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Moving past her, Baker unlocked the door, shoving it open.
“He’s a bomb-sniffing dog, Chief, and his name isn’t Fido.” She barely caught Maverick by the collar as he attempted to rush inside the small, overpacked room. The fluorescent tube light overhead flickered to life and highlighted rows and rows of labeled boxes in uniform shape and size.
A low beeping reached her ears.
Pivoting, Jocelyn set sights on the station’s alarm panel near the front door—though it’d been disarmed when Baker had come inside a few minutes ago. “Do you hear that?”
Maverick pressed his face between two boxes on the lowest shelf and yipped. Her skin tightened in alarm.
“We have to get out of the building.” Jocelyn unpocketed her cell from her cargo pants and whistled low for Maverick to follow her out. The K-9 growled low to argue, but he’d obey. Healwaysobeyed when it counted. She hit Ivy Bardot’s contact information and raised the phone to her ear. Someone had planted a device in the police station. She needed full response.
“What?” Baker asked. “I can’t just leave, Carville. In case you weren’t aware, I’m the only officer on shift today.”
They didn’t have time for bickering. She grabbed on to his uniform collar and rushed to the front of the station with the chief in tow. “We have to go!”
Fire and sharp debris exploded across her back.
Jocelyn slammed into the nearest wall.
The world went dark.
HESHOULD’VEGOTTENout of the damn trailer.
Baker tried to get his legs underneath him, but the blast had ripped some crucial muscle he hadn’t known had existed. Oh, hell. The wood paneling he’d surrounded himself day in and day out warbled in his vision. That wasn’t good.
The explosion... It’d been a bomb. She’d tried to warn him.Jocelyn. Jocelyn Carville.
He shoved onto all fours. “Talk to me, Carville.”
No answer.
Heat licked at his right shoulder as he tried to get himself oriented, but there was nothing for his brain to latch on to. The trailer didn’t look the same as it had a few minutes ago. Nothing was where it was supposed to be, and now daylight was prodding inside from the corner where the evidence room used to be. Flames climbed the walls, eating up all that faux wood paneling and industrial carpet inch by inch. A weak alarm rang low in his ears. Maybe from next door?
They had to get out of here. “Jocelyn.”
A whine pierced through the crackle of flames. He could just make out a distant siren through the opening that hadn’t been there before the explosion. Fire and Rescue was on the way. But that wasn’t the sound he’d heard. No, it’d been something sullen and hurt.
“Come on.” His personalized pep talk wasn’t doing any good. Baker shoved to stand, though not as balanced as he’d hoped. His hand nearly went through the trailer wall as he grasped for support. Smoke collected at the back of his throat. He stumbled forward. “Where the hell are you?”
Another whine punctured through the ringing in his head, and he waved off a good amount of black smoke to make out the outline ahead. The dog. Baker couldn’t remember his name. The German shepherd was circling something on the floor. “Damn it.”
He lunged for Jocelyn. She wasn’t responding. Possibly injured. Moving her might make matters worse, but the walls were literally closing in on them. He’d have to drag her out. The shepherd had bitten on to the shoulder of her Kevlar vest and was attempting to pull his handler to safety. Baker reached out.
The K-9 turned all that desperation onto Baker with a warning and bared teeth. His ears darted straight up, and suddenly he wasn’t the bomb-sniffing dog who’d tried to warn them of danger. He was in protective mode. And he’d do anything to keep Baker from hurting Jocelyn.
“Knock it off, Cujo. I’m trying to help.” Baker raised his hands, palms out, but no amount of deep breathing was going to bring his heart rate down. His mind went straight to the drawer where he’d locked away his gun. He didn’t want to have to put the dog down, but if it came to getting Jocelyn out of here alive or fighting off her pet, he’d have no other choice. Though where the desk had gone, he couldn’t even begin to guess in this mess.
He leaned forward, moving slower than he wanted. The fire was drawing closer. Every minute he wasted trying to appease some guard dog was another minute Jocelyn might not have. Baker latched on to her vest at both shoulders and pulled, waiting for the shepherd to strike. “I’m here to help. Okay?”
The K-9 seemed to realize Baker wasn’t going to hurt its handler and softened around the mouth and eyes.
“Good boy. Now let’s get the hell out of here.” He hauled Jocelyn through a maze of debris and broken glass out what used to be the front door. His body ached to hell and back, but adrenaline was quickly drowning out the pain. Hugging her around the middle, he got her down the stairs with the German shepherd on her heels.
High-pitched sirens peeled through the empty park across the cul-de-sac and echoed off the surrounding cliffs protecting Alpine Valley. A lot of good they’d done these past few weeks. First a raid in which the cartel had burned down half a dozen homes. Now this.
Baker laid the woman in his arms across the old broken asphalt, shaded by her SUV. Ash darkened the distinct angles of her face, but it was the blood coming from her hairline that claimed the attention of every cell in his body. “Come on, Carville. Open your eyes.”
Apparently she only took orders from her employer.
