Page 29 of Austin (The K9 Files #29)

“It’s not that he wants to go for a run,” he argued. “God, that’s such a typical cowboy attitude.”

“Really? You think he doesn’t like to be out here? It’s not as if I’m working him hard,” Austin said, with half a smile, “and I don’t think Charlie and I got a problem at all. But you might be the kind of person who always thinks you’ve got a problem.”

“People got problems. They’ve always got problems. They just don’t recognize what those problems are,” the stranger declared.

“But right now I’ve got to get the hell out of here, and I want to get the rest of my caches, so I need you to just disappear.

Seeing how you won’t, I’ll have to make you.

” As he raised the gun to fire, Cowboy jumped up from behind and snapped down hard on his wrist, bringing the man and his weapon to the ground.

As the gunman swore and cursed, trying to fight off the dog, Rox raced forward with her own gun out, just in time to watch Austin do some flip kick and drop the man flat to the ground, holding him there almost effortlessly.

“I don’t think you’ll be doing anything,” Austin snapped, “because I don’t have any intention of letting you go.” Austin didn’t need to do anything else, since Cowboy’s teeth were still attached to the gunman’s arm.

“What the fuck?” the gunman roared. “Don’t you understand? I need to get those caches.”

“You should have thought about that before you shot Jake and tried to shoot me,” Austin snapped.

Rox watched in shock as Austin revved back his right hand and plowed it into the gunman’s jawbone, rendering the man suddenly relaxed and completely limp. She raced over. “Oh my God, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said, giving her a big smile.

Austin smiled up at Rox, and, with her help, straightened up and gave her a big hug. “How’s your dad?”

“I’m fine,” snapped Jake, as he leaned against a nearby tree. “What the hell is going on here?”

“Apparently more caches of weapons are scattered around the property. He was here to clear out some more before we found them.”

“You mentioned how you thought there would be more.”

Austin shrugged. “It didn’t make any sense that there wouldn’t be more. If it was me, I wouldn’t hide them all in one place either.”

At that, Jake snorted. “That makes sense too,” he muttered. “What the hell?” He stared at the unconscious gunman. “Who is this?… He is kind of familiar looking.”

Rox nodded. “I thought so too. Still can’t place him.”

Austin frowned, taking note. “Jake, you need to get law enforcement in here to pick him up.”

Jake groaned at that. “The sheriff is already pissed off at me because I cut him out of the action to begin with.”

“Well, this one is his, so give him a shout, and then we’ll see from the sheriff’s reaction when he actually gets here if he knows our gunman.”

“Do you really think he does?” Rox asked.

“I don’t know whether he does or not,” Austin admitted. “I’m hoping he doesn’t, but somebody local knows where this stuff is hidden. We also need to keep Cowboy out here, tracking any firearms that he can. He was trained in that, per my boss, so we should use him.”

“You really think Cowboy can do that?” Jake asked.

“He already has. Remember that he’s the one who kept bugging me and Rox to follow him, and this is where he led us.” He looked over at Rox. “You okay?”

She looked up at him and smiled. She walked over, and, instead of giving him a hug or a kiss, she punched him in the gut.

He stared at her in surprise. “What was that for?”

“That’s for telling me that line of shit about not being physically fit, not being the same man, not being in the peak condition you used to be in, and that your injuries made a difference.”

He shrugged. “It does make a hell of a difference.”

“ Yeah, right ,” she scoffed. “And yet who’s on the ground now?”

“An asshole who will stay there,” Austin spat out. With that, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a big kiss. She laughed as she stepped back and looked over at her father, who was staring at the two of them.

Then a sparkle came in his eyes, and he nodded. “Damn high time,” he muttered. “Your mama and I’d just about lost hope.”

“Don’t count on anything right now,” Austin stated. “Just because we’re looking at trying again, we sure as hell don’t need or want any interference or pressure from you guys. It’ll be a while, as we sort through some issues.”

“You take all the time you want,” Jake stated, with a big grin. Then the grin fell away from his face. “We need to get this asshole out of here and find those other weapons.”

“We need to do it fast too,” Austin said, nodding in agreement.

“The last time I saw this guy, he had two cohorts with him. Not exactly the kind of guys we would necessarily want to keep around, so whether they’re coming back, looking for the other weapons, or looking for this guy, we’ll have more trouble than we expect. ”

“I just sent his photo to Raul. This guy is not the one who was shooting up the house,” Rox shared, “so we have to keep that in mind too.”

“Right, so there are at least two others, possibly a third, but I’m betting that one of those other two was the one shooting at the house,” Austin suggested.

“I didn’t get a look at them because I was still hunkered down on the floor.

So I have no idea on gait or height or anything, but this guy could certainly have been at the house with his other buddies.

Then they split up and took different ways out of there. ”

At that, he looked over at Rox and said, “Get your father back to the ranch, so he can get his shoulder looked at. He’ll have to go to the medical clinic, and I really don’t want to hear any argument,” he declared, turning to look at the big man.

“I know you don’t want to leave, but, in this case, you have to. ”

Jake grimaced. “I’m in just enough pain that I won’t argue with you,” he muttered. “She sure as hell better drive carefully on the way back. Otherwise it’ll hurt like shit.”

“It’ll hurt like shit anyway,” she said, as she walked toward him. “Nothing I can do about that. You don’t get to blame me for my driving on fields and country roads because you got yourself shot up.”

“Not blaming you,” he protested, but still growling. The two of them wrangled over in the direction of the vehicle. Then she stopped, looked back at Austin, and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Standing guard,” he replied. “Cowboy and I will stay here, and Charlie will stay too.”

With that said, almost as if both animals understood, they moved closer to Austin.

Rox nodded and smiled. “You’ve got Dad’s rifle?”

“I’ve got your father’s rifle,” he stated, with a nod. “Now go get him taken care of.”

“I don’t want to leave until we have law enforcement here,” Jake said, turning and glaring at him.

Rox agreed. “We’ll stay until somebody comes here to help as backup.”

“That’s fine,” Austin relented, “as long as you get the hell out of here and look after yourself as soon as they arrive.”

Jake just glared at him and finally nodded. “Fine,” he muttered, and then he grinned. “Glad to have you back. I’ll go sit in the goddamn truck.” And Jake slowly made his way over to the big truck he’d come in on.

Rox looked back at Austin, who just smiled and nodded. “It’s fine. I’ll be fine right here.”

“ Sure ,” she quipped, “but you’re the one who was just saying that other men are likely coming.”

“Yeah, they sure are,” he agreed, waving his hands.

“I’m already looking to set up a plan of some sort.

It’ll be a whole lot better if I don’t have to worry about you two as well.

” She glared at him, and he nodded. “I know. You don’t like it, but that is just the way it needs to be in this case.

Jake is hurt, and, as much I know he would like to come, guns ablazing, come hell or high water, but that shoulder is already paining him. ”

“I’m not so weak that I can’t stand a little bit of pain either,” Jake roared from the distance.

Rox laughed. “It would be nice if, just one time, Dad would,… you know, calm down a little bit.”

“And then you wouldn’t even know who he is,” Austin murmured. “I’ll be fine. You go with him. I’ve got a weapon. I’ve got the dog and a horse.”

“Sure,” she said, “but you don’t have backup, and Dad won’t leave until you’ve got that.”

“Fine,” Austin muttered. “At least be stationed so you can keep an eye on him and the road.”

“Right,” she replied, “but I still don’t like leaving you here.”

“I get it, but law enforcement should be here soon enough.”

“How do you know one of the other assholes isn’t out here looking for this gunman already?”

“I’m counting on it,” Austin declared, with half a smile. “I doubt they will all be here though. I suspect we’ll have to roust one or two of them out from the hollows or wherever they’re hiding.” Her eyebrows shot up at that, and he nodded. “Not today’s worry.”

“That will hardly make me feel better.”

“No, it won’t, but remember that this is what I do. They’re in my world, as much as I’m in theirs.”

“ Right . I’m not sure I want to think about that very much either,” she noted.

He smiled. “We can always talk when I get back.”

“We’ll also have to talk to Mom and Dad because they’ll be all over us this time.”

“Maybe, but we need to take it slow, and we need to ensure it’s our decision, not theirs. We already know how they feel about it, but that won’t be helpful in the long run.”

She smiled. “I’ll head back over to check up on Dad.”

“Good enough,” Austin said. “It would be good if you could just stay inside the truck, but I don’t think you’re parked quite close enough for that.”

“No, but it should be fine down there,” she murmured, as she walked toward the vehicle. She stopped, took another look back at him.

Austin shook his head. “I know. I’ll be fine. Now go.”

She gave him a ghost of a smile and quickly joined her injured father.