Home > Caleb (The K9 Files #11)

Caleb (The K9 Files #11)
Author: Dale Mayer

 


Prologue

 

 

Badger sat at the Titanium Corp boardroom table with the whole original crew—Erick, Cade, Talon, Laszlo, Geir, and Jager—which was unusual. Badger said, “Did I just hear that Rowan is coming back to New Mexico with Brandi?”

“Yep. The whole crew. Including War Dog Hershey and Brandi’s Lab, Lacey, with her three puppies, which I don’t know if they have names for yet,” Geir said. “Talk about a happy ending.”

Talon shook his head. “We’re getting damn good at this, aren’t we?”

Badger chuckled. “And trust you to take the credit for something like this,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Erick asked. “We’ve all done a hell of a job.”

“Maybe so,” Badger said, “but the bottom line is, these couples worked it out themselves, and that’s what matters.”

“And the War Dogs get a whole new life,” Cade said.

“A whole new life but also a family,” Badger said. “That’s the best part. Not only is Hershey back with Rowan, but Hershey will have a perfect retirement now.”

“We’ll get to see them too,” Kat said, as she walked in. “I’m looking forward to meeting Brandi.”

“Why is that?” Jager asked.

“She’s into stem cells,” she said. “I want to talk to her about rejuvenating some of the scar tissue at amputation sites.” She gave Badger a sweet, yet sexy, tilt of her head. “You know there could be an awful lot of benefit to having her around.”

The men looked at her, as Badger wrapped an arm around his wife, kissed her on the temple, and said, “That’s Kat for you. She always wants to make our lives better.”

“Hey, you can’t argue against that,” she said, turning to wrap her arms around him.

He reached a hand down and patted her belly. “In case you guys hadn’t heard the news.”

Immediately the guys jumped up and gave her hugs.

“We’re pretty thrilled,” she said, “but we’ve still got more War Dogs here that need checking up on.”

“We do,” Badger said. “Plus the commander contacted me, and he said that we’ve done such a hell of a job that he’s wondering if we can take on a few more cases.”

The men looked at him in shock.

“We’re not done with the ones we have yet,” Laszlo said.

“I know. I do know that,” Badger said. “So we’ve got to finish these jobs and then maybe take another look at what we want to do. He’s got a few more cases for us.”

“I’m game,” Geir said.

“Agreed,” said Talon, the rest nodding. “So what have we got?”

Geir pulled one of the two remaining original War Dogs folders closer to him and flipped it open.

“And what’s with that one?” Erick asked, sipping his coffee.

“Texas,” he said. “He’s at the El Paso border.”

“And what? The dog has gone to Mexico?” Cade glanced at all the men gathered here.

“We have no idea,” Geir noted. “It was there with a family one day, and, the next day, he was gone.”

Laszlo asked, “Kidnapped, coyotes, shot, what?”

“No clue,” Badger said. “Do we have anybody we can send?”

“Me.” The voice came from the doorway, and they looked over to see Caleb walk in.

“You’ve got a connection to Texas?” Badger asked.

“I do,” he said. “Family down there. Where in Texas?”

“Not too far away from El Paso,” Geir said.

“A good friend has a big place down there, lots of land.”

“Not a whole lot grows there, does it?” Talon asked.

“No, it takes a lot of land to make a living,” he said. “But, she bought it for the peace and quiet.”

“Are they down by the border?” Geir asked.

“Both sides of the border actually,” he said. “What’s the deal with the dog?”

“Not a whole lot to tell you,” Geir said, reading the file quickly. “It was adopted by a family, and, when the government did the first check, the dog had already disappeared.”

“Was it a runner?”

“It never used to be,” Badger said. “You want to go down and find out?”

“Oh, yeah,” Caleb said. “I do.”

“You got a hidden reason for going?” Talon asked.

“Not hiding anything,” Caleb said. “I’m going down for my brother’s wedding.”

“Oh, good,” Kat said. “I love hearing about weddings.”

But Caleb’s face darkened. “Not this one,” he said.

“Why is that?” she asked.

“Because he’s marrying my ex-wife.”

 

 

Chapter 1

 

 

Caleb Dansworth walked out of the airport and headed toward the rental cars, when he heard his name called. He turned and stopped in surprise as Lazy—or Laysha, her real name—raced toward him. He opened his arms at the last moment, as she threw herself into them. He laughed, hugged her tight, and swung her off her feet, before putting her down again. “I didn’t expect to see you,” he said.

“I sent you a text, saying I’d pick you up,” she said, “but I know that you wanted a rental vehicle.”

“I hate not having wheels,” he admitted.

“And I didn’t want you to pay for wheels if you weren’t hanging around for long,” she said stepping back, but her gaze searched his.

He reached out gently, stroked her cheek. “Damn, it’s good to see you, Lazy.”

“And don’t call me by that nickname,” she said, holding up a hand.

“Lazy?” he asked with a lopsided grin. “Man, we made your life hell over that nickname, didn’t we?”

“Yes,” she said, chuckling. “So what’s it to be? Do you want to come home with me or do you want to stop and pick up a rental?”

He frowned at that.

“You can get a rental in town, if you find you need it,” she said. “I can always drive you there later.”

“I have to cancel the one I have on order.”

“Do it now then,” she said. “No point spending any money if you don’t have to.”

He knew where she was coming from because they spent a lot of time growing up without any money. Plus, she knew what he’d been through this last year—or at least a little bit of it. In response, he pulled out his phone, brought up the app he had used, and quickly cancelled the rental car. He wasn’t sure if there’d be a penalty for that, but, at this point in time, he didn’t really care.

She laughed, hooked her arm through his, and said, “Come on. Let’s go.”

“You’re looking good,” he said, eyeing the leggy blonde beside him, like he hadn’t really done before. “But then you always look good.”

“Ha,” she said, tossing him that big grin that he remembered so well. “If I looked that good, you’d have come back and visited me more.”

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