Guard Duty. Sharon Dunn

had already drawn his handgun. He raced past her down the alley. Murke bolted over a dilapidated fence with Trevor on his heels.

      Valerie ran to Trevor’s car and opened the back door for Lexi. With the dog pulling hard on the leash, Valerie circled around the fence. She entered a two-block area containing a series of metal buildings, some still in use and others abandoned. She saw no sign of Murke or Trevor. She took Lexi over to the other side of the fence where Murke had probably landed. Lexi picked up the trail right away.

      They jogged past a tire shop that was still operational, but closed at this hour. There was a risk that Lexi had picked up on Trevor’s scent and not Murke’s since both men were running. Following a scent was not a perfect science, but she’d trust Lexi’s nose over searching blindly.

      Heart pounding, she took in her surroundings as she ran. The Rottweiler pulled toward a large warehouse. Metal slapped against metal. The sound of a door slamming against the frame or the wind blowing? Valerie followed Lexi into the warehouse through a place in the exterior wall where the corrugated metal had been bent back from the frame.

      Once inside, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the dimness. The warehouse was a big open area with a balcony all around it. This had been a clothing factory at one time. Pieces of abandoned equipment provided numerous places for Murke to hide. Trevor might have lost sight of him and gone off in the wrong direction.

      She studied the stairs leading up to the balcony where the offices used to be. Now they were just gaping holes, the office doors having long since been looted.

      Lexi kept her nose to the ground, though her pace slowed.

      A creak of floorboards caused Valerie to turn. She waited for another sign of life. If Murke was close, Lexi would have been more excited. Valerie licked her dry lips. Blood whooshed in her ears as she adjusted her grip on the gun. Water dripped somewhere in the building. The steady tap, tap, tap of the droplets hitting metal overtook the leaden silence.

      Lexi ran back and forth. The scent had become muddled.

      Though Valerie’s hands remained steady, sweat trickled down her back. Someone was in here. She could feel eyes watching her. Lexi stopped sniffing and lifted her head.

      Valerie tuned in to the sounds around her as she breathed in the musty air. Lexi’s panting became more pronounced.

      Seconds passed. The sense that she was being watched had been with her since the Andrew Garry murder. Was she just imagining it now? She’d give anything to replay the tape of her life and go back to that night—to make different choices. When she’d passed that woman wearing the hooded jacket on the street, something had seemed amiss...but she had ignored her instincts. The next day, Garry’s body had been found by another K-9 unit. By then, the woman had disappeared.

      Valerie’s father, a retired detective, had always said that instinct was a cop’s best asset. She had made a stupid rookie mistake and ignored the prickling of the hairs on her neck when that woman had looked at her. Trevor Lewis had no idea that his comment about rookies making mistakes was like a dagger through her chest.

      Her life would have been different if she had followed her gut and stopped to engage the woman in conversation. The woman’s guilt might have risen to the surface, and Valerie could have detained her for questioning. She certainly would have gotten a better look at the person who later became their prime suspect.

      Another noise jerked Valerie away from her regret and back into the warehouse. The balcony creaked. Was the wind blowing through here strong enough to do that? She examined the balcony segment by segment.

      Lexi sniffed the ground and then sneezed.

      “He got away.” A voice boomed in her ear.

      Though her training kept her from dropping the gun, the voice had startled her. “Agent Lewis, do you always creep up on people like that?”

      “Sorry, you were so focused on that balcony, there was no way not to surprise you.” The arch of his eyebrow and slight upturn of his mouth suggested amusement.

      Valerie holstered her gun and squared her shoulders, hoping he hadn’t picked up on her loss of composure. She should have heard him coming no matter how closely she was watching the balcony. Tunnel vision while on duty could be deadly. Another stupid rookie mistake. She steadied her voice. “Murke got away?” She pointed to the dog who was working her way to the opposite side of the warehouse. “Lexi picked up on something in here.”

      “The dog’s right. He did run through here, but then he doubled back and went out to the street.”

      That explained why the scent had become muddled for Lexi.

      “I caught up with him on the street.” Frustration was evident in Trevor’s voice. “He got into a car and took off. No way could I catch him. But I know the make and model, and the first two letters on the plate. We’ll post notices out to the locals and the highway patrol. Murke will most likely try to leave town now that he knows we’re on to him.”

      She surveyed the warehouse one more time. She had to let go of the idea that the syndicate could be everywhere and was watching her. “Guess we better get back to the station.”

      She couldn’t read Trevor’s expression, but his voice softened. “Maybe next time we need to work on not getting separated like that,” he said.

      His tone of concern touched her, but she needed to be able to do her job. “Splitting up is standard procedure. Lexi can be a real asset in these situations.”

      “Sometimes there are things that are more important than procedure,” he said.

      The smolder in his voice made her heart flutter. Was he that worried about her well-being? He barely knew her.

      He stepped closer to her, his hand brushing her forearm. “I said I’d protect you. I don’t want to break my promise to McNeal.”

      Was that all it was about, keeping his word to an old buddy? She struggled to let go of her disappointment. And then wondered why it had even mattered to her that he had expressed concern for her that seemed to go beyond work requirements. “I have paperwork to catch up on back at the station. I still have to do my regular job.” She headed toward the door of the warehouse, yanking on Lexi’s leash. The dog was reluctant to leave the spot where she’d picked up the scent again. “Come on, Lex.”

      Once they were in his car, Valerie directed Trevor to the Sagebrush Police Station, a one-story, red-brick building. She led him around to the back where the K-9 officers had a separate entrance. She could feel his body heat and sense his proximity as he walked behind her. There was no chance of them being separated now.

      He was one of those men who seemed to live in a state of heightened alert anyway, and he was taking watching her back seriously. Asking him to hang back a little ways wouldn’t do any good. She’d just have to get used to it for the time being. “I’ve got some reports to complete, and I’ll pull Leroy Seville’s file to see if I can find out anything more. I’m sure I’ll be safe at my desk.”

      Trevor took a step back. “Great...I’ll brief the other officers in the station on Murke. Then maybe we can see if we can track down this Linda Seville lady, find out if Murke was staying at her house or just somewhere on that street.” His voice became more intense. “We need to jump on this. Murke is famous for leaving town as soon as he knows we’re closing in on him.”

      As she and Lexi passed the other K-9 officers’ desks, a black lab lay by Detective Jackson Worth’s chair while he bent over a report. Titan lifted his head when she passed by but didn’t move. The lab’s job was to stick near Jackson, to watch over him. The devotion of the dogs to their handlers filled her with gratitude. Truth was, she felt safe as long as Lexi stayed close. The dogs remained with the officers most of the time, because having the K-9 as a pet as well as a partner was the best way to ensure unwavering obedience.

      Valerie scooted her chair up to her desk and opened up a database that listed Sagebrush felons. Leroy Seville was recently out on parole after five years in jail. Linda