Parker (The K9 Files Book 6) Read online

  Parker and Sandy nodded solemnly. Hall was right, but it still did not make the situation any less sad. “Okay. I’ll head over to the supply and see if I can get you some dog food, and then I will escort you to the airport.”

  “Much appreciated,” Parker said.

  The sergeant nodded and stood. “Don’t leave from this spot.”

  They watched as he headed to the door, spoke to two men, and he pointed them out.

  “Wow. Was that a babysitting duty hand off to those two?” she asked.

  “Yes, it was, at least for a few minutes. I’d expect him to take us to the airport but plans change. And I might have heard wrong,” Parker said. “It doesn’t matter because we’re going home.”

  She gave him a sad smile. “Yeah, we are. And thank heavens for that. I don’t think I could stick around much longer.”

  “It’ll still be tough for a while, even when we get stateside.”

  “I know. Jeremy will be cremated. And we’ll have a celebration of life for him at the family home.”

  “My father wants to bury Jerry in the family plot.”

  “Sounds perfect,” she said. “Everybody gets to deal with grief in their own way. I just don’t think I’ll deal with it quickly.”

  “No,” Parker said. “I’m not sure we’ll ever deal with it. I think I’ll always turn around and expect to see Jerry walking in the door. Even now I keep hearing his voice in my head, telling me to lighten up.”

  “Oh, that’s so Jerry and so Jeremy. I really loved the fact that they enjoyed life. They lived it to the max, and they died doing what they loved.”

  Hall—having rejoined them, carrying a few more packets of food samples for Samson, plus bottled water for them all—then had them in the vehicle to transport them to their flight. Arriving at the airport, Parker held the door open so Samson could hop from the vehicle. He grabbed his duffel bag and Sandy’s backpack and waited until she got out of the vehicle on the other side with her purse.

  They thanked Sergeant Hall for the escort and walked around to the back of the vehicle. The sergeant headed into the hangar to talk to somebody.

  Parker smiled at Sandy. “Well, we made it. Didn’t think we’d ever get here.”

  “I know,” she said with a half smile. “We certainly have plenty of food for Samson now.”

  “It’s a long trip.”

  “I suspect Samson will sleep most of the way.”

  “He’ll have to be crated, but I need a place to put this stuff down and to get his crate out.”

  “Let’s take our stuff over to the side of the building. And then we can come back and get the crate.”

  They walked everything over to the shady side of the building, dropped it all and together walked back to the vehicle and picked up the crate. With the crate once again with their bags, Sandy said, “Not exactly an international airport, is it?”

  “No,” Parker said. “It sure isn’t. But it’s one of the smaller ones we have here. So, a whole lot less amenities than even some of the others.”

  She nodded. “That’s what I thought. I’ve been in a couple military airports, but they were much bigger than this.”

  “Right, I have too,” he said. “Feel free to sit on my duffel bag, if you want.”

  “No,” she said. “I’m happy to walk around for a bit. I kind of want to go into the building, but, at the same time, I don’t.”

  He understood perfectly. “Not sure that we’d even be allowed in actually. After the last time,” he said with a broken laugh. “Not that that had anything to do with us but …”

  She stretched her arms overhead and did several long-limbed stretches that showed off her form perfectly.

  But he knew she was completely unconscious of what she was doing. She was just taking some of the kinks out of her spine. “You should be able to sleep better tomorrow.”

  “I know, but, in the meantime, we’ll pretzel our way through a long flight.”

  He nodded. “Yes, but this is the last one. And there’s something so final, almost reassuring about that.”

  “I know, but, after everything that’s happened already, it feels like we’ll never get there. It feels like the last leg, but this leg is a huge hurdle. It shouldn’t feel like that, but it does.”

  “That’s because of what we have been through,” he said. “I, for one, will feel better when we take off.”

  “I won’t,” she joked. “Not until we land safely.”

  “Do we need to say anything to the sergeant before he leaves?” Parker asked, as he stood in front of his gear, watching the sergeant talking with two other men.

  Then the sergeant looked at him, lifted a hand in a wave and hopped into the vehicle. Even as they watched, he drove off, leaving a plume of dust behind. “I’ll say no then,” Sandy said in a comical voice. “I guess we’re not friends after all.”

  At that, Parker joked, “No, we’re just two wild cards in the night.”

  “They should have lounge chairs here. How long do we have to wait?”

  “I’m not sure. The flight’s not just us going home. The coffins have to be brought in as well. The other family members aren’t active servicemen, and they are likely flying commercial.”

  At that, she fell silent. “Right. Maybe that’s why we can’t go in. Maybe the coffins are already here.”

  “I don’t know. A large plane is on the tarmac, and it had all the doors open and the big loading bay dropped in the back. It’s also possible the coffins have already been loaded.”

  Her voice caught in the back of her throat as if she tried to speak but couldn’t. Finally she said, “I just want to go home.” This time her voice was small, almost choking on grief.

  In concern, Parker held out his arms, and she walked into them. She burrowed in deep and just hung on. He could feel her shoulders shaking and knew she was ready to break at any time.

  As trips went, this had already been a rough one. But the things that had happened since they’d been here … He was surprised she’d still held it all together as it was. She’d been brave and courageous, and he admired that, and he also appreciated it was easier than having a woman in tears all the time.

  “There are likely chairs inside. You want me to go look?”

  She shook her head. “No, we shouldn’t have to wait that long.” She settled down on the dirt, leaning back against the hangar. “I hate that we’re back here though.”

  “There shouldn’t be any dead bodies inside this time,” he joked.

  She smiled. “There better not be.” She glanced around and said, “We never did hear how any of this worked out, did we?”

  “No, no, we didn’t. We found those two men, but we don’t know who else might have been involved.”

  As they watched, another vehicle came and parked up in the front. One man got out and went into the hangar. They watched quietly but nothing else happened. “Where’s the staff?” she asked.

  “You mean, the pilot? Might not even be here yet.”

  “Right,” she said. “Not an international airline of course,” she half joked. “Maybe that was him who just arrived.”

  But the guy stepped out of the hangar, walked back to his car, started it and drove off again.

  “I hope that wasn’t our pilot,” Parker said. They waited longer and then heard an odd popping sound inside the hangar.

  Sandy didn’t appear to notice but maybe, from where he’d been standing, it sounded a little more like something he didn’t want to recognize. But Samson, with a growl in the back of his throat, had him going.

  He jerked Sandy to her feet and ordered, “Stay behind me.”

  “Why? What happened?” she cried out, stumbling over the bags they had on the ground.

  “I just heard an odd popping sound, and Samson’s upset too.”

  “I didn’t hear a sound.”

  “I did,” he said and tugged her back toward the rear of the building. “People know we’re standing here. Which means, if they wa
nt to shoot us, we’re sitting ducks.”

  She picked up the pace and raced beside him. “And we’ve got no place to go, and we’ve got no wheels,” she cried out. “Please be wrong.”

  In the back was another big door. Parker peered in through one of the windows but couldn’t see anything. “It’s damn hard to see anything through here,” he complained. “I want to go inside and take a look.”

  But Sandy pulled on his arm. “No,” she ordered. “If you heard gunshots, that means somebody in there is armed and doesn’t mind pulling the trigger. We’re not walking into that.”

  “If we don’t walk into it, the shooter will walk out with it.”

  She stared up at him. “The only thing we can do is go cross-country.”

  “And that won’t work out so well for us because there’s no real area to hide here.”

  “But there is a ditch,” she said, pointing.

  He looked at it and frowned.

  “You know what? It’s our only option. The ditch or we go inside or try to get to the plane,” she said.

  “If it’s only the ditch or inside the plane, then it won’t be hard for them to find us.”

  Just then they heard a door slam on the other side. Sandy grabbed his hand and said, “Come on.”

  The two raced to the back by the fence where a ditch ran down in a slight shallow.

  With the three of them flat, Parker held Samson close, wondering just how bad this would get.

  There was a shout out, “Hey, where are you two?”

  Parker kept Samson silent with a hand over his muzzle.

  “Where the hell have they gone now?” the voice said.

  It was a voice he didn’t recognize. And that didn’t help much either. He had his phone in his hand, sending messages via Badger again. But Parker couldn’t do much except lie here and wait. When he heard the crunch of footsteps coming toward them, he swore softly. He looked at Sandy. She gazed back at him, fear in her eyes.

  He realized it would be up to him and Samson, but they did have the element of surprise.

  With that goal in mind, he let go of Samson’s leash. Just as the dog was about to rush up over the ditch, he heard the stranger say, “There you are.”

  Parker snapped out, “Samson, attack.”

  With a growl coming from the back of his throat, Samson went after the gunman, who even now held a rifle, pointing toward Sandy.

  Parker bolted from the ditch as the rifle turned to face him as the newest threat. But Samson lunged and snagged the man’s forearm, his weight pulling the man down as the rifle fired. Gravel split upward at Parker’s feet. But he was already on the gunman. The rifle dropped, and the man screamed as Parker pounded him into the ground—his fist hitting him in the face again and again.

  Through the din he heard Sandy call out, “Stop. Stop.”

  Finally Parker sank his knees on the man’s chest to see the gunman was unconscious. Even Samson lay at his side, staring up at Parker, his jaw locked on the gunman’s wrist. Samson was looking for a command to let go.

  Parker reached over and said, “Good boy, Samson. Let go.” And the dog hesitantly dropped the man’s arm and then stood up.

  Parker gave Samson a good scratch on his head and showed him lots of admiration.

  Sandy had no such restraint. She bent down, wrapped her arms around Samson and held him close. “Jesus,” she said. “I don’t know what we would have done without him. That rifle was aimed at me.”

  “I know,” Parker said. “And then it was turned on me when he saw me coming. But now we have to go back into that hangar and figure out what happened.”

  She shook her head. “You know he probably isn’t alone.”

  “Doesn’t matter if he is or not,” Parker said. He picked up the weapon. “At least we’re not unarmed anymore.”

  “We can’t just leave him here.”

  He nodded and quickly unlaced the man’s boots. With those laces, he tied up his captive’s hands and his feet and then rolled him into the ditch. His face was up so, even if the ditch filled with water, he would be okay for a bit. “Come on. Let’s go,” he said.

  She hesitated.

  “Inside with me?” he asked. “Or stay behind?”

  “Well, in that case, no contest.” And she put her hand in his and together, with Samson, they crept up to the hangar.

  He looked down at their hands and said, “We stick together.”

  Chapter 9

  Sandy hated the idea of going back inside, but staying behind and waiting with the injured gunman wasn’t ideal either. She wouldn’t send Parker into a war if she wasn’t there to help out—although not sure what she could do to help as it seemed that Samson and Parker both had this down. Still, she wanted to be where they were.

  Gripping his fingers firmly, Sandy followed Parker and Samson as they slipped back to the corner of the hangar. Parker peered in through the back window again and shook his head. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Not good,” she said. Her voice was a low whisper, trying to stop it from carrying in the dead afternoon. “There should be more people here. We’re leaving, for crying out loud. There should be coffins of servicemen.”

  “But we’re early, remember?”

  “Was that deliberate?” she asked softly.

  He glanced at her. “I hope not because that could mean Sergeant Hall was involved.”

  She nodded. “I know. That just occurred to me.”

  They went around to the far side of the hangar and came up toward the plane side. The building was solid, secure and who knew what was going on inside. “The best scenario would be if there is just the one man, and we’ve already taken him out. But I did hear shots earlier, and I’m afraid somebody might be bleeding out inside.”

  “In that case let’s go check. I might be able to save him still.”

  He opened the door to the office and pushed it wide. Nothing was there. No one waited for them.

  Sandy couldn’t see anyone. Following along with Samson at full alert leading the way, they pushed opened the door into the hangar. And they stayed crouched down low, in case shots were fired. But there was nothing.

  From her position she could see a foot. “Let me go,” she whispered.

  He nodded and said, “First we check out the hangar to make sure you won’t get hurt.”

  She chafed at that. But it made sense. Didn’t matter what the medical emergency was, you always made sure it was safe to enter no matter what. She stood up with him, and they slowly entered.

  As she went past a section, she saw a hammer. She reached out and snagged it.

  He looked at her and the hammer and then gave a nod. “Good girl.”

  It was foolish, but she felt better having a weapon. It wouldn’t do anything against a gun or a knife, but she could create damage with it. And that was one of the things she planned on doing if it got that bad.

  As they walked by an area, she could see a man lying on the ground, but the pool of blood around him said he was already too far gone for her to help. She swore softly. His eyes were open and sightless, staring up at the ceiling.

  Parker already noticed and tugged her forward. They did a final large sweep around the building, but nobody else appeared to be here.

  “Do you think it’s just him?”

  He shrugged, stopped and slowly circled back around. As they approached the body, another shot was fired and landed in the wood right in front of Parker’s head.

  They hit the ground. He looked at her, and she said, “I guess not.”

  He nudged her forward and whispered, “Go into the office.”

  She quickly shifted around behind him and crept into the office area.

  He followed, rifle at the ready, with Samson at his side. Samson was growling deep in his throat.

  Sandy crouched in the office, looking into the main hangar. Suddenly Sandy felt a weapon on the back of her neck. She gasped hard.

  Parker turned, looked at her and froze.


  All she could see was Parker’s face.

  He looked at whomever was holding the weapon to her and said, “Leave her out of this.”

  “Can’t do that,” the voice said. “She’s in the middle of it.”

  “Two of your men are already in the brig,” Parker said. “Two are now dead. What’s the point of shooting us?”

  “Satisfaction? Who knows? But, with you guys gone, this stays here.”

  “You heard the sergeant and the colonel today,” Parker said.

  When she heard that, she realized it wasn’t Sergeant Hall standing over her, pushing a gun into her neck. For some reason that made her feel a hell of a lot better. She’d really liked him, and, at least if they had somebody on their side, they had a chance of getting out of this.

  “Doesn’t matter. If we’re going down, we’re taking out everyone with us.”

  “So you’ll make sure that, instead of six coffins flying out today, there’ll be a dozen?” Parker scoffed at that.

  The butt of the gun pressed farther into her neck, making her wince and twist her head.

  “Fine,” Parker said. “Be that way. But you could get out of this still, you know?”

  “There’s no getting out of this,” the voice said harshly. “Ronnie wasn’t supposed to be found so fast. We needed time to deal with his body. It would have been fine but for you two.”

  “Is that why you hid among the coveralls over there?” Sandy asked suddenly.

  There was silence first and then an intake of a hard breath. “You figured that out, did you?”

  “Yes,” she said. “From the photos. And, of course, Samson.”

  “Damn dog. I trained him for so many hours, but that training itself is a giveaway.”

  “Not to mention the fact that Ronnie worked with two men here who happened to be friends of yours.”

  “On a base like this, everybody is friends, and nobody is friends.” The gunman sneered. “They were part of the team. Only Ronnie was giving us trouble.”

  “Meaning, he wasn’t a full-fledged member?”