Page 42 of Honor ’N’ Duty

And Jax was Jamie’s family in every sense of the word. They had one of the closest bonds Kade had ever seen in the K-9 world. Making Jax’s absence that much more disturbing. That alone would be enough to screw with Jamie’s head.

“Who exactly does Jamie work for?” She angled her body to face him more, and God help him. That cute little dress hiked up, exposing her sleek, tanned thigh.

“Honestly, I’m not sure anymore.” The light turned green, and Kade resumed their trek north. “He’s a K-9 sergeant with the Port Authority at JFK Airport, but I have a feeling he jumped ship and has been working for another agency.” Which one he didn’t know. That in itself was a red flag the size of a football field. Whatever Jamie was involved in had to be black ops and clandestine as hell.

Twenty minutes later, he turned onto Laia’s street, not stopping when they arrived at her house but slowing enough for him to look inside every parked vehicle on the block.

“Hey, aren’t you going to stop?” she asked.

“Yeah, but first I want to see if anyone’s watching your house.” He continued to the intersection, then turned right. After he’d squared the block, he finally pulled into an empty spot at the curb and shut off the engine.

“You’re very cautious, aren’t you?” Laia asked in a tone laced with a touch of humor.

He grabbed Smoke’s leash from the console. “Caution’s my middle name.” Something that had kept him from getting blown up or taking a round of lead while he was in the Army Rangers and now in the DHS.

He’d been about to grab Smoke’s leash when his phone buzzed. Before answering, he looked at the screen. Chico. Another informant, one he didn’t use often but whose information had always proven reliable. “Sampson,” he said.

“I got something for you,” Chico said. “You wanted anything about Fernando Colon and the book he’s looking for.”

“Talk to me.” Kade reached for a small pad and pen he kept in the console.

“Right before Colon got out, someone inside told him about a conversation he heard a couple of years ago between another guy and that guy’s lawyer. They were talking about a ledger.”

“What about a ledger?”

“That’s it, man. That’s all I got for you.”

“Wait.” Kade tried processing Chico’s info but wasn’t certain that it had relevance.

Two years ago, the day Josh had been arrested, he’d met briefly with his lawyer and said he had a ledger. They knew that because after Josh’s death the lawyer had told the prosecutor about it.

“Are you saying that another inmate overheard a conversation between another prisoner and that prisoner’s lawyer?” Had Josh’s lawyer been arrested? What other lawyer could they be talking about?

“Yeah, man. That’s what I’m sayin’.”

“And this was two years ago?”

“Yeah.”

“When did Colon hear about this?”

“Two weeks ago.”

That was it. The trigger.

Now Kade understood why Colon had started searching for the ledger after all this time. Since the federal government hadn’t found it, Colon must have thought he was in the clear, and that maybe there was no ledger. But two weeks ago, just before he’d been released from prison, he’d gotten information that the ledger truly existed.

He couldn’t figure out how another inmate could have overheard a confidential conversation between Josh and his attorney, but maybe he’d also overheard Josh insisting that he wanted to talk to his wife. Laia.

“Thanks, Chico.” He stuffed the phone back into his pocket, then grabbed Smoke’s leash. “Let’s do this.”

Outside, Smoke led the way, his nose to the ground, his tail swishing back and forth as he pulled in smells from the walkway, the grass, then the front steps right up to the door.

“Ready?” he asked when Laia didn’t immediately unlock it. Instead, she held her keys in her hand and stared at the knob. “Why don’t you let Smoke and me go in first?”

Her big brown eyes were slightly watery, and he about melted right there on the porch. All she had to do was look at him, and he’d do just about anything for her.

He took the keys from her and opened the door. As soon as Smoke stepped over the threshold, he unhooked the leash and let his dog do his thing, searching and scenting for any hidden dangers.