Chapter 11

Chapter 11

“Some of my best leading men have been dogs and horses.”

~Elizabeth Taylor

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Leena couldn’t get his words out of her head. There is no line when it comes to you. None. Never will be. Christ, on one hand it was so hot she’d wanted to jump him right there but on the other, it killed her to think of him breaking what he’d worked so hard to accomplish because of her. She’d snuck out of the house that night, her and Argo, and she’d gone back home, leaving him a note.

Sure, it wasn’t the best thing she could have done, but what was done was done and it was time for her to move on with her life. Her feelings toward the man didn’t matter. Their lives had intersected and now they were parting into separate paths once more.

Didn’t stop the dreams, the longings, or any of that, however. She cleared her throat, turned off the engine to her van and hopped out, swiping the key on the way. Heading for the front, she took in the grounds. Lots of fenced in areas and different buildings. Nice enough but sterile in her mind.

Stepping inside, she walked to the desk and waited for the man there to look up. His dark head was bowed as he typed on the keyboard.

“Be right with you,” he muttered.

Leena glanced at her watch and went to one of the hard uncomfortable chairs there. She understood why, if a dog were to lift his leg, you sure didn’t want anything cloth to soak it up. She was still a bit early so she wouldn’t argue him wanting her to wait, but she wasn’t about to be late for this appointment.

She’d just settled back when the man deigned to put his attention on her. His bright blue eyes startling even from the distance against his darker skin. “Mrs. Parsons?”

She stood. “Ms. Parsons, actually, but otherwise, yes.”

He flashed a grin that had her nearly tripping over her feet. “Sorry, Ma’am.”

“No problem.” Damn he’s fine. “I have an appointment with Mitch Guerreo.”

“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll take you to him now. He requested you meet him in the kennels.” He pushed back from the desk and walked around to her side.

These guys in uniform get hotter every time I see them.

He offered his hand. “Corporal Weems.”

“Nice to meet you, Corporal.”

“This way please.” He opened a door and waved her through. They stepped outside and she took another look around the place. Very nice.

Mitch met her outside the kennel where Hugo was located. His grin was fleeting but it came. “Thank you, Corporal, that will be all.”

After a salute, the man left her alone with Mitch. He raked his eyes over her and she waited.

“You look a lot like your father. And I’ve heard you’re a lot like him in training. I hope so because you’re going to need it with this one. Come on.” He spun around and walked off.

“Nice to meet you, too,” she muttered.

The kennels were loud as the dogs were barking but she didn’t mind. He led her down the line to the last one and turned to the door, gesturing inside. “Here he is.”

She turned toward the chain link gate and stared at the dog lying there. No doubt it was a male, his head distinctly masculine with its broadness. He was alert but she could see his apathy to his surroundings. There was no spark in his dark brown eyes and those triangular ears barely twitched. Her heart went out to him in seconds.

“May I?”

“Sure thing. Hugo, come.”

The dog responded but there again was that lack of energy. He moved to the gate and stood there, eyes on Mitch.

She unhooked the leash on her side and opened the door. Finally, those eyes flicked to her, ever so briefly, then away.

“Hi, Hugo,” she whispered. “Come on, boy, you and me are going to take a walk.” She snapped the leash on his collar and stepped back.

He followed obediently. She looked him over as they walked, Mitch had been correct, he was losing muscle.

“I bet you’re spectacular when you’re in prime condition. I mean, you’re nice now, but when we get that shine back into your coat and more muscle on you.” She walked and kept up a continuous stream of chatter.

When she made it back to Mitch, she met his gaze and nodded. “Thank you for this.”

“I hate to say it, but some military instructors can be a bit heavy handed with their training and he doesn’t need that. He needs a leader but one he can respect.”

“We’ll be fine.” She lowered her eyes to the dog sitting beside her. As they stood there, he lay down. She didn’t say anything since she’d not given him any commands. “Let me go load him up and we’ll get the rest of the paperwork finished.”

Within an hour she and Hugo were on the road. He lay in the crate she’d put in her van, unimpressed with anything around him. She stopped once on the trip back to let him out. As she did when traveling with her shepherds, she parked away from everyone else. Opening the side door of the van, she reached for the leash.

“Let’s go, Hugo. Time to stretch our legs.” He looked at her when she unhooked the latch. She reached in and snapped the leash on, then let him jump down and out.

Once she arrived home, she set him up in the kennel before going to the end of the run entering. He was in the run the Great Dane had been in, so most of the snow was gone. She watched him step out and look around as she shut the door behind her, latching it.

“Okay, boy. You and me need to do some bonding.”

He ignored her and she let him. She didn’t demand he pay attention to her, just moved around in the run so he got used to her. Learned her smell and her sound when she walked, he would keep it in his mind. After twenty minutes, she left him alone, went back inside the kennel and fixed him some food.

Back in her home, she fed her dogs and herself, then called Mitch to let him know everything was fine and Hugo was settling in.

She checked on him once more before going to bed. They would start their work tomorrow. She was up before the sun, and had her dogs out running when the sun crested the horizon. In the kennel room, she whistled as she approached his run.

“Morning, Hugo.”

He looked at her and stood. “Nope, not coming out this way. I’m just moving through, about to go clean your run. I’ll get you some food after we do some exercising. Let’s go outside.” She pointed to the door of his run leading to the morning air. “Go on.”

He ambled through and she shut the panel to keep him out. Swiftly cleaning the inside of the run, she got it all set for when he could come back in. Then she went to the back and let herself in.

He stood near the end where she entered, watching her dogs out there running and playing. She ignored him and picked up the run. Once it was clean, she headed to the opening again and exited. Then she whistled. “Hugo, come.”

He trotted toward her, and she waved him by to the exercise area. She patted him on the head and said, “Go play.” She left him in there while she fixed his food. Occasionally, she looked out there and shook her head to see him just lying there.

Running his file over in her brain, she knew he’d been trained in Dutch before he’d learned English commands. She could work with that. Going to directly back into his run, she smiled over the way her dogs were playing. “Soon, boy. You’ll be running happy like that.” Her words didn’t stop him from moving. At least he’d not running to get away from me.

Back inside, she walked in the front of his run, holding his food. Setting it down, she waited to see if there would be any interest. Nothing more than a quick look.

“Eat.” She gave the command in Dutch.

If a dog could grumble with discontent then he did, but he followed her order. She waited in there until he ate the full dishful of chow. Only then did she pick it up and leave him alone. “I’ll be back.”

And she was. Day after day, they worked together. She took him on runs around the property, groomed him, and took him into her training facility and allowed him to do some runs over the agility course and over the one she had set for police dogs.

One afternoon as she sat at her desk while he ran free in the building, a wet nose glanced along the back of her hand. With a quick peek at her watch she smiled. She’d been running him through the course at a certain time each day and she was late by a minute. Hugo was reminding her.

She turned her attention to him. “Ready to get some work done, Hugo?” As usual the question came in Dutch as it had day in and day out. The slight wag of his tail brought tears to her eyes. “Let’s do it then.” She kissed the top of his head and got up from her seat. He paced her over to the course.

Keeping the leash snapped to her waist, she coughed. “Off leash today, Hugo. Let’s see how well you’re going to listen. You’d had some hesitation, but you’re working well now so it’s going to be a bit different. We’re changing up the course this time.” She bent down and dug her fingers into his coat—which was gaining its glossiness back. By his ear, she whispered, “We can do this, Hugo. You and me.” Another kiss between the ears and she stood upright and got ready to go.

Hugo knocked it out of the park. She spoke Dutch the full way, giving commands and praise as they went along, added more twists and turns, doubling back. When they finished, she whooped and gathered him close, showering him with praise.

Pulling back, she stared into his eyes. He inched closer and touched his nose to her chin. “I think it’s time you feel like you’re part of the family, Hugo. You’re coming inside with me. You need to belong again and it’s time I stop keeping you apart. We still have a way to go but this was one hell of a start.”

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John slipped outof his brother’s truck with a nod to him and allowed the darkness to swallow him up. Terri had tracked Tiltman’s phone to this location and they were going to bring him in. Davis had gone to a friend in the FBI and asked for some help. It was a guy he’d gone to school with, which was why he trusted him. John was still a bit skeptical, but he did trust his brother.

Davis was going to be listening in with Morriston—the friend with the FBI—and come in after they got the confession. Personally, John wanted to go in and just beat it out of him but cooler heads prevailed.

The building looked like a crack house. He pulled open one door and slipped inside the darkened interior. According to the trace, he was on the third floor fifth room down. Avoiding the people slumped over in the hall, he progressed cautiously up the stairwell. On the third floor, he flexed his fingers over the shotgun in his hand and made his way to the door.

Ear to the wood, he listened but only heard grunting sounds. Great, just my luck I get to do this when the guy’s in the middle of fucking someone. He tested the handle, not at all shocked to find it unlocked. He entered slowly, a single light was on casting a faint glow over the man’s bare ass humping something beneath it.

The air was stale with a nasty combination of sweat, sex, and drugs. John cocked the shotgun; perfectly aware it was a sound most people knew and recognized.

“Tiltman,” he said when the man froze. “Turn over slowly and if there is any suspicion in my mind that you may be going for a gun, I’ll blow a hole into you.”

“Prince?” The man glanced over his shoulder at him, his watery blue eyes wide with shock before they settled. “Damn, man, we thought you were dead. Why are you holding a shotgun on me?”

“Can the shit, Tiltman. I know you’re the one who betrayed me. Now roll off your whore and tell me why.”

“I didn’t betray you. I’ve been looking for you. We’ve all been looking for John Prince.”

Just another reminder to him that he’d lied to Leena about his last name. He shook off her memory and focused on the asshole before him. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”

The man got off the woman—hell, that was no woman. It was a young girl whose tears infuriated him further. “Get dressed,” he said to the girl.

“What about me?”

“Really, Tiltman? Fucking underage girls? What is she twelve?”

“She told me she was eighteen.”

“Bullshit. No, you stay right there. Don’t move. You’re lucky if this girl even speaks English. Another of their perks for ratting out good cops? Fucking up the life of a young girl?”

The girl wrapped a blanket around herself and tried to make herself small in the corner. John wanted to strangle him for hurting a child.

“Tell me why.”

“Why what?” Tiltman looked at another blanket but John shook his head when he made a move toward it.

“You don’t need any covering. Use your hands, your dick is small enough. I don’t want you accidentally going for a weapon and not getting what’s coming to you.”

“Do you even have a warrant?”

“For what? I’m a dead cop, remember? You and Wasyl tried to have me killed. I want to know why and if I have to ask again, I’m going to remove a body part from your body. Given what I walked in on you doing here, it’s going to be that small dick of yours. That may help her feel better.” He withdrew a large knife and pointed it at Tiltman’s crotch. “I may have brought too big of a knife for it though. I’ll make do.”

“I didn’t do anything,” he protested.

“Really? You’re the one taking kickbacks, you’re the one who has a Cayman Island account. I’m pretty sure you also have mistress over there who’s pregnant with your child. Now, how’s your wife feel about all of this? And where are you getting this kind of money? Sure, you make a decent living doing what you do, but this good? Not a chance.”

John moved closer and touched the cold blade to the inside of Tiltman’s leg.

“I had to do it,” he blurted out. “We were going to lose everything so when he came with the offer, I took it. After that,” he shrugged, “it was so easy to continue.”

“He? Who is he? How many cops have you ratted out? How many lives have you ruined just to be able to keep your whores, defiling innocent children, and worse?” John spat in his direction. “Christ, you make me sick.”

“You know damn well who it is, Wasyl. Wasyl Fyodorov. You have to give me protection. Wasyl will kill me.”

“I don’t have to do anything. Get up, you’re coming with us.”

“Us?” His eyes grew wide. “Who else is with you?”

“Someone you should be happy is along with me, for if I was alone I’d have no problem putting a shell directly into your chest. Save the taxpayers some money.” He stood and shoved the knife back into the sheath. “Come in slowly, the girl is scared enough.”

Davis and Morriston arrived within moments. Morriston was going to take him into custody and sleep on the paperwork for a bit until they could get Wasyl. I think it would be best to end the man’s life. He’ll get out with his slick as grease lawyers.

John went up to Tiltman and leaned in close to his ear. “While they may not let it know you’re a cop, I promise I will let the inmates know you’re a pedophile. That way your stay in the joint can be as fun as you made it for these children whose life you’ve ruined.”

Tiltman blanched and John smirked. Then he focused on the young girl still cowering in the corner. They got her to a hospital and Davis waited with her while a translator arrived. He informed them she’d been discovered on the street.

John waited at his brother’s house for him to come back. He returned home around three in the morning.

“What are you doing up?” Davis asked.

“How is she?”

“She’s ten. How do you think she’s doing?” Disgust laced his tone. “We should have killed the fucker.”

“I wanted to, you’re the one who said not to.”

“I was wrong.” Davis tossed his hat to the side and removed his shoulder harness. “Dead wrong.” He poured himself a drink. “You should still be sleeping. You’re recovering.”

“I’m fine. The sooner this is done the sooner I can get back to my life.”

“And Leena?”

Her name on his brother’s lips froze him to the floor. “If we’re talking about her, I’m going to need a drink as well.”

“She’s got you all messed up in the head.”

John poured the drink and downed it in one swallow then poured another. “I’m in love with her.”

“I figured as much.” Davis topped off his own scotch. “How do you think Mom will take this?”

“Really, I don’t give a damn. I want her to be happy for me, but if she is following Uncle Nathan’s views on people then that’s her choice. This isn’t the fucking dark ages. People are people and she’s one hell of a woman. My woman.”

“Mom may surprise you, give her a chance. Bigger question is how are you getting Leena back, didn’t look like the two of you ended on the best note.”

“I have to go talk to her. But when I go after Wasyl, she’s going to be unguarded.”

Davis snorted. “Right, because she’s helpless. I’ve seen her dogs.”

“And like I told her, they won’t save her against a sniper. Or a group of men with automatic weapons.”

“I’ll be on my way. Morriston will be your backup. I will head to Leena’s in a few hours. I need to get some sleep first or I’ll be no use to her.”

“Keep her safe, Davis.”

“Of course. I expect to be best man at the wedding.”

John rolled his eyes. “Let me get her talking to me again and we’ll go from there.”

“Better fix it. I like her.”

“If I hadn’t seen you and Terri together, I may be jealous by that statement. I know better now. If we’re talking about getting the women in our lives back, what about you and Terri?”

“We’re not talking about that. I was asking you about Leena. My life is off limits.”

“Seems that’s what you told Terri. Although, by all appearances, she’s more than willing to take it to the next level.”

“John,” he warned.

“Not that I’m scared of you, but fine, I’ll drop it for now. You’re doing me a favor.”

Davis slammed the drink and left the glass on the counter. “Fuck off.” He left the room and John pulled a phone from his pocket and pulled up Leena’s number. She was two hours behind him and he couldn’t bring himself to wake her. She rose early enough; he’d call her later.

When later arrived, he’d still not gone to sleep, but remained wide awake, pacing and wearing a track through his brother’s carpet. He wanted this over, now that he had stuff ready to take them down, he no longer wanted to wait. The adrenaline pumping through him was close to how he felt decked out in SRT gear just waiting for the “go” command.

He flopped down on the bed with a grunt and stared up at the phone in his right hand. Leena’s number sat right there on the screen, all he had to do was press that little green receiver button and he would hear her voice on the other end of the line.

John cursed and dropped it to his side. He wasn’t about to ruin her sleep because he was amped up. He sat and shrugged out of his shirt before removing his workout pants as well. Then only in his boxers did he crawl under the thick blankets on the bed. Punching the pillow twice, he struggled to find a comfortable spot only to continually be denied.

This fucking blows.If he’d been with Leena, he was confident on how he would relax. He reached down and pushed a hand below the waistband of his boxers and grasped his semi-hard cock. It didn’t take long for him to harden completely as visions of Leena flashed through his mind. He stroked himself slowly, pinching the head of his dick to keep from coming to soon. He envisioned it was Leena’s touch on him, her hand fisting him, her breath on his thighs as she lowered her head to accept him in her mouth.

He groaned as his balls drew tight in anticipation of release. Her scent. The soft caress of her curls on his skin. Her curvy body touching his in all the right places as he held her, made love to her, touched her.

“Damn it,” he muttered as he came, hips bucking, pushing his cock further into the enclosure of his hand.

Out of breath, he left the bed and went to the bathroom to clean up. Only slightly less wound up when he returned to the warmth of the blankets, he closed his eyes and waited for the sandman to find him.

The strong scent of coffee woke him. He cracked open his eyes to see Davis crouched by the bed, holding the java near.

“Wakey, wakey,” he said.

John yawned and stole a glance to the clock beside him. Three hours he’d been out although it felt like a flash in the pan. “What’s up?”

“I’m on my way to Washington. Figured you’d want to be up and oh, I don’t know, give your woman a heads up I’m coming.”

“She’ll just tell me to tell you not to bother. I’m not warning her. Once you’re there, she’ll let you stay.” He sat up and scratched his chest. “Call me before you drive up to her house and I’ll head after Waysl. I want to make sure you’re there. I’m sure he has some people nearby her place.”

“Consider it done. This coffee is for you, I heard you tossing and while I’d recommend you get more sleep I know you won’t. So, get up, drink the caffeine and get ready to move. I’ve got a plane to catch.” He placed the mug down and walked to the door.

“Thanks, Davis.”

“No problem.” His brother vanished through the doorway only to pop his head back in. “Lock up when you leave, please.”

“I’ll do my best to remember. Not like I have anything else on my mind.”

Davis waved and was gone. John sat and drank the coffee. His brother was right, he did need more sleep but he was up now. He needed to get ready so he climbed off the bed and headed to the shower. Ten minutes later, he was eating a meal after which he would be strapping on the gear, he typically wore for an SRT call, leaving off the bulletproof vest until he actually left the house.

While he waited to hear from Davis, he ran over the plan more in his head. There wasn’t any room for failure this time. He had to end this. The fucker had gone over the line when he threatened Leena. And while he wanted to be there at Leena’s he needed to be the one to take Waysl down. For the time, he’d have to trust his brother to keep her safe.

She’s also probably going to be way more receptive to having him show up than me, given how disappointed she was with my comment.

He snapped on his leg holsters and shoved his pistols in them after checking the magazines. Time was almost ready.