Page 20 of Austin (The K9 Files #29)

He shrugged. “I hope I didn’t lose most of it in the accident, but who knows?”

“You never did tell us what the accident was,” she noted, stroking Charlie’s long forehead.

“No, I sure didn’t, and I’m not explaining it now either.” She frowned at him, and he frowned right back. “Now, if you’re done questioning my history, let’s look for Cowboy. He has to be around here somewhere.”

“I’ve looked out here time and time again.”

“Did he have any whistle or any birdcall or anything he would respond to?”

She turned and gave several short sharp whistles, but no dog came running. He tried several whistles he had heard trainers use in the military, but still, no dog bark in reply. “I just seems, if he could have come, he would have,” she murmured.

“And that means that he couldn’t come,” Austin said. “You’ve got acres and acres of land here. We should have two horses or two four-wheelers,” he noted, as he looked around, “so we could cover more land.”

“Maybe, but if you heard Cowboy barking, that means he’s alive, somebody’s keeping him alive, and he can’t come home. And if it was him that I saw that night, he should have been able to come home.”

“You don’t know who he was with though, whether he was on a tether or not,” Austin pointed out. “So let’s just give him a chance first.”

“I’ve given him many chances,” she wailed. “I just want him home, safe and sound.”

“Which would be the ideal, but, in order to have that happen, we have to find him. I’m pretty damn sure he’s out here somewhere.” Just then he tilted his head again and asked, “Is Charlie up to carrying both of us?”

She laughed. “He always used to be, and he’s not that old.” And, with that, using his foot for support, she swung up to sit behind the saddle.

“Not very comfortable for you though,” he noted, twisting to look at her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay if we’re not going too far, but we’ll need to keep it short for Charlie’s sake.”

“Let’s go up a little bit and take a look,” he suggested, “because I just heard a dog.”

And with that, they moved out, Charlie never once grimacing over the extra weight. By the time he got them up to the area he thought the barking was coming from, he said, “Hop down and let’s go take a closer look.”

“Take a look at what?” she asked, not sure what they were supposed to do.

He frowned at her in astonishment and pointed. “Looks to be a hunter’s blind.”

“There can’t be any hunter’s blind out here,” she snapped. “This is private land.”

“And since when did that ever stop anybody?”

Sure enough, she watched as he led them in one direction. She couldn’t see anything, other than trees. Yet, once they got closer, she finally saw some sort of hideout underneath the tree canopy. She nodded and pointed.

He put a finger to his lips, and, stepping up to the side, he peered in through one of the openings. Almost immediately came frenzied barking on the other side. When they stepped up closer, the barking and chaos turned into whines.

She cried out, “Cowboy, oh my God. It’s Cowboy.” It took a minute for them to cut through the brush to see that he’d been penned up. It wasn’t very big, but it was enough that he couldn’t get a running jump out, and thick enough that he couldn’t climb through.

“Jesus Christ,” she swore, as the two of them worked to break down the barrier that had clearly been erected to keep him there. “What the hell were these people thinking?”

“I don’t think they were, except that, for whatever reason, keeping Cowboy here was either part of their plan or part of some future plan,” he suggested. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but the sooner we find out the better.”

“At least it looks like they were feeding him but probably not enough. And his water bowl is totally empty.”

Once he was free, Cowboy raced around Charlie, and the two animals nuzzled each other, as Cowboy jumped back and forth in joy.

“My God,” she muttered, as she dropped to her knees when Cowboy burrowed up against her, knocking her to the ground.

“I’ve been looking and looking for you for weeks, Cowboy,” she whispered.

“I used to come out here every evening trying to find him. I can’t believe you did it.

” As she fought back the tears forming in her eyes, she looked up at him and shook her head.

“Thank you… really.” He just nodded, and then she froze.

“I suppose,” she began, her tone careful, “I suppose you’ll be leaving now. ”

He shook his head. “No, not yet.”

“But finding Cowboy is what you came for.”

“I came to ensure he was okay and to confirm he was loved and well cared for,” he clarified, “but obviously still some questions remain.”

She winced at that. “Now I suppose you’ll tell me that I’m not a good-enough dog mom to keep him.”

“No, I didn’t say that at all,” he replied in a mild tone, “so don’t go putting words in my mouth.”

She glared at him, then hopped back up on her feet, reaching a hand down to Cowboy, but he kept barking and nudging her. She frowned, then realized that Austin was right.

“Something’s wrong,” Austin noted, looking around. “Cowboy was being kept here for a reason, and what we don’t know is what else is going on.”

“Yeah, something is up,” she muttered. “This is bizarre behavior for him.”

“Which just means that it’s very important,” Austin said. “Anything out of the norm is something we need to know about right now. Let’s put a lead on him.” Then he asked her, “Is he normally leashed?”

She shook her head. “No, I’ve never really needed to.”

“In that case, just let Cowboy run, and see what he does.”

She stepped back and smiled at the War Dog. “Go ahead, Cowboy. Show us what’s going on.”

He looked at her, cocked his head, then barked once and took off deeper into the trees. They followed, leading Charlie behind them. When they got farther in, she frowned at Austin and added, “I almost never come into this area. I can’t even remember the last time I was here.”

“And that’s important too,” Austin noted, “because something is going on here, and it seems to involve this spot.”

They kept walking deeper and deeper into the vegetation, with Cowboy continuously looking back to ensure they were coming. “We’re here. It’s okay, boy. Keep going. We’re coming with you.” He barked several more times, raced ahead a little bit, and then waited for them to catch up.

“He’s really determined that we be a part of this,” she muttered.

“He’s determined that we need to see whatever it is that he thinks is so important.” As soon as they got farther up to one area, he stopped and barked.

But she saw nothing. She looked over at Austin. “I don’t know what’s wrong here, but it seems as if something is, at least to Cowboy.”

Austin nodded. “He has a pretty good idea that something is up.” He handed her the lead rope for Charlie. “Stay here.”

He moved forward several feet away, but she could see him. Then, just like, that he disappeared from view.

Austin didn’t see the blind, coming out of nowhere.

So, when he tripped on it, his weight came down onto a weak corner of whatever was underneath, he fell straight in.

It wasn’t very far, wasn’t very deep, and for that he was grateful because his leg twisted partly underneath him.

Swearing, he got back to his feet, hobbling ever-so-slightly as he looked around. He called out, “I’m fine, by the way.”

“Jesus,” she muttered, peering over into the hole. “Are you sure?”

“I am. You don’t happen to have a flashlight, do you?”

When she shook her head, he pulled out his phone, put it on Flashlight mode, then looked around, giving a whistle. “That’s interesting,” he said, calling out loud to her.

“What is it?” she cried out.

He took several photos and looked up at her. “It’s a stash of guns.… Drugs might be in here too.”

“What?” she asked, alarmed. She tried to peer over into the hole, but he shook his head. “Whatever you do, don’t come closer. We’ll have enough trouble getting me out of here as it is.” When she frowned at him, he shrugged. “Not sure the prosthetic will like this much.”

“Oh crap,” she muttered. “I didn’t even think about it.”

“And don’t think about it now either,” he snapped. “I’ll be fine.” Although he wasn’t exactly sure what fine would mean in this instance. “Call your father and get him headed out here now.”

She stepped back ever-so-slightly and made the call. Austin heard the one-sided conversation and the urgency in her tone. When she was done, he called out, “Now call the sheriff.”

“Are you sure? I want my father to see this first.”

He hesitated, then nodded, but, not wanting to take any chances, he sent several of the photos to Badger.

Austin took a second look, wondering how the hell he was supposed to get out of this hole.

Circling his phone’s flashlight around the blind, Austin located a couple steps cutting into one side, as if that was the route someone had used before.

So, as he managed to swing himself partly up, Rox reached down and grabbed his belt and hauled him farther up to the top.

He rolled onto the ground on his back, then looked up and smiled. “Thanks.”

She grinned at him. “No problem. As I recall, we used to do things like that all the time.”

“We did,” he agreed, with a nod. “Nice to know you haven’t forgotten.”

She stepped back, feeling a little self-conscious, adding softly, “I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything.”

He stared up at her, not moving from where he lay on the ground. “What makes you think I have?”

She glared at him. “Because you never came back.”

“And you never said you were sorry or that you didn’t mean it.”

She blinked at him several times and shook her head. “Are you telling me that you would have come back if I had?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I never got the chance to figure it out, but I sure wouldn’t come back without it.”

“Stubborn,” she snapped.