by Dale Mayer
PARKER
The K9 Files, Book 6
Dale Mayer
Books in This Series:
Ethan, Book 1
Pierce, Book 2
Zane, Book 3
Blaze, Book 4
Lucas, Book 5
Parker, Book 6
Carter, Book 7
Table of Contents
Title Page
About This Book
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Epilogue
About Carter
Author’s Note
Complimentary Download
About the Author
Copyright Page
About This Book
Welcome to the all new K9 Files series reconnecting readers with the unforgettable men from SEALs of Steel in a new series of action packed, page turning romantic suspense that fans have come to expect from USA TODAY Bestselling author Dale Mayer. Pssst… you’ll meet other favorite characters from SEALs of Honor and Heroes for Hire too!
Heading back to Iraq was never in Parker’s plans …
But, when his brother is killed in action, he makes the journey to bring his brother back home to his final resting place.
When one of the K9 War Dogs disappears at the military airport in transit, and all attempts to locate him fails, Parker agrees to investigate during the few days he’s there.
Sandy is making the same journey as Parker—both of their brothers were killed in the same incident. Both brothers had been the best of friends, but this is the first time she’s met Parker. From that initial moment, she realizes something odd is happening in his world. When they find a K9 dog in a rebel stronghold, she’s sucked into a much more dangerous trip than one of compassion and grief.
There’s a reason why the first investigation didn’t turn up anything. … As Parker rattles cages and shakes up a ring of thieves, the bodies start dropping, one by one.
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Prologue
“Another one bites the dust, huh?” Geir sat with his feet up on the boardroom table and smiled at the rest of the team. “I can’t believe these K9 guys are all getting hitched, and most of them are keeping the dogs,” he said.
“And one murder and an attempted murder have been solved at the same time,” Badger said, shaking his head. “That’s a doubly awesome job.”
“Who’d have thought that the one girlfriend, who worked in dispatch, had overheard the dirty cops discussing the dogfights and their involvement. After that, they couldn’t take the chance she’d talk so took her out, then her roommate. They planned to knock off Tanya as well but were just waiting for a better time. In the meantime one of the accountants who worked with Tanya had heard about Tanya’s girlfriend’s involvement in the dogfighting and didn’t want to keep Tanya close, in case she found out anything else—like how the firm was laundering money for the dogfighting rings—so got rid of her too. Doesn’t that just make you love people?”
“Not much,” Badger said. “It’s not what we expected on a mission to save one War Dog. Yet Lucas is responsible for saving more than 160 dogs. And we especially didn’t plan the matchmaking success on this op.”
Kat came in, a cup of coffee in her hand, and sat down beside them. “Might not be what we had planned or what you guys had planned,” she said, “but it’s all good news.”
“Says the woman who arranged all our weddings,” Geir said, chuckling.
Badger watched the color wash over her cheeks but grabbed her fingers in his and whispered, “Thank God.”
She beamed at him. “You guys can hate me until doomsday,” she said, “or pretend to, but you know that you’re all much better off the way you are now. Happily married.”
“Oh, we’re not arguing with that,” Erick said. “I think we’re all happy little pigs in our blankets, but we have more dogs to look after.” He spread the files around. “Take a look and see if there’s anybody here that we know of to match up with another dog. The commander called to check in the other day. Now we have another success story to tell him. But I’m sure he’s wondering what’s taking us so long.”
“There’s no time frame involved,” Geir said. He opened the file in front of him and flipped through the pages. “Hell, this one’s over in Iraq still.”
Badger lifted his head. “Seriously?”
He nodded, his face glum. “The poor dog’s probably dead and gone by now.”
“Well, that’s an interesting state of affairs,” Erick said.
Badger looked at him. “Why is that?”
“Because Parker is heading there on a compassionate leave trip. His brother was killed in action. He’s planning on escorting his body home. But that doesn’t mean, while he’s there, he doesn’t have a day or two to track down the dog.”
“The dog was lost at the military base?” Badger asked.
Geir flipped through the pages. “Yes. And, once it’s off the base, it’s no longer their problem. To give them their due, everybody did search for the dog. They wondered if it had been stolen. It was decommissioned and due to fly home the next day. Apparently the dog arrived at the airport but disappeared while waiting to be picked up. Its whereabouts after its arrival at the hanger is a mystery. There are discrepancies in the witness statements. They are thinking that maybe somebody close to the airport may have kidnapped the dog.”
“Does Commander Cross really want us to go over there and look into this one?” Geir asked, shaking his head. “That’s a bit out of the boundaries, isn’t it?”
“If it wasn’t for Parker heading over there tomorrow, I wouldn’t think of looking into this one,” Erick said. “If Parker can find the dog, he can bring him home with him as well.”
Badger nodded. “Where’s Parker now?”
“He’s packing, I think. His brother, Jerry, and his crew were taken out by an IED. Jerry’s best friend was part of his unit, and Sandy, his best friend’s sister, is heading over there with him.”
Grins popped up around the table.
Erick nodded. “I know what you’re thinking,” he said. “She’s military too. I think she’s a nurse in California. She also asked for special permission to go over there.”
“Of course. Bringing family home is important to everyone.”
“Do you want to call him?” Badger asked Erick. “You seem to know him the best.”
“He’s been around for a while, but, yeah, I used to know him in the military too,” Erick said. “Unlike the rest of us, he’s not missing a body part.”
“Unless he’s missing his heart,” Jager said. “As in pining for his brother. Maybe it’s a good thing this Sandy is going over there too. It’s a tough trip for anyone, and it would help to not be alone.”
“It’s a shit trip no matter who goes with you,” Erick said, but he already had his phone out and was dialing.
Geir watched in surprise. “Is he on your contact list?”
Erick nodded. “Yeah, he is.”
There was silence for a moment, then Erick was giving his condolences first before adding, “I heard you’re heading over to Iraq tomorrow. What base?”
Erick nodded, while they all watched. Then he grinned. He motioned with his hand for the file in front of Geir. “Look. We have an odd request. Commander Cross dropped a dozen files on us filled with K9 agents who served their time and, for one reason or another, have been retired and then lost. W
e have one that disappeared between the base and the airport in Iraq. We’re trying to get him home and settled into a decent life here.” Erick was silent as he listened for a short while. Then he said, “Oh, you heard about him?”
He looked around the room. “Great. Do you have any K9 experience?”
Erick frowned and nodded. The others waited. “Okay. If you’ve got an extra day, and you don’t mind taking a look, we would really appreciate being able to tell the commander we have found the dog and have brought him home and have set him up someplace worthy of a War Dog. If that’s something you feel you can do, that would be awesome. But we do understand if you can’t. Obviously anything to do with your brother comes first. Again our condolences on your loss.”
The conversation continued for a few minutes, and Geir and Badger exchanged looks. And then Erick ended the call. He looked around the table. “Well, he’s game. He said he has a couple days over there, and he would look up some friends by the base. And, believe it or not,” he added with a note of satisfaction, “he’s going to FOB Wild, where the dog went missing.”
“FOB Wild? That’s one of the forward operating bases in the northern Iraqi province of Ninewah, a few miles outside of Tal Afar,” Badger said in surprise as he reached for the folder to double-check the location where the dog had gone missing for himself. “That’s perfect. Maybe somebody there knows something.”
“I hope so,” Erick said. “Parker’s just leaving the military himself. I think he’s done in a couple weeks. Been on medical leave and not going back.”
“Understood,” Badger said. “Not easy for anybody when losing someone so close to you.”
“True enough,” Geir said. “Let’s just see what happens. Maybe we’ll get lucky again.”
“You mean, maybe he’ll get lucky,” Jager said with a grin.
All the men laughed, and Erick nodded. “Luck comes in many forms,” he said. “Let’s hope he finds one form that suits him.”
Chapter 1
Parker Cutter hopped into his borrowed rig and checked the GPS for directions. He already knew the way, as he’d been there before, and reversed out of the parking lot and slowly drove onto the main road. He’d had lunch with a few friends as soon as he’d arrived—they’d picked him up and taken him into town—but now, hours later, he’d left them there with other friends and taken one of the rigs to head to the base. He needed a few moments to get his head together. With any luck this stretch of the journey would give it to him. This was a crappy trip. The only good thing was he had a couple friends he was looking forward to seeing on base too.
He had ten more days in the service, and five of those were compassionate leave. He’d wondered about taking all his leave days here, but, since the compassionate leave was due to his brother’s death, it hardly seemed like a good time to tack on vacation time. He was only in Iraq for a short time—just long enough to claim his brother—then to help his father bury Jerry back home.
Parker’s military life was almost done, and it seemed like a lifetime to get to that point. He’d never even considered leaving the navy, but now? … With his accident? … Followed by his brother’s death? … Parker had hit a wall. He wasn’t even sure what the hell he would do when this stage of his life was over. Or even what he was capable of doing.
He’d had a bad accident when the vehicle he was in had rolled. His leg had been pinned, effectively crushing it, and so he was now assigned to a desk job, finding he couldn’t stand that.
Parker had a chance of more surgery to help build up his shoulder as well. Something to do with muscles and the scapula. He was really prepared to do that, but he could get it done whether on active leave or not.
What he didn’t like was the desk job stuff. If he could get out and be mobile, it wouldn’t be so bad, but being on a desk made him feel like he was retired from life. And it had been made clear to him that desk jobs were his future in the military.
Maybe, if he hadn’t come from a high-level active military team, he wouldn’t feel like he was secondhand goods. Now his life was just a reminder of the one left behind because he couldn’t do the job anymore.
As he drove along the road, his brain was consumed with the issues of his future. He thought about Sandy Bressard and her brother. Both of their brothers had died at the same time on the same mission. So Parker and Sandy were both here for a couple days before they took off. He’d heard so much about Sandy but had only met her on the flight here.
They’d spoken briefly and had shared many a glance on their trip, both dreading how painful this process would be, not looking forward to what they had to go through yet. These were hardly ideal circumstances. If she was anything like him, she was blocking out the pain so she could function. Death on the line happened to other families. He’d watched many a friend suffer a personal loss, and he himself had lost several friends, but losing his brother? … Well, it was just that much harder to deal with.
There would be short ceremonies for the men killed, and then they and their escorting family members were all heading back home. And it sucked. It sucked big-time. Which was why Badger had also said, if Parker wanted something else to think about, to consider this poor dog Samson. He was supposed to go home and retire but had somehow gone missing at the military airport.
It was that somehow gone missing part that really bothered Parker because that sounded like a military error or one of those stupid accounting mistakes that had the dog sent someplace other than where he was intended to go. It also bothered Parker because there was a chance somebody had taken the dog deliberately. Well-trained animals were worth a lot of money particularly War Dogs. Parker didn’t want to be in the open on enemy lines to face his own war dogs attacking him. He couldn’t imagine how confusing that would be for the animals too.
He had another twenty-five minutes to FOB Wild. He was going at a fast clip, but he wasn’t late—he was not on a time frame. He should meander, enjoy this last visit. But anything that could make the next couple days go by faster worked for him.
His military-issued jeep wobbled, and, in the next second, he heard a bang, felt a hard shake and saw a layer of the tire tread run alongside the road. Swearing softly, he pulled off to the side and hopped out. Sure enough, his back left tire was gone. There was no reason for it. Maybe the tire had shredded, or he had run over something. It happened far enough back that he wasn’t bothered about looking for a cause, but he needed to change the tire, and, well, that was never anybody’s favorite job.
He had the old tire off and the new one on and the vehicle back down on the ground, putting the finishing tightening turns on the lugs, when he heard another vehicle approaching.
He looked up to see Sandy getting out. She ran over to him, a worried smile on her face. “We left ahead of you,” she said, “but we ended up going into town for lunch and lost track of time.”
He smiled at the lovely blonde, nodded, and said, “Good. I went into town too, should have stayed longer. I would much rather have been still socializing than changing a tire.” But he was joking, and she knew it.
She smiled. “Well, at least you got it fixed. Do you think it’s okay now? Is there anything we can do to help?”
“I’m fine,” he said, his pride bristling to the surface. Since his accident, he’d become supersensitive to any suggestion that he was less than capable. He stood, brushed off his pant legs, picked up the jack he’d used to change the tire and walked to the end of his vehicle, placing it back in its proper spot. And no way he would let her know his shoulder was less than optimum. It was a hell of a lot better but was a long way from the strength and agility he used to have.
The two women with Sandy were dressed in military fatigues. He nodded at them as he rubbed his hands off on a rag. Sandy explained who he was to her friends, and their expressions changed. They reached out, shook his hand, and said, “Sorry for your loss.”
Even now it choked him up. He muttered, “Thank you.” Then motioned at the jeep. “Hopefu
lly now it’ll get me to the base.”
“You go first,” said the driver of the other vehicle. “We’ll follow to make sure you get there.”
Touched, he smiled and said, “Thanks. I’m not too proud to accept that offer. Although I doubt there’ll be a problem. It’s a new tire.”
“Yeah, and we all know that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good tire,” Sandy said, a bright smile lighting up her face with the touch of humor.
He laughed, tossing the rag in the back of the jeep. He walked over to the driver’s side, slid in and turned on the engine. With a wave, he headed toward the base.
He was surprised Sandy was with these military personnel, but then she had probably met a lot of her brother’s friends, and she was also military, though she was a nurse stateside. He wasn’t even sure where he got that tidbit of information from. Then, their brothers had been best friends. This was just as painful a trip for her as it was for him, and, if she had friends to make the trip a little easier, all the better for her.
The time flew as he drove. Once he arrived at his destination, he honked his horn and stuck his arm out of his jeep to wave his thanks and turned off into the base. He spotted his buddies’ vehicles and parked beside them. He knew which barracks they were in, and he’d been assigned one himself. He grabbed his duffel bag, slung it over his shoulder and headed for his friends.
As he stepped inside, he found the entire barracks empty. Frowning, he picked out his bed, dropped his duffle, left the barracks and headed to the mess tent. He could always count on a cup of coffee, if nothing else.
It was also empty. Frowning, he checked with the guy behind the counter. “Everybody clear out all of a sudden?” he asked. “I hope it wasn’t my arrival.”
The guy behind the counter grinned at him. “We’re on high alert this morning. Everybody’s taken off to check out insurgents, who may or may not have attacked a small group of villagers,” he explained.
