Cage (The K9 Files #27)

Chapter 8

R isa set the spaghetti sauce off to the side, not sure exactly when Cage would arrive but wanting to be ready just in case. When the phone rang, she winced to see it was her mother.

“What are you playing at?” Eleanor roared into the phone.

She cleared her throat loudly. “I have no clue what you’re talking about, but could you turn down the volume, please?”

Eleanor cried out, “God, what is wrong with you?”

“Well, apparently you,” Risa snapped right back.

“How dare you get involved in my divorce?”

“I didn’t get involved in your divorce,” she declared. “I don’t want anything to do with it.”

“And yet you spoke to Graham.”

“What? I’m not allowed to speak to him now?”

Eleanor almost bellowed now. “No, you’re not, and I’ve made that abundantly clear.”

“Well, that’s just too bad,” Risa stated. “He invited me out for dinner, and I will most likely go. I really liked him.”

“Well,… that’s just stupid on your part,” Eleanor claimed, “because, believe me, it’ll backfire.”

“In what way will it backfire?”

“I’ll confirm that it does,” she snapped, and then she quickly disconnected.

What the hell was that all about?

Risa wasn’t sure what was going on, but she really didn’t want to get involved any more than she had to. If her mother and Graham were arguing and fighting, then it was important that Risa stayed out of it, for her own mental health if nothing else.

When the phone rang again, she noted it was her stepfather.

“I’m so sorry, honey. I know she spoke to you, didn’t she?”

“Is that what it was?” Risa quipped, a note of humor in her voice. “It sounded more like a tirade.”

“Yes, of course it did. I guess she received some of the paperwork today. She called me and told me that any contact with you was a complete deal breaker, so I had to tell her that I’d already had contact with you. Therefore, Eleanor couldn’t have a deal breaker when it was already something in progress. I hope you won’t let her stop us from seeing each other?”

“No, I wasn’t planning on it,” she murmured, “and her tirade just now was hot and furious.”

“Yes, that’s her. She’s always been quite a feisty woman,” he murmured, and still, admiration filled his tone.

Risa groaned. “Please tell me that you’re not trying to get her back again.”

“No, I’m not,” he muttered. “I realized long ago that she’s not one of those people I would always love to be around. She’s like a fire and burns everything around her.” He sighed. “I’m exhausted and really just want to have this over with in a good way.”

“That would be nice,” Risa agreed.

“And how about dinner next week?”

She smiled. “That would be fine.”

They chose Tuesday night, and he added, “I’ll come pick you up.” And, with that, he disconnected.

Risa had to smile, as she realized just how pissed off her mother would be over this. Risa hadn’t done this for that sole purpose by any means, but, now that it was in progress, she felt a weird sense of satisfaction in pissing off Eleanor.

Realizing that it didn’t put Risa in the best light, she muttered to herself, “I don’t care.”

She quickly worked on making a big salad, and, when the phone rang again, she sighed. “Now who?” She picked up the phone to hear it was Cage. “Hey,” she greeted him. “How long until you’re in for dinner?”

“I don’t know,” he grumbled, his tone grim. “I’ve got a tail on me.”

“What?” she asked, not understanding.

“Somebody is following me,” he clarified.

“Oh, good God,” she cried out. “What can I do? What do you want me to do?”

“Nothing. I’m just telling you that I might be a little delayed. Plus, I don’t want you going anywhere. I don’t know what this is about. I don’t know whether it has to do with all the inquiries into the accident that killed Brian’s parents, or even whatever is going on with whoever has been poking around at your place.”

“Right,” she muttered, “the Peeping Tom.”

“Exactly, so just stay inside and keep everything locked up, okay? I’ll be there as soon as I can.” And, with that, he disconnected.

She absolutely hated the idea of somebody out there trying to run Cage off the road, just like what had happened to Brian’s parents. As she sat here worrying about him, Celine called. Realizing that it was at least a distraction, Risa answered, hoping for a light, gentle conversation, but instead Celine was crying hysterically. “Are you okay? What’s going on? What’s the matter, Celine?” Straightening up in her chair, she got very direct with her friend. “What happened?”

“He left,” she wailed. “He left.”

“Who left?”

“My boyfriend,” she muttered, “the new one.”

“Oh.” She sat back down and rubbed her face, wondering just how many times in the last year she’d had a similar conversation with Celine. “I’m sorry if he broke up with you.”

“No, you don’t understand. He’s gone , gone. He told me that he never really wanted anything to do with me and was just looking for information. Then he said he would check you out.”

It was confusing, but Risa heard that last part. “What are you talking about? Come on now, Celine. This is important. What information was he looking for, and why has it got anything to do with me?”

“I don’t know, but I figured that he saw you and, like everybody else in the world, preferred you.”

“Good God,” Risa groaned. “You know that’s not true.”

“It is true,” Celine cried out, wailing at the top of her lungs. “Everybody always prefers you.”

Risa was really not in the mood for this and yet unsure how to get more information out of her friend. Still, Risa chastised her friend. “That’s not true, and you know it, but you need to tell me right now what was he looking for, what information?”

“About the house beside me. I told him that you guys were looking into the murders.”

“Why would you do that?” Risa asked.

“Well, because it’s true.”

“No, it’s not true, and it’s not something you go telling everybody, good God.” She stared down at the phone, wondering if this explained some of what was going on—including Cage being followed. “You told a complete stranger that nonsense, and now somebody is following Cage, who is out on the road. Those people who were killed were on the road too,” she snapped. “What the hell have you done?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Celine muttered, crying her eyes out. “It’s not fair for you to accuse me.”

“Oh, right,” Risa snapped, “and here you are, babbling away, telling people that we’re investigating a murder? Good God, Celine. He’s looking for a lost War Dog, not for the murderer.” Risa wanted to shake Celine, so she would wake up and realize what she’d done.

“Well, I thought you were,” she muttered, crying.

“We’re not. We were looking for a missing War Dog, and that’s it.”

“Yeah, but it’s the War Dog that belonged to the family.”

“Sure, a War Dog from the family, but not a dog that we’re looking for because somebody was murdered, for crying out loud. We were looking for the War Dog because he was missing!”

“Well, how was I supposed to know?”

Risa snorted and shook her head. No point in talking to Celine when she was still upset and more or less pissed off because this guy had supposedly taken off after her. “At least he doesn’t know where I live.” At that, Celine went silent, and fear gripped her. “Oh God,” Risa screamed. “You told him where I lived?”

“I didn’t tell him which apartment you lived in, just the name of your building,” Celine spat, clearly still angry. “I only said that you lived in the Eldorado Arms.”

“Christ,” she whispered, sagging down into her chair.

“What are you talking about?”

“Why would you do that, Celine?”

“I didn’t think it was important.”

“You pointed some guy who could be a psychopath in my direction. You may very well have told him where I live.”

“But he was my boyfriend at the time,” she whined, “so it’s not as if I was expecting it to be an issue.”

“No, no, of course not ,” Risa quipped, staring down at her phone in horror. “You do realize I’ve had some stalker, a Peeping Tom, staring in my window the other night.”

“How the hell would I know that?” she asked. “It’s not as if you told me.”

“No, I didn’t tell you because you were busy with your bloody new boyfriend.”

“He’s gone now,” she snapped, “all because of you.” And, with that, Celine disconnected the phone.

Now Risa was half panicked and half in disbelief. What kind of a friend would tell somebody—casually or not—that their friend lived in a specific building?

Of course, to give Celine some credit, she didn’t realize that this guy might give a crap, and at that point had not given Celine any indication that he was dangerous. So from her friend’s perspective, it was just a simple question. Yet, if Celine really thought of Risa as competition, what the hell was she doing talking about Risa and where she lived? She shook her head. Celine had always had a mouth on her and never could keep anything inside her head.

They’d been friends since forever, but, as Risa sat here, staring down at the phone, she realized just how far off the grid this friend of hers had gone. Nobody else in her acquaintance would have shared personal information, just from a commonsense safety perspective of a single woman living alone.

That Celine had done it was just too unbelievable. Especially since she was the one always worried about people coming into her space, and here she was blabbing all this information about Risa to some guy Celine barely knew and had been sleeping with for just a matter of a few days.

When the phone rang again, she stared down at it, loath to answer, until she recognized Cage’s number. “Are you okay?” she demanded right off the bat, only to find Cage wasn’t on the other end.

A sinister laugh came. “Oh, I’m okay, but I don’t think your friend is.” And, with that, the phone went dead.

Cage opened his eyes slowly, trying to figure out what the hell happened. As he went to move, his leg refused to cooperate. He groaned, his head throbbing.

A man spoke nearby. “It doesn’t matter what the hell you do, you’re not getting loose.”

Cage stiffened at that, then slowly opened his eyes again and glared at him. “What the hell happened?”

“I cut your gas line, so I knew you would run out at some point. I didn’t want to give you much chance to argue, so I came up behind you, pulled open the door, and whacked you over the head. You were obviously well prepared and ready for me, but I took you out before you had a chance to even think about defending yourself. So, hey, don’t worry about it. I was in the military, and it’s the stuff I used to do.”

It was on the tip of Cage’s tongue to say he was military too, but, since he hadn’t come out the winner on this one, it seemed pointless to argue. “What do you want?” Cage asked, shifting uncomfortably.

“Well, you see? That’s the trouble. What I want from you is something I’m not sure you can give me.”

“So why the hell am I here?” he asked in astonishment.

“In case there’s any chance you know where it is.”

“Any chance I know where what is? I don’t even know what you’re talking about.”

“A diamond, a big diamond.”

“And that big diamond is yours?”

“Well, it should be, as it belonged to my grandfather, who had the house before your lovely little family lived there.”

“I don’t even know who you are or what family you’re talking about.”

“The house that you were in today, and the house that you keep bugging people about,… and that family, all about this boy.”

“You’re talking about the boy’s parents who were killed?”

“Yeah, the family I killed,” he declared, sneering. “The bloody idiots found the diamond, told me all about it, and then told me that I couldn’t have it because it was theirs, how they would sell it and make lots of money. I told them that I would pay for it, but they didn’t seem to want to do that either. Of course they figured they could get more money elsewhere, and they probably could have. They might have been able to make lots more, except for the fact that I wouldn’t let them get away with it.”

“How so?”

“It was my grandfather’s house, and I sold it to them. I was the fool who said everything was included, not realizing that the diamond wasn’t in the safety deposit box, and I’ve been hunting for it ever since. Then I heard they found it in some of the boxes up in the attic. My grandfather had put it up there, probably for safekeeping, the old fool, but they wouldn’t have anything to do with giving it back to me,” he muttered. “So, what choice did I have?”

“So, you killed them for it?” Cage asked, frowning at him.

“Well, it sounds rough when you say it that way.”

“Is there any other way to say it?” Cage asked. “I mean, you killed a family because of a diamond.”

“I didn’t kill a whole family,” he clarified. “I just popped that asshole. The fact that he was driving at the time just made it more convenient.”

“Did you shoot him?”

“No, I shot out the tires, and he ran off the road,” he shared, with a smile. “So, I really didn’t do anything.”

“ Right ,” Cage muttered, thinking about the misguided logic that this asshole was utilizing. “Now, what is it that you want from me?”

“I want that diamond.”

He just stared at the man. In the darkness it was hard to even begin to see features, and that was probably deliberate. “How am I supposed to find this diamond?”

“Well, you were talking to the lawyer today.”

“I was, but what does that have to do with it?”

“I’m thinking he might have it.”

“I don’t know anything about that,” Cage replied, thinking about it. “On the other hand, if you threatened him, you might get some information.” Then realized this asshole would likely do just that.

The other guy just laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. I was thinking about it, but I don’t want too many of these incidents cropping up in just a matter of days. Getting caught would really blow my plans out of the water.”

“Presumably you just want the diamond so you can take off?”

“Yes, I want to sell it and take off,” he confirmed. “That’s exactly what I want to do. Why the hell would anybody hang on to a big diamond like that?”

“Why did your grandfather hang on to it?” Cage asked.

“Because he got it from a mine that he worked at a long time ago. It was a gift for his wife, my grandmother. She wouldn’t wear it because it was such a valuable piece, so they just hung on to it, which was just stupid. If you’ve got a piece like that, you might as well wear it. There’s no other point to having jewelry.”

“But a lot of people don’t wear jewelry when it’s so expensive,” he pointed out.

“And that’s what I’m saying. It makes no sense. If you have a piece that’s beautiful, then wear it. Otherwise it’s not so beautiful and why keep it?”

“How is it I’m supposed to find the diamond in their house? It’s still the same, nothing’s been touched. You can go through it yourself.”

“I have,” he muttered in frustration. “I have.”

“Did you look in the vehicle? Apparently the wife called her sister and discussed something about they would be on easy street now all because they found something in the backyard.”

“Backyard?” he asked sharply.

“That’s what Fiona told her sister, but then you ran them off the road. Who knows? It might have been in the vehicle.”

“Well, shit,” the gunman muttered. “I don’t even know where the vehicle is.”

“Neither do I,” Cage replied in exasperation, “but probably still in the police impound, locked up as evidence of the murders.”

He looked at Cage and nodded. “That’s where we’re going then.”

“The impound lot?” Cage asked.

“Yeah. How else will I find the diamond?”

“I have no idea, but you’re just as likely to find it if you go back to the house and take another look.”

“We’ll do that too.”

“You know I have places to be and other things to do, right?” Cage asked, with a note of humor.

“Not right now, you don’t,” the gunman stated, his voice turning ugly. “Your whole point right now is to help me find that diamond. Otherwise I go back and find your girlfriend.”

At that, Cage stiffened, and the other man nodded. “Yeah, I know about her. Somebody I just met has done nothing but talk about her ad nauseam. Jesus, it’s enough to make me sick.”

“Oh, I get it,” Cage noted, nodding in understanding. “You’re Celine’s new boyfriend.”

“No, I’m really not. I was Celine’s quick lay,” he clarified, with a snort, “but that girl just talks too damn much.”

“I’m sure she’ll love hearing that.”

“We’ve already broken up, and I told her that I was coming after your girlfriend.”

“Why the hell would you do that?”

“Because she told me how you were looking into this murder.”

“I’m not looking into any murder,” Cage replied in exasperation, but inside he was ready to punch Celine for her part in this. “I’m looking for a War Dog. I work for the War Department, and I’m just here to find a dog that went missing.”

“That kid’s dog?”

“Sadly, because you went and knocked off the kid’s family, he couldn’t have his dog back, even if I find it.”

“Oh, boo-hoo. Apparently, because I popped the family, I can’t get my fucking diamond back either,” he snapped, “so who cares?”

“ Right , you’re just all about you.”

“Help me find the diamond,” he suggested, “and then you can go free.”

Of course Cage knew that was a whole lot easier said than done, particularly since he could now identify the man and had heard him admit to the murders. So no way this guy would let Cage go. Cage held his thoughts because saying anything would spook this murderer.

The gunman asked, “So do you really think that it’s in the car?”

“No, I don’t.”

“But you seem to think—”

“I’m just saying that’s one more potential location. Otherwise did you check the attic where the diamond was supposedly found?”

“Yes, but I didn’t find it.” The gunman thought about that for a minute. “All right, let’s go.” Pointing to the side, he added, “We’ll go in my vehicle. You can drive, and we’ll go check out the attic.”

“If you say so,” Cage said, as he struggled to get up, groaning with pain.

“I didn’t hit you that hard,” the gunman muttered.

“No, but I’m an injured war vet myself,” he muttered.

He snorted at that. “Ain’t no good coming from serving the country. What a crock. They leave you on the side of the road like a cripple when they don’t want you no more.”

“Is that what they did to you?”

“Damn right that’s what they did to me. I served until suddenly one day I was discharged.”

“What did they say?”

“Something about unfit to serve. I don’t know what the fuck they were talking about since I was plenty fit to serve when they needed somebody to hold guns and shoot, but after that? Oh no, suddenly I’m not fit to be in the military anymore.” He shook his head. “I don’t care. I’m tired and frustrated. I didn’t want to sell the house in the first place, but I needed the money. Then, sure enough, those assholes find the goddamn diamond. But instead of just selling it and walking away, he had to call me up and let me know. What an arrogant prick.”

“I haven’t heard much nice about him, I have to admit.”

“No, there sure as hell wasn’t anything nice about that asshole, but that’s the way life is, isn’t it?”

Cage shrugged. “Sometimes people have all the luck, and other times it seems as if they’ve got luck, but they really don’t because somebody takes it away from them.”

At that, the gunman burst out laughing. “You got that right.” He chuckled. “I got that asshole in the end.”

“That you did,” Cage agreed, trying to keep his tone neutral.

He snapped, “Now come on. Let’s get up.”

“I’m up,” Cage growled, as he strode slowly toward the other vehicle.

“You can drive, right?”

“Yeah, I can drive,” he grunted, “but I don’t know where we are, so you’ll have to give me directions.”

“Yeah, another thing,” he said, holding up a hand, “no funny stuff. Once you kill the first one, every other one after that becomes that much easier. In the military, I took down plenty,” he admitted, his tone turning ugly. “So don’t think you’ll turn on me now.”

“Wasn’t thinking of it,” Cage muttered, keeping the fatigue in his voice. “I’ve got too much PTSD of my own right now to bother trying to climb into your head.”

“Good, in that case, we should get along just fine.”

Moving slowly, Cage headed toward the vehicle pointed out to him. Once he got there, he took several deep breaths, casually glancing around before being nudged into the driver’s seat. As soon as he was in, the asshole climbed into the back seat, right behind Cage, and sat directly over his shoulder.

“You pull any funny stuff, and you know who’ll get the first bullet.”

“Of course,” Cage noted in a calm voice. “Where to?”

“You know where to,” he snapped.

Cage sighed. “Which direction from here? As I said, I don’t know where we are.”

With a grumble, the gunman pointed north. “We’ll go look for that goddamned diamond. Do you think the car or the house though?” he asked, as he pondered over where a diamond could be. “Now that I’ve had a chance to think about it,” he added, nudging Cage with the gun, “the house would probably be better.”

“I think so too,” Cage agreed. “Oliver might have been tricky, but I don’t think he was terribly brilliant.”

“No, he wasn’t, and doing what he did confirmed that. Absolutely no way I could let him live after that, and he couldn’t seem to figure that out.”

“Did you talk to him before you popped him?”

“He was still alive,… after I ran him off the road. I went down to talk to him, to see if my work was done, and he kept begging for help,” the gunman shared, with a sneer. “His wife was already dead, and not a whole lot I would do to help him at that point, especially when he wouldn’t tell me where the goddamn diamond was.”

“Well, considering he lost his life over it, I’m not surprised,” Cage replied in a mild-enough tone. “Think about it. What would you do if somebody did that to you?”

“I would make sure they paid, one way or another,” he claimed, his tone dark. “I would make damn sure they paid.”

“Well, you made them both pay, and they didn’t have any way to pay you back except to withhold information. So it looks to me as if all they did is exactly what you would have done to them.”

The gunman gave a hard kick to the back of the driver’s seat. “That’s enough out of you,” he snapped. “Now head to the house. We’ll go there first.”

Delighted with that option because the house gave Cage all kinds of ways to sort through this, he headed to Brian’s old house, following the gunman’s directions. When Cage pulled up in the front, the gunman shook his head.

“No, drive around to the back.”

Pulling back into traffic, Cage headed around the corner and came up into the alleyway. “Does he have a garage back here? I never did see one.”

“Yeah, there’s a garage all right, but it’s full of shit too.”

“Well, that could be where he kept it.”

“Why would you leave a diamond that’s worth millions in an old garage?”

“I wouldn’t,” Cage stated truthfully. “Yet you’ve already searched the attic, so I guess that leaves the garage. I’m not sure where I would keep a big diamond. I’ve never had anything like that on my radar. It’s an interesting question though.”

“Well, it’s a moot point for you because this diamond is damn special, and it’s mine,” he snapped.

“What about your family?”

“No family is left,” he said, “so I just don’t give a fuck anymore. It’s one thing if you’ve got somebody who loves you and is there waiting for you, but, when everyone is dead and gone, you start to not give a shit anymore.”

Cage could understand that, but still, he had to come up with a way to get through to this guy. “What about all those people who do have somebody who loves them,… like that couple you killed? What about the little boy?”

“Well, he drew the unlucky straw because he had assholes for parents.” He spat and then motioned to Cage. “Now you’ll get out, and you’ll open that garage.”

“Do you really think I can pull the car into it, if it’s full of garbage?”

The gunman hesitated. “Shit, we’ll just park here.” Then he nudged him again with the gun. “No funny stuff.”

Cage got out of the vehicle, and together the two of them walked to the side door of the garage. The gunman pulled it open, keeping the gun on Cage, always wary, always alert.

It was the alertness that revealed the gunman’s military background as much as anything. This guy hasn’t once come down off that mountain. Cage felt sorry for him for a few minutes, then realized that this guy was too far gone.

As far as the gunman was concerned, it was him against the entire world, and nobody else out there understood. Maybe they didn’t, and that was always a problem when it came to PTSD and the psychological damage that so many vets sustained while they were over there. But no matter what happened to them, it could never justify this madness.

Everybody thought about all the physical damage done to the veterans, but a massive amount of psychological damage happened to these guys that the powers that be needed to spend more time considering. They needed to come up with suitable and effective treatment, although it was hard to imagine that this guy would have pursued it anyway. “Did you ever get therapy?” Cage asked calmly, as they opened up the garage.

“What therapy would they give me? I’m discharged.… Remember?”

“Medically?”

“They gave me enough to keep my pension,” he muttered, “and that’s it, and it isn’t a very good pension at that.”

“But you should have been able to access some of the medical services, like therapy,” Cage pointed out again.

“I won’t talk to a shrink or let anybody inside my head,” he snapped, poking Cage in the back with his gun, “and I know you wouldn’t either.”

“I did some therapy,” Cage shared. “When you start losing limbs, the military really doesn’t like it if you don’t go talk to somebody. And, just so you know, talking to somebody is not the same thing as having them in your head. Sometimes therapy is helpful.”

“Good. I’m happy for you,” he snapped in a sarcastic tone. He turned on the lights and swore. “This is ridiculous. No way he would hide a diamond in here.”

“Except for the fact that you know full well that nobody’ll get through all this, so in a way it’s a perfect hiding spot.”

“Well, you better get at it then,” he said, glaring. “You’ve got a lot of sorting to do.”

Cage rubbed his temple as he stared at the mess. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“And neither do I, though I’ve searched everywhere around here.”

“Is this your shit or theirs?”

“It’s probably a combination of both,” he muttered, shaking his head. “He was a bit of a hoarder.”

“Who was, your dad?”

“My granddad,” he corrected. “He said everything always had a use, so he never really got rid of anything, which was the problem. I could never find the damn thing and would have thought a safe deposit box made the most sense. And, for normal people, it would,… except he didn’t trust banks. So that was another hurdle I had to deal with.”

“You never heard about it from anybody in the family?”

“No, my grandmother told me that she had no idea where it went, and it was hers anyway. Yet, when I told her that she wouldn’t live long enough to see it again, she didn’t want me to have it. She gave me a look that told me that she really didn’t like me. Such a bitch. Honest to God, my family has been a big disappointment.”

“Did you hurt her?”

“No, I didn’t have to hurt her. She was already pretty-far gone, and there wouldn’t have been anything in it for me.”

“And of course you only do what’s good for you.”

“I only do what’ll give me something. As if you’d do anything else.”

“Well, I would like to think I could do something else,” Cage noted, “but I can see how that wouldn’t be up your alley.”

“Yeah, ya think?” he muttered. “You guys are all such bleeding hearts. But everybody’s out to get you, remember? It’s kill or get killed, and nothing else matters.”

“That’ll be a very lonely way to live when you finally get your money and take off.”

“Not likely,” he argued, giving him a smile. “A million girls like Celine are out there, just waiting for someone to give them some attention. I don’t really give a shit about them either.”

“But that’s what I mean, it’ll be lonely.”

“No, not when you’ve got money. It’s never lonely with money. A lot of Celines are around the world.”

It was such a depressing way to think about life, but it wasn’t the first time Cage had heard such a motto. “If you say so,” he muttered, as he looked around the garage. “So, you tell me where you want me to start.”

The gunman looked around and a hint of that angry fire filled his gaze. “Christ, I don’t know. Where the hell would they keep something like that? A black leather pouch, small drawer, box inside of a box inside of a box? I don’t know,” he groaned, raising both hands.

“There’s a lot of stuff to go through here,” Cage noted.

“Well, you need to find it, because I’m not letting you go until you do.”

The fact of the matter was, this guy wouldn’t let Cage go no matter what, whether he found it or not. The gunman couldn’t afford to, and no way he would let Cage walk out of here alive. So, it was all about getting out of here before that could happen.

Just as he started moving toward a bunch of boxes, Cage heard a dog in the distance. He hid a smile because, of course, that was Scotty, and, boy, was that a welcome sound.

“Damn dog,” the gunman muttered, “that thing kicks up a fuss every time I’m in the neighborhood.”

“It’s just a dog,” Cage pointed out. “They’re meant to kick up a fuss when people are where they don’t belong.”

The gunman gave a snort at that. “Isn’t that the truth. They’re a hell of a lot smarter than people, that’s for sure.”

“Were you in the house a lot recently?” Cage asked.

“Every damn night it seems,” the gunman replied. “I just want what’s mine.”

“I’m sorry.… I’m sorry that this took a turn that required people to lose their lives,” Cage said, “but it wasn’t necessary to destroy that little boy’s family.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll be the judge of that,” he snarled. “Remember how you don’t know shit.”

“No, I don’t.” Cage sighed, as he moved boxes around, trying to make a space to get in and to see what was here. “I still think that this would be a shitty place to keep a diamond.”

“Why?” the other man asked.

“Because I wouldn’t want to let it out of my sight.”

“Ha. That was the premise I had when I started searching the house, but, honest to God, I didn’t see it anywhere.”

“What if Brian’s parents already sold it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what if then,” he muttered. “I mean, in that case I’m screwed.”

“You don’t have enough money to live on?”

“Nope, and they’re stopping my benefits apparently.”

“Well, you can probably get that reviewed.”

“Sure, I get there and fight for another few dollars, a few dollars that I earned the hard way,” he snapped. “It’s not fair.”

“No, I’m sure it’s not,” he muttered. “I haven’t come up against that yet.”

“Well, you will because, one way or another, they’ll make damn sure that you don’t get whatever it is that you think you’ve got coming.”

Cage didn’t say anything, but it wasn’t the first time he’d heard people bitch about their VA benefits. He wasn’t sure exactly what it would look like for him, as he’d just now completed surgery and rehab. He knew he had some review to go through later, to see whether he was capable or not, to determine what help he would need long-term and those things.

He wasn’t necessarily looking forward to it, but he knew it was one of the necessarily evils of being in the military. He had come out from his last surgery in relatively decent shape, but he also hadn’t really figured out what he was supposed to do next.

He was still getting better prosthetics set up, hoping for some that wouldn’t make him as sore as what he’d dealt with in the past—and what he was wearing right now for that matter. That’s where Kat came in.

The gunman asked, “What the hell are you even doing up here anyway? You managed to get yourself mixed up in shit you shouldn’t have.”

“Oh, I hear you,” Cage replied, looking over at him with a nod. “I came up to find the missing War Dog, and nothing else matters to me.”

“But a War Dog matters to you?” he asked, shaking his head. “I guess that’s understandable. Damn, those are mighty fine animals.”

“Yeah, they sure are,” he agreed, “and the little boy who was here, he managed to get one, and he and the dog bonded pretty heavily. He loved that dog.”

“Well shit, doesn’t that beat all?”

“It happens, and, when the boy had to go to foster care, the dog disappeared.”

“Ah, smart dog, and didn’t like foster care any more than the next one.”

“Probably not. He went to an animal shelter but didn’t last there very long at all. He took his leave at the first opportunity.”

“Well, I sure as hell hope nobody shot it because that poor animal deserves more than most.”

“I agree,” Cage replied, “which is what brought me here trying to find him.”

“Did you find him?”

“I haven’t got my hands on him yet,” Cage lied, “but I’m hopeful.”

“Yeah,… well, I’m not. The shelter probably put him to death. They do that, you know? When they can’t find a place for them within a few days,… they just put them down. It’s not as if anybody gets a second chance at life in these places.”

“I hope you’re wrong,” Cage replied, as he continued to move boxes. A dog barked several times in the distance, and it started to irritate the gunman.

“I wish these fucking dogs would just shut the fuck up,” he muttered. “That barking just drives into my head.”

Cage glanced at him. “Did you ever get that checked?”

“No, I never got that checked. What the hell am I supposed to get checked?” he snapped, glaring at him. “Oh, wait. You’re one of those bleeding-heart doctor-believers? Christ, all they do is lie and cheat, trying to make your life something they can make a profit from.”

In many ways he wasn’t wrong, but it was definitely not always the truth, but no point in arguing with a mentally unstable gunman.

When the dog barked again multiple times, the gunman glared, went to the garage door, and started yelling, “Jesus Christ, that thing needs to shut up. He’ll give away that we’re here.”

Cage shook his head. “He’s probably just sounding the alarm that something’s off in the neighborhood. It’s really not an issue. Just ignore him. Yelling probably makes it worse and calls more attention to you.”

“I can’t just ignore him. The barking’s killing my head.” The gunman stared at him. “Why don’t you shut him up then, genius?”

“I can try, if you’ll let me step over to the door.” The gunman nodded, and Cage moved to the door and let out a series of sharp whistles. Almost instantly came silence.

“Well, that worked,” the gunman said, looking at him.

“Probably just for the moment because it was different. So no guarantee that it will work long-term,” Cage explained. “It’s a dog, and he’s just doing what they do. It’s not human nature but canine nature.”

“I just know that he needs to shut the hell up,” the gunman muttered. “I don’t care what kind of nature he has.”

Cage continued to work his way through the boxes, and just as he was opening up another box of what appeared to be clothes, the gunman got pissed. “What is all this shit? It’s like stuff from the ’80s.”

“Well, if your grandfather kept everything, and they weren’t exactly the kind to throw out things, it probably wasn’t a priority to get rid of.”

“Why? Why the hell would anybody want to hang on to this shit?” The gunman moved deeper into the garage, his patience wearing off, and he started flailing around, moving boxes himself.

As Cage made a move toward him, the gun came up and pointed at his face. Cage held up his hands. “I was coming to help.”

The gun was lowered, and the gunman pointed. “Move this box over here. It looks to be some personal shit in here.” It was personal items but nothing important from many years ago. The gunman swore at it all. “I don’t know what the hell I’ll do if I can’t find it.”

Cage didn’t say anything and just continued to work, not finding much of anything, and he highly doubted that anybody would keep a diamond or anything else worth a lot of money in a garage and certainly not hidden in this mess. Why the hell would they take a chance of the garage catching on fire or somebody breaking in and taking everything, not knowing what they’d gotten?

Cage’s bet was on Oliver selling it, just as he supposedly told the gunman. Just as Fiona talked with her sister about coming into some money. Cage made a mental note to check with Mr. Xavier, the attorney, to directly ask him about any large check recently added to the parents’ bank account. Not that Cage would share these thoughts with the gunman. Instead Cage asked him, “Did you check in and around the bed, under the bed, and all that stuff?”

“Yeah, of course I did,” he muttered in frustration. “I went through all the usual spots, but nothing.”

Cage just nodded and kept searching through boxes. “Where would you hide it?” he asked the gunman.

“Me? I would have put it in a safe deposit box,” he stated.

Cage agreed, adding, “I sure as hell wouldn’t keep it in a garage because what if somebody just came and emptied the garage when you weren’t here one day or what if a fire burned it all down?”

“Yeah, I’ve been through the house, and I went through everything. I just had to make it look as if I hadn’t been there in case anybody came back.”

“Well, you might have looked, but I’m sure there’ll be other things that you’ve missed just because it’s the nature of sneaky people who try to hide stuff.”

The guy laughed at that. “Everybody tries to hide shit,” he agreed. “So maybe it’s here among all this crap. I never was very good at hide-and-seek. I’m much more of an upfront kind of guy, as in, You screw with me, and I’ll take you down .”

“Which you’ve already proven,” Cage noted.

“And that’s not our issue for today. Today’s issue is the fact that you don’t have much time to find this thing.”

“Why the hell don’t I have much time?” Cage asked, turning to stare at him, his movement fast and certain.

“Because we’ll lose daylight, and, if you’re out here in the garage with lights on at a place everybody knows is vacant, somebody’ll call the cops on you.”

“Well, shit,” Cage muttered, as he stared around.

The gunman glanced at his watch, just as the dog started barking again. He raised the gun in the direction of the barking, but Cage held up his hands. “Hang on. Let me try to whistle again.”

He headed back out and gave another series of sharp whistles. He was pretty sure he’d gotten it right the first time, but the second whistle was a little bit off, so he wasn’t sure if Scotty understood. If the dog had that level of training, there was a really good chance that a series of whistles would bring the dog running.

Cage didn’t want the War Dog shot by any means, but he needed a distraction, something substantial enough that he could either disappear or could help take out this guy. At the very least, Cage needed a way to get free. The last thing he wanted was to have this guy head to Risa’s house.

“You’re just trying to get free so you can go back to that chick of yours,” the gunman said, waving the gun.

“Wouldn’t you go back to your chick?” Cage asked, with feigned surprise. “I mean, how many guys turn down a warm bed for the night?”

“Celine’s a little bit on the loose-screw side,” he pointed out, “so no. I probably won’t head back in that direction anymore.”

“I’m sure that will probably break her heart.”

“Probably will,” he said, with a shrug, “but I don’t really give a shit. Plenty of females like her are out there, but not so damn crazy.”

“So, you said.”

“And I meant it. She was good for information, but, once I told her that there was a murder at the place, she was just fascinated by it. Somehow that always seems to give women a sense of stronger appeal. I never really understood that.”

“I don’t think all women are like that.”

“But this one sure as hell is, and the minute I mentioned the murder, she was all about getting more information, and then she apparently told that girlfriend of yours.”

“I don’t know that she told her anything. I’m not sure how close of a friendship that is.”

“Well, if you listen to the Celine, it’s major.”

“Well sure, but if you listen to the other, it’s not,” he pointed out.

The gunman laughed. “Isn’t that the truth? But not my problem today. We’ll go through this garage until we’ve found what we’re looking for.”

Just then came another bark, right inside the garage door.

The gunman jumped and turned, and there was Scotty, wagging his tail all over them. He ran up to Cage and started looking for hugs and love.

He squatted down and gave the dog a big hug. “I presume he escaped his yard,” Cage suggested, as he looked over at the gunman.

“He sure as hell doesn’t look dangerous, so whatever. Let’s get back to work. We’re running out of daylight.” Not only were they running out of daylight, Cage was running out of time, and his chances of getting out of here anytime soon weren’t looking great. He looked down at Scotty and said, “Buddy, you could help us.”

“Yeah, right,… as if he’ll do that,” the gunman snorted.

“Hey, you never know.”

Scotty was just happy to be with Cage, as they worked. But Cage didn’t want Scotty around this gunman. “I should send the dog home. I don’t want him to get into trouble.”

“Maybe, but how will you do that? The dog got out. That’s all there is to it.”

“Maybe, but I should probably send him home.” He bent down, gave him a good set of cuddles, and then walked him to the door and ordered him home. Before Scotty left, Cage managed to tuck his card inside the dog’s collar, and, with that, the dog took one look and barked at him. When he ordered him off a second time, Scotty took off running.

“Hell, maybe he’s smarter than I thought,” the gunman said. “At least this way, I don’t have to shoot him.”

“Shouldn’t have to shoot a dog at any time,” Cage declared, irritated, as he glanced over at the gunman. “That dog didn’t do shit to you.”

“Maybe not, but it’s not as if he’s helping me either.”

“Doesn’t need to help you. You’ve had plenty of help right here.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” the gunman asked aggressively.

“I’m here. I’m helping.”

“Except you haven’t found shit though, have you?”

“Maybe not, but I’m working on it.”

“Work faster.” With that, they continued to move through the boxes, box after box after box.

“Any idea what case it was being kept in or anything?” Cage asked.

“No, nothing. My granddad just talked about it.”

At that, Cage frowned at him and asked, “Hang on a minute. Did you ever see it?”

“Of course I fucking saw it. You think I’m a complete loser? I saw it. I don’t know where it is, but it’s somewhere.”

“Good enough,” Cage muttered, as he kept working.

Then, all of a sudden, a shout came at the door.

The gunman looked up frantically. “What the fuck?”

And there was the old man, Killian, with Scotty at his side. “Hey, buddy,” Killian greeted Cage. “You okay here? I thought I should check out what the fuss was all about.”

Cage held up his hand in warning. The old man frowned, not sure what was going on.

Then the gunman came over. “Who the hell are you?” he asked aggressively.

Killian shrugged. “I’m just keeping the dog,” he said, looking at the stranger suspiciously. “Who the hell are you? You don’t belong here.”

“Well, I was the previous owner of this house,” he declared.

“Yeah, previous owner doesn’t make you an owner,” Killian noted pugnaciously, as he shoved his chin forward.

Immediately the gunman pulled out his gun and aimed it at him. “You just shut the fuck up. Otherwise I’ll shut you up permanently.”

The old man stared at him. “You don’t scare me, partner. I’ve been through too many damn wars to be afraid of that puny little gun.”

“Maybe,” the gunman conceded, “but I came out of the wars just as damaged as anybody. So, if you want to take me on, you fly right at it. This bullet doesn’t care who it takes down.”

Cage grabbed Killian’s arm and faced the gunman. “Stop. It’s fine. He won’t hurt anything.” The old man just looked at Cage, one eyebrow raised. He gave an ever-so-slight tilt of his head. Cage looked down at the dog. “And look at you, buddy, back again.”

“I should just shoot both of them. Too many people are here.”

“It’s hard to search, that’s for sure.” Cage looked over at the old man. “Did you ever have anything to do with the family who lived here?”

“No, they weren’t the friendliest.”

“Yeah, you’re not kidding,” the gunman snorted.

“But I saw you around here with them quite a bit,” Killian noted, looking at him suspiciously.

“You saw me around here every once in a while, not a whole lot.”

“Maybe,” Killian said, “but you’re not exactly the friendly type either, are you? So, what the hell are you doing here now?”

“I left something in the garage, and I’m looking for it,” the gunman replied, with a sneer. “Will you do anything about it?”

“No, probably not,” he stated, still staring at him, “but it don’t look to me as if you’re doing anything good either.”

“Do you want some old lady’s clothes?” he asked, as he held up the contents of the latest box. “We have lots here.”

The old man snorted. “I don’t, but these people had all kinds of garage sales. I don’t think they ever sold much, but they always acted as if everything they had was worth millions.”

“Well, some things they had might have been,” Cage added, “but, when you look at what’s here, most of it is just garbage. Seems these people were trying to make a living out of nothing.”

“Yeah, I think so,” Killian muttered.

“Did you ever talk to that boy?” the gunman asked Cage.

“No, sure haven’t,” he said, giving Killian a quick hard look and a tiny, tiny headshake.

“What the hell are you talking about?” the gunman barked. “You were asking all over about that boy.”

“I wanted to see the boy and find out if he had anything to say about the missing War Dog,” Cage explained. “Haven’t tracked him down yet.”

“What the fuck would the boy have to do with it?”

“I told you the War Dog was his best friend.”

“Yeah, right, as if anybody would just give a War Dog to a kid.”

“Obviously not just to a kid, as it required a parent too.”

“ Right ,” he snorted. “I think it’s just all bullshit.”

“Maybe, but then again, I’m not so sure the story you’ve been stringing me along with isn’t bullshit too.”

At that, the gunman glared at him and barked, “Just keep searching.”

Cage shrugged and went back to searching. As he did so, he turned to Killian and suggested, “Just take the dog back home again. It’ll probably be for the best.”

The old man hesitated, but the gunman added, “Unless you’ve got a problem with that.”

“No, I sure don’t,” he declared, turning to Cage now. “You sure you’ll be okay?”

Cage nodded, and the two exchanged a long gaze, as if both were communicating with the other. Finally Killian just nodded and called the dog, and the two of them slowly walked out.

“Don’t know if it’s safe to let them go,” the gunman growled.

“He’s so old, who would ever listen to him anyway?” Cage pointed out. “He’s just another damaged vet, an older version of us. Just leave him alone.”

The gunman glared at him. “I don’t need you fucking telling me what to do.”

“No, apparently you don’t,” Cage agreed. “Yet you’re not doing so well on your own. So let’s keep hunting before somebody comes and stops you.”

“Nobody’ll come and stop me,” the gunman snapped. “I’m not going down unless it’s in a hail of bullets.”

“Do you really need to keep killing people? Is that the only thing on your mind?”

“Yeah, fucking right,” he declared. “That’s how I feel when people screw me over.”

“Well, I’m not against that feeling,” Cage noted. “I even understand it to a degree, but it still sucks for anybody who’s caught up with you.”

“You mean, like you? You think when I’m done here, I’ll still go visit that girlfriend of yours?”

“You’re just saying shit like that to piss me off,” Cage pointed out, raising an eyebrow, “and I can’t say I appreciate it.”

“As if I fucking care,” he spat, glaring at him.

Cage stopped, glared at him, and asked, “So, what do you want to do?”

“What do you mean, What do I want to do? ”

“You want to fight this out? You want to pop me one, or are we going to look for the damn diamond until you get sick of it or we find it? Then we can go off and do whatever else it is that you want to do.”

The gunman stared at Cage for a long moment, then burst into laughter. “Well, damn, most people are scared of guns.”

“Most people haven’t already been through war the way I have, like the old man. We have a healthy respect for guns, but we’re sure as hell not scared of them.”

“Right,… got it, my bad.” But the gunman was chuckling, as he motioned at the rest of the garage. “You need to keep up the search.”

Just then they heard sirens off in the distance.

“What the fuck is that?”

“Who the hell knows?” Cage said, as he bent down and grabbed more boxes. “Jesus, there could be a million reasons for sirens out there.”

“If that old man…”

“What? Called the cops to say somebody is picking through a bunch of garbage owned by dead people? Jesus.” Cage just glared at him. But when the sirens sounded as if they were coming toward them, it became obvious that the gunman was starting to panic. “Just hang on,” Cage muttered, watching the gunman carefully. The last thing Cage needed was to be caught up in a hostage situation.

“If he fucking called the cops, believe me that he’ll pay.”

“He’s so old that anything you do to him will make his life easier.”

The gunman frowned at him and groaned. “Well, that takes all the fun out of it.”

“Of course it does. Leave the old man alone.”

“You care a little too much about that old man.”

“I don’t care at all. I care about going home to my girlfriend.”

“Well, that ain’t happening tonight.” He raised his gun, pointed it at Cage, and, as he did so, Scotty burst through the door, heading straight for him.

Immediately the gunman changed the direction of the gun, screaming, “Don’t you fucking dare!” But the dog was undeterred.

When the first bullet went off, it slammed into the box that Cage threw as he called off the dog. Almost immediately a huge cacophony came on the other side, and the garage side door burst open. Shots were fired in multiple directions, as Cage grabbed Scotty and pulled him down behind a stack of boxes.

More shooting and screams came from multiple people. Then suddenly came complete silence.