She shook her head, the familiar stubborn gleam back in her eyes. “I’m not hiding out, waiting for this thing to be over. If he wants me, he’ll have to come and get me.” She shrugged off his grip and rose. “Besides. We can’t let anyone near this mess. Someone,” she enunciated, pinning him with a glare, “tossed a backpack full of explosives into the mix.”
Jake winced, then nodded. “Okay, fine. We need to clear the area.”
“You, too,” she pointed out.
As if he’d grown tired of being left out of the conversation, Max rolled onto his belly, stretching his front paws out as if preparing to rise. But when he attempted to get his hand legs under him, he subsided with a whimper of pain.
Jake heaved a sigh. “I’m gonna have to carry you, bud. It’s gonna hurt, and I need you to promise not to rip my face off,” he said, moving into a squat beside his partner.
“Do you want my jacket back?” Cassidy offered the wadded ball of fabric.
Jake shook his head and looked into Max’s eyes. “Nah. I think we’ll be okay without it. He can see better now, can’t you, boy?”
He groaned as he heaved the dog into the cradle of his arms once more. Max’s tongue lolled out of the corner of his mouth, and he began to pant rapidly. “I’m going to have to cut back on your treats,” he grumbled as they followed Cass out from behind the wreckage, picking through the ground littered with cables and detritus from the blast.
He spotted Colonel Aronson talking to Bud Thompson as soon as they rounded the corner. The older man stood scowling at the twisted metal of the Ferris wheel and the carousel’s collapsed canopy.
“Sir?”
Aronson pivoted on his heel, his expression lighting with relief when he spotted Cass walking beside him. “You’re out.”
“We are.”
Jake was winded by exertion, so Cass took over.
“Max is hurt. There’s a piece of glass in his leg and he’s dazed from the explosion,” she said in a rush.
Bud flipped the rear seat of his golf cart down. “Put him on the cart.”
Aronson pointed one blunt finger at her. “Where’s the backpack?”
“In there,” she said, pointing to the approximate location. “Jake figured this area is already a wreck and so we…” She shrugged. “Jake thought it best that we ditch it.”
As Jake deposited his injured partner on the rear deck of the cart, Aronson raised a bullhorn to his mouth. “Fall back. Fall back. Undetonated device in the area.”
There was a flurry of action as the men and women who usually rushed into danger hurried to escape it.
Bud gestured to Cassidy. “You take it. I’ll meet you up there.”
“Thanks,” Jake said. He climbed onto the passenger seat and knelt, throwing his arms across Max to hold him in place. They took off with a jolt and soon they were speeding up the path toward Barton Coliseum.
Max was looking more alert when they coasted to a stop in front of the arena doors. One of the fire department ambulances pulled in from the opposite direction. Evan Furst hopped down and jogged over to the cart. “Got a call someone is injured,” he said, eyes darting from Cassidy to Jake and back again.
“It’s Max,” he said, gesturing to the dog’s leg.
Furst didn’t miss a beat. He waved one of the paramedics who’d been riding in the passenger seat over. “Looks like he took a bit of shrapnel,” Furst observed, offering his knuckles for Max to sniff.
Jake appreciated the other man’s matter-of-fact tone. He’d been so relieved to get Cass out of the awful situation she’d been trapped in, he’d forgotten about his best friend. Guilt gnawed at him. He lowered his head to look into Max’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said for what felt like the thousandth time.
The EMT opened a field bag and pulled out a sturdy pair of tweezers. “I’ve got you, Trooper.” He spoke directly to Max. Turning his attention to Jake, he said, “Hey, I’m Russell. My sister is a vet. I’m going to call her, and we’ll get him fixed up.” He pulled his mobile from his pocket and speed-dialed a number. The moment a woman answered, Russell jumped in without preamble. “Can dogs have lidocaine?”
She hummed noncommittally. “Is there a particular reason you’re asking or is this knowledge you need forJeopardy!?”
Jake watched as the guy pulled a pair of sterile gloves from the bag. “I have a K-9 officer injured, a German shepherd by the name of—” He looked to Jake.
“Max.”
“Trooper Max has a piece of glass or mirror embedded in the upper part of his leg. Can I numb the area?”
