Cinn couldn’t help it. She reached for her phone and called Louise. “Has he been there?”
“He has indeed,” Louise said warmly. “He’s a man of hidden depths.”
“Why is that?”
“Do you know what he’s named the dog?”
“No. What?”
“Sally.”
Cinn sat back and thought about that. “Well, it’s not a bad name,” she said cautiously.
“If you know what it’s short for, it’s a fantastic name,” Louise said. “And he did tell me.”
“Oh, do share.”
“He named her Sally, short for Salvation.”
Cinn gave a happy sigh. “He really is a good guy, isn’t he?”
“I think you’ll find he’s exactly the same as the rest of the men we have around here. Rory, Flynn, Stone,” Louise explained. “I’ve talked to several of them about Ethan. They all know about him, but they don’t know him. He was in the US Navy K9 Unit, had an accident, recovered, but slowly. In the meantime he lost both parents and slipped into a major depression. When he came out of that, he was lost for a while. He’s part of a group, the same people who sent him here, but they are back in Santa Fe. He knows Gunner and some of Levi’s men too.”
“Great! They seem to know each other all across the country. Which is good because they probably need that family connection. Brothers, so to speak.”
“Very true,” Louise said. “Anyway, he’s coming to get Sally this afternoon, providing she’s good enough to go.”
“Wow, that’ll be interesting. Man and dog do travel, I guess,” Cinn quoted badly.
“I think he’s looking for a reason to stop traveling,” Louise said simply. “He just doesn’t know what it is and probably won’t know until he finds it. Maybe not even then.”
Silence filled the air for a few moments.
“Have you dropped a hint in there?” Cinn asked drily.
Laughter peeled through the phone. “Not necessarily,” Louise said. “But, if something’s there that you want to explore in greater detail, don’t let him walk away. You don’t know where he’ll stop next.”
“He’s heading into a whole lot more trouble and probably won’t be leaving except in a body bag, so don’t count on Sally having a home just yet,” Cinn said.
“What?” Louise asked, the confusion evident in her tone. “What is he doing?”
“He’s tracked down whoever did this to Sally. And I know he’s contacted Gunner to do something about it, and Gunner called the police. Ethan will make sure he stops this, and he doesn’t really care if he gets hurt in the process.”
“Well, maybe Sally is a good thing then. Maybe she’ll encourage him to be safer, so he can look after her,” Louise said. “Otherwise he could be biting off more than he can handle.”
After she got off the phone, Cinn chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, wondering what she could do to help Ethan. But she didn’t really have any options. She walked back into her office and stopped, looking out at the road. She saw a vehicle parked on the side of the highway. People didn’t stop there, unless they were broken down. Her driveway came off the highway to her place down below, so she didn’t hear or see much of the traffic—unless they parked on her side of the road. She watched and waited. Finally it turned and headed off again.
She forgot about it until a couple hours later, when she looked up, and possibly the same damn truck was parked once more on the roadside, facing the opposite direction this time. She got up with her cell phone and took a picture. It was too far away to show any details. Even if something funny was going on, who would she call? There was no reason for anybody to be watching her. The only thing different in her life right now was Ethan. And the dog.
Her breath caught in the back of her throat. She walked to a different window and peered out. It was just past noon, and she hadn’t seen Ethan for hours. What if these men were looking for him? What if they’d seen him come to her house?
Unnerved, she went to call him, then stopped. Should she call him or not? She didn’t know what he was doing. Not second-guessing herself, she hit the Dial button. When he answered, his voice sounded distracted.
“Any chance somebody followed you here?” she asked.
“What?” His voice was sharp. “Why would you ask that?”
“About an hour after you left, a truck parked out on the road. I thought I saw somebody looking down here at me. I didn’t think anything of it because the truck started up and drove away. But, a few hours later, the same truck, or what appears to be the same truck, has parked up there again. I tried to take a picture of it, but it’s pretty far away.”
“Send me the picture, and I’ll call you back.”
She shrugged and sent him the picture with a note. I told you it was far away.
She went in the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee, hating the tension coiling inside. She didn’t want to think he’d brought trouble to her door, but then she knew she couldn’t blame him. Not only was he the kind to walk into trouble, he was the kind to deal with trouble nobody else wanted. And he had gone looking for it. He’d gone to help save Sally.
Just as the coffee was done, her phone rang.
“Stay in the house. Lock it up. I’ll come back this afternoon.” He disconnected.
She glared at her phone and tossed it on the kitchen counter. The last thing she wanted was to be given orders.
She looked outside and saw the truck moving away again. She smiled, grabbed her phone and sent Ethan a text. False alarm. Truck’s leaving.
Order still stands came the instant response. Let me know if it comes back.
“Like hell I will,” she said aloud good-naturedly.
She headed back to her office and her work. She had tons to do, and, if she was lucky, she would get something accomplished. She had another mess of emails and phone calls to make. She wanted to get through her business work and get back to her dog rescues. Just because Ethan was focused on saving Sally didn’t mean other animals weren’t desperately in need of her assistance.
Staring at the property, two cops at his side, more stationed close by, a dozen in all, Ethan hated to think somebody might have followed him to Cinn’s place. He’d kept a careful eye out the night before and hadn’t seen anyone. But it was possible the owners had a lookout. Once at the property, he’d been so focused on the sentries there that he’d forgotten more could be higher up.
He froze, thinking about that and then swore softly. The two cops beside him turned to look at him. “When I was here last night,” he said softly, “I think a lookout might have been up on that peak.” He turned to look at the hill where he’d been parked. “I parked up there and came down here. If somebody up on the top saw me …” He let his voice trail off, looking at the text on his phone.
“Why are you thinking about that now?”
“Because a truck is parked on the highway, watching a friend’s house where I’d been last evening. It disappeared, then it came back. I want to make sure nobody from here followed me to her.”
“Then go look after her,” urged Matthew, one of the two officers.
“She says it’s gone now, and she will stay inside locked up.” At least he hoped she would. He motioned at the property in front of them. “I need a chance to help these dogs.”
“Not if she’s in danger, you don’t.”
He shook his head. “I don’t think she’s in danger. But it could mean somebody’s out there looking for me.”
The signal came just then. The men moved out. Ethan’s military training kicked in, and he already knew where he was due to be. As he approached the front, he kept behind the policemen. His best defense was getting those dogs on his side. He just had to get to them before the place exploded in chaos.
Just then one of the armed sentries called out, “Stop. This is private property. You’re trespassing.”
Ethan’s gaze zoomed in on the dog at his side. Her hackles were raised, and she snarled. She wore a prong collar, and it was all the guy could do to hold her back. Ethan knew, with a minimal touch, she’d go at the first intruder. Quickly using his fingers, he whistled a high-pitched tone that he’d used on his own dogs in the military—a tone that animals could hear much better than humans.
Silence followed.
The dog’s barking stopped as if cut off with a knife. Her ears went up, and she turned, looking toward Ethan, her gaze intent. The handler was so focused on the men at the front gate that he didn’t notice the change in the dog’s behavior.
Good. Because they would need every advantage they could get.
Darkness dropped as heavy clouds moved overhead. It added a somberness to the situation. His focus was on the dogs, but he knew the other men were focused on not getting shot as they took down the operation. Not part of the inner workings of the police team, Ethan watched as they all moved into position.
On the other side of the fence, two more men arrived with two more dogs. One a big male. Was that K9:01?
The dog he had whistled to no longer pulled on her leash. She looked around, confusion in her eyes. He let out a light whistle, easing the tension in her system. She gave a headshake, as if not quite sure what was going on. Her lips curled, and she snarled again. Her handler pulled back on her leash. Ethan watched as her neck was jerked to the side with more force than necessary. Her lips curled harder, and the snarls could easily be heard from where Ethan hid.
Matthew, still beside him, asked, “Why don’t we just pop a bullet in her? It’d be easier. She looks like she’s ready to eat one of us.”
Ethan shook his head. “Her collar has metal spikes that are digging into her neck, probably cutting her throat right now. She’s been trained on torture and mishandling. It’s not her fault.”
“It might not be her fault,” the guy said sarcastically, “but I sure as hell don’t want to be at the receiving end of those teeth.”
Shots fired from the left. After that, chaos ensued inside the compound. There were shouts, sirens, and the dog lunged in a frantic frenzy. Ethan knew, once the attack dogs hit that blood rage, it would be hard to control them. He had to get them away from their handlers.
One of the men lost control of his dog. It jerked hard, jumping at the fence. Instead of going after the dog, he pulled his rifle from over his shoulder and fired at the police team.
Ethan crouched below the hillock. He didn’t think this was the way it was supposed to go down. For some reason he’d expected this to be a simpler operation. But, once they’d been sighted, instead of more talking, the compound had fired at them.
As quickly as it started, it stopped.
Silence hushed over his ears. He looked at the man at his side. He talked on his walkie-talkie.
Matthew bounced up, nudged Ethan and said, “All clear. One dog is injured. I don’t know about the other two. We’ve got six shooters down and secured. You stay behind me the whole way.”
Ethan did as instructed, happy to be in the background on this one. As they forced open the gates, another alarm went off, causing the dogs to howl. Ethan pulled the ropes and leads he had brought with him out of his backpack, and, with his hands well-gloved and his forearms wrapped, he headed in to the left, as all the men went to the right.
One of the dogs headed toward the policemen. The officer turned, lowered his rifle and called out at Ethan, “She’s got one chance. Then I shoot.”
Ethan stepped in front of the rifle. The dog jumped at him, her mouth wide, teeth shining bright. He twisted at the last moment, shoving his padded forearm in her mouth. He gravitated as her weight hit him. He went down with her, flipping her to the ground, putting his foot on her neck and grabbing control of her leash. The dog released her chokehold on his arm and lay on the ground, quivering.
He looked at the officer, still pointing a gun at him. “She’ll be fine.”
The officer stared at the dog and then at Ethan with disbelief. He shook his head and said, “Better you than me. Watch out for the other two.”
Ethan nodded as two more dogs approached. They were confused with their teammate on the ground. Ethan released his gentle but effective hold on her neck, waited for her to get up. With a special training collar firmly in place, he tied her to the open gate so she had no choice but to stay down. With her neck at an angle, she couldn’t lunge at anybody. It was temporary until he could get the other two dogs under control.
He pulled out another lead and approached the two dogs. Two was harder than one because they would double-team him if they were well trained. He went down into a nonthreatening crouch. He whistled a high piercing sound. The dogs started to howl. And, with that, their bodies relaxed just slightly.
The dog behind him howled too. He glanced at her, but she was fine.
Instincts told Ethan to lunge and to hook on the collars so this pair couldn’t turn on him. But he knew that any heavy-handed approach would bring them instantly into the red zone.
He took several steps toward the closest one. It turned its gaze on him and curled its lip, dragging its leash with each movement. All Ethan had to do was get a hold of that leash himself.
He yelled out commands, but the dogs wouldn’t listen. He walked forward, his body ready for the attack he knew was coming. He needed to successfully repeat the first scenario. But this was a big male, and it didn’t look like he would go down easily. Ethan braced himself, but the dog suddenly broke to the left and circled around behind him. Then it barked in front of the female, already down and tied up. Ethan couldn’t keep an eye on both loose dogs, now split up.
“Very smart,” he said, admiration in his tone as he backed up slightly so he could get a wider view of each one. “Are you also trying to protect her?”
He knew the officers kept an eye on what was happening. Most of them would agree that a bullet was the only answer in this situation, but Ethan didn’t agree. It wasn’t the animals’ fault they were defending something the good guys needed to stop.
The big male, still standing in front of the captured female, barked and barked. Ethan studied him, trying to understand what his weakness was. The other male on his right lunged. Ethan deliberately kept his gaze on the second male as he went for him. Still crouched, he raised his arm to give him something to bite on. As soon as he bit, his jaw locked down, he grabbed the leash dragging behind him. With that done, Ethan put another one of his restraining collars on the second male and dropped him until he was flat on the ground. He still had a grip on him and fought. Once he released his jaws, and it would take some time, he could pull free from him. But he surprised him, unlocking his hold before he went down.
He gave him a moment, safely behind him with his hand on his throat. He talked to him in a calm, quiet voice. “Take it easy. You’ll be fine.”
When he stopped snarling, he gave him the command to lie down. He did.
He smiled. “I knew you were well trained.”
He ordered him to stand and to heel. He stood and took his position just behind Ethan’s right leg. All the while the first male, now even more confused, showed signs of attacking. Ethan was surprised he hadn’t attacked at the same time as the earlier one had. Ethan wondered how much of that was due to the female behind him. Maybe the male dog felt he was the defender of all of them. Animals stayed in packs, and the first male was the alpha male obviously. Now his pack was being split and taken down, but, as long as Ethan held the leash of this second male dog, Ethan had to make sure he kept the other male contained too.
He looked around for a place to tie him up, but there was only the fence. Using commands, he moved slowly toward it. With the short leash hooked so his head, neck and chest were against the fence, he couldn’t move. After securing him, he headed for the first male, wondering if this was the K9 he was looking for.
“Hey, boy. I know you don’t understand this, and you’re just fighting for your life. I have no intention of hurting you.”
He spoke in the same tone he used to work with dogs all the time. Usually he worked with dogs delighted to be working, dogs that loved to learn, dogs that loved to have a job to do every day. But, every once in a while, he came up against animals either wild or badly abused, and those needed the same loving care he’d given his own.
This one was missing great big chunks of hair along its back and sides. Ethan didn’t know if it was from mange or abuse. Scars and definitely some blood were on his shoulder. Again, who was to say where that came from? There was nothing wrong with the breadth of his jaws. The male looked like it was a good forty pounds heavier than the females, also the norm. But he also had something else about him. He wasn’t a purebred shepherd from the looks of him. Ethan wasn’t sure just what he was though.
He kept his gaze on the dog, knowing every action would show in the dog’s eyes first. Ethan just had to be ready. He had another restraining leash in his hand and, just in case, a big choke chain. He figured the male would be the hardest to take down.
He risked a glance up and found he was surrounded by officers. “Is everything else under control?” he asked.
“Yes. By the way, this is the one that got shot.”
“Hopefully it’s not bad,” he said. “That explains the blood on his shoulder.”
“Are you sure you don’t want us to give him a second bullet?”
Ethan shook his head. “No. Just like the two others, he’s only doing his job.”
“And how the hell will you win this fight?” Matthew asked. “It looks like he’ll go for your throat.”
“He will, if I give him that chance. But there can only be one boss. And he has to understand that I mean to be that boss.”
One of the men snorted.
That sound set off the big male dog in front of him. Ethan backed up several steps, giving the dog room to run, and he took advantage, seeing his prey as weaker. He lunged for Ethan’s throat. As soon as that jaw opened, Ethan thrust his left arm forward into the dog’s open jaws, as far as he could, forcing the dog’s jaws wide, then flipped him to the ground onto his sore shoulder. The dog yelped but was already locked in place on Ethan’s padded arm.
One-handed, Ethan calmly disengaged the spikes on the dog’s collar he currently wore and pulled it a bit tighter so the dog wouldn’t completely slip from it. Then Ethan let the dog roll over to his other side, onto his good shoulder, and stepped on the chain leash, all while the big male chomped down firmly on Ethan’s padded arm. In a bold move, Ethan’s free hand removed the glove from his other hand, then shoved his glove into the dog’s mouth, forcing his jaws to open wider. This pushed it past the point where it could apply force to bite down, freeing Ethan’s arm finally. With the dog already weakened, it couldn’t do much. Nor did it try.
And, just like that, Ethan had the third one secured. While it was down, Ethan used his other leg to hold the jaw and the head firmly on the ground without hurting it and checked out the bullet wound, but it was more of a burn. Ethan studied him. His markings were close to the picture he had of Sentry, the K9:01 dog. He’d have to wait to check his tattoo to confirm his identity. The dog was already stressed; now wasn’t the time to add to it.
“I don’t know who shot him,” he called out, “but all you did was piss him off.”
The uniformed men stared at him.
Ethan looked at the three dogs and then at the policemen and asked, “What’s wrong?”
They shook their heads. None were apparently concerned about more unfriendlies on the compound, so presumably the place was secure.
“Damn it. I’d rather take down six gunmen than face one of these dogs,” Matthew snapped. “That was crazy.”
Ethan smiled. “I used to train these guys to do just what they did. They’re well trained. They did their jobs. They don’t know the difference between good guys and bad guys in this case,” he said. “They don’t deserve a bullet for having had no choice.”
“Yeah, but now what will you do with them?”
“It depends what the law will allow me to do,” he said. “I have a place I can take them. I have a vet to get this one treated. I’d like to rehabilitate them, so they’re good protective animals.”
The officer in charge, Sergeant Mendelsson, walked toward him, his hands on his hips. The male shepherd growled.
Ethan applied gentle pressure on the dog’s jaw to let him know what was acceptable and what wasn’t. “If you just stand your ground there,” he said to the sergeant, “the dog will understand that, A, I’m the boss, and, B, he’s not in any danger.”
The sergeant nodded. “I think I can arrange that. I don’t know what will happen to them long-term.”
“Destroyed, I would imagine,” said another officer, approaching. “But, if you think you can rehabilitate them—and, after what we’ve seen here today, I think maybe you can—we’ll do our best to give you that chance. But you need a place to move them.”
Ethan nodded, his mind spinning rapidly. “I have a house at the moment. It is fenced. But I’ll need a better way to train them. Still, I can arrange that.”
“You got your chance then. What about your truck? You’ll need a canopy or something for them.”
He considered the options and shook his head. “The canopy would be better, yes, but I can secure them in the back so they’re not going anywhere.”
The men nodded.
Matthew said, “As much as I don’t want to get close to them, do you need a hand moving them?”
Ethan shook his head. “I’ll take them one at a time.”
He lifted his foot and ordered the male to stand. Struggling with his bad shoulder, the male shepherd rose. Ethan commanded it to heel, and he walked the dog just like that out of the compound. He knew the men were watching, and he knew they didn’t understand. And that was okay because it was what Ethan did. Only he had to stop and think about that because it was not what he did now. What he used to do was train these animals for military scenarios—to sniff out bombs, chemicals and weapons.
Potentially, in this case, he could rehabilitate these dogs to be used as guard dogs or maybe, once again, chemicals- and weapons-sniffing dogs. He had no clue where this was taking him.
What he did know was it felt right. What he did was worth it for the animals.
At his truck, he opened the tailgate and ordered the dog to jump. Instantly he jumped into the back. With the dog in the bed, Ethan secured it to one of the hooks. He couldn’t take it very far like this; it wasn’t safe, but he had limited options at the moment.
With one dog secured, he walked back to the fence and snagged the other two dogs waiting. With one on either side, he walked them to where the big male was. As soon as they realized where they were going, they were happy to follow. They jumped into the truck without any problem. He secured one across from the big male and then secured the third along the tailgate with it closed. None of them had enough leash that they could jump free, and, short of somebody throwing them over the side of the truck bed, no way they would get hurt.
He walked back to the sergeant and said, “Here’s my address and phone number. I’ll be there until I find better lodging for all the dogs, a place with kennels.”
The sergeant shook his hand. “That was a nice job today. How well trained do you think they are?”
“Very well trained,” he said. “I’ll have to test them further to confirm, but I used to train dogs for bombs, weapons and chemicals missions. I’ll run these dogs through the tests and see what they’ve been trained for.”
The sergeant nodded and said, “I can’t guarantee it, but you know what? If we can arrange it for you to keep them, and you think you can train them, we can always use dogs on specific jobs. We have almost no K9 Units here. And certainly none as well under control as you have those.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Ethan said with a smile. “I’ve also got a female that came from this property as well. She’s at the vet right now, recovering from surgery. Theoretically that’s four good dogs that could be put to work.”
“You might need another handler,” one of the men called out.
Ethan nodded. “I might. First let me see how we do with these dogs.”
With all the niceties taken care of, Ethan walked back to the truck. With a gloved hand, he reached down and gently stroked the back of the female, then the smaller male. As he approached the alpha male, he could hear the growl in the back of his throat, but he gently touched the dog on the back of his neck, letting him know Ethan was not an enemy. Then he hopped into the truck, turned on the engine and headed home.
