After dealing with the anguish of Jeremy's death, she might genuinely lose it if she had to confront her dad. Deciding to accept the gift that had been handed to her, Audra slid back into the front seat of her car, sparing the broken-down trailer one lastlook.
That's when her gaze landed on the cage on the ground a few feet from the steps. A cage she'd completely missed when she'd first arrived. Dread rose inside her and she stumbled out once more, working her way to the waist high wirecage.
When she was just inches from it she stopped and stared, her dismay turning to panic. A bronze colored medal attached to a purple ribbon hung through the holes that made up the roof, a small black leather case lay open on the ground at herfeet.
Hand trembling, she bent over and picked it up, reading the name inscribed on theinside.
Trigger.
Her fingers went numb and the case fell to the ground,forgotten.
Trigger, her brother’s K-9 bomb sniffing dog, had been sent home to their father. Any small measure of relief she felt turned into horror as her gaze landed on the very obvious trail leading into the small stretch of woods off to the side. By sending Trigger to Dale, they’d sentenced him todeath.
Heart pounding hard enough to crack her sternum, Audra raced to her car, reversed and roared down the dirt path that was her father's driveway. Highway 389 S. was on the other side of that small patch of woods, and for some reason she couldn't identify, she knew with every fiber in her being that's where she'd findTrigger.
She just prayed she’d find himalive.
* * *
The empty echoesof the computers buzzing filled the war room. Diggs paced back and forth, needing to work off the excess energy in his system. Team had made it to the airport and performed a thorough search only to come up empty. Diggs had sat at base and searched through every camera feed within two miles of the damn airport and turned up absolutely nothing. Rainier had disappeared.Again.
And he was donewaiting.
He turned to walk out of the room and head to the training facility, hearing the punching bags practically calling his name, when the alert sensors for the perimeter sounded. The team shouldn’t be back for another hour and ahalf.
And then he saw the video feed and froze, the scene playing out before his eyes so unexpected he didn’t even react for a full ten seconds. But when his brain kicked back into gear, so did hisbody.
He raced from the war room, a blur as he ran through the mansion and down the miles-long driveway. He barely felt the afternoon sun on his shoulders or heard his boots pounding on thepavement.
Diggs reached the gate, slapped his hand on the digital opener and barely allowed the gate to slide far enough for him to squeeze through. On the northwest corner of the perimeter, the man with the baseball bat he’d seen in the video swayed unsteadily over a bloody three-legged dog on the side of theroad.
Rage scorched his veins. No animal deserved cruelty. Diggs had seen enough violence wrought on humans and animals alike in his missions, and he’d managed to turn a cold shoulder to the horror. Death and destruction were part of war. He couldn’t do his job if he broke down every time he saw pain ortorture.
But he wasn’t at war anymore and this was his turf. His home. Diggs would rot in hell before he allowed anyone to perpetrate violence on an innocent withoutjustice.
Diggs sniffed the air, picking up the overwhelming scent of stale alcohol. The guy had obviously skipped showers in lieu of supersized burgers at a fast food chain and a bottle ofwhiskey.
The man wrapped his meaty fists around the wooden bat and lifted it over his dirty head, completely unaware he was no longer alone. Diggs shot forward, running as fast as his legs would allow. He grabbed the bat and jerked it from the asshole’s grip, sending the man careening to theground.
The dog didn’t get up. It looked like a German Shepherd, but from the massive amounts of blood matting his fur, it was hard to tell. Motherfucker. Diggs cracked his knuckles around the handle, testing the weight. It was short and wood and heavy enough to breakbones.
The guy managed to roll up onto a knee, his bloodshot eyes narrowing when he saw the bat clutched in Diggs’ hand. “Back off before I teach you the same lesson I taught the dog,” he slurred, spit flying from hismouth.
The dog whimpered and Diggs took a menacing step forward. The need to commit an equal amount of violence against the man vibrated around Diggs’ veins. Giving the man a taste of his own medicine was almost too tempting to pass up. Almost. “You’re welcome to try, oldman.”
“You ain’t got no right to come between a man and hisproperty.”
“Property? That dog is a living breathing creature. You have no right to beathim.”
The man lumbered forward and spit on the ground at Diggs’ feet. The stench of alcohol was strong enough to melt pavement. “What you gonna do, pretty boy? Call the police?” he said with an accent straight out of the hills of the Virginia coalmines.
“I don’t need the cops to take care of you,” Diggs saidquietly.
The steel-threaded threat in his voice must’ve penetrated the man’s drunken fog because he pulled up short and his bloodshot eyes narrowed as he reassessed the situation. “Where you come from,boy?”
Diggs slowly shook his head, letting his fury feel the cold focus winding around his body. Losing his temper would end up getting someone hurt. “Doesn’t matter. All that matters is that you walk away while youcan.”
He’d never intentionally harmed a civilian in his life, but this guy had teetered right up to the edge of Diggs’ thin red line. Diggs cracked his knuckles and rolled his neck in a way even a drunk could recognize as dangerous. He wouldn’t kill him. He’d just teach him a lesson in pain. He’d trained with the most elite of the military, and then he’d become the man the elite trained to become. His skills were as natural asbreathing.
