by Becky McGraw
Her brow furrowed and she put her hands on her hips. “This is my problem not yours. I clean this up every day when I get home, so I have a system.”
“Well, you’re not going to be cleaning it up anymore. Go get changed, and if you have some anti-diahr—” Slade stopped when Lola growled low in her throat from the porch.
Handing Taylor the broom, he reached down to pull his pistol from his ankle holster. As he crept closer to the door, Lola’s growling got louder, and the hair on the back of his neck raised. Stopping behind the door, he rolled past it, glancing out as he flattened his back against the wall by the door. When he saw the problem, he laughed. Lola still sat by the steps blocking them but the big goofy lab was sniffing her up, licking her and bouncing around trying to get her to play.
“I think Buddy likes Lola, but she’s just not that into him.” Bending, Slade reholstered his pistol, then opened the door wider. “Buddy, sitz!” he said firmly.
The lab, who was obviously a fast learner, immediately plopped down to stare up at him. The problem was he plopped right down on Lola’s paw. A fierce growl was the only warning Buddy got before Lola nipped his tail.
Slade flinched at Buddy’s ear-piercing squeal. He tried to catch him as he shot toward the end of the porch, but only managed to grab his collar just before he went airborne at the edge of the porch. The dog’s forward momentum pulled them both right off the end into a big unkempt bush which swallowed them. Buddy squealed, fought and squirmed, making every damned limb of the prickly bush scratch Slade’s face and body until he managed to roll out of it.
Slade pointed at Buddy who lay beside him. “No!” he growled, and Buddy whined as he dropped his muzzle onto his big paws. When he heard a throaty giggle from the porch, his eyes swung there to find Taylor standing on the edge of the porch grinning down at him.
“Who’s training whom, big guy?” she asked, giggling again. The sound slithered through him, dancing over every nerve. She tossed a purple leash with white dog bones on it over the bush and it landed across his thigh. Crossing her arms over her chest she said, “Don’t let him tie you up with it. He’s tried that a time or three with me.”
Right then Slade would have liked to use it to hang the smug woman grinning down at him. Rolling to his feet, he grabbed the leash and clipped it onto the matching collar on the dog’s neck. He slid his hand through the loop and grabbed the leash about halfway down then yanked. Buddy didn’t move, he just laid there looking up at Slade. Turning toward the steps, Slade pulled the leash and Buddy stood thank God, so he loosened the tension.
“Fuss!,” he growled as he took a step, but the dog didn’t move. Buddy pulled back on the leash, and Slade spun to pin him with a glare. Maybe the dog wasn’t as comfortable in German as Lola. Since they never had to worry about Buddy being a guard dog, Slade tried the English command. “Heel dammit!”
Big brown eyes wide, the dog whimpered as he circled at the end of the leash which was entirely too long for training a dog. Slade reached for his collar but Buddy sidestepped him and ran around his back then reappeared at his left side.
Lifting his foot, Slade tried to extract himself from the tangled leash, but Lola came around the edge of the porch, and with a loud woof! Buddy took off toward her. Slade’s feet flew out from under him and he landed hard on his back. The yellow lab lunged toward Lola jerking the leash so hard it felt like he yanked Slade’s shoulder out of socket.
Belly laughter erupted on the porch and anger scalded Slade’s insides as he scrambled to his feet and wound the leash around his hand until he was at the dog’s neck. That turned out to be a mistake. Buddy’s back arched twice, he made hollow gagging sounds then dumped his kibble right on the end of Slade’s boot.
“Oh, shit!” Slade shouted, as he looked down at the mess, fighting back a gag himself. Buddy plopped down on his ass to stare up at Slade, his body still twitching. His eyes widened then with one final heave, he finished emptying the buffet on the leg of Slade’s jeans.
Slade closed his eyes and breathed, instead of putting his hands around the dog’s neck . Or the owner’s neck, because she was howling with laughter now. He even thought he might have heard Lola chuckle. Huffing a breath, Slade gathered his patience.
“Buddy, Fuss!” Slade barked, jerking the leash.
To his surprise, the dog stood and when he took a step Buddy was right at his side. Lola followed on his left side and somehow he managed to get Buddy to the steps where he met Taylor who was still fighting intermittent bouts of laughter.
“Glad to entertain you, half-pint, but now I need a shower so you’ll have to clean up your house yourself.” Laugh at that, Slade thought, with an evil inner laugh as he handed her the leash. Turning he walked to his Hummer to get the change of clothes he kept in his go bag.
A woof! and loud squeal made him turn to see Buddy lunge to follow Lola who was following him, in the process almost jerking Taylor off of her feet. She managed to get her balance and jerk back on the leash.
“Sitz!” she hissed, with another jerk.
It looked like she was learning too, and that was a good thing. How the woman, who probably only weighed ten pounds or so more than the dog, had handled Buddy untrained for as long as she had was astonishing to Slade.
Well, Slade was assuming things.
Her boyfriend could’ve left last week for all he knew. If she couldn’t find the heart to get rid of the wild ass dog who’d torn up everything she owned, he wondered what the boyfriend had done to get kicked to the curb. It had to be bad. Slade had no idea why he cared, but he wanted to find out what he’d done.
With a shake of his head, he opened the hatch on the Humvee and pulled out his bag then shut it. By the time he got back to the porch, she’d wrangled Buddy into the house, and Lola had followed them inside.
“Where’s your bathroom?” he asked, shutting the front door.
“Off the back of the kitchen,” she replied, as she swept a pile of paper and stuffing into the dustpan. “Garbage bags are under the sink. You’ll probably need one for your clothes, since I don’t have a washing machine.”
“You don’t have a washer?” he repeated incredulously.
She stood and huffed a breath. “Nope—I tried to get Mark to install one for two years when he was home, but finally gave up the last time he was deployed.”
It sounded like she’d given up on him the last time he was activated too. The long-ago buried anger at Jeannie tried to resurface, but he tamped it down.
“Deployed? Was he military?” Slade asked, the hard ridge of the handle of his go bag digging into his palm.
“Army Ranger, but newly-pinned as of the time I kicked him out,” she replied harshly. “I guess the military doesn’t mix very well with commitment, or fidelity. I’m a damned military brat so I should’ve known that.”
“The military in general is tough on relationships,” Slade said, trying to keep the anger from his tone. And yeah, if she was a military brat, she should have realized that before getting involved with a military man.
“My mother managed just fine. I was very proud of my father, that’s why I thought I could make it work. The man I chose was the problem.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.” But not sorry at all. At least Taylor Kincaid broke it off with this Mark cleanly, not after she’d made a commitment to him then ditched him when he was at the lowest point of his life.
“I just hope the PTSD he’s hiding from the military psychologists doesn’t get him killed,” she said, her voice trembling as she brushed past Slade to walk to the kitchen.
The tingling started at his scalp, crept down his neck, then zipped to his fingers and they went numb. The go bag dropped on the floor with a thud as his vision narrowed and the electric buzzing started in his ears. Lola whimpered, then barked nudging his thigh with her nose.
God, not now. It had been nearly two years, Slade thought, as he eased down to sit. Lola was in his face then, licking and nudging his cheek with her mu
zzle. Closing his eyes, Slade gritted his teeth, focused on banishing the buzz before the fireworks started. Lola’s wiry fur brushed his cheek, the rasp of her tongue on his jaw soothed him, kept him in the present.
A loud woof! preceded something slamming into his crotch causing extreme pain in his balls that sent an electric shock through his body. With a squeal, his eyes flew open and he shoved against the big body in his lap. Buddy moved away, but not before another sharp push of his paw into Slade’s crotch. Breathless, Slade fell onto his back, grabbed himself then rolled onto his side to rock.
A giggle floated on the air and echoed inside Slade’s skull. Tiny feet appeared beside him and his eyes tracked up very shapely calves to meet Taylor’s twinkling blue eyes. “Yeah, he did that to Mark a time or two as well. Buddy thinks he’s a lapdog. You okay?”
With a grunt, Slade sat up and shot daggers at Buddy who sat beside Taylor. “I’m fine, but we need to get out of here.” He stood, and jerked the trash bag out of her hands then picked up his go bag. “It’s going to be dark before we know it, and we’ve got things to do.” And he had things to do tomorrow, like calling his shrink for an emergency appointment.
Taylor’s eyes narrowed, her arm jerked and bent at the elbow, but then fell back to her side. He knew she’d stopped herself from saluting him. It was a joke to her, but definitely not to him. Slade never wanted to ever be saluted again in his life. He didn’t deserve it, because he’d let down the men who were stupid enough to trust him and give him that honor.
CHAPTER FIVE
Just as night fell, Slade pulled into the large parking lot at the luxury hotel. Following Taylor’s direction, he edged along the first row to the corner of the lot then turned toward the west end to avoid being picked up by the security cameras.
Another hot wave of the after effects of Buddy’s self-indulgence at Taylor’s house wafted to him in the front seat. Eyes watering, Slade lowered his window all the way down and swallowed hard to fight a gag. The Pepto they’d given Buddy before they left her house had settled the dog’s stomach but it evidently didn’t completely erase the problem. Glancing over at Taylor he saw her cheeks puffed as she held her breath and rolled down her window to stick her head outside.
“Goodness,” she said weakly, sticking her head farther outside.
“I think I’m going to have to have my truck steam cleaned and sanitized,” Slade said, his voice choked.
“I think I’m going to have to have my nasal passages steam cleaned,” Taylor replied with a giggle followed by a gag. “But remember it was your idea to bring him with us. I wanted to leave him at home.”
“It would’ve been worse when you got home and he needed to get out.” Slade slowly made his way to the end of the row then stopped. “What now?”
“Edge along the right curb there.” Taylor pointing the way. “Park in that spot in the far corner, or maybe the one beside it, because that’s probably where the kidnappers parked.”
“Why are you so sure?” Slade turned right and drove along the curb, before parking at the west end of the building beside the first spot.
Taylor turned in the seat to look at him. “Because the more I think about it, the more I know this had to be an inside job. It was too cleanly done. If it wasn’t someone who works at the hotel, someone who resides at the hotel was involved. I interviewed most of the staff who were on duty, and they are clear.”
“Appear to be clear,” Slade corrected. Just because she’d talked to them one time, did not mean they were clear. “Everyone is still a suspect as far as I’m concerned. I need to get Dex to pull an employee list so you can help me go through it.”
“I have the list in my box in the car. I had one in my desk, so I slid it in there before I left,” Taylor informed and Slade’s eyes flew to hers.
She’d stolen employee records?
Well that wasn’t any worse than stealing laundry by telling the Asian man at the dry cleaner they’d accidentally sent in the wrong bundle that morning. The lie had tripped off of her tongue as casually as if she’d been talking about the weather.
In this case that was a very good and resourceful thinking on her part. It would save them a lot of time, but still gave him pause. The only thing he hadn’t done was a background check on her to make sure she was clearance-worthy and trustworthy. He’d put Dex on that tomorrow.
“Good, I’ll get it from you when I drop you off at your car later,” Slade said, as he got out of the Humvee and opened the back door to let Lola out. Buddy lunged toward the door behind her, but Slade pointed a finger. “Buddy, sitz!” He was surprised when the dog dropped down on his haunches. “Good boy,” he praised, then grabbed the small boy’s shirt from the seat before shutting the door.
When he and Lola walked around the front of the vehicle, Taylor leaned out the window. “Stay on the west side of the door. The door is in that camera’s range.”
Slade followed the finger she pointed with his eyes to the other end of the lot where he saw a camera mounted on the light pole. He had no plans at all to go near the building, and he doubted anyone would be concerned with a stray dog out back sniffing around even if they did see her in the camera.
Bending, he let Lola sniff the shirt, until she looked back up at him. “Suche, Lola.” Lola jogged off toward the building zigzagging with her nose near the ground and Slade stood.
“What language is that and what did you tell her?” Taylor asked.
“She’s trained in German,” he replied, watching Lola stop to sniff around cars as she made her way closer to the back door. “I told her to track or find that scent.”
“Why German? Because she’s a German Shepherd?”
Slade focused on watching for cues from Lola that would tell him she found something, but he couldn’t help but laugh. “No, because her breeder was in Germany, so she was used to it when the trainer got her. It’s good too because not many people in the middle east speak German.”
“She was a military dog?” Taylor asked surprised.
Slade glanced back at her then found Lola again. His heart squeezed, and he sent up a prayer of thanks that she’d survived. “Lieutenant Lola was one of the best multi-purpose explosive sniffing dogs in the service, and I was lucky enough to be her handler.”
“Multi-purpose?” she repeated curiously, but Slade zoned in on Lola who stopped, sniffed closer then barked sharply near a sleek black Mercedes parked in the second row back from the rear door of the hotel. The strange thing was with her posture, the high-pitched tone of the single bark, Lola was cueing for a bomb, not telling him she’d found where the kid’s scent which she’d been following ended.
Adrenaline pumped through him as Slade jogged across the parking lot, staying out of camera range. He knew he would be seen though when he got to where Lola was standing, so he crouched to duck-walk around the rear of the cars until he stopped beside her. She looked up at him and Slade could practically feel the excitement buzzing from her. Putting her nose at the rear tire she sniffed again, ran her snout along the fender, then along frame of the vehicle all the way to the front tire. With confidence, she stepped back and barked again telling him she was sure.
Sickness curled in his gut, his heart pounded and his ears rang, but Slade made himself inspect inside the tire well. When he found it clear, he finally breathed again, but he knew there was either a bomb or residue from one in or around this car. Lola did not make mistakes, had only ever made one as long as he’d been her handler.
Tension twisted his insides as the buzzing in his ears got louder, but Slade took two deep breaths and fought it. Lying flat, he eased his head under the car to scan the undercarriage. None of the light from the flood lights in the parking lot reached under the car so it was dark, but Slade had excellent night vision. He couldn’t be a hundred percent sure until he had a flashlight, but from what he could see it was clean too. Pushing back up he knelt beside Lola and scratched behind her ears.
“Good girl,” he praised, and she l
icked his palm.
Something was fishy with this car and he was going to find out what that was as soon as he could get his flashlight from the Hummer, but he needed Lola back on task to figure out where that kid was taken and if any of these cars was involved.
He pulled Zami’s shirt from his back pocket and held it out to her again. She buried her nose in the material and sniffed several places.
“Lola, arbeit—suche!”
Lola sniffed the ground and zigzagged through the cars and Slade duck-walked to the rear of the car then turned and bumped into a pair of compact, but shapely legs in tight black yoga pants.
“What did she find?” Taylor asked, putting her hands on her curvy hips to look down at him. “That’s the prince’s car, but he doesn’t drive it. He usually has one of his security guys drive for him.”
“I told you to stay in the truck,” Slade grated, pushing up to his feet.
“I wanted to tell you it looks like Mr. Baker finally installed those other cameras. Probably to show the prince he was doing something.” She pointed at the light pole at the west end of the building. “They’ve seen you, so we probably should get out of here.”
At that second, the back door flew open to slam against the brick wall at the same time shouts came from the east end of the hotel as two men ran around the corner. Slade pushed Taylor and she ran for the Humvee.
“Lola, lass es—heir—schnell!” he shouted as he ran behind her. Leave it. Come, and hurry up about it, baby. Slade didn’t speed to a full out run until he saw her dart from behind a car and sprint across the lot toward the Humvee.
Taylor slung open her door and was inside and buckled in by the time he let Lola into the back and got behind the wheel. As he cranked the SUV the two dark-suited men who came out of the back door got into the black Mercedes that Lola had hit on as two other men, hotel guards most likely, ran across the parking lot toward the Humvee.
