She climbed into the bed and turned out the small lamp on the nightstand. Through the darkness came the soft, reassuring sound of Souze panting.
“Then I’ll have to come up with ways to anticipate those scenarios and plan actions to mitigate the circumstances.” Yeah. It could be a promise to herself. A way she could act on her own fate.
“Good night, Souze.”
Chapter Fourteen
Boom good for the night?”
Rojas nodded tiredly, joining Forte and Cruz in his living room. Forte handed him a beer. “She’s gotten pretty far with her poster boards for her project. Apparently, the paint just has to dry and then she can work with Elisa tomorrow to fold paper into planets and light them up with earrings.”
Cruz almost spit beer. “Come again?”
“Hey, it was Elisa’s crafty plan.” Rojas waved his beer bottle in the general direction of Revolution MMA. “She can come over tomorrow and show Boom how to do it.”
“Elisa is good people.” Cruz leaned forward and opened up his laptop.
Forte grunted agreement. “The dogs like her.”
Rojas nodded. “I left Souze with her.”
Forte raised his eyebrows. “Yeah?”
Rojas shrugged. “They’re not leaving the one room, and he’s not going to have to go out before morning. He’s housebroken and more than qualified for guard dog duty. She doesn’t have any of the nervous tics that’d make him snap at her. Should be fine.”
“He’s not taking to the bite work readily.” Forte leaned back and stared at the ceiling. “We’ve been giving him some time, but we’re going to need to think of alternative careers for that dog.”
Generally, alternatives meant they either found a home for the dog in question or sold him to a private buyer. With his training, Souze was valuable and could still live a long life as a guard dog. Preferably, a guard dog in far better circumstances than his initial environment. They took care to place any of their dogs in good homes.
“Maybe.” Rojas didn’t want to commit. He’d grown attached to the bruiser. Even if he didn’t want to admit it. “It’s not like he’s all that sociable.”
“Try not at all.” Cruz snorted. “That dog had next to no socialization before he got here.”
“But he got along with Elisa.” Both Forte and Cruz looked up at him incredulously. He amended his statement. “In a standoffish sort of way.”
Both men looked away again, Cruz to his laptop and Forte to the ceiling.
After a moment, Cruz spoke. “You’re getting attached to him.”
Tough part of training dogs for a living was risking the attachment. A trainer wanted to develop enough of a bond to train the dog well, prepare him for a tough job, and give him enough positive experience to bond well with a future handler. But some dogs got a little deeper.
Rojas didn’t want to talk about Souze further. Not with more pressing points of interest to discuss. Instead he shared the information Elisa had given him about the additional reasons why Joseph Corbin Jr. was trying so hard to get a hold of her.
After an appropriate amount of cursing, Rojas looked at his partners. “What have you got from the camera feed?”
Cruz gave him a long, knowing look, then tapped his laptop. “We’re lucky Gary and Greg are tech addicts even if they don’t always keep their systems at optimal performance. They have good-quality cameras so their captured feed is in high resolution. I was able to capture a few stills from the video feed. Good enough to take to the police and see if they get any hits on him. Chances are he placed surveillance equipment intending to track her the next time she drove somewhere. She’s too valuable to just blow the car up with her in it.”
Rojas nodded.
“We’ll also run the images around to a few personal friends still active in the information business.” Cruz popped a few pictures up of the man so they could see his face in profile and head on. “He’s good enough to seem casual but not skilled enough to spot the less obvious security cameras like the ones Gary and Greg like to use. Probably your average hired help. Maybe a civilian private investigator or similar.”
Considering their last round of excitement had involved ex-Navy SEALs, Rojas was glad to hear the good news. The three of them could more than handle themselves. They’d been through hell and back multiple times each, deployed overseas. Serving together had made them brothers. But they didn’t like to go head to head with anyone if it wasn’t necessary.
“That said, private investigators cost money.” Forte leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “What else do we know about our Elisa’s ex besides what he was up to?”
Rojas shot Forte a look. Part of him, the thug evolved from caveman part, wanted to clarify that Elisa was his. But Forte remained relaxed and lifted his beer to Rojas.
Asshole. Forte was jerking his chain on purpose.