Kurt (The K9 Files Book 12)

by Dale Mayer

  Kurt felt his stomach sink. “That may be,” he said, “but that is not the way it happened, and you’re not even trying to protect her from these thugs. You’re just trying to get me in trouble.”

  “No,” he said, “I’m looking at this as a cop who arrived to see you holding her with four guys at your feet.”

  “I see,” she said faintly. “So it’s really more important for you to nail Kurt’s ass after all these years than it is for you to get justice for me, is that it?”

  “If we find out that what really happened is as you said it was, that’s a different story.” He shrugged. “But we’ll need proof first.”

  Again the two silent cops with Amos nodded.

  “Did you ever think that maybe cameras are here?” she asked Amos in a hard voice.

  Kurt turned to look at her and could see the anger in her eyes, and he grinned. “You always were the first one to defend me.”

  “That’s because assholes like Amos were all too eager to throw you to the wolves,” she snapped, glaring at the detective.

  The detective raised his eyebrows at her. “We didn’t do anything to him that he didn’t deserve.”

  “Maybe not,” she said, “but you made it damn hard for him to change his ways.”

  Kurt was touched at her need to defend him and reached out a hand and said, “It’s okay. I’m not the crazy boy I was way back when,” he said, “and this was completely legit self-defense. They surrounded you, about to attack you with a steel bar. There’s absolutely no need for the cops to even look at me over this.”

  “Except,” she snapped, glaring at the detective, “they already are. As long as Amos has somebody who’s good for this, he won’t look to punish the assholes on the ground. He’ll just let them create their own little story and have you put in jail.”

  “Maybe,” Kurt said, “except for the cameras here.” He pulled out his phone and called Badger. When he explained that he was in a spot of trouble and that he needed camera access on the truck stop, the detective immediately started yelling at him.

  “Whoa, whoa, you don’t touch those damn cameras.”

  “Oh, hell, yes,” he explained to Badger. “I’ve got a detective here who wants to pin my ass to the wall instead of the four gang kids who surrounded a woman with steel bars to beat her to a pulp. So the detective is Amos …” And Kurt reeled off his full name and then gave Badger the name and address of the truck stop. When he hung up his phone, he said, “Let’s see how you get out of this one. Expect a phone call from US Navy Commander Cross.”

  “I was doing my job,” the detective said in fury.

  “No, you weren’t. And neither of you were trying to do anything right either.” She turned to look at the two other cops, looking at each other and over at the detective, but who still weren’t saying anything. “Even your cronies here will not say anything,” she said, “because it’s not about the truth for you, is it? It’s all about making sure you nail Kurt.” She looked pointedly at the two cops and asked, “Do you know this guy?”

  They shook their heads.

  “He was my boyfriend thirteen years ago. He was a bad boy on a bad track, but he went into the navy. He pulled up stakes, completely changed his life, became a Navy SEAL, and served to protect your sorry asses for thirteen years,” she said, with an arm sweep to include Amos. “Then Kurt comes home, does a job for the War Dogs Division that places him here. Five punk kids surround me with steel bars to beat me to a pulp, and Kurt rescues me. And do you guys care?” She shook her head. “You don’t.”

  The silent men finally protested. “Hey, we don’t know anything about what happened here. We’re still at the beginning of our investigation.”

  “Yeah, but you listen to him,” she said, motioning at Amos, the detective, “and then there won’t be an investigation. It’ll be a slam dunk, and this poor guy, Kurt, will find his ass in jail. So believe me. I’m watching and so is the rest of the world to see how you handle this.”

  At that, the detective swore on her. “Don’t you even begin to think you’ll get into our investigation,” he sneered.

  “You’re the one whose ass is on the line now,” she said, leveling him with a hard look. “Kurt here isn’t a punk kid anymore. He’s got friends in high places, and he’s in the right, so you do what’s right and make sure that you clean up this gang mess! In the meantime, you need to call an ambulance for the guys bleeding all over the ground.”

  With his arm around her, Kurt backed her up slightly and said, “Come on. Let’s sit you down in your car, until you calm down.”

  She looked up at him, shook her head, and said, “No, I want a piece of pie and coffee.”

  He started to chuckle. “I can get behind that idea.” He looked back at the other cops. “If and when you’re ready to take a statement from us,” he said, “we’ll be inside.” And nudging her gently, he pulled her toward the coffee shop.

  As they walked, a golden streak beside him tore off into the woods, and he froze.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  He called out, “Sabine? Come here, girl.”

  The dog turned, looked at him, and bolted into the trees.

  “Wow,” Laurie Ann said. “Was that her?”

  “I think so, yes.”

  “Well, she certainly turned at the sound of your voice.”

  “But the question is,” he said, “what was she doing here in the first place?”

  “Maybe she heard the ruckus and was coming to investigate?”

  “Maybe,” he said. He looked over to the cops, still moving the gang members. “I think she attacked these punks in the first place, which has her life on the line,” he said.

  “Maybe,” she said. “So then I hate these gang members even more.”

  “Not a whole lot we can do about rescuing her right now. But those kids? That’s a whole different story.”

  “Do you think the cops will do anything?”

  “They will give them a warning. Maybe charge them, then release them on bail. They’ll come back after me and possibly you now.”

  She sucked in her breath. “Seriously?” She froze, looked up at him.

  Just then they heard a short bark.

  “Do you want to go talk to her?”

  He frowned, hesitating, torn between his choices. Then he shook his head firmly and said, “No, let’s get you inside to have a coffee.”

  She stopped, placed a hand on his chest, and said, “I’m fine. I’ll go order coffee and pie. You go talk to Sabine and see if you can take a few more steps across that bridge.”

  And, with that, she turned and walked away. He loved her strong character, who she was, and raced after the dog. When he got to the brush, he sat down on one of the logs and just called out to her, “Come on, girl. Come here.” He put a few more treats from his pocket on the log, and, when he turned to look at her, she was there, staring, her eyes wide and glittering.

  “Those were the assholes who hurt you, weren’t they?”

  She gave a small woof.

  He nodded. “That’s all right. I hurt a few of them for you. What I do need to do is make sure they don’t know about the connection between you and me. Otherwise they’re likely to come back after you,” he murmured. And that was not something he was prepared to let happen. He smiled, placed a few more treats there, tossed a few at her feet, and then stood. She immediately backed up into the brush.

  “That’s all right, girl,” he said. “I know it’s been a tough life. But it’ll get better, I promise.”

  And, with that, he turned, and he slowly walked away. When he stopped at the edge of the brush, he smiled, whistled, gave her a wave. “I’ll be back tonight,” he promised. And he headed back to the coffee shop.

  Chapter 7

  Laurie Ann watched as Kurt sat down to join her at the booth, her coffee and pie before her to soothe her emotions after the encounter with the pipe-wielding teenage gang. “Did you find Sabine?”

  “Yeah, b
ut progress comes in small steps,” he said. “I’ll come back tonight and visit with her some more.”

  “Okay,” she said, but a note of doubt was in her voice.

  When the waitress appeared, he said, “I’ll have what she’s having. Thank you.” He turned and smiled at Laurie Ann. “Trust does not happen overnight.”

  She nodded. “I know that,” she said and frowned. “Do you really think Jeremy or I am in danger from that teenage gang?”

  “I don’t know. The gang leader will get his broken nose and arm treated, but I have no idea how many other friends he has.”

  “Because I don’t want to think of any harm coming to Jeremy.”

  “Oh, no, that won’t go down well either,” he said, studying her face.

  “But you’re not telling me it’s not a possibility.”

  “No,” he said. “I never lied to you. Remember?”

  She winced. “Great,” she said, “so, in effect, this could get very ugly.”

  “Right now, no reason to even think about that,” he said. “With any luck those teenagers have other crimes that they can be held on, and they’ll go straight to jail.”

  “Maybe,” she said. “What about Reggie?”

  “He’s the one who walked away?”

  She nodded. “I’m afraid that they’ll go after him.”

  “And it’s possible,” he said. “Unfortunately there can be no good answers in something like this.”

  “There’s no good answers all around. They’re teenagers and already just hoodlums, with guns and pipes,” she said in outrage. “And they threatened me when I didn’t do anything.”

  “They didn’t care if you did or not. They are belligerent, ugly personalities, looking to make themselves feel better because they hate their lives. The only way to do that is to beat on somebody else,” he said. “They needed to pump up who they are to make themselves feel like they are big badasses.”

  “You were never like that,” she said.

  “Nope,” he said, “because I was already a cocky badass, who knew I was a badass. I didn’t have to do stupid stunts like that to feel empowered.”

  She snorted. “Maybe that’s why my parents hated you so much.”

  “They hated me because they knew I was trying to get into their daughter’s pants,” he said with a grin.

  “Well, you did that,” she said, “but why is it everyone believes that I was an innocent party?”

  “Because fathers look upon their daughters as being young and innocent. Those fathers know perfectly well that, when they were young themselves, they did things that they weren’t very happy with.”

  She sat back and said, “I was supposed to have a nice afternoon off because the other clinic still isn’t back up and running,” she said, “and instead I’m emotionally exhausted now.”

  “I know,” he said. “And I’m sorry. It’s not how I intended the afternoon to go.”

  “It’s not your fault,” she said. “I’m the one who stopped to see if you were here.”

  “And I like that,” he said. “I really do.”

  She smiled. “And will you come for dinner tonight instead?”

  “I thought it was planned for tomorrow night?”

  “Yeah, but I’m feeling a little bit uneasy about this whole thing,” she said. “I’d feel better if you came tonight too.”

  “Then I’ll come,” he said immediately. “Do you want to tell Jeremy ahead of time, so it’s not a shock?”

  “I suppose I should.” She pulled out her phone, looked down, and said, “There’s a couple of messages from him anyway.”

  She scrolled through them, seeing the usual request to stay at Frank’s. She looked up at Kurt and said, “He’s asking to stay at Frank’s tonight.”

  “Overnight?” he asked.

  “It’s often what happens.”

  “You like Frank?”

  “He’s a good kid,” she said, “and, in this world, when I see other punks—like the ones who were just here threatening me—I realize just how good both my teenage son and Frank are.”

  “So tell him that I’ll be there for dinner. He can come join us or not, but otherwise we’ll meet tomorrow for the burgers.”

  She thought about that and then nodded and quickly sent a text. When her son responded with Why is he coming tonight? she didn’t know what to say. She looked again at Kurt. “He’s asking why you are coming tonight.”

  “Because we want to be together,” he said quietly.

  She stared at him and could feel some of the tension inside her creeping back in again. “I’ve haven’t really dated since I had him,” she said. As Kurt’s gaze widened, she nodded. “He was the most important thing in my life. I was in school, and I didn’t have a chance to go out very much. I tried a couple dates when he was younger, and that just didn’t work out very well, so I avoided the whole dating game.”

  “So now you don’t know what he’ll think of it?”

  “I guess,” she said, slowly working her way through it. “Maybe I’m embarrassed. Maybe I’m just unsure.”

  “Well,” he said quietly, “you’ll have to make the call on this one.” Kurt watched her curiously to see how she would handle this.

  She let out her breath slowly. Then raised her phone and texted her son. He’s coming for dinner because we want to spend time together. You too. Bring Frank. When no answer came immediately from her son, she said with a wince, “So that may have just killed that conversation.”

  “What did you say?”

  After she told him, she watched the slowest smile grow on his face. “It’ll be a lot of adjustment to even have you around for a little while.”

  “I know,” he said. “I was thinking that same thing, but it doesn’t mean that we don’t deserve to spend time alone with each other as well as a family.”

  The waitress returned with Kurt’s coffee and pie. He nodded his thank-you to her as she left them alone again.

  “Is this really what we want?” she asked, narrowing her gaze at him. “We can’t go back in time.”

  “Good,” he said. “Who the hell wants to. I’m very different. You’re very different, and there’s absolutely no reason at all that we should have to do that.”

  “Meaning?”

  “I like who you are today too,” he said honestly, “and I really would like to spend some time with you.”

  “But, once again, you’re not staying around, are you?” she asked quietly. “So, once again, this is short-term, just to connect for a little while, and then you’ll be gone.”

  “I don’t know about that,” he said. “I haven’t made any plans for my future yet, now that I’m out of the navy and mostly rehabbed from my accident. So I don’t have a job or a career to offer you,” he said.

  Her eyebrows rose. “I don’t remember saying I needed that offered.”

  “Maybe not,” he said, “but I can just see your parents in the background, frowning with displeasure, because I’m still not a good prospect.”

  “Sure,” she said with a negligent shrug. “But they’ve been doing that all your life, whether you knew it or not.”

  He burst out laughing.

  She glanced to one of the big windows in the coffee shop and frowned. “But our priority right now needs to be the dog.”

  He looked outside and frowned. “What is it?”

  “I think I saw somebody just go into the bushes where she is,” she said.

  He scanned the area. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  “Don’t worry about me.” She shook her head and said, “Go. I’ll head home. I might have a nap. I’m feeling just that tired right now.”

  “Do you still want me to come for dinner?”

  She checked her watch and said, “How about at six?”

  “I’ll be there,” he said. He smiled and added, “I’ll go rescue another damsel right now.”

  And he disappeared.

  Kurt strode out of the restaurant and picked up hi
s pace to a light jog, heading in the same direction as he’d seen a man now entering the woods. It could be some guy who just needed to take a leak, but it also happened to be the same area where Sabine was.

  Besides, Kurt wasn’t at all sure that these five kids, the young gang members, didn’t have somebody older behind them. And, if somebody in any gang had something against Sabine, it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference to Kurt. He’d take them down, save the War Dog from further abuse.

  As he headed to the shrubbery, he didn’t dare look behind him, but he was pretty sure that Laurie Ann stood at the entranceway to the coffee shop, watching him. He stepped into the woods and stopped in silence. He listened, quietly hearing the crunch off to the side—a stealthiness to it that made him frown.

  He hoped that Sabine had smarts enough to separate enemy from friend. But then he remembered some of the training that she had had back when she was in the War Dogs program, how she had been trained to sniff out the enemy versus her own trainers. The trouble was, did she understand who was who at this point in her civilian life? She’d been on her own for a long time, and just enough assholes were out here to confuse her.

  Kurt kept moving quietly in the direction of the stranger. As he came to a slight opening, he stepped back under cover and stared. An older man—maybe late forties, early fifties—crouched and studied the trees in front of him. He obviously wasn’t here to take a look at nature. Matter of fact, he looked like he was here for nothing but trouble.

  Kurt highly doubted the stranger was trying to help Sabine, given the stance he projected. Kurt studied the stranger and waited to see if Sabine would approach. When the stranger pulled a small handgun from his back pocket and raised it, Kurt thrashed around in the undergrowth to chase Sabine away.

  The man turned in irritation and looked at him. “What the hell do you want?”

  “Well, I didn’t know that I wanted anything,” he said. “I was just walking around the area …” Then he saw the gun in his hand, reacting supposedly in shock. “Hey, man, what are you doing?”

  The guy waved the gun at him and said, “Get the hell out of here.”