It wasn’t unusual to see a hospital corridor full of uniforms when one of their own had been wounded. But the veterinary hospital had never seen anything like this. State and local law enforcement had turned out to stand vigil for the dog who had saved three people, including one of their own, from what the news was calling the Blizzard of the Century. So far. When they got details of a hostage situation … Law sighed. He hated being in the media.
Yet suddenly Sam was a celebrity, and very much a member of the Troop L Springdale office.
“Oooh-whee. I never saw anything like it. That dog has heart. She gave it everything she had.” The trooper who had followed Sam in his cruiser was gracing the vet staff with his version of events.
Another trooper chimed in. “Don’t leave her owner out of it. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. On a dog!”
A third added, “Trooper Battise is one of us, all right. Captures a fugitive. Rescues the girl. And saves his dog’s life. All with his leg missing.”
Law scowled. “That’s not exactly how it happened.”
“Be quiet, Law.” Jori snagged his arm. “They’re building your legend. And just think of all the bragging rights this is going to earn you!”
Law ducked his head, but a smile tugged at his mouth. “I don’t like things getting built up all out of proportion.”
Jori gaped at him. “To what?”
“You found us. Sam went for help. I was tied up.” Law shook his head.
“You came through when it counted. Ask Becker. And Sam. You’re amazing.”
“I don’t see it like that.” Law reached up to brush a thumb down the side of her face. They’d been given fresh clothes by the troopers who’d come to the vet’s office to check on them. They’d washed up as best they could in the restroom. But Jori’s face was still pinched with cold, and her eyes were dull and her mouth drawn with fatigue. He was going to get her to an emergency room to be checked out as soon as he saw Sam. Turned out, he was feeling pretty territorial, too. “I’m nobody’s hero.”
“Sorry. No. Get used to the role.” Jori drew up her feet and snuggled down closer to him. “You saved Becker. After you talked him out of killing us. Sam went on your command to get help. When she couldn’t go anymore, you saved her. You’re awesome.”
“It’s not that simple, Jori. Never simple with me.”
He rubbed his thumb alone her jawline, his sludge-gold gaze following its path. “I thought I was a goner when Becker skidded off that rise. We bounced around so much we should have been on the obit page tomorrow. Guess I’ve got a few lives left, after all.”
“Don’t say that.” She touched a finger to his lips for a second. “I don’t like to think of how much you risk on the job every day. And I know, before you say it, that it’s not my business.”
“I wasn’t going to say that.” He didn’t smile at her, not quite yet ready to tell her everything he thought.
“It seemed like a miracle when Sam showed up. But I could deal with that.” He paused again, his face going serious. “However, I thought I heard the underbrush crackling under footsteps a few minutes later. I almost shouted to alert that someone that we were alive. But then I noticed Sam wasn’t responding to those sounds.” His voice dipped. “So I chalked it up to…”
Flashback. Hallucination. They both knew that’s what he meant.
“Sam and I were together. She knew it was me.” But Jori didn’t want this bright moment in a tough day to turn dark. Not after all they’d been through.
She put a hand on his chest and began smoothing it across the one ab. “In other words, you would have been dreaming it was me, if I hadn’t actually showed up?”
Law looked into her eyes with a heated intensity that was impossible to misunderstand, but said nothing.
So she plunged on. “Sorry, you don’t get rid of me that easily.”
“Mr. Battise?”
Law looked up, relieved to see the veterinarian coming toward him. “You can see Sam now. She’s feeling pretty frisky, considering what’s she’s been through.”
That drew a shout of joy and relief from the throng of his fellow officers. “Way to go, Doc!”
The veterinarian nodded in acknowledgment. “Don’t be alarmed that we have her restrained. Don’t want her to damage her paws before we’re sure about the possibility of frostbite issues. If you’d like to follow me.”
Law looked down at his missing leg. He had come in on the backs of two colleagues. Getting to Sam was getting to be a burden for others.
“Got your back, Battise.” One the troopers appeared with a pair of crutches. “One of the vet’s assistants broke her ankle at Thanksgiving. She says you can borrow these until you leave.”
Law stood up on one leg as easily as most people do on two to accept the crutches. He tried them out. But they were so short he had to hunch over.
The trooper laughed. “Did I say she’s five foot two? Improvise, Trooper. Improvise.”
Law looked back at Jori. “Coming?”
She shook her head. “You first. She’s your dog.”
He nodded and moved to follow the doctor.
Jori sighed and watched Law navigate the crutches. He should have been a foolish sight. But she’d learned the first time she’d met him that Law didn’t have a disability. All that tough male grace was an innate part of him that went deeper than two legs. Lauray Battise was a force unto himself.