Page 66 of Twilight Tactics

“We’ll take what we can get.”

She nodded. “I’ll get Milo.”

“Let’s head to the barn. That seems to be the home base right now, and someone will be staying pretty close to make sure the prisoner doesn’t manage to escape.” She rubbed her eyes and frowned. “He’s the main reason we need to get off the ranch. We need to deliver him to the sheriff and bring in reinforcements.”

“Someone’s attacking the ranch. But ... why?”

“That’s not completely clear, but they’ve already jammed all the cell signals and Wi-Fi access, supposedly planted bombs around the perimeter.”

“So what’s the plan?”

“Find a way to disarm the explosives and be ready to fight back if a full-on attack comes.”

Felicity met her gaze. “Javier Diaz was in Special Forces. He knows how to do that.”

“He’s also one of the worst PTSD cases here.”

“But he refused to leave, didn’t he?”

“Yes. Said he would help in whatever capacity we needed him. I just don’t want to ask him.”

“Not sure you have a choice. And honestly, I’ve gotten to know him a bit over the last couple months. If you don’t ask him, he’ll be insulted.”

“Ugh.” Elena hesitated. “I don’t know, Felicity...”

“At least give him the choice. And if he says yes, then we’ll just have to trust him and, if something happens, work through it with him. If he says no, we’ll figure something else out.”

“All right. It’s the best plan for now. I don’t know how much time we have, but we need to get moving.”

“Then let me get Milo and we’ll go find Javier.”

“He was at the barn. He knows what’s going on.”

“Gotcha. Then let’s bolt.”

Elena drove the truck back toward the barn with Felicityand Milo beside her in the cab. The young dog vibrated with barely contained energy, his nose twitching at every gust of air that filtered through the cracked window.

The dog was a Belgian Malinois with a sable coat and intelligent amber eyes. His ears stood tall, twitching with every sound. Still green, still learning, but smart. And hungry for praise. If he could find the bombs without getting himself or anyone else blown up, she’d heap all the praise she could utter on his gorgeous head. Felicity had a reward system that worked well for Milo, so she just might employ that too.

They reached the barn and climbed out quickly. Outside the building, the vets gathered in tight clusters, voices tense, eyes scanning the woods like they expected danger to leap from behind every tree. She didn’t blame them, because maybe it could. But they were ready to be told what to do. How to protect this place they’d come to find refuge in, only to be embroiled in some kind of fight. The very thought made her want to cry. And fight back. She just needed to figure out how.

“Javier?” Felicity’s voice pulled her attention to the man leaning against the wall near the entrance, his eyes on the mountains in the distance. He turned and nodded, spotted Milo, and the tension in his shoulders eased a fraction.

Well, if Milo wasn’t any good as a sniffer dog, maybe he’d make an awesome emotional support animal. But right now, they really needed him to sniff out explosives. Javier knelt and scratched the dog’s ears, and Milo swiped a tongue across the man’s nose.

Elena approached. “Hi, Javier.”

“Hey.”

“I guess you know about the bombs.”

“Yep.”

“Do you suppose you could...” She grimaced. “I can’t believe I’m even asking this, but—”

“You don’t have to. I’ll do it.”

Felicity touched his arm. “But what about—” She bit her lip.