Page 24 of Austin (The K9 Files #29)

Rox asked, “So the guns were taken away? By whom?”

Jake pointed a thumb in Austin’s direction. “ His people.”

Rox frowned his way, expecting more to be shared.

Austin nodded. “My boss has connections all over. He sent over a couple of FBI agents who were in the nearby area, plus a couple of retired military people he knew were here locally. One of them notified the sheriff, a courtesy call of sorts. They may need to work together on this.”

“How much of a problem is it really?” Amie asked, looking at the two of them. “I heard it was sixty guns. How long do you think it’s been going on? Maybe some person buys guns and buries them, ten at a time.”

Austin added, “And it could just be one of many stashes on Jake’s land.”

At that, Jake growled. “Better the hell not be.”

Austin nodded. “No way to know at this point,” Austin said, looking at Amie. “If you’re fine with people using your land for storing weapons and drugs, then it’s not a problem at all. It wouldn’t be how I would want my land to be dealt with, but it’s not my place.” Amie flushed in embarrassment.

At that, Jake snorted. “It was supposed to be yours, damn it.” With that outburst, he got up, shoved the table out of his way, and walked off, leaving Amie and Austin and Rox staring at each other.

That wasn’t quite the reaction Austin had expected, but it gave him an insight into how pissed off and frustrated everybody was. He turned to look at Rox, one eyebrow raised. “Has that been his attitude this whole time?”

She just nodded. “Pretty much. When I disappoint people, I do it in a big way.”

“That’s not fair,” he said. “Two of us were in that relationship, and that’s who ended it,” he snapped. “Nobody gets to blame just you for that.”

She glared at him. “News flash, too late for that. I’ve already been well blamed and for quite a while now.”

He just glared at her and turned to look at Amie, who shrugged.

“What do you want me to say? It was a tough time for all of us.”

“Maybe so, but Rox gets to make decisions on her own too,” he declared, trying to rein in his temper.

Amie nodded. “I agree. It was her decision, but it was a decision that affected all of us,” Amie stated defensively, “so it is what it is.” She threw up her hands. “I’ll go spend some time with my husband.” And she stormed off herself.

Austin shook his head, then turned to Rox. “Did you ever tell them to just mind their own business?”

She laughed. “I tried, but it didn’t go over so well.”

He gave her a reluctant smile. “No, your dad is a bit of a steamroller, and it’s always been his way or the highway.”

“It’s his way, his highway, and get your ass in gear before he finds out you didn’t leave on the first train,” she muttered. “Believe me, if there are any issues here over the property with Chris, it’s more about Dad than anything.”

“I’m not even particularly thinking about that either,” Austin replied, “because an awful lot is going on here.”

“And yet nothing is bad enough that anybody’ll take action,” she pointed out. “Finding a stash of weapons? I can see Dad just wanting to hang on to them to see who comes looking for them.”

“Even with you and Amie here?”

She nodded. “Yes, even with us here. He’s old school, and he looks after his own,” she said. “It’s just that, looking after his own isn’t always the easiest.”

“Of course not,” Austin agreed. “It’s not as if he’s got a dozen men here to back him up.”

“No, but those he does have here are loyal.”

“And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to talk to Raul. Do you think he’s loyal?”

She pondered that and then shrugged. “I think so, but, sure, that’s something we might have to look at.”

Austin left it there, and, later that night, Badger texted a list of the skills that Cowboy had. Impressive . Austin immediately phoned Badger, updating him and Kat, when she asked, “Are you staying?”

Only then did Austin realize that technically his job here was over. He frowned at that.

“Are you staying?” Kat asked again.

That was the question that he’d been avoiding.

She continued. “Technically the job is over. You found Cowboy, and he’s doing fine.”

“But I don’t know who kidnapped him and who penned him up away from his family in the first place,” he finally said. “It makes no sense.”

“They obviously needed Cowboy to keep watch on their cache,” she noted. “So what’s bothering you?”

“What’s bothering me is that Cowboy hasn’t been here for that long of a time, so he wouldn’t have gone with just anybody. So, in my head, it’s an inside job.”

There was silence at that, and then she sighed. “Life just isn’t quite so easy, is it?”

“No, it isn’t,” he murmured, “and, in this case, something feels very wrong.”

“I know,” she agreed. “You’ve mentioned that several times.”

“But it’s more than that. I don’t know if this is just dysfunctional family stuff or something more.

I haven’t been here long enough to sort that out, and I was away for many years, so I see undercurrents going on here that I don’t really understand.

Plus, we have a very disgruntled stepson who wants nothing to do with his stepfather and appears to be more than happy to make as much trouble as he can, but hoarding guns?

I don’t know. I suspect that most of them were more military-grade than anything, probably bought on the black market, but it’s what they’re planning on doing with them that’s the question. ”

“How many are we talking?” Badger cut in.

“I thought originally it was about forty or so, just from what I could see,” he replied. “However, that underground bunker may have gone a whole lot deeper. Once that team was sent in, we were all kicked out, and the weapons were quickly removed.”

“Sure, quickly removed, but…”

“Yeah, it’s more likely that you can get the information we need more than I can,” Austin shared, with a note of humor.

“I can make a phone call, but that doesn’t mean they’ll think I have any pull in that department.”

“Yet you had a lot of pull when it came to getting the right people in place to handle this.”

“That part was easy. However, I highly suspect your part deals very much with a family issue, and will be something that further tears apart your family.”

Austin sighed. “So, two ranch hands are here, and, when I mentioned questioning them about seeing any strangers about the place, everybody got quite upset.”

“Why is that?”

“Just that the ranch hands, Raul in particular, would consider any questioning to be doubting his loyalty, suggesting that Amie and Jake and Rox didn’t trust Raul, even after all this time. I think they were trying to avoid that at all costs.”

“Sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that somebody knew the dog was involved. Somebody had to have the ability to get him to come closer. No way a stranger could have put him in that pen.”

“Unless it was somebody with a military background, accustomed to dealing with War Dogs,” Austin pointed out. “You and I both know that, as much as we want to think the animals are capable of discerning friend from foe, a lot of times they aren’t.”

“That’s true,” Badger agreed thoughtfully. “But these War Dogs are not stupid, and Cowboy was more than happy to come home, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, very happy,” Austin confirmed, “and he’s in the house again. I know that Rox is particularly overjoyed that he’s home.”

“How are things going between the two of you?” Kat asked.

“I’m not sure,” he muttered. “It’s just a very weird scenario. I didn’t really expect it to be as uncomfortable as it is, and yet, in a way, I should have, I guess. But… that’s just the way it is.”

She laughed. “When you’re gone for a while, and you come back, you know there will always be a certain level of awkwardness.”

“Maybe, and I didn’t expect to come back, but neither did I expect to find that they blamed her quite so much. Apparently I was expected to take over the ranch at some point, and, when I left, Jake felt that very keenly.”

“Maybe that’s when the stepson got all this nonsense in his head. You know, as in higher expectations and getting a bigger piece of the pie.”

“And that’s possible, though I don’t know that we’ll ever know the answer to that one,” Austin admitted. “I just know that, right now, things are pretty dysfunctional.”

“That’s just the norm for families,” Kat cut in. “Some work through it, and some don’t, so don’t put yourself into the hot seat over that one.”

He snorted. “Considering that a lot of the problems here started right after I left, it’s hard not to.”

“Again, you have to look after yourself,” Kat stated. “I didn’t send you there to decimate your own soul. You need to work through this so you can come back healthy and happy.” There was silence while he contemplated that. She jumped into the silence. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,… I am. It’s just a very strange scenario.”

“Not really. You were fine without her all these years, so just finish up your job, do what you think you need to do in terms of who took the dog, since we don’t want that scenario to happen again, then come home.” And, with that, she spoke a moment more and hung up.

Austin sat here on the bed for a long moment, contemplating Kat’s words.

As soon as he thought about going home , everything inside of him revolted.

He looked around the room, realizing that, although this wasn’t the room he had used when he was married to Rox, it was still very much part of the place that he’d carried in his own mind, even now considering it home .

And that was the problem because, as long as he left his relationship with Rox unresolved, he wouldn’t find any peace. He needed to get to that point, first and foremost, before he could walk away. But the real question hounding him was if he was prepared to walk away again.