Guard Duty. Sharon Dunn

going on, girl?”

      In the distance, she heard the alto barking of a German shepherd. That had to be McNeal with Chief. The insistence of the barking suggested that Chief was onto something.

      Valerie talked to dispatch through her shoulder mic. “Be advised. I am at 620 Kramer. Something is up with Lexi. The trail may have gone cold.”

      Agitated, Lexi ran back and forth in the yard, stood by the ladder for a moment and then put her nose to the ground again. What was happening?

      She watched Lexi pace the yard, running in all directions. The dog stopped, lifted her head and let out a single “Woof.” She still had some kind of scent, but it was confusing her.

      Chief’s insistent barking reached her. He had definitely alerted to something. But what...? As the realization dawned on her, Valerie pushed her talk button. “I think our suspects split up.”

      “Copy that. We are sending another patrol unit your way. ETA is about five minutes.”

      The bushes in the yard across the fence shook. Valerie lifted her head just in time to see a man emerge. The look of fear and guilt on his face told her everything she needed to know.

      “Stop! Sagebrush P.D.”

      The man took off running.

      Lexi yanked on the leash, barking and pulling wildly as the man ran around the back of the house. Knowing she couldn’t crawl over the fence as fast as Lexi could jump it, Valerie clicked Lexi off the leash. The dog leapt over the fence and bounded after the suspect, her rapid-fire bark a clear sign that she was hot on the trail.

      Her heart pumping, Valerie gripped her gun, prepared to run out to the sidewalk and through the gate to meet Lexi. She heard a scraping noise right before something crashed hard against her shoulder, knocking her to the ground.

      Dazed by the impact, she stumbled to her feet. Shingles and a busted-open box spread across the walkway. She looked up. Was the second perpetrator on the roof? Had each of the three suspects run in a different direction?

      Lexi’s barking pressed hard on her ears, but grew farther away. The dog could handle herself. With her shoulder aching and still a little fuzzy headed, she hurried most of the way up the ladder using the roofline for cover.

      She lifted her head up a few inches, catching movement by the chimney. “Sagebrush P.D. Drop your weapon.” She ducked just as the whiz of a pistol shot shattered the night air. She fired off a round.

      Silence.

      She lifted her head a couple of inches. The suspect had come out from behind the chimney, aiming his gun at her.

      He slipped on the sharply angled roof, falling on his side and dropping the gun. The gun skittered across the shingles and fell to the ground below. This was her chance. She didn’t want him escaping down the ladder she’d seen on the other side of the house.

      Valerie scrambled up the ladder, attempting to balance close to the top rung and aim her gun at the same time. “Put your hands up.”

      The man lifted his hands partway and then dropped them, dashing toward her. All the air left her lungs as fear enveloped her and she whispered a quick prayer. He intended to push the ladder away from the roof. She couldn’t crawl down fast enough. She grabbed the ladder with her free hand as the man bolted toward her. It had been a stupid mistake to go up the ladder. She’d break her back if she fell that far.

      The suspect’s feet seemed to be pulled out from under him, and he was slammed facedown on the roof. Some unseen force pulled him backward away from her. As the suspect scrambled to his feet, she saw the silhouette of a second man, tall and broad through the shoulders.

      The second man landed a blow to the suspect’s face, knocking him on his back. The perp kicked the man’s feet out from under him, and he slid down the steep angle of the roof toward the edge. He caught himself, pulling his body back up toward the suspect who sought refuge close to the chimney.

      Valerie climbed onto the roof. Seeking to balance, she lifted her gun. “Put your hands up.”

      This time, the assailant complied. “I don’t want to fall off here.”

      Neither did she. Valerie looked down and behind her. How on earth was she going to get this guy off here without killing herself and without giving him opportunity to run away?

      The man who had helped her apprehend the perp stepped out of the shadows. “Officer Salgado, why don’t you crawl down and wait at the bottom?” The man’s hand went to a holster on his belt. “I’ll stay up here and make sure this guy doesn’t get any ideas.”

      She had no idea who this man was or where he had come from, but everything about him said law enforcement, and he knew her name. Still, this whole thing might have been a setup from the syndicate to get at her. “Who are you?” she shouted across the rooftop.

      “FBI Agent Trevor Lewis. I rode in with Captain McNeal and saw that you were in trouble.”

      He sounded legit. She didn’t have a lot of choices and would have to check his I.D. later.

      “Okay. I’ll go down the ladder first,” she said.

      Agent Lewis held up his own gun. “I’ll make sure this guy doesn’t try to get off the roof by way of that other ladder.”

      She descended the ladder and waited while the suspect followed her. When his feet hit the ground, she pointed her gun at him. “Turn around, on the ground facedown, sir.”

      A look of hostility compressed his features, his lips curled. “I don’t wanna go to jail. I’m innocent.” The suspect stepped toward her with his hands out to grab her.

      She adjusted her grip on the gun. “I said facedown on the ground, now.”

      “Do what the lady says,” came the strong bass voice from the roof.

      The perp tilted his head, grimaced and dropped to the ground.

      Valerie pulled the cuffs from her belt. “You’re innocent? Like everyone decides to shingle their roof at ten o’clock at night.” She was still mad at herself for having climbed up the ladder. She’d broken a cardinal rule of training by putting herself in a vulnerable place.

      Agent Lewis climbed to the bottom of the ladder. “At last, we meet.” As Valerie stood up from cuffing the suspect, he held out his hand to her.

      Why would an FBI agent want to greet her? Along the street, another black and white came to a stop, the additional backup dispatch had sent.

      The screams of a man and a distant growl alerted Valerie to Lexi’s progress with the other suspect. “Gotta go. Can you watch him until that officer over there can take him into custody?”

      No time to wait around for Agent Trevor Lewis to explain why he was with McNeal. She raced out of the yard, pushing through the gate, following the sounds of the shrieking man. She wasn’t worried about the suspect’s safety; Lexi was trained to hold her suspect without biting. She just didn’t want the man to claim police brutality because the dog had her teeth on the man for an excessive time.

      She found the man in a grove of trees behind a house facedown with Lexi gripping his forearm in her teeth.

      The man screamed in falsetto. “He’s killing me. I don’t want to die. Don’t let that dog bite me.”

      “For your information, the dog is a she.” Valerie clicked the dog into her leash. “Lex, off.”

      The dog complied but continued to lurch toward the suspect and bark. No one did their job with as much enthusiasm as Lexi. This dog loved to work.

      A male officer came up behind Valerie. “That guy over there thought maybe you could use another set of handcuffs.”

      Valerie looked over at the man who had saved her life on the roof. Guess it was time to find out who Agent Trevor Lewis was and what he was doing showing up