Epilogue

Badger looked over at Kat. "Aren't you tricky?"

She shrugged. "Not necessarily," she said, with a smile, "but it worked out for Bacchus and Michael and Danny and Mariam, plus Conall and Bethany, even her mom and Old Joe. So three happy families, and, for that, I'm very happy."

"Now what?" he asked, as he looked at the two files on her desk. "Who are you thinking for the next miracle?"

"I'm not so sure.… This one's a bit trickier."

"Why is that?"

"A hurricane in Florida," she murmured. "The War Dog was on the road with other dogs being transported out of the area. The truck ended up in the river. Details are sketchy, and I might not have this completely right, but it sounds like the driver, who may have been the transport truck owner, died. Several of the dogs managed to get free and were captured again, but the War Dog is missing."

He stared at her. "A hurricane? Were they in the back of the truck in cages or what?"

"Most were in cages, and some of them were still fine when the truck was found in the river. The cage the War Dog had been in was open, and he is still missing. Several other cages were also open, and those dogs were picked up again, but not the War Dog."

"Where were they taken to?"

"I don't know. As I said, the details are unclear. One guy was airlifted out. I assume he was in the passenger seat of the transport truck. He died too? Although I'm not certain. The animals were gathered up by a rescue team and were moved to a safe location," she shared. "And, of the missing animals,… we don't know any more."

Badger shook his head. "A hurricane."

She nodded. "Yeah, and it happened recently, so there's a good chance the War Dog is okay, and they have a lot of survival skills. Thus we have a good chance of recovering this one. I do have somebody in mind but—"

"What's with the but?"

She winced. "His brother died in the vehicle."

Badger let out a long whistle. "You're talking about Baron, aren't you?"

She nodded. "I don't know if it's fair to ask him to go after the dog that his brother was trying to rescue."

"On the other hand," Badger pointed out, "better that it wasn't in vain."

She smiled, then nodded. "I was thinking of that as well. I texted him earlier, but I haven't heard back yet."

Her phone rang just then. She looked down and raised one eyebrow. "Speaking of…"

He nodded, anxious to hear how Baron was doing. Kat punched the button to answer.

Baron's tired voice came through on the other end. "Kat, what's up?"

"Hey, I'm so sorry to hear about your brother."

"Yeah, me too. It's just too awful to imagine."

"Look. I don't know if you heard anything about some of the work we've been doing—"

"Yeah, War Dogs," he interrupted. "My brother was rescuing one."

"Right, and that's one of the reasons I called. I was wondering if you would want to give us a hand."

"What's up?"

"One War Dog is still missing."

"I know. It was in my brother's truck, but I haven't seen or heard anything else about it."

"I guess what I'm asking is, could you track it down?"

"Right. That's what you do, isn't it?"

"Yes, we track down War Dogs, but it sounds as if maybe your brother had this dog for a while."

"Actually he didn't. He was away for surgery and subsequent rehab. So somebody else was looking after the dog. When he got back home again, the War Dog didn't get returned."

"How did this one end up in your brother's truck then?"

"I don't think we have any paperwork, since everything happened in such a panic with the hurricane," he explained, his voice tired. "Everybody is saying that dog was in the back of the transport, but I don't know if that's really true. Are you sure you want me to track down this War Dog?"

"That's what we do," she said. "We find volunteers to get boots on the ground. I realize it's an odd request, since you've just lost your brother, and the area is in such turmoil, and everybody is trying to recover."

"We've got all the people accounted for, but we've got so much clean-up and rebuilding to do to get families housed and businesses restored. On a personal note, I just buried my brother," he added. "Yet you're right. A couple other dogs are still missing, and thankfully they didn't die with my brother. By the way, his death wasn't because of the hurricane itself. Not directly anyway. He'd always had a weak heart valve, and we knew it could fail at any time. He ended up having a heart attack in the process, and that's why he drowned. It wasn't really the hurricane or even the rescuing of the animals." He took a moment and collected his thoughts. "Any dog that needs a hand, well, I'm just as bad as my brother."

"How's your new foot?"

He laughed. "As always, you were right on target. It's doing better, and I'm becoming more capable with it."

"Good," she replied warmly.

"Okay, fine. I'm game," he said. "Give me a few days to see what I can come up with."

"That sounds good, and again, my condolences to you and your family."

"Thank you," he murmured. "Nothing quite like that kind of a loss, but I don't want it to be in vain. He was out helping animals, so I can go help the same animals and make sure the work he was doing gets completed." Baron sighed. "I'll see what I can come up with." And, with that, he rang off.

Badger looked over at her, one eyebrow raised. "At least he's right there in the area."

"He is, but what happened to the War Dog in the first place sounds a little sketchy to me."

"That seems to be why these cases end up on our desks," he noted, with a tilt of his head. "I don't suppose a ladylove or anything is in Baron's background, is there?"

Kat shrugged and gave him a knowing smile.

Badger narrowed his gaze.

"He did tell me one time that his brother's former wife was first Baron's girlfriend for the longest time. Apparently they broke up at some point, and she hooked up with his brother and married him very quickly afterward. It created a lot of trouble in the family for a long time, including separating the brothers."

"Something like that would surely do it," Badger noted.

"She contacted Baron a while back, and he wouldn't have anything to do with her."

Badger chuckled. "That doesn't mean Baron wants to have anything to do with her now either."

"No, but he might, considering that she tossed off Baron's child as his brother's."

"Oh, ouch."

She nodded.

"And you really think he'll want anything to do with her after all that?"

"It depends on what her reasoning was," Kat suggested. "Who are we to judge? We've all done stupid things in our lives."

He nodded. "Isn't that the truth," he muttered. He walked over, pulled her to her feet, and gave her a big hug. "I do love you. You know that, right?"

"I know you do," she murmured, "and that's a really smart answer right now."

He chuckled, held her close. "You are also incredibly amazing, and I'm so very proud to have you as my partner in this life."

"Ditto," she said, as she pulled him down, gave him a tongue-lashing kiss that had his head swimming. "Now we need to take a break and go for a swim, spend time together."

And, with that, she turned and walked out back to the pool, leaving him watching in awe, as this woman of his joined the other men who made up the Titanium Corp and their partners, making Badger's world complete.