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“Good timing that I’m running into you,” Bob said.
“Feels like this is on-purpose good timing that you coordinated with overwatch.”
Bob grinned. “You have a finely tuned understanding of how things work around here.”
Reaching the main entry together, Bob pulled the door wide. “Mind if I walk with you? I know you’re about to have a meeting.”
Nutsbe checked his watch. He should still have time to get himself showered and ready. Tipping his ear toward the elevator bank, he kept moving. He had a lot to get done in the next twenty minutes.
“I just need a quick yay or nay,” Bob said. “I have a prosecutor who reached out to me just now. She’s in the middle of a trial, and her witness is either extremely sick with a mega case of the flu—"
“Or terrified of taking the stand.” Nutsbe pressed the up button.
“Everyone’s money is on the terrified part,” Bob slid his hands into his pockets.
“Okay,” Nutsbe stepped onto the elevator. “What do you need from me?”
The command structure over at Cerberus was slightly different from the force operations on the main campus. Bob was a commander but also took on a share of the tactical operations tasks. Under the direct command of Titus Kane, Nutsbe was solely focused on supporting his team as the head of their TOC—Tactical Operations Center (pronounced talk.) Pretty much any capability Nutsbe had, Bob had it, too. So the ask here wasn’t obvious.
The elevator doors slid wide, and Bob followed Nutsbe on, then pressed the button for the tactical force level. “Olivia wants to offer her witness a court support dog.”
“We have one of those?” Nutsbe draped his uniform over his shoulder, curling his finger into the hanger wire to keep it in place.
“We have four of those as part of our community support work. Didit started the initiative, and Iniquus embraced it as another way to provide community service. Of those four, we only have one available right now, Beowolf. The others deployed.”
“Okay.” The car bounced to a stop, and the doors slid open.
“And along with all my dogs out on missions, so are all the folks I normally have that go to the court.” Bob stepped into the hall, turning to wait for Nutsbe.
Nutsbe’s brow drew in tight. “You need a K9 and a handler.”
“Right. And since you went through the K9 handler training and certification, you’re on my roster. I checked your file, and you don’t need to re-certify for the courts for another eight months.”
Nutsbe was getting a sick sensation in his stomach—could be the stress about his meeting, could be that his intuition was suddenly sparking about this case. Hell, it could be that sewage water they called coffee over at Chuck’s place. “You would think there was special protocol and training for going into the courts.”
“It’s all wrapped into our Iniquus training program.” Bob opened the file he’d been carrying under his arm, holding it wide.
Nutsbe glanced down. “Sure enough, I’m certified to go to court. Okay, I’m remembering that now.” He braced. “It’s a female, right? What did she witness?”
“Olivia, the federal prosecutor, didn’t go into it. I could hear in her voice that she was worried about losing the witness’s cooperation. She only does big cases with violent offenders or cases that have to do with national security. It would be bad if this guy was back out on the streets because the witness wasn’t willing to witness.”
“When is the trial?” Nutsbe was stalling, looking for an excuse to professionally decline.
“It’s going on now, but they don’t need the K9 in place until tomorrow. Possibly on another day when the jury is reading their verdict.”
“All right.” Nutsbe dragged his index finger under his lower lip. “That’s going to have to be a no from me.”
“Yeah, I was afraid you’d have your calendar filled already. Olivia was throwing a last-minute hail Mary. You know how that goes.” Bob paused with a tip of his head and a furrowed brow. “Your calendar isn’t filled, is it? You’re just a flat-out no.”
“I am. You’ll have to pull from someone who already does this.”
Bob drew his brow in with confusion. “Do you mind if I ask why?”
“A woman’s going to be on the stand.”
“That’s right.” Bob posted his hands on his hips.
“And the person on trial did something terrible to her.”
