Christmas K-9 Unit Heroes, page 13
Victor didn’t think twice. He picked up his speed and barreled straight toward the man, knocking him right to the ground. But that also meant Jodie went flying with him. In an instant, the thug bolted for the alley, his black coat whipping behind him.
On his knees, Victor scrambled over to her where her body lay unmoving. He scooped her up into his arms, then tapped her cheeks and listened for any breathing.
“Jodie, Jodie, wake up. Please, wake up.” He watched as her head lolled to the right and fell against his chest. She was still alive. He breathed a sigh of relief. He thought about giving her some of his own breath, but she inhaled sharply, and her eyes flashed wide.
Struggling in his arms, he held her tight. “You’re okay. It’s me, Victor. You’re safe.”
“What...happened?” she croaked out.
“I left you too long. It won’t happen again. I went after the man, but he must have ducked behind something and come after you after I passed him. I’m so sorry. How is your breathing?” He watched as color flooded back into her face and her breathing returned to normal. He realized his grip was too tight and loosened his hold on her small frame. He didn’t want to hurt her in his panic.
In one swift movement, he stood and kept her close in his arms. “I need to get you out of here.”
Her wide, frightened eyes watched him intently. He noticed her glasses were askew on her face and he reached one hand up to straighten them for her. “Where will I go?” He could tell she was struggling a bit to speak. “Nowhere is safe.”
As he carried her back to the car, she craned her neck to look behind her. “My phone. I dropped it.”
“I’ll get it in a moment. First I’m putting you into the car.” Once he had her situated and the door closed securely, he went back and found her cracked phone. Pushing the button, he could see it still worked. Just then, a text came in and it dinged in his hand. He brought the phone back to her door and opened it to pass it over. “You’ve got a text.”
Jodie sighed at seeing the crack but read the message. “It’s my friend Daniella. She used to be a handler for the RMKU. But she married and moved to New Mexico. Silver City. It looks like she already heard about the incident this morning and is checking in with me.” Jodie texted back her friend as Victor texted the latest event to Tyson.
Soon after sending the text, Tyson came out of the factory, straight for the car. He stood beside him outside the passenger window. “Are you all right?” he asked Jodie.
She nodded to him but rubbed her throat. “It hurts still, but I’ll be okay.”
Tyson looked to Victor. “Monica was strangled as well. Some sort of electrical wire was used. Particularly, a wire for an explosive, like a car bomb.”
Victor shot a glance Jodie’s way. “Jodie’s car was broken into in the parking garage. I want the car processed for prints, but if this guy is making car bombs, approach carefully. Now that I think about it, Cleo had been acting strange around it. I should have realized she might have detected explosives. It’s her specialty.”
“I’ll proceed with caution,” Tyson said. “But right now, I need to know where you can take Jodie. She’s our main concern.”
Jodie held up her phone. “Daniella says I can come stay at her lodge in New Mexico. She and her husband and son are away. I know where the key is.”
Tyson looked to Victor. “You up for a ride? It’s about eleven hours.”
“I can handle it.” Victor made his way around the front of the SUV and climbed in behind the wheel.
Jodie pushed up in her seat. “Wait. I didn’t say he could come with me.” She kept her eyes on her boss, looking away from Victor. “I think we should talk about this. There are things you need to know.”
Tyson shook his head. “There’s no time. I don’t even want you going back to your apartment. Get on the road and buy what you need as you drive farther away. I’ll reimburse you.”
“This isn’t about money. This is about safety. And trust.” Jodie turned to look at him.
Victor could tell she wanted to share about the Mariana Islands with her boss. He knew that it was inevitable, but right now her safety was all that mattered. “You can trust me. Plus, there is no way I’m leaving your side now. Whether I’m a handler, or not.”
Tyson sent him a warning glare. “If anything happens to her, I will hold you accountable.”
Victor nodded once. “I don’t want it any other way.”
“Can either of you let me make this decision on my own?” Jodie said with frustration in her voice.
“What do you have in mind?” Victor asked genuinely. He waited for her to give her input. “You’re one of the smartest people I know. If you have a better idea of where you can go, just say so.”
“I want to go to Daniella’s. I don’t want to go to my mom’s house and bring her danger. I just don’t understand why you have to go.”
Victor felt a stab of rejection cut straight through his chest and prick his heart. So this was about him. “Please don’t put yourself in jeopardy because you feel you have to refuse my help. Right now, with everyone out of the office on cases or for Christmas, there is no one else to take you. Not if we need to get on the road right away. Let me help you.”
Jodie leaned back and glanced up at Tyson’s expectant face. At his nod, she sighed her agreement. “Fine. I’m too tired to fight, anyway.”
With that, Tyson went back to work, and Victor started the engine and headed out toward the highway. With an eleven-hour drive ahead of them, he stopped for a coffee two towns over and went through the drive-through. When he pulled up, he turned to Jodie to ask if she wanted something, but she was already sound asleep.
It was just as well. Eleven hours of her sleeping was better than eleven hours of the silent treatment.
Victor didn’t know what else he could say to fix what was wrong between them. Jodie had already made up her mind about him, and there was nothing he could do to change that.
An hour into the drive, Tyson called to inform him that a car bomb had been found in the Jodie’s car. If she had started that engine, she would have been dead.
SEVEN
Jodie slowly came out of her slumber, and with groggy eyes looked at the change of scenery. It was drastically different from Denver—sand and red rocks filled her vision.
“Welcome back, sleepyhead,” Victor said from the driver seat.
She looked his way. “Monica was trying to tell me something.” She grabbed the top of her head as she racked her brain for the memory. “I just dreamt about her, but I can’t remember what she was signing.”
“If I remember correctly and if I have this right, I think they were letters. But that’s as much as I can help you. I’m still learning the language. But now that you’re awake, we need to talk about your car.”
“What about it? And why are you learning sign language?”
“It was rigged, just as I thought. And to train Cleo, like you’re training Shiloh. The military chose to retire her, but I know she still has years left in her. She struggles with fire now, but perhaps helping the Deaf can be her new specialty.”
Jodie looked back at the dogs and signed “I love you.” Their ears perked up and their eyes brightened. “She understands. She’ll learn quick.” Turning back with a smile, Jodie let her head fall back to the headrest. Then her thoughts drifted back to her dream and Monica’s killer, and she let her smile go. “He tried to kill me, too.”
“Yes. And he’s not going to stop until he succeeds.”
“If he knew I had his screenshot, perhaps that would make him stop chasing me down. I’m not the only one who can identify him now. The RMKU and the FBI can, too.”
“You’re grasping at straws. That will only make you lose your focus.”
“Right.” She sighed. “He wants me dead.”
Victor drove on in a heavy silence, glancing in his rearview mirror repeatedly. After a few minutes, he said, “We need to make a stop here soon with the dogs.” He looked at his mirror again, his lips pressed tight in a concerned expression.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
“Just being cautious. We’ve been on the road now for five hours, but that doesn’t mean we’re alone.”
Jodie looked behind her at the headlights of numerous cars in rush-hour traffic. Any one of them could be the killer, or not. “Maybe get off the exit, and we’ll find a restaurant. If we’re being followed, we’ll know right away.”
“Maybe.” He changed lanes at the last second and took the exit all in one move. If someone was following them, he’d given them no time to move over.
With the setting sun, the roads were getting dark, and so were their surroundings. He pulled into a diner and parked around back. He shut the lights off, and they sat for a few minutes to see if anyone would come.
“Looks clear to me,” Jodie said. She glanced in the back of the SUV. “May I use your laptop to do a little research? I’ll use my phone’s hot spot for Wi-Fi.”
Victor reached behind him for the bag and passed it over to her. She powered up, and he put in his passcode for her to start her search. “Are you hungry?” he asked.
Jodie felt her throat where the wire had squeezed. “I am, but something soft.” She glanced his way and saw him frowning in the lights of the dashboard. “Hey, I got out of your SUV. You told me to stay, and I didn’t. I have some blame, too.”
“All right, let me take the dogs out for a few minutes, in sight of my vehicle, and then we’ll go inside to get something to eat.”
As Victor attended to the dogs, Jodie searched for details about Monica online. She wondered who this man was to her. A disgruntled partner? An abusive spouse? Jodie looked up her marital status and found that she was not married. But it still could be an abusive boyfriend.
Thinking back to the video call, Victor said he definitely saw Monica signing letters, but what were they? Jodie had been so focused on getting the screenshot of the killer that she’d missed what Monica was telling her.
More guilt flooded in. She really messed up with this woman.
Victor opened the driver’s door. “The dogs can come in with us. They even have some dog treats inside. Let’s go get a bite to eat.”
Jodie closed the laptop and put it back in the bag. She made her way around the back of the car and came up alongside Victor and the dogs. They walked together into the restaurant and chose one of the empty booths at the back. They could watch the car from the window.
“Oh, cute dogs!” the waitress said as she came over in a blue dress and apron. She reached inside the apron and brought out two dog bones. “May I give them to them?”
“We have to feed it to them,” Victor said. “They’re working dogs and can only take it from the handler.”
Jodie signed “sit” to them both to wait for their treat, then said to Victor, “Cleo really is taking to sign language quickly. I’m impressed.”
The waitress passed the small dog bones to Victor, and he gave them to the excited dogs. “That is so neat,” she said, taking out her notepad for their order. “I didn’t realize dogs could understand sign language.”
Victor pored over a menu. “We’re working on it. I think my dog is catching on faster than I am.”
Jodie rubbed her throat, which was still sore from being choked. “I would just like some soup,” she said without opening her menu. She hoped it would be soothing.
“All we have is chicken noodle tonight,” the waitress informed her.
Victor closed his menu. “I’ll have the chicken soup, too.” He collected Jodie’s menu and passed them both back to the waitress. “And coffee, please.”
Once the waitress walked away, Jodie said to him, “You didn’t have to order soup just because of me. I’m sure you would much rather have a big burger, or something. You’ve been driving all afternoon.”
He tapped his fingers on the table in front of him. “I like soup, too. I find it comforting. Right now, I could use some comfort.”
She looked at her own hands and wondered if his nervousness had something to do with how she had found the article. “Are you worried about losing the job?”
He shrugged. “I’m more worried about keeping you alive. I can always find another position.” He toyed with the napkin to his left, and after a few moments he scrunched it up in his fist, then flattened it out. He seemed more upset than he was letting on.
“You know I have to do my job.” Jodie leaned forward over the table.
Slowly, Victor leaned in as well. Their faces were less than a foot apart. “So do I,” he said quietly.
The waitress stepped up with two bowls. “Aw, isn’t this sweet. Hate to interrupt you two but here are your bowls of soup.” She placed them down between them.
Both Victor and Jodie leaned back in their seats, fidgeting at what they might’ve just looked like to the waitress. She must have thought they were on a date.
The waitress slipped away but returned quickly with a coffee pot. This time the two of them sat straighter in their seats as she turned over their cups on their saucers. “Is there anything else I can get you?” she asked as she poured two steaming cups and slid them over.
At the shake of their heads, she went away again. Once they were alone again, Jodie brought the conversation back to figuring out who this man was to Monica. “He could be her boyfriend. Or had been her boyfriend.” Jodie frowned.
Victor nodded to her soup. “Eat while it’s warm.” He picked up his own spoon to show her and dug in.
She did the same, realizing how hungry she was. When she finished, she looked up and found him smiling at her.
“Do you feel better?” he asked.
“I’ll feel better when I know who this guy is and why he was after Monica. And why he’s after me now.”
“Same. Because he’s so relentless in his pursuit of you, just because you can identify him, tells me that what Monica had on him was bad. Either she could identify him for something, or she knew he was up to something no good. He must think you know what that is.”
“Right. He saw her sign to me. He thinks I know.” She groaned and dropped her head into her hands. “I wish I could remember.”
“Maybe it will come to us.”
Jodie downed her coffee. “We should get going. Do you want me to drive for a little while?”
Victor stood up and motioned for the dogs to do the same. “I’m fine. After you.” He waved her forward. When they reached the door, she turned back to see he hadn’t budged.
“Are you coming?” she asked.
Victor was facing the men’s room with his brow furrowed. He shook his head and headed her way. “I thought I saw something.”
They stepped outside into the dark night. “What did you see?”
“Someone had gone into the men’s room, and I just caught a quick glimpse of a black coat. But that doesn’t mean he’s the killer.”
“Do you want to go check it out?”
“I’m not leaving your side. Let’s just go.”
After Cleo sniffed for explosives around the vehicle, they all piled back into the SUV. Jodie was appreciative that Victor didn’t leave her to go check it out. She just wanted to get back on the road and get to Daniella’s lodge.
As they headed back out to the highway, she watched Victor keep his eyes on his mirrors. After about ten minutes of his intense scrutiny, she said, “We’re being followed, aren’t we?”
“Yeah.” He switched lanes and passed a tractor-trailer truck, speeding up. “Things could get bumpy. Stay buckled. I’ll get us out of this... I hope.”
* * *
Nearly six hours passed, and Victor was fairly certain he’d lost their tail. They were almost at the lodge, but he still hesitated driving directly there. They’d left the highway a while ago and were now driving through mountain roads leading into Silver City. The forest of Gila Wilderness National Monument land surrounded them. Victor knew from growing up in New Mexico that the monument consisted of steep cliff dwellings, and he would have to pay attention on these dark roads. He hadn’t seen another car in miles.
Glancing to his right, he saw Jodie’s eyes were closed. “Are you awake?” he asked softly.
“Yes. I’m just trying to remember what those letters were that Monica signed.” She sounded so forlorn. “I think it’s hopeless. I should give up, but I just can’t.”
As Victor checked his mirrors, he tried to remember what one of them might have looked like. “I think one might have been twisting two of her fingers together.” He removed his right hand to show her.
Jodie sat up quickly. “That’s an R. Do you remember anything else?”
Victor shook his head. “Maybe a pointed finger?”
She fell back into her seat. “That could be a few different letters.”
“I’m sorry I can’t be more help.”
She waved her hand as she closed her eyes again. “I’ll figure it out. It will come to me.”
“Can I help with anything else?”
“I have to do this.” She turned her face toward the window, effectively shutting him out.
Victor drove on into the darkness, taking the curvy road toward the lodge. An intersection approached ahead, and he slowed down to prepare to stop. He took the moment to discuss the tension between them.
“I know you don’t trust me to do this job, and I should have shared about the incident before I came to RMKU. I know that. I guess part of me just wanted to put it behind us.”
“Us?”
Victor came to a stop at the intersection and looked to the rear of the SUV. “Cleo was there, too. She was just as traumatized. If not more.” As Jodie gazed over her shoulder at the dogs, he continued with his request. “I would like a second chance to start over. I genuinely want to be your friend.” There were no other cars waiting to go, so he stayed put to wait for her response.
