by Betina Krahn
“We have to get him to a hospital,” Nick said, striding through the trash heap of a house. “Meanwhile Kate can look at him, she’s—”
He stopped dead on the back porch. A man stood in the yard, medium tall, beer gut, pasty skin and flat, dead eyes. Everything about him said low-life and mean.
“What the hell are you doing in my house?” the man snarled, revealing yellowed and decaying teeth.
“I take it you are Jerry, Clara Crowder’s nephew,” Nick said.
“You’re trespassing, asshole. I could shoot you where you stand, and no one would convict me. I’d be standin’ my ground.”
“If you had a gun,” Nick said, flint-hard with anger. “And the guts to use it.”
“Put the kid down and get out of here. He’s none of your business.”
“I’ve made him my business. I’m a Florida state trooper—this is my jurisdiction and this boy is injured. I’m taking him to a hospital.”
Jerry transferred his anger to Alejandro. “You—you caused all of this, you and your little rat of a cousin. You’ll pay for this!”
Nick stepped down off the porch, heading around doughboy Jerry. “Not if I have anything to do with it.”
The honk of a horn distracted him; he glanced up and found his SUV sitting at the top of the drive with Kate behind the wheel. Jerry spun to look, too, and when he turned back it was with a fist flying.
Nick had no time to dodge and took it square in the face. Pain exploded in his head as Jerry took advantage of his momentary blinding whiteness and moved in with a piece of wood he’d held behind him. Nick sensed another blow coming and bent, covering Miguel with his body. He took a whack across the head but ducked enough to make it glance.
“Alejandro,” he gritted out, shoving Miguel into his cousin’s arms and pointing to the SUV. “Get him to Kate.”
Another broad blow hit his back as he staggered but kept his feet. “Too bad, Jerry,” he ground out. “That one just made me mad.”
He straightened, blocked another blow with his arm and countered with an explosive punch to Jerry’s surprised face. The man staggered back, holding his jaw, then crashing onto all fours. Nick went in for the finish, but before he could drag Jerry upright, something the size of a Mack truck hit him from behind and dropped him to his knees. As he fell, he rolled and saw a short, thick Hispanic man standing over him, holding a long metal pipe with an elbow fitting on one end that made it hit like a sledgehammer.
“You all right, Jerry?” An ugly smirk came over the face of the man who could only be Miguel’s uncle.
“Hell, no! He broke my face! Kill him!”
“Kill him yourself. I got more important things to do,” the uncle said as he headed after Alejandro. “Come here, you little... Gonna finish you—do it right this time—beat you till there’s not enough left to toss in the pit!”
Nick, still reeling from the blows but desperate to keep the brute from the kids, grabbed his ankle as he passed. The uncle stumbled, then turned back with a snarl and raised the pipe. One blow, two, three rained down with frenzied curses—the explosions of pain made it hard to tell where they were coming from next. Pain shot through his arms and the ribs on his right side as he tried to protect his head and roll out of the way.
A growl and a scuffling preceded a screech of surprise that turned into a yelp of pain. The sound of snarling penetrated Nick’s pain and he focused—a big dog, a shepherd, was attacking the boys’ uncle. It took a second for him to recognize Soldier. He levered himself up, holding his head, and called the dog, who continued to snarl and bite and shake, dodging blows and refusing to release the uncle, until the right word finally came to Nick. “Release!”
Soldier broke off the attack, and the uncle scrambled away as Nick struggled to make it to his knees. Soldier hurried to him to sniff and lick. All Nick could do was wrap his arms around the headstrong shepherd and sink his face into the dog’s fur. Every part of him hurt—head pounding, arms and ribs burning, knuckles screaming with pain. But the dog—the dog had come. He cleared his vision enough to look around. Jerry had tried to crawl away but hadn’t made it far before collapsing in a heap.
And the uncle—where had he gone?
* * *
KATE MET ALEJANDRO at the back hatch and helped him lay Miguel inside and climb in himself.
“Nick—where is Nick?” she demanded.
“My uncle Raul—he came—Man said bring Miguel quick.”
She slammed the hatch and called for Nick. She made it to the front of the vehicle when she saw the boys’ uncle, Raul, running straight for her...bleeding from his leg and hand, and wielding a length of pipe. His first swing smashed a headlight and his second splintered the driver’s window. She scuttled back, then ran, trying to put the vehicle between them. He chased her around the SUV, while inside Ben yelled and Goldie barked frantically.
She wheeled and ran for the house, but he threw the pipe and connected with her shoulder. It knocked her to the side and she stumbled, going down hard on one knee. Only then did she realize Ben was out of the car and running for her.
“Dr. Kate!”
“Ben! No! Go back!”
Terror gripped her as Raul changed course and charged him instead. Ben fought with both fists, but the boys’ uncle was a seasoned fighter and managed to pick Ben up with one arm and head for the barn.
* * *
NICK HAD MADE IT to his feet and to the rusty fence that enclosed the yard. The sight of Kate stumbling, trying to escape the pipe-wielding assailant galvanized him. Then he spotted Ben and Raul. Oh, God—the guy had his son!
“Dad! Help, Dad—”
Nick had nothing—no gun, no weapon—No! He did have one. He looked at Soldier, who sat erect, reading Nick’s tension and just maybe his mind. The dog quivered with expectation.
“Attack!” he snapped, unsure if it was the right command for the dog, and giving the hand signal, too. For a split second his heart stopped. But Soldier leaped into action. The shepherd raced past Kate, focused on Ben and the figure carrying him away. The dog gathered himself, leaped and took down both abductor and victim.
* * *
SOLDIER WAS ON TOP of Miguel’s uncle, snarling and biting with a viciousness that made Kate halt and skitter back until she saw Ben on the ground. She ducked closer to get the boy clear of the attack and grabbed him. Nick arrived, panting and holding his side. He scooped up Ben in his arms and carried him back a few paces as Soldier continued to attack the man on the ground. Ben threw his arms around his dad, bursting into tears, and a second later, included Kate in that embrace.
Part of Kate—the rational, clinical part of her—was already examining Ben for damage and relieved to find all the important parts intact. “He’s okay—just a bump or two. He’s okay,” she repeated, running her hands over the boy who was coming to mean the world to her. She realized that their shepherd still had Raul pinned and screaming. “Nick, let me take Ben—you have to get Soldier off him.”
She headed for the car with Ben, panting and shaking. God help her, for a minute she actually hoped Soldier would eat the man alive.
* * *
SECONDS LATER, NICK was over Soldier, calling him off, shouting orders. His voice must have penetrated the rage that gripped the dog, because he eased enough for Nick to pull him back, and then he barked furiously to spend the last of his angry energy.
Raul groaned and thrashed briefly, then went still. Nick risked releasing Soldier to check him and found the man unconscious and bleeding, but not in imminent danger.
Kate rushed back alone, and Nick pulled her into his arms as he took a painful breath. “I feel a hell of a lot better than either of those guys. You need to get Miguel to a hospital.”
“Not without you,” she said, searching his face. “You’ve got a heck of a lump coming, and
maybe a black eye. We’ve got to get you checked out, too. You could have a concussion.”
“I’ve got to secure these guys,” he said, wincing as he felt his head.
“We’ll tie them up and call the local sheriff on the way to the hospital.” She pushed him toward the SUV. “I’ll drive.
Alejandro, it turned out, knew where there was some rope and how to tie a mean knot. They dropped him off at Chet and Jamie Dunlap’s farm down the road, then asked Chet to wait for the deputies at the Crowder place.
Kate drove while Nick spoke to an officer in the Hardee County Sheriff’s Office and reported what had happened and where they were headed with the injured boy. They hit Lakeview and went straight to the local hospital, where the emergency staff listened to Kate’s report and rushed Miguel into radiology. Nick needed to be seen as well, and while they were at it, Ben had a few scrapes that needed tending.
Kate called Sarah to tell her what had happened and ask her to come and pick up Ben and the dogs. She arrived in record time, full of anxiety until she saw her son and grandson were all right. She hugged them thoroughly, agreeing to take Ben and the dogs home. Nick walked them out to the SUV to transfer the dogs.
Goldie climbed obediently into Sarah’s car with Ben, but Soldier hung back and stared at Nick. There were still flecks of blood on his fur, and Nick met those big brown eyes and felt his stomach drop. The dog trusted him, obeyed him, streaked into danger for him. He knew Ben’s nose was pressed against the car window, watching his dad with the dog.
Something was coming full-circle, shifting and settling in his heart and life. Soldier. He had a chance to return that trust, that commitment this time. Another part of his heart settled into place as he knelt beside that courageous dog and took his furry head between his hands.
“You did a great job today, fella. You saved me and Ben and Kate—you’re a real hero.” He pulled Soldier closer and pressed his face into the dog’s ruff. “My hero.”
In that moment, the decision was made.
“You’re not just going for a visit, you know, you’re going to stay.” He straightened. “You got that, Soldier? You’re a Stanton from this day on.” Something in his smile and in the whoops of joy from Ben inside the car registered in the dog’s mind. He grinned a tongue-lolling grin and jumped all over Nick, who ruffled his fur and hugged him.
“Okay. Go, climb in.”
When Soldier was hugged eagerly and tucked in the back seat beside Ben, Nick leaned down on the car door to give one last order. “Ice cream for Ben and dog cookies for the hero, there,” he said to his mom. “As many as he wants.”
“Yes, sir,” Sarah said, giving him a crisp salute and a beaming smile.
* * *
BACK INSIDE THE emergency room, the mood was still somber. While they waited for results, Nick and Kate sat together holding hands, watching a nurse clean Miguel’s bruised face and treat his cuts. The sight of him lying there, so small and defenseless, weighed heavily on Kate. She felt responsible for what had happened to him, and every minute his health hung in the balance only added to her guilt.
“He is just a boy,” she said to Nick over and over. “How could someone do that to a child? Beat him like that and leave him in a closet?”
“How could anyone do such things to kids or dogs?” Nick said, leaning forward and propping his hands and head on the side rail of Miguel’s bed. Clearly, he was still recovering, and Kate rubbed his back and asked if he was all right. He nodded. “I’ll be okay.” He paused, then looked at her with sadness in his eyes. “In this job, I see the best of people and the worst. Sometimes it seems like there isn’t much in between.”
“The best and the worst,” she said quietly, drawn to him all the more because she felt the same. “Even though I know there are millions of loving pet owners out there, it’s the mean and stupid ones who seem to stick in my head. Why is that?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE ER STAFF cleared Nick, diagnosing a mild concussion and a couple of cracked ribs that would earn him some sick leave. They prescribed rest and, at his request, only over-the-counter pain meds.
With one worry out of the way, they focused fully on Miguel and were relieved to see Alejandro arrive at the hospital, courtesy of Deputy Barney Krum, who had picked him up from the Dunlap farm.
The deputy brought word that they transported the two men, under arrest, to a Hardee County hospital and that Jerry Crowder was tripping over himself to inform on a dogfighting ring in exchange for lesser charges on the assault. With his information, they were poised to make more arrests and rescue more dogs.
Alejandro was checked out medically, and then came to sit with them by Miguel’s bedside, holding his cousin’s hand and speaking softly to him in Spanish.
A major concussion was Miguel’s diagnosis. His brain had started to swell, and his prognosis was guarded for the moment. If the swelling didn’t worsen, he might wake in a day or two, the doctors said. If it worsened, he might slip into a coma.
When they transferred him upstairs to ICU, Nick and Kate came out into the waiting room to find Nance, Isabelle, Jess and Hines keeping watch for him, too. She filled them in on all that had happened and how Soldier had attacked the boys’ uncle, Raul, to save them. That was when Nick announced that Soldier and Goldie were not only at his house for a visit, but were now at their new home. Nance hugged him, and Hines shook his hand, congratulating him on acquiring a fine pair of family members.
Kate was happy to hear Nick’s decision; it lifted her spirits briefly. But soon enough everyone left and she, Nick and Alejandro trekked upstairs to ICU to check on Miguel.
They took turns sitting with Miguel in his room and talking to him, telling him about the rescued dogs and how he had helped save dozens and dozens of them. They told him that he and Alejandro weren’t going back to their uncle ever again. Alejandro looked doubtfully at her, but she gave him a definitive nod and he shrugged, unwilling to put much faith in her declaration.
Kate went home that night feeling older than her years and emotionally battered. Nick offered to stay with her, but she kissed him and sent him home to Ben and his new family members. She took a long, warm shower, climbed into her soft bed and tried not to see Miguel’s injured face every time she closed her eyes.
After a fitful night, she called Jess to ask her to take Kate’s patients for the day, only to learn it was Sunday, and she didn’t have patients scheduled at all. During the trauma, she had lost all track of time.
“Katie, are you all right?” Jess said. “You need me to come over?”
“I’m okay. Just feeling responsible for all the world’s ills and troubles.”
“Oh, is that all? I was afraid it might be something serious,” Jess said with a wry, sympathetic laugh. Overwhelming responsibility was something they had both dealt with at times—one of the pitfalls of the profession. “You need a good bottle of wine and a couple of hours alone with that big trooper of yours.”
“For once,” Kate said with a sigh, “I totally agree with you.”
When she got to the hospital that morning, she found that Miguel’s color had improved. Poor Alejandro had spent the night in a chair by Miguel’s bedside and seemed to be wasting away with worry, so she sent him down to the hospital’s café with twenty dollars to get some food while she sat with Miguel. Nance showed up, and Kate sent her to check on Alejandro and make sure he ate well. If anybody could do that, it was her gran.
Kate talked to the unconscious Miguel, apologizing for putting him in such danger and promising to help him find a good home when he awakened. Knowing he loved animals, she told him about her patients, relating funny stories that he couldn’t laugh at and interesting facts he would never remember. The occasional beep of IV monitors and the ever-present hiss of the oxygen filled every silence, reminding her of her duty to heal and protect thos
e who couldn’t protect themselves. She felt helpless and angry.
Time, she reminded herself again and again, was the best healer. But it sounded lame and even patronizing now that she was on the waiting end. Every hour that passed sent her spirits a bit lower.
Nick arrived midday and offered to take the watch for a while. She refused, instead sitting with Nick, talking and reading to Miguel. The afternoon sped by, and it was growing dark when Nance returned to the hospital to insist Alejandro come home with her for a hot meal and a night in a proper bed. He would have objected, but Kate gave him a half hug, during which she whispered, “Don’t argue, just go with her. You need to take care of yourself so you can be here for Miguel. We’ll call right away if there is any change.”
Alejandro nodded and followed Nance with rounded shoulders and fatigue-weighted steps.
* * *
NICK WATCHED AS Kate literally worried herself sick and didn’t know how to help her.
“I tried to do the right thing,” she said at last when they stepped outside to let the nurses work on Miguel. “Tried to help save dogs...and look what happened.” Her voice was dry and strained. “A sweet, good-hearted young boy is paying a terrible price for what I did.
“I knew his uncle was involved, but I coaxed him to tell us about the puppy mill and to show us where it was. I knew it could get him in trouble, but I wanted that location so badly.” She leaned against him. “I shouldn’t have pushed.”
Nick put his arms around her, feeling suddenly like he was hardwired into her emotions, sharing them in a way he had never experienced with anyone else, not even Ben.
She was dealing with some of the same feelings he had felt during and after Iraq. The realization dawned: it wasn’t just a soldier’s dilemma. Good people put themselves in harm’s way to do something good...sacrificing so that others may live in freedom and peace. People here at home fought battles of conscience against long odds and strove to make the world a better, safer place. Their fight, their sacrifice, could be just as traumatic for good and loving hearts as what happened in a war zone.