so much of her time trying to save animals in need. What was it about these particular ones that scared her? Of course it was the viciousness to them. But, if Ethan could tame them, or at least keep them as well-controlled animals, then she was all for it. It would also likely keep him close by, and that made her happy.

She had no business looking at a relationship with somebody who was such a loner, someone without roots, especially when she was such a homebody. She did take trips around the world for these animals, but so much of it nowadays was communication on the Internet and phone. It was easier to send photos and vet reports back and forth than to fly over and look at the animals.

With the sun going behind the clouds, she dashed into the trees. Racing through them, her heart felt lighter with every step she took. Such interesting weather, a day full of light and shadows, not hot, not cold. By the time she burst through the other side, she was sprinting all-out. She could feel the tension inside desperately needing the outlet. Her feet pounded the ground as she ran faster and farther.

And then her energy seemed to wane, and she slowed her steps, laughing, and stumbled.

Crack.

She cried out as her shoulder exploded with pain, and she fell to the ground. She instinctively reached a hand to her shoulder and rolled over. Panic set in, but she was a good ten or twelve feet from the next set of trees. She pulled her hand away, seeing the blood pumping sluggishly from the wound.

She’d been shot!

She pulled out her cell phone while she lay here, panicked somebody would come closer for a killing shot, and dialed Ethan’s phone. The dogs whimpered at her side, unsure of what happened but knowing something had.

“I’ve been shot,” she said baldly. “I’m about two miles from the house, on the state land behind my place. Parallel to the highway. There’s a large wooded area. I’ve gone through that, and I’m on the field between it and the next set of woods.”

“I’m on my way,” he said, his voice unnaturally calm. “How bad is the wound? Did you call 9-1-1?”

“Not arterial and, no, not yet. I called you and will call Flynn next.” Her voice was shaky. “It’s in the shoulder.”

“I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he repeated.

“I want to run for the trees and try to hide.” She peered through the long grass. “But I’m worried about taking a second hit.”

“Can you see anyone?” he asked, his voice sharp.

In the background she heard Ethan slam a door, then turn on the engine. He was already on his way. Thank God. “Where are you? How long until you get here?”

“Make that eight.” His voice was even and controlled. “Put pressure on that wound. And you stay alive until I get there. Do you hear me?”

She groaned, tears pouring down her face as the pain really set in. “I’m not planning on going anywhere. But I’m a sitting duck, if somebody comes after me.”

“Don’t move around,” he cautioned. “Just lie there and don’t make a sound. There’s a good chance they’ll assume they caught you with the first shot.”

“And the dogs? They’re milling around me.”

“Can you get them to lie down? That’s a common behavior for a dog, or at least have them sit at your side as they wait for help to come.”

She instructed both dogs to sit and lie down beside her. Whining, their noses nestling against her, they obeyed. “Is it common for dogs to stay here like this?”

“Yes. They won’t leave an injured owner.”

“What about a dead one?” she whispered, trying to keep her tone light as panic threatened to choke her and as her heart slammed to get out of her chest. “I keep thinking somebody’s coming toward me.”

“Watch the dogs for that kind of a reaction,” he said quietly. “I’m already on the highway.”

“Good.” Her voice was still shaky, the tears easily sounding in her tone. “The dogs are sitting here, whining, but they don’t act like anybody’s around.”

“Good. Don’t run for the trees because that will let somebody know you’re still alive.”

“Hopefully you’ll see them before I will,” she joked. “If you’re coming from the opposite direction as the vet’s, it should only be minutes after that bad corner until you see the first copse of trees.”

“Can you give me any better directions as to where you are?”

She tried explaining where the turnoff was to one of the side streets and that she was just past it. She gasped from the effort, lying quiet for a moment, then she continued, “When you get to Cotton Road Drive, I’m probably another fifty to one hundred yards past the trees right there at that turnoff.”

“Coming up to the turnoff now.”

“The shot came from that direction.”

“Good. I’m pulling over here. You stay where you are. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

She wanted to look around to search for him, but she couldn’t hear any sound of a truck engine. The traffic should be audible from where she was, but she heard nothing. She held the palm of her hand flat against her wound, part of her T-shirt balled up against it, trying to press down hard on it. She stared at the cloudy sky and focused on breathing deeply.

But surely they’d know if they caught her in the shoulder, not in the head.

This was a shitty end to a rough day. She had to think it was related to Ethan because nobody out here hated her. At least she didn’t think so. She hadn’t spent a lifetime creating enemies. She was one of those charity workers, and few people even knew where she lived.

She took several more deep breaths, trying to force back that panicked edge. The pain, if she thought about it, was crippling. To calm down she made a quick call to Flynn. He swore and demanded answers. “Can’t talk,” she said. “Just come.” And she hung up.

Her ears were on overdrive for any sound, good or bad, coming toward her. But Ethan was right about one thing: watch the dogs. They were both relaxed but worried. Their noses pushed eagerly into her hand as she tried to calm them. But they weren’t growling or jumping to their feet or racing toward anyone or away from anything. So, as far as she could tell, nobody was out here.

And then a dog barked. She twisted but couldn’t see anything for the tall grass around her.

Soon she heard a high-pitched sound and a man’s hard voice snapping orders. She couldn’t confirm if that was Ethan or not. She wanted to sit up but knew she shouldn’t.

Then a whistle, several barks and another whistle. And she now realized what she’d heard. Ethan. He’d come with one of the new dogs. She frowned. “Is that a good idea, Ethan?”

She slid to a half-sitting position, holding her shoulder, and she could see him at the tree line, and the dog was free, tracking somebody.

She could hear shouting, as if somebody else was countering the orders.

Another shot was fired and then another. She flattened against the ground, grateful none were directed at her. But had the dog been shot? Ethan?

What the hell had Ethan done? What the hell had she gotten into?

She waited with bated breath as she tried to understand what else was going on. The dogs were no longer lying at her side but stood, studying the area, barking at the other dog, easily giving away Cinn’s position. So who would find her first?

And then, in her heart and mind, she knew there was no competition. It would be Ethan all the way. And suddenly she heard footsteps coming toward her. She froze. Her dogs growled. And then a strange dog barked and raced toward her. It loomed over her, and she curled protectively into a ball, until she heard Ethan issue a command. Immediately its butt hit the ground, and its nose went out, ears up.

She let out her pent-up breath as she watched this huge shepherd stare down at her. It wasn’t growling at her; it wasn’t attacking her. It was as if giving a command to its owner, saying, I found her.

And suddenly there was Ethan.

She burst into tears. She would have thrown her arms around him, but her shoulder was killing her. He crouched at her side and stroked her face gently.

“It’s all right. You’re safe.”

He pulled her hand off her shoulder. “Let me take a look.” Then he nodded. “It could be much worse.” He eased her into a sitting position and checked the back of her shoulder. “It went through, and that’s good.”

She shook her head. “I don’t know how you can think that’s good. I’ve been shot.”

“Yes, you have,” he said and, taking out his pocketknife, dug something out of the dirt behind her. Then he exchanged the knife for a sheet of paper from his notepad in his pocket and pulled up the slug.

She stared at it. “I really was shot?” she said in disbelief. It was one thing to assume she’d been shot; it was another thing to see the proof in his hand. She glanced around. “How do you know it’s safe? Is he gone?”

“He’s gone,” Ethan said.

“Gone? I heard more shooting.”

Ethan nodded. “He tried to countermand the dog. This, by the way, is Bella.”

She looked at the shepherd, still in her position, not having been released from the command given. “Is she safe?” Cinn asked tentatively. “She’s pretty ferocious looking.”

“The big collar doesn’t help, but it does give her name,” he said. He turned to Bella and gave her a hand signal and said, “Relax.”

Bella, her tail wagging, leaned over and sniffed Cinn. She reached up a tentative hand. Bella placed her nose in her hand and nudged it.

Cinn smiled and scratched Bella’s head. “Did she find me?”

“Yes, she did. Not that you would have been hard to find with the other dogs here.”

Both her dogs milled around Bella. The three were getting to know each other. Bella showed no signs of aggression. “How did you know she was the one you should bring?” Cinn asked, dazed. “That was taking a hell of a chance.”

“The only chance I took was if your shooter might have had better control over Bella. But I don’t think she has any loyalty to the abusive men who kept her before.”

“How sad is that?” Cinn murmured. “You didn’t explain what the shots were I heard.”

“He tried to shoot her,” Ethan said quietly. “But Bella dodged and managed to miss the bullets, and, when he realized she was still coming after him, and then he saw me too, he turned the gun on himself.”

“What?” Her jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

Grim-faced, Ethan nodded. “I’m serious. We need to get the cops here now, before anybody else finds out what’s happened.”

He helped her stand, then led her to a large rock to sit down. He called Bella over and ordered her to guard. She stood, facing out to the world around her, her attention focused around them.

Cinn, who had a lot of experience with dogs, but none with actual working dogs of this nature, watched in amazement as Bella appeared to keep a close eye on everything going on. “What happens if I get up and walk away?”

Ethan chuckled. “Well, I guess we’ll find out if you try it, won’t we?”

She frowned up at him. “That’s not funny.”

But he was already calling somebody on his phone.

“Who are you calling?”

“The team I joined on the raid this morning.”

He walked away a few steps to have his conversation. She heard bits and pieces, enough to know he was explaining the circumstances.

She reached down to pet her beautiful dogs, giving them each a cuddle. They were not Bella by any means. They were nervous and worried and staying very close. Yet they weren’t intimidated by Bella. On the contrary, they were doing their best to make friends. But Bella would have nothing to do with it. She was on guard, and the dogs were completely not there as far as she was concerned. It was fascinating to watch. And, if Cinn hadn’t been in so much damn pain, she’d have appreciated it a whole lot more.

When Ethan turned to look at her, putting away his phone, she asked, “How long?”

“He figures about thirty minutes. He’ll get here faster if he can. He wanted to know if you wanted an ambulance.”

She shook her head. “Hell no.”

“You still have to go to the hospital and get stitched up.” He stood with his legs slightly apart, his hands fisted on his hips, as if ready for a fight.

She nodded. “I know. But no reason you can’t drive me there.” She glanced at her shoulder and said, “Hell, I can probably drive myself. It’s my left shoulder.”

“No, you’re not driving yourself,” he stated firmly. “Of course I can drive you. I told him that you wouldn’t want an ambulance because you’d try to drive yourself.”

She went quiet. “You don’t know me well enough to be sure I’d react that way,” she said but realized she was arguing futilely over nothing. The pain had kicked in heavily.

He picked up her water bottle and handed it to her. When she tried to unscrew the top, he pulled it back, unscrewed the top for her and held it out again.

She took a long drink. “That feels better,” she whispered. “You don’t know just how rough things are until you realize you’re arguing over nothing, and it’s all you can do to sit upright.”

He crouched at her side and checked her over. “Did you hit your head when you went down?” he asked, his fingers gently searching her temple and the back of her head.

“No,” she said, closing her eyes and leaning into the gentle massage. “But that does feel good.”

His fingers deepened the pressure slightly, moving down her neck, then to her good shoulder and back. “If that’s the only wound, we’ll put this down to pain and shock,” he said. “Not to mention you were probably running flat-out before you were struck, so you’re dealing with exertion and probably a lack of water at the same time.”

On that note, she drank most of the rest of her bottle, then handed it back to him. “I’m worried about the dogs too.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to leave them alone when I go to the hospital.”

“You leave them alone all the time, don’t you?”

“I do, but they’re pretty upset right now.” She turned to look at her three-legged dog. He lay right beside Bella. She smiled. “It’s almost as if he’s decided Bella will protect him too.”

“Animals know who and what they all are. They won’t argue with Bella.”

“But you haven’t explained how you knew Bella was safe to bring.”

“I was out back working with them, and, when I issued orders, Bella followed them instantly. She hasn’t been at that place very long, and, wherever she came from, she was well trained. A couple commands she didn’t know because they’re very unique to the military work I did. But she’s certainly been trained as a guard dog. And as an attack dog.”

At the word attack, Bella slipped him a half look, and her ears went up.

He smiled and said, “No, Bella, just guard.”

She relaxed but continued to stare out around the area, her head moving from side to side ever-so-slowly, as if she were keeping up a full 180-degree search. At one point, she got up and walked around several times, looking out into the trees around them.

“Is she not happy about the trees?”

“She’s aware of the body over there.”

At that reminder, Cinn winced. “Right.”

“And death does affect the animals.”

“Maybe, but in this case, he tried to kill her too.”

He pointed to Bella’s shoulder, where it had a bit of a burn mark. Cinn hadn’t even seen it. She’d been so focused on her own pain. She gasped and leaned forward. “He almost did kill her,” she exclaimed.

“Well, he tried. But he missed, and, when she got around behind him, and he saw me coming at him too, I think he realized he wouldn’t have much of a hope. Before she got him, he decided to take the easy way out.”

“Does that mean they’ve used these dogs to kill people?”

Silence was his only reply.

She turned to look up at him. “Seriously?”

His face was grim. “It’s a possibility.”

“That’s not the dog’s fault though,” she said. “They can’t put her down because of that.”

“I don’t know that we can prove that’s what those guys did. But he certainly took an easy way out, and he took it fast.”

“You should find out who he is,” she urged. “Before the cops get here.”

He looked at her in surprise.

She shrugged. “I don’t know how much the police will tell us after the fact.”

“Glad to know we both think alike.”

Her thoughts still fuzzy, she gazed up at him in confusion. “How is that?”

“Because I already checked. His name is Gary Foster.”

She frowned, rattling through her brain to see if that name meant anything, but then she shook her head. “I don’t know him.”

“Neither do I,” he said, “but I have a photo of his driver’s license and credit cards.”

“Do you have anybody who can track down who he is?”

He shrugged, but, in a cheerful voice, he said, “Maybe.”

She’d take that to mean a definite yes. She smiled. “This is something you know how to handle, don’t you?”

“Wherever there are assholes in the world, there needs to be people who protect the innocent from them. I’ve always been one of the protectors.” He gave her a gentle smile.

She nodded. “I figured as much. I thought at first maybe you were a new recruit for Levi’s team. But now, you know something? I think you need to have your own team. A canine team.”

He studied her face in surprise. “I’m beginning to think so too. And fits in with the rest of today.”

“Why is that?” she asked.

In the distance she could hear sirens. She sure hoped they were for them. She didn’t want to deal with the cops, but she really wanted to go to the hospital, if only to get some pain meds, to get her shoulder taken care of and then to get back home to bed, where she planned on staying for a hell of a long time.

“I told the police team I was with today at the drug-manufacturing property that’s what I was looking to do.”

When his words sank in, she stared at him in astonishment. “Wow. Still, if you can make Bella do what Bella’s doing, I think there’d be all kinds of work for you.”

“It’s not as if I’ll be running down killers,” he said, “but, if Bella has other training, … or I can enhance her existing training—for all the dogs, not just her—then we could work for many agencies.”

“I think there’ll always be work for well-trained dogs.”

“I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

Ethan wasn’t ready to make any plans yet. In the distance he could hear sirens and other vehicles approaching. He smiled down at her and said, “The cavalry is coming.”

Instead of looking pleased, she’d winced. “I’d rather go straight home.”

He studied the level of pain evident on her face. “We’ll get you out of here as soon as possible.”

“No ambulance though,” she warned.

“I told you that I’d drive you,” he said quietly. “But I may have to deal with the police first.”

“So that’s the trade-off,” she said quietly.

He crouched in front of her. “You hang in there.” He could see her pain-fogged gaze deepening. Worried, he said, “Forget it. I’ll tell the cops I have to take you to the hospital first. Then I’ll come back and talk to them.”

She gave a strangled laugh. “It’s not that bad. Besides, the cops won’t let you leave the crime scene.”

“Well, they won’t leave you here either,” he warned. “So it’s me or the ambulance.”

Suddenly Bella growled, a sound that raised the hairs on the back of Cinn’s neck.

“Not quite,” a stranger called over.

Ethan spun, squatting low, until he saw Flynn standing a safe distance away.

Ethan glanced at Cinn.

She nodded. “I sent out a distress call to him too.”

Slowly Ethan rose on his feet, standing protectively at Cinn’s side. “Bella, stand down.”

The dog relaxed, but her gaze never left Flynn.

Flynn nodded and approached. “The cops are here. We’ll let them talk to her, and then I’ll take her to the hospital.”

Ethan was of two minds, but she needed to go to the hospital, and he needed to stay here with the cops. He glanced again at her, but she was smiling up at Flynn.

“Thank you. I’d love the assistance.” She reached up with her good arm to Flynn. He carefully helped her to stand on her feet, staying right beside her in case she fell.

Ethan watched the color drain from her face with the movement. But he deliberately didn’t take a step closer. Independence was fine, but it was also a good gauge to see a person’s will to live. And, in her case, she was doing just fine. He nodded at Flynn and said, “If you don’t mind …”

Flynn gave a clipped nod. “I know Cinn well. She’ll be fine with Anna and me.”

Ethan realized he was not being butted out but being reassured that Cinn would be okay. And then it didn’t matter how reassuring Flynn was because they were suddenly surrounded by police. Bella didn’t like being crowded. She growled and moved back slightly.

Two of the men appeared to know Flynn. But nobody knew Ethan. They weren’t the cops he’d worked with earlier, so they must have called a detachment closer to the scene. He stayed quiet as discussions about what happened went on. And finally the men turned to him. He stared back, his gaze flat.

One of the men frowned at him. “Where’s the dog?”

He pointed twenty feet off, where Bella still lay on his command.

“How dangerous is she?”

“In the wrong hands she’s a killer,” he said calmly. “In the right hands she’s a savior.”

The officers didn’t like hearing that.

Flynn spoke up, “It’s like anything.” His voice was quiet but authoritative. “Dogs and guns are both weapons if they are used that way. The fact of the matter is, she’s been standing guard over Cinn to make sure nobody else comes after her. And that is priceless.”

Ethan wasn’t so sure that was the case, but he had brought Bella on purpose. He looked at the leader of the police group and said, “I was working with law enforcement out of Houston earlier today.” He mentioned Sergeant Mendelsson’s name. Several men nodded. “You can verify with him that I’m the real deal.”

The commander motioned to one of the men. He stepped back and pulled out his phone. “I’m calling to confirm Ethan Nebberly’s identity.”

Ethan stood, his stance casual but alert, his arms crossed over his chest, but he would go from zero to sixty in two seconds flat if he had to. In the meantime, he glanced at Bella. Her ears were up, her shoulders hunched, and, though she was in a lie-down position, she watched every move Ethan made. He had to remind himself that she was watching his hand signals. If he made the wrong one, there could be a disaster. He looked at the commander and said, “We can stand here and wait for confirmation, or I can show you the body, and we can go from there.”

“What body?” the commander asked sharply.

Ethan motioned at Cinn. “The man who shot her.”

“Did you kill him?”

Ethan shook his head. “I didn’t have to. The dog went after him. He tried to countermand my orders on the dog. When she wouldn’t listen to him, he turned the gun on himself.”

The officers studied Ethan, as if trying to figure that out. Ethan shrugged and waited. It didn’t matter to him what they said. If they were any good at their jobs, the evidence would prove his story to be true. He looked over at Cinn and said, “I’ll see you at the hospital in a bit.”

The men looked at her, and the commander asked, “Are you okay to go on your own? Do you need an ambulance?”

She took several steps with Flynn beside her all the way. “I’m heading there now. I’m ambulatory, so no need to waste anybody else’s time.”

The commander said, “I’ll meet you at the hospital later then. I need your statement.”

“I can tell you right now. I was hunted down, shot and stayed flat. I called for help. Both these men came to my assistance. Ethan arrived a good forty minutes ahead of Flynn. Ethan went after the shooter. Just as he said, I could see them in the trees, and then there were gunshots. Once Ethan knew I was no longer in danger, he came to me. But now I have to admit, I’m feeling pretty shitty. So if you’ll excuse me …” She gave everyone a wan smile and then grabbed Flynn’s forearm.

Gently he led her away from the group.

Ethan watched them go.

When she was a good ten to twenty feet away, she turned to look back at him and whispered, “I’m fine.”

Seeing that, hearing her voice, something inside him relaxed. He turned to look at the policemen and said, “Shall we? You may want to mark this spot,” he added, pulling the paper-wrapped slug from his pocket, “where I found this.”

One of the officer’s had gone back to the police cars and arrived now with cones and markers. They staked out the spot where Cinn had been shot.

Ethan pointed where his vehicle was parked up on the other side of the tree line on the highway. “You can walk up there and confirm that’s my vehicle. I headed here from that spot right into the tree line. Now I’ll take you where the body is.”

He stepped forward and snapped his finger, bringing Bella to his side. He reached down a hand, and she nudged his fingers with her nose. Gently he stroked her forehead. He wondered at anybody who could abuse such a beautiful, obedient, well-trained animal who was just looking for somebody to love.

The commander stepped up beside Ethan, but his gaze was on Bella. “The sergeant confirmed your identity. He also said that you subdued three dogs, even though the officers were all ready to shoot them, and that you appeared to have good control over them.”

“It’s what I do,” he said simply. “Over eight years in the military working with dogs. I wasn’t about to let them be shot just because they had shitty owners.”

The commander fell silent at that. “We do the best we can,” he said, “but, if we can’t get a dog to not attack us …” and he left his words hanging.

Ethan nodded. “Understood. But I was there. And Bella, as you can see, although I didn’t train her, is extremely obedient.”

“Don’t different trainers have different commands?”

“Yes, but some commands are universal. I don’t know all she can do yet,” he admitted. “I’m hoping to find out more about her and the others. She is by far the most amiable. I have the other two dogs back at my place. Plus an injured one currently at the vet that was badly abused and shot.”

The sergeant whistled. “Asshats.”

Ethan agreed, but he had a lot harsher words for them.

It took another few minutes to walk into the trees. He reached down, caught Bella’s attention and ordered her to find the man who shot himself, then unhooked her leash. Bella bounded forward. She headed farther into the trees, stopped for a moment, took a slight adjustment in her direction and went left. Ethan followed.

The commander asked, “How can you be sure she’s not tracking a squirrel?”

“I can’t,” he said cheerfully. “But she has no love lost for that man. She went after him instinctively and with way too much eagerness.”

“You think he abused her?”

“Abused her or possibly had a hand in training her. But there was no love in the training. If anything, what I saw when she went after him was hate.”

“Were you capable of calling her off?”

Ethan nodded. “It was close, but, yes, she did finally come at my command. But, when the guy saw me and the dog working together, and he realized he couldn’t get Bella to do what he wanted her to do, he turned the gun on himself.”

“But there was no reason for him to kill himself. He could have just shot you and Bella instead.”

Ethan gave a hard laugh. “I can’t be killed quite so easily as that.”

Soon they were upon the body. Ethan stood at the perimeter and waited while the cops approached. The gun was still in the man’s hand, but there was no way to mistake that he was dead. He’d blown the back of his head open.

Bella sat a good ten feet from the body, her gaze locked on it.

Ethan called her to him. “Good girl. Come here, Bella.”

She trotted toward him and positioned herself behind his right leg.

The commander said, “Could she have killed him?”

“Yes, she definitely could have. I’m not sure she wasn’t going to. I think he preferred a bullet over the dog.”

“But you said you called her back, correct?” the commander asked. “We can’t have killer dogs running around loose.”

“Killer dogs, in this case, would be dogs trained to kill,” he said gently. “And Bella is not running around loose. As you can see, the victim has no dog bite marks. I wouldn’t let her attack him, but he didn’t know that. He had already panicked, trying to get the gun into position before she reached him. As it was, she listened to my command just before she got to him.”

The men looked at the body, reassured no bite marks were on the man himself. They relaxed. With her at his side, Ethan stepped back another few feet, making more room for the men to maneuver.

“We’ll have to take your statement,” the commander said, “and verify what you say is exactly what you did.”

Ethan didn’t say anything.

“Do you live around here?” one of the officers asked.

Ethan shook his head. “No. I’m renting a property close by. It belongs to Gunner Redding.”

At Gunner’s name, all the officers looked up.

“You know Gunner?”

He gave a slow nod. “And Flynn and Levi and Stone and Logan …” He named a bunch of the other men who lived locally. He could see the relief on the commander’s face. He understood. It was one thing to have a complete stranger tell you a story, but quite another thing entirely to tell a story like this and have a half-dozen good men to back him up. If they gave Ethan a good reference, chances were this would go a lot easier. “Feel free to call Gunner if you want.”

“And the others?”

He inclined his head. “Of course.”

At that, the men turned and studied the dead body, while one of them stepped back and made phone calls.

Ethan shoved his hands into his pockets. “Are you okay if I leave now?”

“Where are you going?”

“Home to check on the animals. I want to drop off Bella there, then go to the hospital.”

The commander nodded. “We want your cell phone number and the address where you’re staying.”

Ethan pulled out a notepad, quickly wrote down his cell phone number, the address where he was staying, and then underneath he added Gunner’s name and phone number. He tore off the page and handed it to the sergeant.

The man noted the numbers, folded up the sheet of paper and placed it in his pocket. “We’ll be down at the hospital soon too.” Then he stopped, turned to one of the men at his side and said, “Daniel, you go with him.”

Daniel looked at him in surprise. “You mean, meet him at the hospital?”

The commander shook his head. “Go with him back to his place, check out the address, see what state the dogs are in and then head to the hospital with him.”

That made Ethan respect the commander all the more. He was making it clear he didn’t trust Ethan, but, at the same time, the commander was willing to give Ethan a chance. He’d contact Gunner and probably Levi, question them whether they knew who Ethan was and what kind of man he was, but the commander was also very concerned about the dogs, whether that was because he didn’t want them loose and killing everybody else around them or he was concerned for the dogs’ sakes.

Daniel pushed his hat back on his head, studied the commander’s face for a moment, then gave a shrug and said to Ethan, “Lead the way.”

With Bella at his side, Ethan walked back to his vehicle. “Do you have a cruiser with you?”

Daniel nodded. “But I came with somebody else, so they can take it back.”

Ethan led Bella into the truck bed, opened the passenger side for Daniel and said, “Hop in then.” He went around to the driver’s side, got in and headed up the road.