Primal Force

by D. D. Ayres

  Wrap the dog in a blanket. Find a warm place.

  He began to rub her body vigorously with his hands, trying to get the blood flowing. She’d run a long way. He was careful not to touch her ears, nose, ears, or feet. If she had frostbite, this would only make things worse.

  Sam shuddered in his embrace, her body fighting for its life. He could hear her gasping.

  “It’s okay, Sam. I got you.” Law hugged her tighter, letting her chill wet fur soak his shirt. At least she was getting some heat from his body.

  “We’ve got a thermal blanket. And some instant heat packs.” The trooper began tearing open the blanket packet while Jori squeezed the packs to activate them.

  When the trooper had spread the thin Mylar blanket on the ground, Law lay Sam on it. She was still now, no breath sounds coming.

  Still time.

  Law grabbed Jori’s wrist and shook his head as she would have placed a warming pack next to Sam. “Wrap the packs in something. If they get too hot next to her skin we’ll have other problems.”

  “Right.” Jori tore off her only glove, stuffed the hand warmer into it, and handed it to him.

  “I’ll find something else.” She turned away and headed for the truck.

  Law wrapped Sam up and leaned over her.

  “How you doing, Sam?” He rubbed her roughly through the blanket. No response. He felt for her pulse but couldn’t locate it.

  He checked her pupils. They were dilating. Sam was unconscious, going into a coma.

  “She’s dead.” Jori had fallen onto her knees beside him.

  “No. Not yet.” Law heard his own voice as if from a distance. “I’m going to use CPR.” He’d done this before, when his K-9 had jumped a fence in Kandahar and landed on a live electrical wire. The shock had stopped his heart. Hypothermia was a bit trickier. Sam had exhausted herself.

  The blast of a siren close by made the little party jump. Another state police auto and an ambulance were arriving.

  “Here comes the cavalry.” The trooper sounded relieved.

  Law didn’t respond.

  He stretched Sam out carefully, tucking a second hand warmer Jori gave him under her shoulder. He noted in passing that the cover looked an awful lot like a bra but made no comment. He was running the scenario in his head. It had been nearly four years since he’d practiced this technique.

  He gently tried to open her lower jaw but met resistance. She was stiffening up. He needed to move more quickly. He didn’t smell vomit and hoped her passageway was clear. He aligned Sam’s head with her back and tilted it a little more to open up her airway.

  His hand was large enough that when he placed it under her jaw, he could use his thumb as a clamp over the top of her nose so that no air could escape through her mouth.

  Moving quickly but methodically, he bent and placed his mouth over Sam’s nostrils and blew into her five quick breaths.

  “Her chest moved.” Jori was crouched down beside him, watching.

  Law placed his free hand lightly on her chest, waited three seconds, and repeated the five quick breaths.

  He needed to get her to a vet. But that wouldn’t help if she wasn’t breathing. And she was so cold. He’d read that resuscitation of a hypothermic dog could take up to an hour. They needed to move while he gave her CPR.

  Five quick breaths. Her chest moved with his hot breath.

  “I can’t find a pulse.” Jori sounded scared.

  Law looked up. “Go to the ambulance. Get me a dextrose drip.” He didn’t wait for her to respond. His three seconds were up. He blew another short blast of breaths into Sam’s nose.

  All around him he felt and heard people, and then more people. At some point an EMT bent down next to him. “What do you need?”

  “A ride to the vet. Or an emergency room.”

  “I know just the vet.” The EMT slapped him on the back. “Let’s get you into a squad car.”

  “I can’t stop.”

  The EMT nodded. “Bring a stretcher over here.”

  Law stopped listening. He was minimally aware of being lifted, along with extra hands to hold Sam, while he continued mouth-to-mouth. Once started, he couldn’t stop until they got to the vet.

  He and Sam were hand-delivered into the back of a cruiser. He was only dimly aware that Jori had scooted in beside him, holding Sam in her lap.

  The sound of the siren surprised him but he was grateful.

  “Damn ice.” The trooper driving threaded her cruiser around several other vehicles. “You both buckled up? Then hold on, we’re going to get your dog help as fast as humanly possible.”

  Law didn’t say a word. But in his head were all the words he couldn’t say aloud as he continued CPR.

  Come on, Samantha. Don’t go all squirrelly on me now.

  You’re a brave girl. Strong and courageous. As much a self-starter as they come.

  I’m sorry I doubted you. I’m sorry for every slight. Every single thing I ever did wrong by you. I’m sorry.

  I couldn’t have gotten a better dog. I see that now. You’re the best damn Cheez Doodle dog ever born.

  Today you put your life out there for me. As much as any K-9 I’ve ever owned. And you did it without your Alpha with you for backup.

  You’ve got a strong heart. You make it keep beating.

  Don’t you die on me before I can thank you. Don’t you die.

  They were near Springdale, the streets abandoned to accumulating snow, when Jori spoke for the first time on the drive. “Law, I think I feel a pulse.”

  Her voice was only a whisper as she massaged Sam under the blanket. “No. Maybe.”

  Law shut out her voice. It took concentration to keep up the rhythm.

  As he came to the end of the three-second rest, Sam’s body jerked. Then again. She opened her eyes, stared at Law, and then moved a paw to place it against his heart.

  “I’ve got a pulse!” Jori’s voice was as excited as any kid on Christmas.

  Law nodded. “I know.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  “I’d like to thank you, Detective, for going out of your way for my dog.” Law sat in a chair in the waiting room at the vet’s.

  The detective smiled. “You can thank your dog. She found us. We were about three miles away. We’d received a tip about two of the suspects we missed during our night raid and set up roadblocks, hoping to catch them. You even did part of our job for us.”

  “Glad to help.”

  The detective nodded. “When you’re feeling up to it, I’d like to talk with you. I won’t say you’re wasted where you are. But you’ve got the kind of skills we could use. Two captures in less than two weeks? It’s getting so the rest of law enforcement in northwest Arkansas feels redundant.”

  “Just doing my job.”

  “I can up your pay grade. For now, I need to go to the hospital. I plan to interview Mr. Becker as soon as he’s out of surgery. Ma’am.” He smiled at Jori, who occupied the chair next to Law, before walking away.

  Law watched the detective through eyes of exhaustion. Sam was going to be fine. The vet doctor said she was making a remarkable recovery. They were still warming her up and giving her IV fluids and nutrition to replace what she’d lost on her trek for help.

  Yes, there were some signs of frostbite, but they’d keep her until they had assessed that, which would be a few days. Even so, she’d be fine.

  Maybe. But Law wasn’t going anywhere until he saw his K-9 again.

  Law drew in a breath, his shoulders arching, as the sound of voices rose at one end of the hall.

  It wasn’t unusual to see a hospital corridor full of uniforms when one of their own had been wounded. But the veterinary hospital had never seen anything like this. State and local law enforcement had turned out to stand vigil for the dog who had saved three people, including one of their own, from what the news was calling the Blizzard of the Century. So far. When they got details of a hostage situation … Law sighed. He hated being in the media.

&nb
sp; Yet suddenly Sam was a celebrity, and very much a member of the Troop L Springdale office.

  “Oooh-whee. I never saw anything like it. That dog has heart. She gave it everything she had.” The trooper who had followed Sam in his cruiser was gracing the vet staff with his version of events.

  Another trooper chimed in. “Don’t leave her owner out of it. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. On a dog!”

  A third added, “Trooper Battise is one of us, all right. Captures a fugitive. Rescues the girl. And saves his dog’s life. All with his leg missing.”

  Law scowled. “That’s not exactly how it happened.”

  “Be quiet, Law.” Jori snagged his arm. “They’re building your legend. And just think of all the bragging rights this is going to earn you!”

  Law ducked his head, but a smile tugged at his mouth. “I don’t like things getting built up all out of proportion.”

  Jori gaped at him. “To what?”

  “You found us. Sam went for help. I was tied up.” Law shook his head.

  “You came through when it counted. Ask Becker. And Sam. You’re amazing.”

  “I don’t see it like that.” Law reached up to brush a thumb down the side of her face. They’d been given fresh clothes by the troopers who’d come to the vet’s office to check on them. They’d washed up as best they could in the restroom. But Jori’s face was still pinched with cold, and her eyes were dull and her mouth drawn with fatigue. He was going to get her to an emergency room to be checked out as soon as he saw Sam. Turned out, he was feeling pretty territorial, too. “I’m nobody’s hero.”

  “Sorry. No. Get used to the role.” Jori drew up her feet and snuggled down closer to him. “You saved Becker. After you talked him out of killing us. Sam went on your command to get help. When she couldn’t go anymore, you saved her. You’re awesome.”

  “It’s not that simple, Jori. Never simple with me.”

  He rubbed his thumb alone her jawline, his sludge-gold gaze following its path. “I thought I was a goner when Becker skidded off that rise. We bounced around so much we should have been on the obit page tomorrow. Guess I’ve got a few lives left, after all.”

  “Don’t say that.” She touched a finger to his lips for a second. “I don’t like to think of how much you risk on the job every day. And I know, before you say it, that it’s not my business.”

  “I wasn’t going to say that.” He didn’t smile at her, not quite yet ready to tell her everything he thought.

  “It seemed like a miracle when Sam showed up. But I could deal with that.” He paused again, his face going serious. “However, I thought I heard the underbrush crackling under footsteps a few minutes later. I almost shouted to alert that someone that we were alive. But then I noticed Sam wasn’t responding to those sounds.” His voice dipped. “So I chalked it up to…”

  Flashback. Hallucination. They both knew that’s what he meant.

  “Sam and I were together. She knew it was me.” But Jori didn’t want this bright moment in a tough day to turn dark. Not after all they’d been through.

  She put a hand on his chest and began smoothing it across the one ab. “In other words, you would have been dreaming it was me, if I hadn’t actually showed up?”

  Law looked into her eyes with a heated intensity that was impossible to misunderstand, but said nothing.

  So she plunged on. “Sorry, you don’t get rid of me that easily.”

  “Mr. Battise?”

  Law looked up, relieved to see the veterinarian coming toward him. “You can see Sam now. She’s feeling pretty frisky, considering what’s she’s been through.”

  That drew a shout of joy and relief from the throng of his fellow officers. “Way to go, Doc!”

  The veterinarian nodded in acknowledgment. “Don’t be alarmed that we have her restrained. Don’t want her to damage her paws before we’re sure about the possibility of frostbite issues. If you’d like to follow me.”

  Law looked down at his missing leg. He had come in on the backs of two colleagues. Getting to Sam was getting to be a burden for others.

  “Got your back, Battise.” One the troopers appeared with a pair of crutches. “One of the vet’s assistants broke her ankle at Thanksgiving. She says you can borrow these until you leave.”

  Law stood up on one leg as easily as most people do on two to accept the crutches. He tried them out. But they were so short he had to hunch over.

  The trooper laughed. “Did I say she’s five foot two? Improvise, Trooper. Improvise.”

  Law looked back at Jori. “Coming?”

  She shook her head. “You first. She’s your dog.”

  He nodded and moved to follow the doctor.

  Jori sighed and watched Law navigate the crutches. He should have been a foolish sight. But she’d learned the first time she’d met him that Law didn’t have a disability. All that tough male grace was an innate part of him that went deeper than two legs. Lauray Battise was a force unto himself.

  Her heart shuddered.

  Oh no. She’d skipped over all the steps between attracted—things such as “like,” “fond of,” “comfortable with,” “connected to,” “starting to see a future”—and love.

  She swallowed and pulled her legs up in her chair then wrapped her arms around them and rested her chin on her knees.

  It was a stupid thing to do. He’d warned her. She’d seen him in action. When things got tough, he pulled so far inside himself that up until a few hours ago, he had probably been determined never to see her again.

  That thought gave her palpitations.

  Regardless of all that had happened he had yet to ask why she was here.

  And until this moment, she hadn’t been sure, either.

  Whatever was going on inside her had nothing to do with his feelings, or even his approval. It went deeper than that.

  This feeling was wild, tough, unreasonable. The kind of love where you know that, whatever happens, it will remain.

  Even if he didn’t.

  It felt scary but good, certain and real. It was an outflow of emotions from her heart toward the heart of this hard-to-love man. It was unconnected to the hope that he might, should, must return it. No, this kind of loving was a gift.

  Hold what you love in your open palm. If it remains, it’s yours.

  She’d heard that somewhere, or words to that effect.

  Law’s head might not ever get to love with her. But it was enough for now that she was there. Now was all anyone every really had.

  And it felt so damn great.

  She was grateful for the now of loving Lauray Battise.

  Jori looked up. Where had everyone gone? The hallway was empty. Except for Law, standing at the counter.

  Her heart flipped over at the sight of him. Lust stirred much lower. But in her gut, fear flickered. She didn’t have a prayer.

  “You are an idiot, Jori Garrison,” she whispered to herself. She wanted him, all of him, and for him to want her back.

  The phone in her pocket chimed. She looked at the number. It wasn’t one she knew.

  “Hi. You must be Wonder Woman.”

  “Uh, I’m Jori Garrison. And you are?”

  “Jori. He never told me your name. I’m Yardley, Law’s sister.”

  Jori’s eyes got big as Battise came toward her. She put a hand up to block her voice and whispered, “Law told you about me?”

  “Let’s just say that I heard what he wasn’t saying. Heard about your adventure today. You and I have lots to talk about. Privately.”

  “Okay. Then I’ll have to call you back.” The legendary Yardley Summers had called her!

  Law thumped his way over to her chair. “Sam looks good.”

  “I can tell. You’re perfumed with her tongue.”

  He smiled a little through his weariness. “Want a kiss, babe?”

  Jori held up her hand. “Later. You’re a few Tic Tacs short of yummy.”

  “Let’s go.”

  “Where are we going?�
�

  “I’ve called in a favor with a fellow trooper. You’re going to the emergency room.”

  Jori stood up. “Think again.”

  Law stared at her. “I don’t have a vehicle. You don’t have a vehicle. It’s still snowing. What do you suggest?”

  “I need a bath and dinner.”

  He studied her for a long moment, noting her color, her breathing rate, and the pulse beating in the hollow of her throat before nodding. “Got it.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  “This isn’t exactly what I had in mind.”

  Jori looked around the neat but too-frilly-for-her-taste bedroom of the B&B. It was the place Troop L used when an officer who lived in the county needed to stay close to the office overnight. It had been years, but Mrs. Watson remembered Law and readily agreed to give Jori a room.

  Law stood just inside the door, looking about as comfortable as a six-year-old in a crystal shop. “The owner says she’s got a can of soup she can heat up for you. I’ve arranged to have your car towed here as soon as the roads are passable.” Something struck him. “You didn’t leave Argyle in your SUV?”

  “No. I didn’t think I’d be staying overnight. I left her at WWP.” She hadn’t thought through a lot of things. For instance, how Law would react to her presence. She’d used her need to know about the Tices as an excuse to see him. Now it seemed like the ridiculous errand it was.

  She started to sit on the bed but then thought better of it. She dropped into a small wicker chair next to a matching wicker table. “Make yourself at home.”

  He let out a long breath. “I’m not staying.”

  Jori popped up. “You’re not thinking of going back out in that storm?”

  He came close and pushed her back into her seat with a palm to her shoulder. Efficient but not very lover-like. “Shh. You’re exhausted. I don’t want to argue. I’m not staying with you.”

  She gave him a doubtful stare from her seated position. He had developed a black eye, and the vet had glued the cut over his eye shut. Even so, he looked dangerous, and sexy. She immediately regretted that selfish thought. He held his left shoulder hitched a fraction higher than the other when he used the crutches. How badly did it hurt him? He looked ready to drop.