Duty Bound Guardian (Capitol K-9 Unit)

by Reed, Terri

  “When can you return?”

  She glanced at Brooke. “I’ll have to call you back.”

  “Oh. Well, if you must.”

  He hung up. Lana held the phone to her chest.

  “You’re smiling,” Brooke commented. “Good news?”

  “Yes, my boss said I could come back to work.”

  “When?”

  “Now. He’s upgraded the security system and hired more security guards. I will be safe there.”

  Brooke laughed. “Let me touch base with my captain and then we’ll see. First we should drop off your things.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  Now, if only the judge would make his ruling and grant her custody of Juan her life would be...well, as complete as it could be without someone special to share it with. Too bad that person wouldn’t be Adam. But at least she’d be moving in the right direction.

  A shiver slid over her skin, reminding her a shadow hovered, an unknown threat that put a pall on her potential happiness. Until she was no longer a target of some unseen force, she wouldn’t be free to live fully.

  TWELVE

  “Sumptner totally stonewalled me,” Adam said so Gavin could hear him through the Bluetooth device in the cab of Adam’s SUV. He and Ace had spent a frustrating half hour with the CEO of Thorn Industries only to have the pretentious man stare down his thin nose and treat Adam like dirt on his shoe. But Adam couldn’t arrest the man for arrogance. “He wouldn’t say anything without a lawyer.”

  “Hiding something?” Gavin asked.

  “My instincts say yes. When I brought up the congressional bills, the guy got twitchy. That’s when he asked his head of security to escort Ace and me from the building.”

  “I’ll talk to General Meyer and see if she can rattle a cage or two over there.”

  If anyone could rattle a cage it was General Margaret Meyer, the president’s special in-house security chief and Gavin’s boss. “Roger that. Where are Brooke and Lana?”

  “Miss Gomez,” Gavin intoned with emphasis. Adam winced. Using Lana’s first name had slipped out without forethought. “Is on her way to the museum. Her boss requested she return.”

  Adam was glad his phone call to the man had helped him realize how valuable an employee he had in Lana. An innocent employee. Good. Floyd should value Lana. She was a hard worker and competent. Beautiful and full of love. Her nephew would be blessed to have Lana.

  “I want you here.”

  Adam jolted, realizing his boss had said something. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

  “I’m calling a team meeting. You coming?”

  “Of course. On our way. ETA forty minutes.”

  Thorn Industries was located on the outskirts of Germantown, Maryland. Adam headed away from the pharmaceutical company on MD-118 toward I-270. The divided highway served as the main thoroughfare through the Montgomery County community of Germantown. The midafternoon traffic was sparse. Adam flicked his gaze to the rearview mirror. A black van bore down on Adam’s SUV. Adam changed from the left lane to the right. Maybe the driver of the van didn’t realize he’d be passing law enforcement, not that Adam would give chase. But he would call the speeder in.

  The van switched lanes, too.

  The fine hairs at the base of his neck stood on end. Adrenaline flushed through his veins. His heart sped up. The black vehicle drew so close he couldn’t see its grill anymore. He tapped his brakes to signal the guy to back off. Instead, the van kissed the SUV’s bumper with a sharp nudge, jerking him and causing the seat belt across his body to tighten, pinning him in place.

  “Oh, yeah, that’s the way you want to play?” he muttered.

  With a quick twist of the steering wheel he swerved back into the left lane and braked hard. The van shot past him. He floored the gas and dropped in behind the black van. Red brake lights flashed. He returned the van’s kiss on the corner of the van’s rear bumper in a precision immobilization technique—a pursuit tactic intended to stop the suspect—sending the vehicle skidding into a spin right off the road and into the green space along the highway’s edge. The van hit a tree and came to a stop.

  Infused with anger and adrenaline, Adam pulled over, parked and used his shoulder radio to call for backup before jumping out with his gun ready. He popped open Ace’s side kennel door. The dog joined him on the road. Cautiously, he and Ace approached the van.

  “Get your hands up!” Adam shouted to the driver. Ace growled, his body tense, ready to pounce.

  The guy raised his hands. Adam yanked the driver’s side door open and pulled the man out of the seat. The acrid smell of the deployed airbags wafted out of the open door. He holstered his weapon while keeping one hand on the guy, then pushed the driver against the van’s side and yanked his hands behind his back, before taking a zip tie from his pocket and lacing it around the man’s wrists. The guy didn’t look like a junkie. He was dressed in cotton khakis, a worn dress shirt and loafers.

  Adam led the man away from the van and forced him to sit on the ground. Blood trickled from the guy’s nose and red abrasions from the van’s airbag marred his face. His long brown hair flopped over one eye. Adam read the man his Miranda rights as he frisked him for a weapon. He yanked the guy’s wallet out of his back pocket and flipped it open. The identification inside was from Baltimore, Maryland. Jimmy Slinski.

  “Is there anyone else in the van?” Adam asked.

  Jimmy shook his head. Adam checked the van to be sure while Ace stood guard over the suspect. The vehicle was indeed empty.

  “Are you crazy?” Adam shook off the effects of the adrenaline as it rushed through his system. He didn’t recognize the driver and had never heard his name so this couldn’t be personal. “What were you thinking?”

  Jimmy didn’t respond.

  Adam squatted down in front of the guy. His eyes looked clear, not glazed with drugs. Adam didn’t believe for a second this was a random act of violence. If he hadn’t been trained in evasive tactics and wasn’t a skilled driver, he’d have been the one crashed into a tree.

  “Who hired you?”

  Refusing to meet Adam’s gaze, Jimmy stared stonily at the ground.

  “You do realize you’ve assaulted a police officer.” Frustration vibrated through Adam’s tone. “You’re going down. There’s no two ways about it. But you can make things easier for yourself if you tell me, here and now, who put you up to this.”

  “A lawyer,” Jimmy muttered.

  Great. Now Adam wouldn’t get anything out of the guy. “You can hide behind your lawyer but it’s not going to change the fact that you tried to run me off the road.” Adam rose to wait for back up.

  “No, that’s not what I meant.” Jimmy glanced around as if afraid he’d be overheard. Though cars slowed on the highway to gawk as they passed, none stopped and certainly wouldn’t catch their conversation. But something had the guy spooked.

  “Okay, then what does a lawyer have to do with you assaulting me?”

  The guy sighed. “My shirt pocket.”

  On guard in case this was some sort of ploy to try and escape, Adam moved closer to pluck a business card out of the breast pocket of Jimmy’s shirt. “Travis Porter, Esquire.” Adam waved the card. “What does he have to do with this?”

  “He hires me to do odd jobs for him.”

  “Like run a police officer off the road?”

  Jimmy winced. “Well, I was supposed to stop you before you left Thorn’s campus, but I was afraid to try anything with the dog there.” He eyed Ace with wariness.

  “Stop me from leaving? Why?”

  “I don’t ask questions.” Jimmy shrugged. “I get paid and that’s all I care about.”

  Rubbing his chin, Adam considered this new development. Seemed he’d rattled a cage of his own. Asking about the congressional bills had the higher-ups at Thorn Industries willing to commit a crime to keep him from digging too deep. Just what were they trying to hide? And was Congressman Jeffries involved? Did Thorn Industries hav
e something to do with Michael’s death? How did Erin Eagleton fit in? Or Rosa Gomez, for that matter? And was Thorn Industries therefore connected somehow to the attacks on Lana?

  The questions gave Adam a splitting headache. It would be only a matter of time before the answers were revealed.

  But he was afraid the casualty list would grow in the meantime.

  * * *

  “Here you are!” Mr. Floyd exclaimed as Lana entered the museum with Brooke right on her heels.

  The enthusiastic welcome coming from her boss surprised and unsettled her. Normally, Mr. Floyd was a worrywart, constantly bemoaning one thing or another. “I came as quickly as I could.” She glanced at Brooke. “This is Officer Clark. She wanted to make sure all was in order before leaving me here.”

  “Yes, yes, rightly so,” he said and pulled a handkerchief from the breast pocket of his brown suit to mop his brow. “The new security system is creating problems with the heating system but the technician is here fixing it now. Brad and the new guy are monitoring things closely.”

  “Mind if I take a look around?” Brooke asked.

  Waving a hand, Mr. Floyd said, “Not at all.”

  Brooke turned to Lana. “I’ll be right back. Do not move from this spot.”

  Lana grimaced. She’d confessed to the officer her penchant for not exactly following orders. “I will,” she promised.

  “Where’s the security office?” Brooke asked.

  Mr. Floyd directed her down the hall. Brooke strode away. She was thankful Brooke’s boss had agreed to allow her to return to work, depending on whether Brooke determined that she would indeed be safe at the museum. Brooke would then come back at the end of the day to escort her to the town house. Tomorrow, she and Brooke would return to her apartment. The officer kindly offered to help her begin the process of moving into Rosa’s home.

  “I want to apologize for my earlier behavior,” Mr. Floyd said. “I shouldn’t have assumed you were involved in the theft of the arrow as your officer friend strongly pointed out.”

  “He did?” Her heart melted knowing that Adam had spoken up for her.

  “Yes. Gave me an earful. I hope you’ll accept my apology.”

  “Of course. It was a stressful time. Someone tried to frame me for the crime.” A chill crept down her spine. “I’m glad their plan didn’t work.”

  He pocketed his handkerchief. “I am, as well. As my wife pointed out to me, I tend to dramatize more than I should.”

  Lana stifled a smile and was thankful when Brooke returned.

  “I trust everything is in order?” Mr. Floyd asked.

  Brooke nodded. “Yes. This place is buttoned down tight. No one will breach that system again.”

  “Good, good. Miss Gomez, if you’ll come to my office after you walk Officer Clark to the door.” With that the museum director walked away.

  “He’s a character,” Brooke commented.

  “Yes.”

  Brooke gave her a strange look.

  “What?”

  “I’ll probably get in trouble for telling you this...” She shrugged. “But I think you should know someone tried to run Adam off the road.”

  Lana’s heart jumped into her throat. “Is he okay?”

  “He is.”

  Placing a hand over her chest, Lana nearly cried with relief. If something had happened to him...

  “You care for him a lot, don’t you?”

  Brooke’s intense stare made heat rise in Lana’s face.

  She could deny her feelings for Adam. She could say he meant nothing to her beyond being a man who was kind and thoughtful and protective. But she’d be lying. She did care. More than cared, really. But naming the emotion crowding her heart wasn’t something she was willing to do. There was no reason to. He wouldn’t be a part of her life anymore. And the sooner she came to terms with that the better.

  “And he cares for you.”

  Brooke’s words created a riot of yearning that clamored inside Lana’s head and heart. She knew he cared. He was a caring guy. But if she were honest with herself she wanted him to love her.

  “I should get to work.”

  One side of Brooke’s mouth lifted in a half smile. “Does Adam know you’re in love with him?”

  Lana jerked. “I didn’t say that!”

  “You didn’t have to,” Brooke retorted. “I figured it out the second I saw you two together this morning. I wasn’t going to say anything. I know he’s transferring out and your life is complicated but—” For a moment a flicker of pain shadowed the young officer’s eyes. “Love is special and if you find someone to love, you should fight for them.”

  Her words ricocheted through Lana like a pinball. She mentally batted the truth around until it zipped past her defenses and hit the jackpot.

  Okay, yes, she had fallen in love with Adam.

  There. She admitted it to herself. But how could she fight for something that had no future? He was relocating to Colorado. Her life was here in DC.

  She felt a nudge inside, heard a small little voice saying nothing was too big an obstacle for God to overcome. Her stomach fluttered, her heart stalled.

  Was she brave enough to fight for Adam’s love?

  She met Brooke’s gaze and had a feeling the other woman was speaking from experience. Had she had to fight for love? Brooke didn’t wear a wedding ring, but maybe that was because of her profession. “Is there someone special in your life?”

  Brooke blew out a scoffing breath. “No. Not me. But you and Adam, you could have something extraordinary.”

  Lana’s heart hiccupped. She contained the welling sadness for something that would never be, and let the numbness of resignation take hold.

  After Brooke left, Lana headed to the staff lounge for a drink of water. Her mouth was dry, and her heart ached and her palms were sweaty. Her gaze was drawn to the now barred window at street level. No one would be entering or escaping through there again.

  After dropping her purse on one of the round lunch tables, she washed her hands at the sink and reached for a paper towel. But the dispenser was empty. Shaking the water from her hands, she went to the supply closet to grab a refill roll of paper towels. Funny, but the extra spools of towels were on the wrong shelf. She pulled the large plastic package of towels down. Something rolled to the edge of the shelf.

  The Golden Arrow.

  Barely able to breathe, she stepped on the lower shelf and lifted herself up so she could get a better look at the artifact on the shelf. So this was where the thief had stashed the arrow before escaping out the lounge window the first time he’d tried stealing it. The second time, Ace had alerted them before the thief could retrieve the arrow from where he’d hidden it. Careful not to touch the arrow for fear of leaving her fingerprints, she inspected it as best she could. There were specks of her blood on the shaft but otherwise the piece looked intact.

  Giddy relief infused her and she bowed her head. “Thank you, God, for not letting this rare relic leave the museum.”

  She needed to call Adam and tell him. That finding the arrow was the perfect excuse to reach out to him wasn’t lost on her. But hey, she wanted to share the news with him, he’d want to know, and if she worked up the courage to ask him to dinner then, who would fault her? Dinner didn’t mean forever, but she could have right now.

  Leaving the arrow in place, she hopped down and replaced the package of towels. She hurried to her purse. She took out the phone and hit the button that would speed dial Adam.

  A scrape of sound came from the doorway. She whirled around to find herself staring into eyes she recognized. Shock stole her breath.

  Mark.

  She blinked, hoping to reconcile the muscled man in front of her to the man she’d been married to. The last time she’d seen Mark, he’d been skinny and shaky, detoxing from the alcohol. He’d vowed he was giving up the booze but she hadn’t believed him. She’d heard that promise too many times over the years to ever trust he’d do so. But here he was looki
ng sober, steady and dressed in a red-colored security guard uniform, like the one Brad wore. Mark was the new security guard?

  The menacing gleam in Mark’s gaze was the only thing that hadn’t changed.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded, hating how her voice shook with escalating fear.

  His mouth stretched into a semblance of a smile. “Miss me, babe?”

  He advanced on her. She dropped the phone and danced backward but there was nowhere for her to go. Her only hope was to scream for help.

  And pray God would spare her life once again.

  * * *

  After making sure Jimmy was processed and put in protective custody within the Montgomery County lockup, Adam hightailed it back to DC. Gavin had been upset when he’d heard of the assault on him and said he’d postpone the meeting until he could arrive and Gavin could assess for himself if he was okay.

  Gavin considered the team and their welfare his responsibility.

  Adam and Ace entered the Capitol K-9 Unit’s headquarters and made their way to the conference room. His cell phone buzzed. He looked at the screen, recognizing his brother’s number. Ducking into an empty office, he answered.

  “Hey, bro.”

  “Are you all right? I heard what happened.”

  The concern in Joe’s voice tightened a knot in Adam’s chest. He knew that the risks of the job were a worry for loved ones. That his brother would think to pick up the phone to check on him despite the demands of his own job filled Adam with affection. “I’m fine, really. Not a scratch or bump or anything.”

  “Glad to hear you’re in one piece. Does this have anything to do with Lana’s case?”

  That was a question Adam had asked himself. “I don’t know. How did you hear so quickly?”

  “News travels fast,” came Joe’s wry reply. “And apparently you have other news to tell me. Your transfer went through.”

  Adam froze. “Lana told you?”

  “No, I ran into General Meyer’s secretary, Ann Parkley, earlier today. She let it slip.”

  Letting out a pent-up breath, Adam said, “Yes, it did. I was going to stop by tonight and tell you.”

  “I think you’re making a mistake.”