Caleb looked at Laysha, stood, offering her a hand up.
“She deserves her freedom,” Laysha said. “I didn’t see anything. Did you?”
He snorted. “I can’t identify her, and, if she gets the hell out of here, neither will Ansel.”
They heard sirens in the distance. Laysha walked over, looked down at the gunman. “I know they have to destroy those dogs, and I’m so sorry about that,” she said, “but I’m really glad this asshole won’t do evil to any more dogs or to anybody else.”
Caleb wrapped her up in his arms, even as the detective approached, and asked, “What the hell now?” He stopped and stared. “Wow.”
“I know,” Caleb said. They told him about the woman and what she’d said.
Even the detective winced at that. “Well, I don’t know who she is, and I know that what she did was wrong, but personally I won’t put too much effort into trying to find her. If she’s smart, she’ll cross the border and disappear into Mexico,” he said quietly. “She has already suffered enough. A guy like this? Well, we didn’t want him in the legal system anyway.”
“Maybe not,” Caleb said, “but we couldn’t have done what she did.”
“I know. And, to that end, we’ll look at how we can take care of the rest of the compound. We’re working with the Mexican police on this. His property crosses the border.”
“Good, a lot of people died on that property.”
“The prisoner is talking,” he said. “He won’t get free himself, but he’s doing what he can to make up for whatever he did.”
“I think an awful lot of people were taken down the wrong path because of this asshole,” she whispered, kicking the dead body. Just to be sure …
Ansel grabbed his cell phone and pushed one of his speed-dial numbers. “Get the coroner out here and forensics too.” Off the phone now, he approached them. “I’ve gotta wait here for the team. I’ll need your statements. Otherwise go about your day.” And Ansel walked off to his vehicle, sitting inside, the door propped open, back on his phone again.
Caleb turned, a fierce frown on his face.
Laysha knew what coming.
“Don’t you ever do that again.”
Had she not known him so well, she would have been scared, his delivery low and lethal. “You weren’t surprised. You knew what I was doing.”
“Never again, Laysha,” he said, louder, deeper.
“No.”
“Laysha!”
“No, Caleb,” she repeated, stepping closer to him, softening her voice. “I will always protect you and my dogs—and my home. You know that. And I know you will always protect me—and my dogs and my home—while protecting yourself as well. So we are all protected.” She waited, watched, wondered if he would still be mad.
“I could have lost you,” he murmured.
“And I wouldn’t want to be here if I lost you.”
He reached up a hand, caressed her cheek, and then his phone rang. She raised her eyebrows as he pulled it out and said, “It’s the vet.”
She smiled. “And?”
He put it on Speakerphone. The vet’s voice was jubilant. “Beowulf had a great night,” he said, “and he’s looking forward to coming home.”
She cried out with joy. She looked over at Caleb. “Shall we go get him now?”
He nodded. “You did hear,” he said with a big grin, as he put away his phone, “the vet said come home, right?”
“I know, and that’s what it is. This is home for the War Dog.” She kissed Caleb hard and bailed to gather her dogs, while Caleb informed Ansel where they were off to.
She had all four of her dogs in the back of the truck by the time Caleb joined her now fully dressed. “We have to get permission to keep him,” he said.
“Not a problem,” she said. “You’ll make it happen.”
He gave her a shadow of laughter. “I don’t know about that.”
“Well, we have a vet bill to pay, and we have another animal to look after, and a floor to finish,” she said. “And that’s just today.”
He rolled his eyes. “You and that floor.”
“Well, considering that we have other jobs and other projects,” she said, “and I now have a semipermanent houseguest, you know the floor is important.”
“Semi?” He laughed. “We need to discuss that part further. I expect to be permanently here. With you.”
Now she chuckled.
They got to the vet’s, opened the front door, and, as they waited in the reception room, the vet slowly brought out Beowulf. As soon as the dogs saw Beowulf, they all raced over to him. She tried to call them back, but Graynor walked over gently and then slowly turned around and walked at the same pace as the injured dog as they came toward Caleb, matching slow stride for slow stride.
Caleb crouched, and Beowulf immediately walked right into his arms. Laysha could feel the tears choking the back of her throat, as she watched the two of them bond like she knew she probably never could. But to know that Caleb had saved this animal’s life? Well, that just made her fall in love with Caleb all that much more again. When Beowulf lifted his head, Caleb turned, looked at her, and held out a hand. “Meet the newest member of the family.”
She sat down beside Beowulf and waited. The dog slowly inched closer and dropped his head on her lap and just looked up at her with the soulful eyes of a damn grateful animal. She gently caressed his ears and whispered, “You’ll be fine now, buddy, absolutely fine.”
She looked up at the vet with tears in her eyes, and she whispered, “Thank you.”
He nodded. “And no charge for a War Dog,” he said. “This animal deserves everything good coming his way. He has seen the worst and the best in humanity. Let’s hope it’s only the best from now on.”
She smiled and said, “You can count on it from our part. Only the best for all of us,” she said, as she was surrounded by her dog family and Caleb. She’d never felt happier; she looked over at Caleb and said, “Right?”
He leaned over, kissed her, and said, “Absolutely. Now we’ll work on our wedding plans and see who to invite.” She opened her mouth, but no words came out. “Absolutely not Jackson. Not Sarah. No argument.”
She grinned and said, “Five dogs for sure, so that means the wedding is at home.”
And he burst out laughing, with the vet and Sandy grinning madly. He gave her another lingering kiss. “Anything you want, sweetie. I’m totally okay with it.”
And she knew that her life had taken a turn she had never anticipated and was damn grateful for it. She gave each of her dogs a cuddle and a kiss. They all seemed to understand something wonderful had just happened, and the smaller dogs danced around. The older, bigger two seemed to smile at her. She smiled back, stood up, and said, “Come on. It’s time to go home.”
And there were never any better words to be found in the dictionary.
Epilogue
Kurt Manchester walked into Badger’s office. “Wow,” he said. “I don’t know what to do with this. You actually have an office of your own.”