Irresistible Force (A K-9 Rescue Novel)(51)

Deputy Ward burst through the front door, gun in one hand and a  high-beam flashlight in the other. What he saw brought a smile to his  face. "Well, lookie there."

Bogart was still locked into place, all four paws firmly braced along  the man's chest as he clamped the man's shoulder between his teeth.

"Bogart! Aus." Bogart released his prey instantly.

James reached into his pocket and withdrew a ball. As it bounced away, Bogart leaped after it like a puppy at play.

The deputy whistled. "Well, what do you know?" It never failed to  impress civilians how quickly a well-trained dog could go from vicious  attacker to playful pup.

With the deputy standing guard, James rolled the man over and cuffed  him. Then he dragged him up to his knees by the back of his shirt and  thrust his face into the man's. "Where is she? Where is Shay Appleton?"

The man sneered at him. "Fuck you!"

James looked up. "Bogart! Fuss!" His partner came running.

The man's eyes got big. "Okay! Okay! She ran away. Into the woods." He  cowered away from James's grasp of his collar as Bogart growled. "Don't  let him bite me again!"

James wouldn't do that but he wasn't about to let this man know that. He  tightened his grip, pressing his knee into the man's back. "You don't  want to fuck with me right now. Is she hurt?"

The man glanced fearfully from James to Bogart. "I don't know. She set fire to the place. She's a crazy bitch."

* * *

James drove back to the cabin at breakneck speed. There was no one on  the dark country road this time. He found the firemen already beginning  to clean up.

He checked with the few remaining onlookers, asking about Shay, but none  of them had seen a woman of her description. Every negative shake of a  head made his gut twist. Where could she be? With all the commotion of  fire and people, she must know it was safe to show herself, unless she  was unable.                       
       
           



       

He block-checked that thought. She was hiding, and he and Bogart would find her. End of story.

The older fireman waved James over when he saw him. "We saved a good  part of the structure. Of course, the living room will have to be  rebuilt. Damnedest thing. Looks like the fire started under an easy  chair. And it wasn't sparks from the fireplace. The hearth is cold."

James tucked that information away. Right now he needed to start the  search for Shay. "I'll check with you later. There's a missing woman out  here somewhere."

With Bogart on the leash, he went first to Shay's car door. James  frowned when he saw the paper patch on the driver's side. He tore it  off, swearing inventively when he saw the word etched into the paint. He  had more to make up for than he thought. It made him want to go back  and assault an unarmed man.

But the thought of finding Shay pressed him harder.

He opened the car door and picked up a sweater he found lying on the  passenger's seat. He held it up to his nose and inhaled. It smelled of  Shay. And, just maybe, forever.

When he'd given his partner a good sniff, too, he gave Bogart the  command to search. "Such!" He made a motion with his hand. "Voraus!  Such! Shay!"

Bogart circled the trampled yard in some confusion. Many feet and vehicles had passed through the open area because of the fire.

James held his impatience in check but it was hard. He had to trust his  partner. He did trust his partner. He gave him more leash, letting him  form his own opinion of what to do next. They were in the dark at the  edge of the grassy lawn when Bogart's tail went up.

James grinned and came running up behind him. "Such! Shay!"

Bogart took off.

He was glad he worked out regularly. The terrain was mostly flat but the  trail led through woods with shriveled vines and boulders, and without  the aid of his high-beam flashlight the going would have been very  tough. Shay knew she was running for her life when she traversed this  maze. That thought kept him from giving a damn about how hard he was  breathing and how much he wanted to smash things. He only wanted to hold  on to her until she understood she was the best thing in his life.

Bogart paused a couple of times to sniff and consider but mostly he was taking them straight through the woods.

They came out the other side to a night full of stars. So silent and  still it seemed as if they had popped out on the other side of the  world. Except that Bogart was pulling him forward. Straining on his  leash, he was determined to get to the bottom of a shallow ravine into  which a dozen pipes had tumbled.

James couldn't figure out why Bogart was so interested in them but his interest was good enough reason to check them out.

Bogart didn't pause until he had nosed into a pipe that was up against a  tree trunk on the other side of the shallow ravine they'd waded  through.

James hunkered down and shined his flashlight inside.

Shay was in there, lying absolutely still. He couldn't breathe in or  out. Didn't want to know the answer to the question beating through his  pulse, if it wasn't the right one.

Bogart dove in past his partner. Usually he didn't like tight places,  instinctively avoiding them as all dogs do. But this time, he was on  duty and his goal was someone he knew. He grabbed one booted foot in his  mouth and began backing out, dragging Shay with him.

She stirred and whimpered. It was the best sight and sound James had experienced, maybe ever.

James reached in when Bogart had pulled her close and patted Bogart's  back, his voice full of praise. "Gute Hund! So ist brav! Such a good  boy!"

When Bogart had backed out, James reached in and slid her the rest of  the way out. She was groggy and her face was bloody. She was wearing  only jeans. But she smiled when she recognized James's face. A really  big all-happy smile.

"You came."

He grinned at her. "You knew I would."

"Yes."

Bogart moved in close and, nudging James's shoulder, stuck his snout in between them to lick Shay's face.

She smiled weakly and reached out to scratch him behind his ears. "My Prince."

James's heart contracted hard as he picked her up and hugged her to him.  She was frighteningly cold to the touch and there was blood on her, but  he could tell by the way she reached up and grabbed his neck and held  on tight that there was a lot of fight still left in Shay Appleton.





CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

James stood her in the shower and bathed her. There was nothing erotic  about it. She was much too tired and sore, and drained from the volcanic  overload of her ordeal, and still vibrating from the events of the  night.

An ambulance had taken her to an emergency room in Roanoke Rapids where  her wounds were assessed. She'd been grazed by a bullet, leaving a  searing grooved burn on her upper arm that hurt like hell. There was  also a nasty laceration on her right brow, made by a blow from the  assailant's gun. And a black eye. Her torso was scratched in a dozen  places from her run half-naked through the woods.                       
       
           



       

During the exam, James stood by her, absorbing every telltale detail of  her ordeal, his face a stoic mask. Beneath that façade, he was feeling  helpless and furious, wishing he had not been so by-the-book with the  asshole who had done these things to her. Several times he had had to  take a deep breath. On his job, he had come across bastards like the one  who'd terrorized Shay. They raped and tormented for the pure pleasure  of it. But he didn't want to add fuel to her nightmares. Some things a  man kept to himself.

Which is why he was also a tiny bit glad he had not known all she had  been through when he and Bogart tracked the suspect down. Shay needed  him here, not arrested for assault.

Deputy Ward showed up at the hospital, after handing over the suspect,  to take Shay's preliminary statement. But he didn't push when James  flashed him a look that said, Not now.

After a thorough examination to determine that nothing else was  seriously wrong, the doctor had stitched her brow, dressed her wound,  and given Shay antibiotics and a sedative. He recommended that she  remain overnight for observation. She was suffering from slight  hypothermia caused by exposure and trauma.

But Shay, frustrated and on meds, became loud and downright uncooperative. She only wanted to go back to the cabin.

James didn't have the heart to tell her that her refuge was a burned-out  husk. The compromise was a hotel room across the street from the  hospital.

Too wired from what the doctor called an atypical reaction to sedatives,  Shay had paced the floor of their room until James persuaded her out of  her clothes and into the shower. The warm fall of water did the trick.  Her heart calmed, her pulse stopped racing, and she began to breathe  more easily.