by Mark Nolan
“How do you know this? Do you two have a history?”
“Yes. He hates me, but I’m too busy to hate him back. My advice is to consult a good lawyer.”
“I got a call from the office of Bart Bartholomew, attorney at law. A woman named Moon said you referred him to me.”
“Yes, I did. I was in his office when Arnold called me about the story. Bart listened in on the call and took notes.”
“What would Bart’s fees cost me?”
“Some serious cash, but he’s one of the best lawyers in town.”
“I’ll think it over. Maybe Bart could just call the president of the media company and have a talk about Arnold.”
“Good idea. He could say he’s preparing to sue, but he’d rather not—the same way Jennifer Lawrence did with Google.”
Lauren locked eyes with him. “Forget all that for now. My kids are my main concern, and Ben has stopped talking altogether. I hope your sister gets here soon. How far away is her psychiatry clinic?”
“Nicole should be here any minute. Meanwhile, Ben seems to be fascinated with Cody. Let’s go say hello and see if he responds.”
Chapter 30
They went into the living room. Chrissy was talking to Ben, but, as Lauren had said, he wasn’t answering, just watching a cartoon.
Jake stood directly in front of Ben and blocked his view of the TV. “Hey, Ben, how are you doing, buddy?”
Ben looked at Jake and held up his arms.
“Do you want me to pick you up?” Jake said.
Ben nodded.
Jake looked at Lauren. She nodded too.
Jake got down on one knee. Ben threw his arms around Jake’s neck. Jake gave him a hug, picked him up and held him in the crook of his arm. Jake wondered if this was what it would be like if he was a father. He thought of his own parents. Most of their gray hairs were caused by him. What would they say in this situation?
“I’m here because I wanted to ask you a favor, Ben. It’s for Cody. He might need you to pet him on the back, because he got scared today when he found you and Chrissy.”
Ben looked at Cody. “He … did?”
Jake nodded. “Sure. Cody was brave, but it’s perfectly normal to be brave and scared at the same time. I was scared too.”
“You were?”
“Yeah, we all were. Isn’t that right, Chrissy?”
Chrissy nodded in understanding, wise beyond her years. “I was really scared, even more than Ben.”
Ben looked at her in surprise.
“And that’s okay, we got tough and we got through it,” Jake said. “That’s what courage is—you’re scared, but you keep going anyway.”
“Is that what Cody did?” Ben asked.
“That’s exactly what he did, and what you did too. Do you think you could sit on the couch and hold Cody on your lap and pet him for a while? That would help him feel safe and strong.”
“Okay.”
Jake set Ben down on the couch next to Chrissy. He gave a command, and Cody came over and put his head on the boy’s lap. Ben petted Cody, while Lauren watched them.
“Cody’s going to get up on the couch and lay on your lap now,” Jake said. He gave a command and Cody climbed up and lay prone across the two kids’ laps. He wagged his tail and shook his head so his ears flopped. Ben smiled for the first time since he’d been rescued.
Lauren pressed her wet eyes against the sleeve of her blouse and took deep breaths.
“I wish we had a dog like Cody,” Ben said. “Mommy, can Jake stay for dinner?”
Lauren received a call and then spoke to Jake. “The security people said your sister has arrived.”
Terrell escorted Nicole into the room and she gave Jake a hug.
“Nicole, this is Lauren Stephens,” Jake said. “Lauren, this is my sister, Nicole Wolfe.”
Lauren shook Nicole’s hand and studied her face. “My goodness, you look so much like Jake.”
Jake shook his head. “Nah, she got the looks and the brains. I got the gift for not knowing when to keep my big mouth shut.”
Terrell nodded. “I can attest to that.”
Nicole observed the kids and whispered, “How are they doing?”
“Ben was in shock, but Cody’s helping him,” Lauren said.
Nicole watched both kids happily petting Cody. “If your children respond well to Cody, why not get a dog like him? You could afford a trained service dog.”
“I’ll consider that. Jake, can you help us get the right dog?”
“The woman I’m dating is a veterinarian and knows people at the service dog organizations. There are waiting lists, but I’d suggest you pay the fees for several people who can barely afford a dog. That would help a lot of people, and shorten the list.”
“My company donates to many local charitable organizations. I’d be happy to sponsor a dozen families that need a dog, if it moves our dog up the list for Ben and Chrissy.”
Nicole raised her eyebrows. “You think big. You should check out some of the local service dog organizations.”
“When I was growing up my parents didn’t allow any pets. I had no idea what a big part of life a dog can be, but I’m starting to learn,” Lauren said.
Jake went over to Ben and Chrissy. “Cody is a working dog, so he has to get back to work now. My sister, Nicole, wants to sit with you and talk about how brave you were today.”
Jake gave a command and Cody got off the couch and followed him to the door.
Lauren motioned for Jake to wait for her and she followed him into the hallway. “You promised to find the pinhole camera in my bedroom. Have you done it yet?”
“No, but I’ll take care of it for you right now.”
“Thank you. One other thing, Ben asked if you and Cody could have dinner with us.”
“I’d like to, and I’ll try to, but please don’t make any promises to the kids that I might not be able to keep.”
“All right, but can you please try your best to be here?”
“If we can make it, we will.”
Cody barked once at Lauren. She looked at him, and a surprised look came over her face when she nodded in reply to him, as if she and the animal had an agreement.
Jake noticed it and smiled. He tapped his phone and called Levi. “I need a spy cam detector, to check the master bedroom.”
“I’ll send someone from my team to meet you there.”
Lauren went back into the home theater room. She spoke to Nicole. “Jake is so unusual. What drives him?”
“I’m still trying to figure that out,” Nicole said. “I love my brother. He’s a good guy trying to do the right thing. But even though Jake has a strong moral code, he breaks the law if it suits his needs to dole out what he considers to be justice. His past combat experience in the Marines explains a lot.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Jake lost several friends who were killed in combat. And then the terrorists put a bounty on his head, and on his war dog, Duke.”
“A bounty?”
“They ambushed his platoon and tried to kill Jake and Duke, for the money. Jake was seriously wounded and he nearly died. And Duke—well, he didn’t survive.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“When Jake was healing up in the hospital and mourning the loss of Duke, he received a Dear John letter from his girlfriend back home, saying she couldn’t wait around any longer. Next, came the news that Patrick, our grandfather had passed away. Then a CIA man named Brinkter talked him into doing secret black ops missions that he won’t tell me about. All I know is he wasn’t the same guy when he came home.”
“That’s heartbreaking.” Lauren looked at her rescued children, and felt a lump in her throat. “I’m in his debt.”
“He’ll never collect on that debt. If you want to pay him back, follow through and donate money to that service dog organization.”
Lauren tapped her phone and sent a text to her accountant. “Done.”
Chapter 31
&nb
sp; Jake, Cody, and Terrell walked to Lauren’s master bedroom. A security employee met them and handed Jake a spy-cam detector, a black handheld device that looked similar to a monocular.
Jake held it up to his right eye, pressed a control to activate a ring of small IR LED lights, and began to look around the room.
As he got near one wall, the lights started blinking. The closer the device got to a wall clock, the faster the lights blinked, and then Jake saw a small red reflective dot on the clock that blended in with the number 3. When he removed the clock from the wall and turned it over, there was a wireless camera setup. “Gotcha.”
Terrell took the clock and placed it into a plastic evidence bag. “How does that spy cam detector work, anyway?”
“The technical term is optical augmentation.”
“I’ll take your word for it, Professor Mofo.”
“This particular device will find a camera even if it’s turned off.” Jake handed the detector back to the security employee. “Could you please use this to check the rest of the house?”
“Okay, I’ll check every room,” she said.
As they headed down the hall, Terrell turned to Jake. “That was a long meeting you had with the Secret Service and you came away with a new Jeep. What do they want from you?”
“It was … interesting. I also stopped at my lawyer’s office for a while.”
“Why, are you being sued again?”
“If you really want to know, I was there because I passed the California bar exam. Today, I officially became an attorney.”
Terrell grinned. “You’re kidding me, right?”
Jake reached into his jacket pocket and took out the Bar Association cover letter. “I’m serious. Look what it says right here.”
Terrell read the part about Jake being eligible to start practicing law. He shook his head. “No way. You don’t even have a bachelor’s degree. You joined the Marines to go fight terrorists instead of going to college. How could you possibly become an attorney?”
Jake smiled. “Thanks for asking. I have to say, your faith in me is touching.”
Terrell raised an eyebrow. “What do you expect? You’re full of Irish blarney. Everything you say is BS. Go ahead and explain your law school scam to me. I can’t wait to hear this.”
“California allows you to go to law school online—and that’s exactly what I did in my spare time for the past few years.”
“What about the bachelor’s degree required to get into law school in the first place?”
“The college I attended lets you take CLEP tests in lieu of earning an actual bachelor’s degree. I passed all the College Level Equivalency Program tests and went straight to the living hell known as One L.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“Trust me bro. I know it’s sounds impossible, but feel free to look it up on this new thing I heard of called Google.”
Terrell smiled and shook his head.
They walked into the kitchen and Terrell set the spy clock on a countertop. He opened a cupboard, removed some containers of tea, and started dumping the contents into plastic bags. “Where is this offshore diploma mill located? If I pay them ten dollars, will they give me a certificate that says I’m an ordained minister?”
“I enrolled in an affordable college here in California.”
“What law firms would ever hire you?”
“Probably none of them, but I’m not looking for a job. I’ll just start my own solo law practice.”
Lauren came into the kitchen. “Nicole is so great with the kids.”
“Yeah, she’s good at her job.”
“Did you find the camera in my bedroom?”
“Yes, it was in that wall clock.” Jake pointed at the clock on the counter.
“Why would Gene put a camera there?”
“Hopefully, he only used it in the mornings, to monitor you when he was in the basement. That way, when he saw you waking up, he could run upstairs to his study.”
Lauren nodded. “I hope so.”
“We’re going to search your kitchen for the thumb drive.”
“Good luck, I’ll be with my kids,” Lauren left the kitchen and walked down the hall.
Jake began opening more drawers and cupboards. He gave commands, and Cody started sniffing along the kitchen floorboards.
They heard a helicopter flying overhead, and the thump thump of the rotor blades was all-too-familiar. Terrell leaned toward a window and looked up. “Is the FBI bird here again?”
“No, Lauren hired a private aviation company to do helicopter flyovers once an hour.”
“I have Rox searching the underground room again. After she’s done, let’s have Cody search it, now that everything has been cleaned out and taken away as evidence.”
Cody completed his patrol of the floorboards. Next he sniffed all the drawers and then stood on his hind legs and sniffed the countertops.
Terrell started opening bottles of vitamins and herbal supplements. He opened one and poured the capsules into a plastic bag. “The label says these pills are good for your liver.”
Jake held out his hand. “Give me one of those.”
Terrell handed him three capsules. “Take extra doses. Your liver probably needs all the help it can get.”
“I’m pretty sure my liver ages in dog years.”
“Of all the college degrees available, why did you choose law?”
Jake found a cupboard filled with bottles of spices. “Many degrees aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. This one gave me the legal power to kick butt on anybody who bothers my family or friends. Someday you’ll thank me for that, when I defend your ass from some BS lawsuit.”
Terrell opened some more cupboards. He dumped out an open container of oatmeal into a large bag. “Licensed to sue. It’s unbelievable. You’d better not become a defense lawyer, and work for the criminals I’ve arrested.”
“That’s not on my to-do list,” Jake said. “There are a lot of honest and hardworking defense lawyers in this city, but I mostly just want to protect myself from the never-ending attempts to lock my ass up in jail. Now everybody can just kiss my lawyer ass instead.”
“Maybe you could just stop breaking the law.”
“I’ll try my best, but everything is illegal these days.”
Terrell opened a cupboard and found all kinds of coffee. “Yeah, I remember when you got arrested for taking a pee.”
Jake held out his hands, palms up. “Good example. I walked out of a bar at one in the morning and peed on a bush in the parking lot while waiting for my taxi. Super Cop roars up in his car and says I’m going to jail for urinating in public.”
“That’s a rare thing. You seem to attract over-reactive psycho people to you,” Terrell said.
“My theory is that my irreverent sense of humor causes uptight people to go crazy,” Jake said.
Roxanne Poole walked into the kitchen. “Okay, Terrell, I went over that basement one more time with a fine-toothed comb. There was no thumb drive hidden anywhere.”
Terrell waved her toward the cupboards. “Good work. Now give us a hand searching the kitchen.”
“Why are we searching again? Our people already went all over the house,” Roxanne said.
“We didn’t know we were looking for a thumb drive on the first search, so we’re going to do it again. The work all pays the same, Rox.”
Cody got up on his hind legs, put his paws on the edge of the countertops, and sniffed the cupboards above. He alerted to one in particular and used his teeth to grab the knob and pull the door open. He sniffed inside, then turned his head toward Jake and barked at him.
Chapter 32
Jake went over to Cody, searched the cupboard and found a box of wooden “strike anywhere” matches, along with some candles. Jake dug through the matches, but he didn’t find a thumb drive. He patted Cody on the back. “Good work. You found sulfur, potassium chlorate, and phosphorus sulfide. These matches are okay, but I’m going to put
them on the highest shelf so the kids can’t get at them.”
Cody went back to sniffing the rest of the cupboards.
“He doesn’t miss a thing, does he?” Roxanne said.
“He knows what you had for breakfast,” Jake said. “Some dogs can sniff a house and find termites; others can smell your body and find out if you have cancer.”
Roxanne stared at Cody.
Jake smiled at her science-nerd fascination with his smart dog. He began pouring out bottles of herbs and spices into bags, while Terrell poured out a bag of ground coffee. “Good idea, Grinds, check all the coffee.”
“Yeah, some drug dealers hide their stash in coffee because it masks the smell from police dogs.” Terrell opened another package and poured the coffee into a plastic bag.
Roxanne got down on one knee and pulled open the drawer below the oven. She removed it and set it aside, then pointed a small flashlight into the opening. She saw mouse droppings but nothing else.
Cody came over to her and sniffed the open space. Roxanne was caught by surprise. She held perfectly still. She’d heard the rumors about him. Cody finished searching under the stove and raised his head. When Roxanne and Cody were eye to eye, Cody sniffed her floral-shampoo-scented hair. Roxanne felt Cody’s hot breath on her ear. Her mouth went dry and her heartbeat increased.
Cody stood up and he leaned his head under her stomach and helped lift her to her feet.
Roxanne just stared at Cody as he turned away to continue his search.
Jake noticed it and said, “Cody likes you for some reason. You should be glad. Just ask Levi, or Grinds.”
Terrell threw a bag of coffee down on the counter. “Oh, sure, he’s instant friends with the tech nerd cop. Meanwhile, I carried extra water on patrols in the desert, just so Jake’s war dog had enough to drink, but do I get any respect from the canine community back home? Nope, nothing but attitude.”
Cody panted, Ha-Ha-Ha.
The security system chimed and Jake looked out the window. Paul was dragging a man out from behind a hedge. He punched the intruder in the face, then grabbed him by the back of the neck and force-marched him toward the front gate.
