Christmas K-9 Unit Heroes, page 1
Meet the officers of the Rocky Mountain K-9 Unit series and their brave K-9 partners
Officer: Gavin Walker
K-9 Partner: Koda the Malinois
Assignment: Keep veterinarian Dr. Sydney Jones safe
Officer: Victor Abrams
K-9 Partner: Cleo the Labrador
Assignment: Help K-9 admin Jodie Chen figure out who killed a woman who came to her for help
With over seventy books published and millions in print, Lenora Worth writes award-winning romance and romantic suspense. Three of her books were finalists for the ACFW Carol Awards, and her Love Inspired Suspense novel Body of Evidence became a New York Times bestseller. Her novella in Mistletoe Kisses made her a USA TODAY bestselling author. Lenora goes on adventures with her retired husband, Don, and enjoys reading, baking and shopping...especially shoe shopping.
Katy Lee writes suspenseful romances that thrill and inspire. She believes every story should stir and satisfy the reader—from the edge of their seat. A native New Englander, Katy loves to knit warm woolly things. She enjoys traveling the side roads and exploring the locals’ hideaways. A homeschooling mom of three competitive swimmers, Katy often writes from the stands while cheering them on. Visit Katy at katyleebooks.com.
Christmas K-9 Unit Heroes
Lenora Worth
Katy Lee
Table of Contents
Hidden Christmas Danger by Lenora Worth
Silent Night Explosion by Katy Lee
Excerpt from Amish Holiday Vendetta by Laura Scott
Hidden Christmas Danger
Lenora Worth
To Emily Rodmell, a great editor. Thank you for always pushing me to write my best stories. I am grateful for your hard work!
Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
—Exodus 15:6
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Thee
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
Dear Reader
ONE
The two dogs in the kennel went wild.
Dr. Sydney Jones glanced up from the paperwork she’d been trying to finish. She checked the clock on the wall over her desk at the Rocky Mountain K-9 Unit Headquarters in Denver, where she worked on a part-time basis as the official veterinarian with the K-9 officer dogs.
Ten at night.
Wow, where had the time gone? Again, she recognized Shiloh’s bark, followed by Cleo’s less aggressive one. Shiloh could sense something off, she supposed. The black Lab hadn’t made the K-9 team due to a lack of ability to stay focused, but he’d been good at learning sign language.
Sydney decided she’d go and calm both dogs. She was used to working late here several times a week after she left her clinic and had plans to take some downtime for the upcoming holidays. She’d scheduled people to watch the one dog they were boarding here through Christmas, and she’d already lined up help for the Jones Veterinary Clinic, which she owned and wasn’t far from here. She’d stay close, do some hiking, enjoy Christmas with friends she’d met at the dog park. A nice, quiet holiday. Her chaotic family back in Kansas wouldn’t even miss her. Her sisters and brothers had their own lives now, same as her.
She got up and walked past the tiny Christmas tree holding pet-inspired ornaments and dog-shaped twinkling lights to head down the hallway to the kennels. Halfway there, she heard a shattering noise and more fierce barking. She had unexpected company.
Hurrying toward the dogs, her only intent was to stop any intruders. She’d open the kennels and then she’d call for help. Shiloh might hesitate in responding, but Cleo had years of service under her belt in the US Navy and would know what to do. Their barks could scare someone if she let them out. Just in case, she grabbed the nearest thing she could use as a weapon—a syringe lying by a vial of ketamine. Sydney quickly drew some of the liquid into the syringe and dropped it into the deep pocket of her lab coat.
Force of habit, because she’d worked in a large animal clinic high up in the mountains before moving to Denver to open her own practice, and later becoming the official vet for the RMKU. She knew a small dose could take effect quickly and knock out a feral animal or a dangerous human.
She’d reached the door to the exam rooms and the inside kennels near the training yard when she heard the click of a gun. A sweaty hand grabbed her around the neck. Realizing someone had come through the unlocked back door, she inhaled a gasp.
“Do not move.”
She nodded, her pulse racing while her mind worked to comprehend how she could get out of this situation. She didn’t dare go for the tranquilizer now.
She had no way to alert anyone.
With the holidays approaching, the team only had a skeleton crew working this weekend. She was on her own unless someone from the RMKU building heard the dogs barking.
That would teach her not to work so late again.
“What do you want?” she asked, thinking if she could get him talking, she’d be able to distract him.
“I need a doctor. You available?” He pushed the gun tighter against her ribs.
“Yes.”
“Good answer.”
“But you might have noticed, I treat animals, not humans.”
Sometimes humans, however, did act like animals. Worse than animals.
Shoving her forward while he still held her, he said, “Get me to an exam room. I’ve been stabbed.”
“Okay.” She pointed ahead. “Next to the kennel room.”
He heaved a hot breath that seared her skin. “Can you make those dogs shut up?”
“No. They have a high sense of smell, and they’ve picked up your scent.” Or one of his many scents, none too pleasant. They’d also picked up on his anxiety, his panic, his desperation.
“I know how to handle that.” He pointed the gun toward the kennel room.
“No,” she said. “You will not hurt those animals. I’ll do whatever you need, but please don’t do anything to the K-9s.”
He grunted while she studied the hand on her arm. A tattoo or stamp of some kind covered his left forearm. A circle with swirls merging together, topped with the letters MSA. She had yet to see his face.
“Okay, then,” he said, his voice husky with pain. “You do as I say, and I’ll leave the puppy dogs alone. Deal?”
“Deal.” She’d get him on a table in the one exam room that could be seen from the hallway door, and check his wound, then find a way to shoot him up with the tranquilizer hidden in her pocket. Because she had a feeling that once she’d stitched him up, he might kill her, anyway. She’d seen his tattoo.
* * *
K-9 Officer Gavin Walker and his all-purpose Malinois, Koda, made the rounds of the RMKU headquarters perimeter, mainly to get some fresh air and exercise. Located next to the training facility on the outskirts of Denver, the RMKU building wasn’t fancy, but it held a fluid mobile unit. The team assisted the FBI with difficult cases across the Rocky Mountain region—Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Colorado and New Mexico. Gavin had transferred here a few months ago from the New Mexico state police K-9 unit, thanks to his buddy, and the Rocky Mountain unit’s leader, Sergeant Tyson Wilkes.
Gavin liked the quiet of being the lone officer on duty tonight. With snow covering the outer fringes of the parking lot and outbuildings, he felt cocooned and at peace. Rare for him to feel that way. He’d come to the team late, and while he’d had lots of experience in New Mexico and he’d also served as an army ranger with Tyson, he was still one of the new members on the team, a probie. That meant he got holiday duty. But he’d readily agreed. Gavin had no family here and his parents were on a trip to Europe they’d been planning for years. He’d sent them a nice check to help cover the expenses.
“I’ll see you when you get home in January, and we can celebrate Christmas then,” he’d told his mom. “Go and have fun. I’ll hang with my friends here.”
He’d had plenty of invitations for Christmas dinner, so he didn’t feel so bad. And he’d planned a couple of hiking trips, something he’d come to love about living in the Rockies. The seasoned team members all needed a break, anyway, after dealing with several tough ongoing cases for most of this year.
“Right, Koda? We’ll be fine.”
His constant companion let out a soft woof of approval.
They walked the perimeter of the big open parking lot, then moved toward the parking garage off to the side. Pretty much empty now. But Gavin spotted one car still there.
Doc Sydney Jones. The veterinarian seemed to always work late. She loved the K-9s and treated each one with respect and tough love. Tough described her, too. With short brown hair that lifted in waves against her chi
She was just Doc Sydney. Easy to talk to, tough to argue with and always concerned for the team’s four-legged partners.
After spotting her blue SUV, Gavin glanced toward the animal hospital and saw a light burning.
“Koda, want to go see Doc?”
The big Malinois yelped and lifted his head, his nose in the air, his ears up. Then he growled low.
Gavin froze. What scent had Koda picked up?
“What is it, boy?”
Koda stood still, trembling, his eyes on the medical building. Gavin listened. When he heard dogs barking, he tugged at Koda. “Let’s go check.”
* * *
Sydney told herself to remain calm. But when the man holding her whirled her around, she had to hide her fear. He was wearing a black buff-type stretchy cloth over his face. The material hung down around his neck and he had on a dark beanie that didn’t show much of his head. She noted a beat-up canvas barn jacket and dirty jeans over heavy work boots.
“Listen, lady,” he said, favoring his left side, “don’t even think about knocking me out with some drug or hitting me over the head. You need to stitch me up so I can get out of here.”
Sydney nodded in agreement, her mind staying two steps ahead while she considered her options. “I’ll treat you, but if you want stitches, I’ll have to give you a local anesthetic at least.”
“No.”
“Trust me, it will hurt. I’ll have to use needle holders and forceps and I’ll be suturing a six-inch gash, not to mention the wound could cause internal bleeding in a major organ.”
She couldn’t tell for sure, but he probably wouldn’t be walking if the knife had hit his spleen or kidneys. He’d be lying somewhere bleeding out. She didn’t share that guess with him, however. She wanted him scared enough to let her use something local for the pain.
His eyes bulged but he showed her the gun again. “Something mild,” he said. “I have to keep moving.”
“Is someone after you?”
He put a finger to his lips.
She mouthed, “Do you need help?”
He shook his head. “Hurry, lady.”
Then he mouthed, “Sorry.”
He grunted and got up on the table, the gun still on her. “No questions. Get my jacket open and get to work.”
Sydney did as he said. When she saw the wound, her gaze shot up to him. “One more inch and you’d be dead. The knife just missed your kidneys.”
“Yeah, I know.” He shrugged. “I need you to do this, and quick, before someone finds me.”
“Will they finish the job?” she whispered.
He looked up at her and gave her a wry, pain-filled smile. “They’ll finish what I came here to do.”
“And what is that?”
“I said no more questions.” Then he thought better. He pulled her close and whispered in her ear. “I guess you might need to know, in case I die, or you try to kill me.”
“Know what?” she asked, apprehension dancing against her nerves.
“They sent me to kill you, but I got into some trouble before I could do the job. I blinked and they didn’t like that. They made sure I’d have to come here.”
Sydney took in a breath, hot dread flowing through her burning nerves. Someone wanted her dead? “And if I save you, will you still kill me?”
He laughed and held the gun high. “What do you think? The only reason you’re alive now is because I’m not ready to die. Now stitch me up and we’ll see which one of us makes it through the night.”
TWO
Gavin and Koda slipped through the night without making any noise. They both knew the drill. Gavin had his gun out and ready as he moved behind the small building where Doc Jones took care of the dogs. Located near the training yard and positioned near a high chain-link fence that kept the dogs in and strangers out, it held a long row of open-wire kennels. But only two dogs were here tonight, and they were barking aggressively inside the vet building.
“Let’s see what we find,” Gavin whispered. Then he gave Koda the silent command, holding his arm out and down so the dog would understand.
Koda still trembled but stayed quiet.
“Good boy,” Gavin whispered as he shadowed the building until he could find a window. When he didn’t see Sydney at her corner desk, he moved on to the kennel room. The windows were high here, so he had to stretch to get a glance inside.
The K-9s being boarded were fidgeting back and forth, their barks indicating their increased agitation. They must have picked up a foreign scent, same as Koda.
Gavin moved around the corner of the building to the back door, where a small glass pane allowed him to see straight into one of the exam rooms. Immediately, he found footprints in the mud and snow. Large cratered shoe prints. He’d get back to that later. Working around them so he didn’t disturb the prints, he tried to see inside the window.
When he spotted Sydney standing over a man who was wearing a dark face mask and holding a gun, Gavin moved back before the stranger saw him. Taking another quick glance, he summed up the situation. The man’s bloody shirt was open and revealed a deep wound covering the left stomach area. Sydney moved quickly back and forth, bringing a small metal bowl and what looked like surgical supplies to a rolling tray next to the exam bed.
She was preparing to stitch up his wound.
Gavin put his hand on the doorknob. Locked.
He watched again as Sydney, cool and efficient, went about her business. But she had to be terrified inside. And he had to do something, anything, to help her.
He went around the building, trying keypads, but he didn’t know the code to the tiny hospital’s front door. No way in through the back door. How had the intruder gained entry?
Finally, Gavin tried a window in the storage room, and after he tugged and grunted, he managed to get it up enough that he and Koda could slip inside.
The dogs increased their barking, but Gavin couldn’t control that now. He and Koda crept to the door of the room and Gavin silently turned the knob. It wasn’t locked. No drugs in here, just boxes of latex gloves, papers for the exam tables and towels. He creaked the door open an inch.
“You need to see a surgeon.” It was Sydney, talking to the intruder. “This is deep, and you could be bleeding internally.”
“Then stitch me up,” the man said, his voice weak now. “I have to get away from here.”
“I’m about to inject a local anesthetic,” she said. “It will numb the area. That’s the best I can do.”
“Then do it. I need to stay awake.”
Sydney kept him talking while she carefully injected something around the wound. “So you can shoot me, you mean?”
Gavin hissed a breath. The man wanted to kill the doc?
Nope, not gonna happen.
“I have to kill you,” the man explained, wincing as the needle did its job. “They’ll want proof I did it.”
“And once they get that proof, you’ll be eliminated, too?”
“I told you no more questions.”
The man shook his head and waved the gun in the air. Then he whispered, “Please.”
Gavin was amazed that Sydney was able to ignore the gun and keep right on cleaning the wound. He formed a plan—he’d have Koda head down the hallway and then he’d call for the big dog to guard.
That would startle the gunman and the doctor, but it might give him enough time to distract the guy and give Sydney time to duck or jam another needle into the intruder somehow.
Gavin waited a couple of minutes then glanced at Koda. “Ready, boy?”
The dog stood straight and ready.
“Okay then, let’s get the doc out of here.”
