Protection Detail

Glory snarled, the sound low and deep and meant to intimidate.

“Call off your dog! You don’t, and the woman gets it first, then the mutt.”

“Cease!” Gavin commanded, not because he was afraid of the threat. Glory could take the guy down in seconds. He was afraid of how much damage could be done to Cassie in those heartbeats of time it took his partner to lunge.

Glory settled onto her haunches, her dark gaze glued to the perp. She was ready. Gavin was ready.

Was Cassie?

He met her eyes. Not even a hint of terror in her dark green gaze.

“That’s better,” the perp muttered. “That’s what I like to see. Now, you just stay here, and I’ll take our friend for a little walk. I get a little away from you and that dog, and I’ll let her go. Simple and easy. Everyone will be safe. Everyone will be fine.”

Except for Anderson who groaned quietly, his skin ashen.

The perp shifted, the gun pressed so deeply into Cassie’s flesh, her skin bulged around the barrel. “Open the door!” he commanded.

Cassie reached for the knob, eased the door open. A screen door lay beyond, still closed, the black night pulsing behind it. There were officers out there, moving in. Gavin was certain of it. If the perp suspected anything, he didn’t show it.

He kicked the storm door. “This one, too! Quick!”

Cassie moved, something in her face, something in the complete and utter stillness of her expression warning Gavin that she had no intention of walking outside.

“Cass—” he started to say, but she was already dropping, her weight breaking the perp’s hold. The gun went off, the bullet barely missing her head as she fell to the floor.

“Protect!” Gavin commanded, and Glory leaped forward, teeth bared as she crashed into the perp. He fell against the storm door, and it flew open, the gun dropping from his hand and clattering onto the porch.

Glory snarled, teeth sinking into the guy’s arm.

The guy let out a string of curses that would have made a sailor blush, his feet kicking at the shepherd as he tried to yank his arm out of the dog’s mouth.

“The more you struggle, the harder she’s going to bite,” Gavin said.

“Then maybe I’ll just have to make sure she can’t bite anymore,” the perp growled, pulling something from his pocket and jabbing it into Glory’s side.

She collapsed, and Gavin’s heart nearly stopped. Glory wasn’t just a dog. She was family. He wanted to run to her, but protocol dictated he take down the perp before he helped his injured partner.

Gavin aimed his gun.

“Freeze!” he shouted, issuing the warning because training demanded it.

The perp yanked something from his jacket pocket tossed it onto the floor. There was a flash of light, the harsh scent of smoke. Flames licked at floor and the door frame, and Gavin fired a shot, knew he’d missed his mark.

The flames ate at the hardwood, and he stomped them out, Cassie right beside him, her breathing frantic and uneven.

It only took seconds to put out the small fire, seconds to run out onto the porch. The perp had disappeared around the side of the house or into the tree line. Gavin flashed his light into the shadows, searching for movement, some clue as to which direction the perp had gone.

“Gavin!” Chase called as he sprinted around the corner of the house, Valor loping beside him. “I heard another gunshot. Everyone okay?”

“Glory’s down. One DC officer down. Call for an ambulance and the vet,” he responded as he flashed his light into the darkness, praying that he’d catch a glimpse of the intruder.

Nothing. Not even a whisper of movement in the trees. The guy was close, though. He had to be. Gavin took off across the yard, running toward the trees, his gut telling him that the perp had headed there.

Sirens screamed and two police cruisers raced into view. Both DC police. One of them a K-9 unit. Good. They needed more officers and dogs on the ground. And Gavin needed Glory. They were a team. Tracking a suspect without her felt odd and a little disorienting. He’d do it, though. He’d put everything, every fear for his partner, every worry aside to get the job done.

“You have any idea which way the perp headed?” Chase asked, jogging up beside him, Valor sniffing at the ground and then the air, his ears perked, his tail still.

“I’d guess he went into the woods. No way would he head toward the road. Not with police everywhere. If he’d gone toward the back of the house, Valor would have heard him.”

Chase nodded. “You want me to take Valor in to look for him while you fill the DC guys in?”

What Gavin really wanted to do was go into the woods himself, hunt the guy down. But he’d been at the scene, spoken to the perp, looked in the guy’s eyes.

“Yes,” he responded reluctantly. “Radio in if you find anything.”

“Will do!” Chase raced away, Valor loping along beside him.

Gavin jogged back to the house. Three officers were inside, two hovering over Cassie as she pressed what looked like a dish towel to Paul’s shoulder.

The third was beside Glory, murmuring something to the dog that Gavin couldn’t hear. Glory’s tail thumped, and she managed to get onto her feet, her gait a little stiff as she walked to Gavin’s side. No blood that he could see. No evidence of a knife wound.

He frowned, touching what looked like singed hair on her flank.

“Looks like a Taser,” one of the officers said. Young with gaunt face and a narrow frame, he looked like a high school kid. He was right, though. It seemed as though Glory had been Tased.

If that was the case, she’d recover well.

Relief coursed through him, and he scratched behind her ears, looked into her eyes. “Good job, Glory,” he said, offering the praise she craved.

In their three years working together, Glory had never been injured, never been ill, never missed a day of work. She loved her job, and even now, she seemed excited, her tail wagging, her eyes bright.

Paul, on the other hand, had lost every bit of his color. Gavin knelt beside him, nudging in close to Cassie, feeling the corded muscles of her shoulder and arm as he set his hand over hers, added more pressure to the wound.

“How far out is the ambulance?” he asked, glancing at one of the officers, wondering if he could apply enough pressure to staunch the blood. Wondering if it was too late for that to do any good.

“Should be coming up the driveway now.”

“Someone needs to bring them in. We’re on limited time.”

“Not that limited,” Paul murmured, his eyes still closed. “I got a fifteenth wedding anniversary coming up. I die, and my wife will kill me.”

If the situation hadn’t been so dire, Gavin would have laughed. “You’ve got big plans for your anniversary?” he asked. He needed to keep Anderson conscious and talking.

“Cruising to the Bahamas. Wife’s been planning this trip for years. If I don’t make it, she’ll kill me.” He opened his eyes, offered a smile that was more a grimace. “Also, I got a score to settle with someone, and I’m not going anywhere until I settle it.”

“You’re not going anywhere, period,” Cassie cut in, her tone brusque and matter-of-fact. Her hand was steady beneath Gavin’s, her expression calm. “Except the hospital. Where they’ll fix you up and get you ready for that big anniversary trip.”

“Right,” Paul rasped. Gavin wasn’t sure he believed Cassie’s words, but he was putting on a good show, making an effort to stay conscious.