“I’m so glad you’re okay.” The wail of sirens grew louder, filling the air as the police and fire trucks arrived, and he knew that help would be there soon. Now that Eva was safe, he needed to find his K-9 partner. “Stay here, Eva. I’ll be back as soon as possible.”
“Where—” A coughing fit interrupted whatever she was about to say.
“Abernathy is tracking the perp. I’ll be back soon.” This time he didn’t hesitate, taking off in the direction he’d sent his K-9 partner.
Following the sounds of Abernathy’s barking was harder than he’d thought. The sound echoed off the buildings, making it difficult to pinpoint his partner’s exact location. He hadn’t been in the smoky house for long, but he still found it difficult to see through the darkness and realized this was what Eva faced each day.
Still, he pushed on, ignoring the pounding in his head. He went several blocks and came upon a dead-end alley where he found Abernathy barking his head off. The perp was trying to squeeze through a narrow opening between a fence and a brick building.
“Stop! Police!” Finn’s voice cut through Abernathy’s barking.
The man turned and in that moment Finn realized he had a gun. But instead of pointing the gun at Finn, the perp took aim at his K-9 partner.
“Drop your weapon or I’ll kill the dog.”
There was a Southern twang in the guy’s voice. Realizing he’d found the perp who’d stolen Cocoa, his mind raced. Would he shoot Abernathy? If that was his intent, he could have killed the dog before Finn had even arrived. And he hadn’t killed Cocoa, either.
Then again, the stinky guy had left both Eva and Cocoa to die in a fire.
“I said drop your weapon!” Stinky shouted.
Training told him not to give up his weapon, but Finn couldn’t risk losing Abernathy.
“Okay, okay.” He lifted up both his hands, his gun pointing toward the sky in a gesture of surrender. “There’s no reason to shoot the dog. I’m giving up my weapon, see?”
“Drop it. Now!”
Finn hesitated for a moment, then carefully bent over to set the gun on the ground.
“Kick it toward me.”
Finn didn’t move. The wailing sirens grew louder, and he noticed the perp glance jerkily toward the street as if searching for the red lights.
In that second, Finn jumped into action. “Get help!” He tossed the command toward Abernathy as he launched himself toward the stinky guy, hitting his gun arm hard in an effort to knock the gun loose.
The stinky guy was stronger than Finn had given him credit for. Despite holding the guy’s wrist tightly, squeezing as hard as he could to force him to drop the weapon, the perp hung on, using his bulky frame in an attempt to knock Finn off balance. He nearly succeeded.
For several long moments they struggled to gain control of the weapon.
Boom!
The sound of gunfire echoed loudly around them, giving him one last chance to rip the weapon from the stinky guy’s hand.
“Get down! Now!” Finn pressed the gun against the man’s temple and he slowly went down to his knees, then stretched out until he was lying facedown on the ground.
Ripping his cuffs off his belt, he grabbed the stinky guy’s wrists and locked them together. Once he had the perp secure, he lifted his gaze and swept the area, searching for Abernathy.
He’d hoped his K-9 had gone to get backup, but that wasn’t the case. His K-9 partner came toward him, limping as he favored his right back leg.
“What happened, boy?” he asked.
Abernathy was wearing his vest, but as he came closer, Finn could see blood dripping from the animal’s flank.
His partner was wounded!
SIXTEEN
The oxygen mask over her face eased her spasmodic coughing but made talking difficult. “Where’s Finn?” she asked in a muffled and hoarse voice. She’d asked several times already without a response.
“Just take it easy.” One of the paramedics leaned over to check the monitor she was connected to. “You’re doing great. The oxygen levels in your blood are close to normal.”
Keeping one arm around Cocoa, who was content to cuddle close, she used the other hand to move the mask to the side. “I’ll be better when you get one of the officers over here to talk to me. I need to know where Officer Gallagher is and that he’s safe.”