Bounty Hunter (Classified K-9 Unit)

by Lynette Eason

  “I don’t mind dropping you at the hotel.”

  “No, I’ll just brood about Van getting away.” He scowled.

  “All right, if you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure. What about the little guy who was limping? Is he okay?”

  “He’s fine. He had a dislocated hip, but the vet was able to set it. He also provided some medication to help keep him calm while it heals. He won’t work for the training program, either, so we’ll just have to find a good home for him.”

  “Cool. Let’s get out of here.”

  As soon as he was checked out and loaded into the Suburban that she said had been delivered the day after his tangle with the cliff, he held one of the puppies while she drove. Even with a sore hip and on medication, the little guy was full of energy and liked to nibble on his fingers. “They’re cute, aren’t they?” he said.

  She cast a glance his way. “Adorable.”

  “Asher wants a puppy.”

  “All little boys want a puppy. Are you thinking about keeping one for him?”

  He sighed. “No. Not yet. The timing is wrong.” He lifted the pup and let it lick his chin. “Maybe after his surgery.”

  She smiled, her sympathy clearly written on her pretty face. “I think that sounds like a great plan.”

  Riley fell silent thinking about his sister, her son and the man who’d radically altered all of their lives. God, if You’re listening, I need Your help to catch this guy. I can’t believe You don’t want him to pay for what he’s done.

  * * *

  “Do you believe God is really just?”

  Harper blinked at the question that came at her from nowhere. She shrugged. “Yes. Why?”

  “Even after your childhood and everything I know you’ve seen while working for the Bureau? You can still believe that?”

  She fell silent and thought about his questions. Then nodded. “Yes. And sometimes God doesn’t have to do a thing to show it to me. I see it everywhere I look.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Because of the consequences that come with our actions. Sure, it seems like some people never get caught doing the wrong thing. The illegal thing. But even if the drug addict is never arrested for possession, he’s still dying because of his choices. Even if the dealer isn’t arrested for supplying drugs, he’s still living in a world that is uncertain and death stalks him every day.”

  “What about the abuser that goes unpunished? The murderer that gets away with killing a mother?”

  She nodded slowly. “I’ve thought about that, too. I don’t know how—or why—I decided to think about it this way, but I tried to put myself in their mind.”

  “Scary.”

  “Sort of. I tried to think—if I made the choice to kill someone in a jealous rage like Van, how would I feel inside? Do you think he’s ever known any kind of real peace since that day? He has to live with what he’s done on a daily basis, minute by minute, second by second.”

  “Good, I hope it keeps him from sleeping, from ever knowing peace,” he gritted out. “He doesn’t deserve to feel peace.”

  “I hear you. Don’t get me wrong—I believe in justice. I believe if someone commits a crime, he or she should definitely pay for it in the whole ‘be-arrested-go-to-prison’ kind of justice. If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t have the job I have.” She released a breath. “But I’m not talking about the ones who are caught. I’m talking about the ones we don’t catch, the ones that appear to have gotten away with their crime. Part of me wonders if they aren’t living with a sort of punishment every day, anyway. A self-inflicted one. That living with what they’ve done and who they’ve become is retribution in a sense.”

  Riley didn’t speak for a moment. “It’s not enough.”

  “Yeah. I know.”

  “What if they feel no remorse? What if they don’t care?”

  “That’s a whole different issue. I’m not talking about psychopaths or sociopaths. I’m not talking about people with a mental illness. I’m talking about people who are in their right mind, who do something they know is wrong and that has severe consequences. And then have to live with that the rest of their lives.”

  “And you think they regret what they do?” he asked.

  “Yes, of course. Some, anyway. Not all. But no one starts out life saying ‘I want to be a criminal and go to prison.’”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t think Van falls into that category. I don’t think he has any regrets for what he’s done. I think my sister served his purpose for the time they were together.”

  “Which was what?”

  Riley sighed. “Van and I had a long conversation shortly after he and Charlotte started dating. He was an only child growing up in an abusive situation when Child Services stepped in and put him in a foster home. The first of many.”

  Harper shot him another glance. “You’ve learned everything there is to know about this man, haven’t you?”

  “Everything. It pays to know your enemy.”

  “So when he aged out of the system he went looking for a family,” she guessed.

  “When he was eighteen, he married a girl that was in the last foster home where he was living before he aged out. She died giving birth to his son three years later.”

  “Oh, me. So, that’s what your mother meant when she was talking about why Van was having such a hard time letting Charlotte and Asher go.”

  “Yes. And then when he realized she wasn’t going to get back together with him, he just...flipped, I guess.” His jaw hardened. “Anyway, after his wife and son died, he seemed to jump from relationship to relationship. Two of the women I’ve talked to said that he was a great guy in the beginning, but soon took over their lives, smothering them, refusing to let them have friends, cutting them off from their families—and threatening to kill them if they left him. They took their chances and left.”

  “And he never went after them or killed them.”

  “No, my sister was his first. And if we don’t find him, she won’t be his last.”

  * * *

  Harper digested his words. She’d known criminals like Blackman, of course. Had caught some and put them away. She also knew Riley was right. If Blackman was allowed to elude capture, he’d just disappear long enough for law enforcement to give up looking for him then continue his deadly romances. He definitely had to be stopped.

  She pulled into the drive of the beagle rescue and parked in front of the barn as she’d been instructed by the woman who’d given her directions yesterday. Riley held the now-sleeping puppy tucked into the crook of his arm.

  A finger stroked the pup’s head and Harper thought she saw bit of wistful longing in his eyes. “You sure you want to leave him?”

  Riley cleared his throat. “I’m sure.” He sighed and stepped out of the vehicle.

  Movement from the barn caught Harper’s attention. She opened the driver’s door and slid out of her seat. Her boots landed on a mixture of grass and red dirt.

  A tall, dark-haired, dark-eyed woman in her early sixties approached them, hand outstretched. “Hi, I’m Justine. You two must be Harper and Riley.” Harper shook her hand then Riley did the same. “So glad you brought the pups out here. We have plenty of room for them and will find them a good home.”

  “Not that I believe everything I read on the internet, but you had a lot of great reviews online,” Harper said.

  Justine laughed. “Well, you can believe those. I didn’t have anything to do with them. I just make sure I have happy animals and customers. As long as I do that, the good reviews pour in. Now, let me see the babies.”

  Harper opened the back door and pulled the other two sleepy pups from Star’s area. Star took advantage of the open door to jump to the ground. Harper noticed the shepherd had rather taken to the puppies over the last two days and thought she might miss them when they were gone.

  But she’d be fine. She had work to do.

  Justine scratched Star’s head and t
he animal closed her eyes in bliss.

  “You just made a lifelong friend,” Harper told her.

  “She’s a beautiful dog.”

  “Thanks. I think so, too. So—” she held the two puppies in a gentle grasp “—where should we put them?”

  “Follow me.”

  Harper and Riley did as requested and walked behind the woman to enter the barn. “There’s a play area over there.” She pointed to an octagon-shaped baby-gated area. Fresh chips covered the inside and held bowls of water and food.

  Harper placed the puppies inside and they immediately attacked the food and water. “Greedy little things, aren’t you?” She’d just fed, watered and let them run shortly before heading to the hospital to get Riley.

  “Do you have homes for them yet?” Riley asked. He still held the third puppy.

  Justine rubbed the little head and the puppy tried to nip her. Riley chucked him under the chin and he turned his attention to Riley’s finger. “No, not yet,” Justine said, “but it won’t take long. We’ll get them checked out by a vet, give them their first round of shots, and by the time we’re finished with the open house we have every other month, they’ll be with some great forever homes.”

  “Good.” Riley cleared his throat and finally placed the playful puppy in the pen. He yawned and padded over to join his brothers in finishing off the food and water. “He had his hip worked on, did Harper tell you?”

  “She did. It’s not an uncommon thing. I’ll take special care of him.”

  “Thanks.”

  Harper pulled her keys from her pants pocket. “Well, I can see they’re in good hands. Riley, you ready?”

  He looked up from the puppy he’d still been watching. “Yeah. Sure.”

  “Thanks for rescuing them,” Justine said. “I don’t know why it’s easier to throw a sack of puppies in a river than it is to just bring them to someplace like here.”

  “It’s sad,” Harper responded. “And I can’t dwell on it or I want to go hunt the heartless jerks down and shake some sense into them. Thanks for everything.”

  “Of course.”

  Harper walked out and Riley trailed behind her. “You’re thinking about that puppy, aren’t you?”

  “What? No.”

  “Liar.”

  He smiled at her gentle rebuke. “It’s just the drugs talking. I’ll be fine once they’re out of my system.”

  “Right.”

  The drive back to the motel didn’t take long. She let Riley off with instructions to rest. The fact that he didn’t argue told her he wasn’t feeling quite as well as he projected.

  Harper stepped inside her room and sank onto the end of the bed. Star joined her and settled her head between her paws. Harper checked in with Max and learned the others were still working in the national park, looking for more evidence that Jake was still there. She offered to join them.

  “Take a break,” Max said. “You’ll be back on in the morning.”

  That was fine with her.

  Harper pulled her laptop over and opened it. As she had done numerous times before, she typed in her father’s name. Grant Prentiss. She knew she should just give up the search for him, but part of her couldn’t. She had to know what happened to him.

  When she got a notification of a new message she sat up straight.

  “What’s this?”

  Star lifted her head and blinked at Harper.

  Harper scratched the dog’s ears but focused on the screen. He was wanted on drug trafficking charges.

  Sickness pooled in the pit of her belly and she shut the computer. Harper stared at the wall and lost track of time while she thought about the man whose DNA she shared. She remembered yelling, fights, things crashing in the night while she hid under her bed. And then the long silences before it would all start back up again.

  And then he was gone shortly before her fifth birthday.

  How could she miss someone who’d never wanted her? Someone who’d hardly acknowledged her existence other than to tell her to get lost?

  She shook her head and stood.

  Her phone buzzed and she swiped it from the clip where it rested against her hip. A text from Riley.

  I’ve thought of another couple of places that would work as possible hiding places in the park. Let’s go tomorrow.

  That’s the plan. Are you going to feel up to it? she texted back.

  Doesn’t matter.

  Of course it does. You had a bad fall. You’re fortunate you weren’t killed. You need to rest.

  I’ll rest once Blackman’s behind bars. I’m going. Are you going with me?

  I’m going. Max has already said we’d be searching out there again tomorrow.

  What time?

  First light.

  See you then.

  Harper texted Max to let him know Riley’s idea. He responded with a thumbs-up emoji and a promise to be ready to join them.

  She set the phone aside and rubbed her eyes. Another early morning. She prayed it was going to be a successful one and no one ended up shot at or dead.

  THIRTEEN

  Riley wouldn’t complain to anyone, but he had to admit the exhaustion, in addition to the pain from the still-healing injuries, was weighing on him. His hands ached, his leg throbbed, but there was no way he was going to miss the search this morning.

  He stepped out of his room to find two Suburbans parked out front. Ian and Max were ready with their dogs in the back. Harper sat in the driver’s seat waiting on him. Riley opened the door and slid into the passenger seat.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  “Morning.”

  “A little sore?”

  “A bit,” he replied.

  “Did you get any rest?”

  “Nope.”

  “You refused to take any pain meds, didn’t you?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Gotta work on all that early morning chatter, Martelli, it could get annoying.”

  He slid her a sideways glance. Then smiled. He couldn’t help it. As crabby as he felt, he didn’t want to be in a bad mood with her. “I’m sore, but I took some ibuprofen so it’ll kick in soon.” She looked good decked out in her gear. But she looked good no matter what she wore. He’d known a lot of physically beautiful women, but it was rare to find one with a matching beauty on the inside.

  His sister had been one of those women. And Harper was one as well. It drew him like a moth to the flame. “Anyone locate my weapon yet?”

  “Yes. They found it yesterday. Two park rangers covered the area where they thought it might have landed and found it.”

  “Is it toast?”

  “Pretty much. I brought one you can use for now.”

  “Thanks.”

  While she drove, Riley prayed that today would be the day they’d catch Van Blackman. He knew the others were more concerned about Jake Morrow—and Riley knew the man needed to be caught—but Van was his priority.

  Soon, Harper pulled through the gates of the park. “Which way?”

  “Keep going until you see the curve that goes up. Like the way we went a couple of days ago. Only before you get to the top, there’s a turnoff to the left. I’ll point it out to you when we get there.”

  “Keep an eye out.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And wear this.” She reached into the backseat and handed him a Kevlar vest. “No sense in taking chances.”

  He pulled it on, zipping it up and attaching the Velcro straps. “I’m ready when you are.”

  They stepped out of the vehicle and he had to admit, he felt better with the vest on. Now he could only hope Blackman continued to be a lousy shot. He grabbed his backpack from the floorboard and slung it over his shoulder with a wince. With each passing day, he discovered new aches and pains. And bruises. His legs were the worst. There’d be no shorts for him anytime soon.

  Star circled Harper’s leg and sat.

  “We’ll have to hike up the trail,” Riley said. “Once at the top, we’ll
need to split up. There’s a pretty deep river that divides the area in two. On either side there are a few more isolated places to set up camp.”

  Max nodded. “Ian and I can take one side. You and Harper can take the other.”

  Harper nodded. “Let’s get going, then.” She started off and Riley fell into step behind her and Star, with Max and Ian bringing up the rear. Riley slung his rifle over his shoulder and winced again when he pulled other muscles that had been strained in his fall. His bandaged hands still hurt, but they wouldn’t stop him from doing what needed to be done. His fingers, although cut and bruised as well, were free.

  But that was all right. He only needed one to pull the trigger.

  * * *

  Harper noted Riley’s quiet determination. He kept to himself, but she didn’t have any trouble reading him. If he saw Van Blackman today, it was going to be over. One way or another.

  She didn’t blame him. It had been a long hard road for him since his sister’s death. He needed closure and to be free to be with Asher.

  And you?

  She immediately quieted that little voice. As much as she might yearn for the right guy to build a life with, she’d made a commitment to her job. And right now that was to find Jake Morrow.

  Blackman and Morrow. Both fleeing the law for various reasons. Harper didn’t think the two men were hiding out together, but they’d definitely wound up in the same general vicinity. She hoped by the end of the day, she’d have some closure as well.

  They hiked up the sloping incline, passing several others enjoying the early morning sunrise. With each person they saw, she pulled out Blackman’s and Morrow’s pictures and showed them. With each negative response, Harper’s hopes that Riley might be onto something started to diminish.

  She heard the river before she saw it. When they stepped around the bend, they stopped to consider their options.

  Max pointed. “We’ll head this way over the bridge. You two take that side. Keep the radios on. There’s no phone signal up here.”

  Harper nodded and clicked Star to heel. She held out the bag with Jake’s hat in it to the dog and Star got the scent. Nose to the ground, she trotted along the path. She and Riley followed in silence for several minutes, listening and watching.