Valiant Defender

by Shirlee McCoy

  A dog barked, the sound muted but clearly audible.

  Not Roscoe. The sound had come from the other side of the boulder. If Justin hadn’t been so close to the cave, he’d have radioed Gretchen to tell her that they might have located the dogs.

  Quinn growled, his hackles raised, his muscles tense.

  Down, Justin signaled, and the dog immediately dropped to his stomach.

  Crawl, Justin signaled again, and Quinn inched along on his stomach until they reached the edge of the boulder.

  This was it. They had to breach the cave, and they had to do it before Rusty and anyone he might be with could react.

  Justin pulled his firearm, met Quinn’s eyes. The dog was staring at him. Eager. Ready.

  One quick signal, and the dog was off, bounding into the cave, teeth bared and growling.

  Justin ran in behind him, keeping low and close to the rock face, the sound of a man’s scream filling his ears.

  * * *

  Someone was screaming. A man.

  Gretchen could hear him over the sound of Quinn’s growls and barks. Not Justin. It had to be Rusty. She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t think it through. She knew when it was time to hold back, and she knew when it was time to move in.

  “Stay here.” She tossed the words at Ava as she sprinted to the boulders, rounded them and found the cave. It was deep, but well lit by a lantern. She stopped short when she saw the scene before her.

  Justin kneeling over Rusty Morton, hiking his arms up behind his back and slapping on cuffs. Quinn right beside them, growling, his jaws snapping. Bags of dog food on the ground, one of them spilling kibble across the dirt. Food and water dishes. And three large German shepherds chained to stakes that had been hammered into the ground.

  “Do you need help, Captain?” she asked, moving toward him, her focus on Rusty.

  The trainer wasn’t even trying to fight. He lay with his cheek pressed to the ground, his body lax. It seemed almost as if he were glad to have finally been found.

  “No. I’m good.” Justin pulled Rusty to his feet. “Good to see you again, Rusty. We’ve been worried about you,” he remarked, pushing him into a chair.

  “Worried about the dogs, you mean,” Rusty said quietly. He looked...broken. His head down, his hair disheveled.

  “We’ve been worried about you, too. It isn’t like you to be AWOL. Want to tell me what’s going on?” Justin asked calmly.

  “I made a mistake. I was trying to fix it.”

  “By keeping these dogs in a cave?” Justin asked.

  “By not selling them to Olio.”

  “So, you were responsible for Patriot being used by the crime organization,” Gretchen said, and Rusty finally looked up. He met her eyes, and she didn’t see any anger or hatred in his gaze. Just remorse.

  “Yes, and I regretted it almost immediately. I love these dogs. I just wasn’t thinking clearly. An Olio operative had been contacting me for months, offering me major dollars to grab one of the dogs and hand it over. When I realized someone had freed the dogs, it seemed like a perfect opportunity to get some extra cash.” He swallowed hard, his skin pale and pasty, his eyes shadowed.

  “And you brought them here?” Justin prodded.

  “No. I put them in my van and drove off base. A friend of mine was looking after them while I worked out the details of their sale. He lives out in the country but has a nice fenced yard and experience with dogs. I went and checked on them every few days.” He shrugged.

  “Does your friend happen to work for Olio?” Justin asked.

  Rusty hesitated.

  “You may as well tell us,” Gretchen said. “Eventually, it’s all going to come out, and it’ll be better for you if we don’t have to work too hard to make that happen.”

  “Yes. We grew up next door to each other, and we’ve been friends for years. He knows what I do on base, and he was the one who suggested to the crime ring that military dogs would be perfect guards for drug and illegal weapon caches.”

  “So, he’s your contact with Olio?” Justin asked.

  “Yes. When I changed my mind about selling the rest of the dogs, I went out to his place and got the dogs who were still there. Patriot had already been sold. Olio’s head honcho wanted to see how effective he was before he paid for the other dogs.”

  “That worked out well for you,” Justin said. “It would have been difficult to get them back to base if they were already in Olio’s hands.”

  “I know, and I can’t tell you how much I regret what I did, but it wasn’t criminal. It wasn’t. I found a few stray dogs and I sold them. There’s no crime in that.”

  “You knew they belonged to the US Air Force,” Gretchen said, scratching the muzzle of the closest German shepherd. He was large and handsome, his eyes bright and alert. He’d obviously been well taken care of.

  “I made a mistake. That doesn’t make me a criminal, and it doesn’t mean I should go to jail.”

  “I think the court will have something to say about that,” FBI Special Agent Oliver Davison said as he walked into the cave, Ava right behind him with Roscoe.

  “I can’t believe it,” Ava breathed, hurrying across the room and looking at the shepherds. “They’re here. All of them.”

  “We’ll have to check the microchips to be sure of that,” Justin said. “But it does look like these are the missing shepherds.”

  He crouched near the one Gretchen was petting. “This is Scout. I’d know him anywhere.”

  The dog licked his cheek, and Gretchen smiled. “I guess he knows you, too.”

  “We do go way back, don’t we, buddy?” He scratched the dog behind his ears and stood. “Gretchen, can you radio Dispatch? Have someone let Westley know that we have the dogs. He may want to come in and help transport them out. Or he can meet us back at the kennel.”

  “Sure.” After she’d done so, she walked deeper into the cave. She could hear Oliver interrogating Rusty and the trainer giving up his friend’s name and contact information.

  But that wasn’t all she wanted to hear. She felt a sense of failure, of frustration because there was still a loose thread that needed to be tied.

  “You okay?” Justin asked, falling into step beside her. Quinn was lying on the ground, staring at Rusty as if he’d like to make a meal of him. He didn’t seem aware of the other dogs, although she was certain he’d noticed them. His focus was on the cuffed man, and she knew he’d continue to watch Rusty until he was told to back off.

  “I’m fine. I’m just wondering what else Rusty is hiding in here.”

  “Drugs, you mean? Firearms? Because I believe his story. I think he took an opportunity and regretted it. I don’t think he has anything to do with Olio’s criminal operations.”

  “I agree. I was thinking more along the lines of roses or notes. Something that the Red Rose Killer uses.” She purposely said it loud enough for Rusty to hear. The team had been leaning toward him being an opportunistic criminal, but it was still possible he’d been in league with Boyd Sullivan. The cave would certainly make a great hiding place for the serial killer.

  “I had nothing to do with Boyd Sullivan’s crime spree,” he yelled, jumping to his feet.

  Quinn growled in response, the sound terrifying enough to send a chill up Gretchen’s spine.

  “Really?” she asked as he dropped back into his seat, his focus on the dog. “Because you benefited a lot from his crimes. How much were you paid for Patriot? A couple thousand dollars?”

  “Ten thousand,” he muttered. “But I would never hurt anyone.”

  “You hurt the team when you took those dogs,” she said.

  “I would never physically hurt someone,” he corrected. “I didn’t even have it in me to steal a dog. I waited until they were already loose, and then I grabbed them, because I figured a few dogs missing out of hundreds wasn’t
going to be a big deal.”

  “You were wrong about that,” Ava said, scratching Roscoe behind his floppy ears. “Our dogs are family. I thought you understood that.”

  “I did. I do. But I had gambling debts to pay.” He swallowed hard. “I realized as soon as I made the deal that I shouldn’t have. That’s why I brought these dogs here last month. I was trying to figure out a way to get them back to the kennel without having them traced to me.”

  “You should have asked for help,” Justin said. “There isn’t a person on the K-9 team who wouldn’t have been willing to give it.”

  “I’m sorry. I really am.”

  Gretchen didn’t want to, but she believed him.

  As disappointing as it was, they’d found the missing dogs, but they were no closer to finding the Red Rose Killer.

  She ran a hand over her damp hair. He should have been caught months ago. Canyon Air Force Base had one of the best Security Forces in the nation. The K-9 team was top tier. The men and women who worked there were driven by the need for justice.

  And God was on their side, right?

  Surely, He wanted Sullivan caught as much as they did.

  So, why the wait?

  Why the months of chasing leads and hitting dead ends, of trying desperately to stop a killer, only to find another victim?

  There’d been too many lives lost.

  Too many people hurt.

  But God was good. He was love. He was righteousness.

  And yet evil still existed in the world.

  She strode to the mouth of the cave and stepped outside, desperate for fresh air. She let the rain fall down her cheeks like tears.

  When your job meant constantly looking for criminals, sometimes it was hard to see the good in the world. Sometimes, it was difficult to see God’s work going on around you.

  She acknowledged that and her own jaded viewpoint.

  There were plenty of people who walked through life without ever coming up against someone like Boyd Sullivan. There were wonderful things happening every day. Even during the most difficult trials, joy could be found.

  She and Henry had shared a lot of sweet and funny moments during his cancer treatment, and if he’d lived, he’d probably say the tough times had strengthened his faith. He’d been the kind of person who’d focused on the positive, and she wanted to be like that, too. Not just to honor his memory, but to honor God.

  No matter what, she believed He was there, and that the way she moved through the world would lead people toward Him or away.

  She walked past the boulders and away from the lantern light. In the distance, a dog barked. The K-9 trainers and their dogs must be on the way. Probably with extra hands to help bring the German shepherds out of the woods.

  It would be good to have them back where they belonged.

  Even with Boyd still free, the returned dogs would raise morale and give the team something to celebrate.

  She’d focus on that and on doing everything she could to make sure they found Boyd before he struck again.

  “Are you okay?” Justin asked, walking around the bolder and heading toward her. His hair was glossy with rain, his expression hidden by the darkness.

  “I just needed some air.”

  “You were hoping we’d find Boyd here.”

  “Weren’t you?”

  “Yes, but not finding him isn’t the end of the road. Eventually, he’ll make a mistake, and we’ll be there when he does.”

  “Hopefully, he’ll do it before someone else is hurt.”

  “It’s unlikely anyone will. He’s after me, Gretchen. He’s made that very clear.”

  “That’s what I’m worried about.”

  For a moment, he was silent. Then he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers lingering against her skin. His eyes gleamed in the darkness, the softness in them making her throat tight.

  “What?” she said, stepping back because she was afraid she might step forward. Into his space. Into his arms.

  “You’re worried about me,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

  “Of course I am, and it’s not funny.”

  “I’m not laughing.”

  “You’re amused,” she accused.

  “I’m...touched.”

  “Don’t be. I’m always concerned about the people I work with.” She just happened to be a little more...invested in Justin.

  They’d worked countless hours together.

  They’d shared stories and told jokes and treated each other to coffee when the days were long. They’d made wedding favors, and she’d looked in his eyes, and she’d felt things she hadn’t felt in years. Hope. Excitement. Attraction.

  “You don’t have to worry, Gretchen. I’m not planning on letting Boyd win,” he said.

  “It’s not your plans I’m worried about. It’s Boyd’s. Maybe even God’s. It’s not like we know what He has in store.”

  “‘All things work together for good to them that love God,’” he replied. “Corbin used to quote that all the time. I can’t remember the chapter and verse, but it seems appropriate to the situation.”

  “It’s easy to quote Scripture. It’s not always easy to believe the words.”

  “I know.” He put his hands on her shoulders, and she could feel the weight of his palms, the strength of his fingers. She could feel his warmth seeping through her soaked jacket, and for a moment, she felt like she’d finally found that sweet place called home. The one she missed so much when she was away from her family. The one she’d felt like she’d lost when Henry died.

  She would have stepped away, but he was studying her face, his eyes gleaming in the darkness, and she wasn’t sure what he was looking for, wasn’t sure if she wanted him to find it.

  “We’ve both been hurt, we’ve both lost, we’ve both struggled to hold on to our faith,” he said as if he’d read that in her face. As if, somehow, he had looked in her eyes and seen all the questions and worries she hid from the world. “And we’re both standing here, knowing we might just have found something we weren’t even looking for. That’s a scary thing. Don’t think I don’t know it and feel it. Don’t think I’m not just as worried about it as you are.”

  “We were talking about Boyd,” she pointed out, her voice raspy with emotion. She’d always been a straight shooter, quick to speak her mind. Right now, though, she couldn’t make herself agree. Even though everything he’d said was true.

  “We were also talking about faith and God’s plan. The way I see things, it all ties together.” He wiped rain from her cheeks, and she could see his smile through the darkness. “So, how about we spend less time worrying and more time trusting that things will be okay?”

  She nodded, because she was afraid to speak. Afraid that the emotion in her voice would give away all her fear and anxiety and hope and excitement.

  “Good,” he said, leaning down so that they were eye to eye. She could feel his breath fanning her face, see the tenderness in his expression.

  When he kissed her, it felt right. Like sunrise after the darkest night. Like the first rays of light after a storm.

  When he broke away, she was breathless, her hands clutching his arms.

  “Justin—” she began.

  “Let’s not ruin the moment by overthinking it, okay?” he said gently.

  “I just don’t want to have my heart broken again,” she admitted.

  “I would never break your heart,” he promised.

  “Henry didn’t plan to, either,” she said, her voice raw and hot with emotion.

  A quiet click broke through the sound of rain splattering on leaves and splashing on the ground.

  Gretchen recognized it immediately. Pulling her gun from the holster, she swung in the direction of the sound.

  She didn’t have a chance to fire
.

  Justin was on her, tackling her to the ground as he fired into the trees.

  TEN

  Justin was on his feet before the sound of gunfire faded to silence, pulling Gretchen to her feet, asking if she was okay. Listening to the crash of someone fleeing through the woods.

  Not someone.

  Boyd. He knew that the same way he knew that the click of the safety being released was another game. Sullivan might have been average in basic training, but he’d been an ace at target practice. If he’d been willing to do the work, he’d have made an excellent sharpshooter. Even if his skills were rusty, he’d have been able to hit a target.

  It wasn’t like Justin and Gretchen had been on the move. They’d been sitting ducks, waiting for the bullets to fly.

  But Boyd hadn’t taken the shot.

  He probably had a list of offenses that had been committed against him, and he wanted to explain every one of them before he ended things. He wouldn’t be happy to kill someone from a distance. He wanted to take the shot close-up. He fed off the fear of others.

  Justin fed off locking people like him away.

  “That was close,” Gretchen said, straightening her pack. Her voice was shaky, but he didn’t think that was because of Boyd.

  The kiss had upset her.

  Because she didn’t want her heart broken again.

  That was what she’d said, and he’d planned to ask if she were willing to risk it, anyway. Now wasn’t the time, though. Boyd was on the move, and he planned to go after him.

  “Not as close as he’d have liked,” he replied, unhooking Quinn’s leash. The dog lunged toward the woods, straining against the hold Justin had on his collar.

  “Is everyone okay?” Oliver called, rushing out of the cave, Ava and Roscoe behind him.

  “Fine. Quinn and I are going after him.” Justin released the collar, snapping the command that freed Quinn to do what he did best.

  The dog took off, racing into the woods, barking wildly.

  More dogs took up the cry. The team was closing in, and he’d have plenty of backup if he needed it, but Justin wasn’t going to wait around to give instructions. He set off into the woods.