âI want to work this case, Captain.â
âItâs against procedure for you to investigate your partnerâs death. You know what the policy is.â
Nick was prepared. âThen Iâll quit and investigate on my own. Julio died, when it shouldâve been me. Iâll do whatever it takes to bring the man in, procedure be damned. Itâs your call.â
Captain Girard looked away. Nick reached for his police-issue 9 mm. âFine. You have my resignationâeffective immediately.â
âStop, Detective. You can stay.â
âI can?â Nick couldnât believe it. âWhatâs the catch?â
âYou need a partner to watch your back.â
âI already haveâ¦â For the first time, the full impact of his loss sank in. He didnât have a partner anymore. Julio was dead.
Nickâs eyes narrowed. âI donât need a babysitter.â
âYou have to sleep sometime. Sheâs a cop.â Girard handed Nick a file. âConsider yourself joined at the hip.â
He quickly scanned the contents. âSheâs not a detective?â
âK-9.â
âThatâs no help!â
âDoesnât matter. She and her dog also do private bodyguard work. I want her to keep an eye on you. Emotional men with guns shouldnât be working the street aloneâor at all, for that matter. If Lara Nelson tells me youâve slipped up, you go on desk duty.â
Dear Reader,
The bond between man and dog goes back to prehistoric days. Manâs ability to reason and make tools, coupled with the canineâs extraordinary speed, vision, hearing and smell was an unbeatable combination. It still is.
The United States began its association with canine or âK-9â teams in World War One, using messenger and patrol dogs. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the government established âDogs for Defenseâ to standardize war dog training. By 1945 over ten thousand American dogs served overseas as sentry, scout and messenger dogs. Some even parachuted into the field. In Korea and Vietnam their service was expanded to include bomb detection and water duties. And the natural outcome of American dogs of war? American dogs of law enforcement.
The German shepherd was judged best suited to wartime conditions, and is still the preferred breed for law enforcement in the United States. Contrary to popular belief, their biggest task is not attacking. These highly intelligent animals are trained to search, protect, apprehend and assist. Searching is one of their main functions, and they are asked to find many things, from missing persons to drugs, firearms, evidence of crime and articles of terrorism. They also act as a strong deterrent to violence in tense situations.
The biggest asset of the canine, however, is loyalty. Just ask the handler of Sirius, a K-9 killed at the World Trade Center attack, or the handler of a German shepherd K-9 in my hometown. His dog took a shotgun blast on duty and served his âfinal watch.â This book is dedicated to Urk, whose memorial service I attended. Urkâs bravery, along with his handlerâs, inspired me to research this subject.
By the way, my characters, the kennels, the police stations and this story are purely fictional. And although my heroine is also a work of fiction, the history of law enforcement and police dog training is not. Welcome to the world of canines and their handlers: true heroes and heroines in the war against violence.
Anne Marie Duquette [owner of AKC German shepherd Renegade Striker]
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
May, Monday morning
DETECTIVE NICK CANTELLO of the San Diego PDâs homicide squad sat in shocked silence in the shift lieutenantâs office, and he wasnât a man who shocked easily.
My partnerâs dead? Julioâs dead?
He must have spoken the words aloud.
âTough break,â said the shift lieutenant, a big, beefy cop named Joe Lansky.
âWhy the hell didnât you call me?â Nickâs normally smooth baritone was hoarse and grating. His lean face was pale under his tan. âWhy didnât anyone call me?â
âWe tried, Cantello. Your cell didnât pick up and you werenât at home. Homicide rode by.â Lanskyâs eyes were filled with compassion.
Nick was too stunned to see it. As a man who loved deep-water boating but couldnât afford a decent boat on his salary, he regularly paid for a weekend charter down to Mexican waters. Just as he had this weekend. But he always carried his cell phone charged, and heâd come straight to work Monday morning directly from the harbor, riding Julioâs motorcycle.
âSomeone should have called! You should have kept trying.â Shock gave way to a sudden, horrible thought. âOh, my Godâ¦his family. Does Lilia know?â
At Lanskyâs nod, Nick felt a painful twist in his gut. Julio and Lilia Valdez had two kids and a third on the way. In his soft, quiet way, Julio had told Nick the good news over a beer two nights ago.