Walton (The K9 Files #26)

Epilogue

B adger put down his phone and looked at Kat. “That turned out better than expected.”

“Yeah, but what the hell’s wrong with our world, when they go after a dog and end up with some other crazy scenario that none of us could even see coming?”

“I think that’s just life,” he said, with a nod. “However, you’re right. We just barely get things straightened up, and something else goes haywire. You don’t have another case now, right?”

“Not so sure about that.… We still have Timber to deal with.”

“Sure, still Timber to deal with, but he will always be somebody we’re dealing with,” he pointed out. “He’s not set up, but I know he’s getting closer.”

She nodded. “So there just might be something else.” Then she pulled out two file folders from among her stack.

“More?”

“I did tell them that we will be enlisting Timber’s help down the road with further cases, but they didn’t think there should be any more. They’ve instituted some new changes.”

Badger added, “Yet one or two more War Dogs might still be caught up in the old system though.”

“But the new changes should help a lot.”

“Do we believe them when they say that?” he teased, with an eye roll. “Besides, you seem to be handling this job just fine.”

“Sure, but that doesn’t mean I’m ideally suited for this type of work, especially when my development of new prosthetics is really taking off, for humans and animals.”

“That’s true enough too,” Badger agreed, “so where is this first case starting from?”

“Michigan.”

“What’s going on there?”

“A family with a paralyzed boy adopted the War Dog, but then his parents were killed in a car accident. Unfortunately, the boy was put into foster care because he had no relatives ready to step up and take him, and the dog has since disappeared.”

“Oh, good Lord,” Badger muttered, shaking his head. “That’s not good. Every boy needs a dog, and it sounds as if these two need each other.”

“If it’s the boy’s dog, the loss would be very hard on both the boy and the dog,” she agreed, “and our job is to find the dog.”

“And to sort out whether the boy can get the dog back.”

“That can only happen if anybody is willing to take both him and the War Dog,” she noted. “Unfortunately, when an entire family gets wiped out like that, the odds aren’t great to place both, particularly when they each have disabilities.”

Badger shook his head at that. “Tell me that you have somebody in Michigan.”

“No, I sure don’t.” She hesitated.

“But?”

“I might know somebody, but I haven’t talked to him for a long time.”

“What’s his name?”

“Shelton.”

He frowned at her. “Cage Shelton?”

“Yeah.”

“Why would you think he would be a good fit for this job?” he asked curiously.

She shrugged. “I’ll say instincts , but also I know that he was raised with dogs. He’s ex-military of course,” she added, “but, more than that, his younger brother was also in a wheelchair.”

Badger gazed at his wife, and a slow smile dawned on his face. “Not the typical matchmaking of a couple, yet I can see the similarities between our case and Cage’s life. Plus, you want to help everyone. Just right up your alley, isn’t it?”

She shrugged. “Breaks my heart to think that the War Dog bonded to a boy who needed him desperately, and now the boy has lost not only his family but also his dog.”

“Yeah, that’s not fair, is it? So, what is it you expect Cage to do?” he asked, now curious.

She gave him a bright smile. “Everything, absolutely everything.”

“At this point I expect miracles from every one of our guys,” Badger declared.

She laughed. “It doesn’t hurt to expect miracles. That doesn’t mean they always happen, but, in this case,… I’ve got a feeling.”