Addison Fox - Colton K-9 Cop

Since her thoughts hadn’t been too far from the same, Bellamy had to admit Rae had a point. “I’ll call you later. I need to finish packing up and get out of here. Even with Gus’s willingness to give me time, the dragon in HR is going to expect me off the grounds.”

“Okay. Call me later.”

They hung up with a promise to do a good raging girls’ night, complete with margaritas and a gallon of ice cream. It couldn’t erase her day, but as promises went it was certainly something to look forward to.

Bellamy glanced down at her box, her meager possessions all she had as evidence of her time at Lone Star Pharmaceutical.

Securing the lid, she took a deep breath and pulled her purse over her arm.

She’d already lived through the loss of her family, both through death and through abandonment. She would survive this.

Resolved, Bellamy picked up the box and walked out of her office. She refused to look back.

* * *

THE MID-DECEMBER AFTERNOON light was fading as Bellamy trudged toward her car. She’d snagged a spot in the far back parking lot, beneath an old willow that she loved for its sun protection and the added benefit of more daily steps, to and from the front door. Now it just seemed like more punishment as she put one foot in front of the other, her box completing the professional walk of shame.

Thankfully, the parking lot was rather empty, the impending holiday and the general spirit of celebration and success at LSP pushing even more people than she’d expected to knock off early.

Gus had been kind when he met her in the lobby, his expression sorrowful as he took her badge and her corporate credit card. Sally Borne hadn’t shown up for the proceedings but her office lackey, Marie, had been there to take the badge and credit card before bustling off back where she’d come from.

It was unkind, but Bellamy hadn’t been able to dismiss the image of a small crab scuttling back to its sandy burrow the way the woman rushed off.

And then it had just been awkward with Gus, so she’d given him a quick kiss on the cheek and a warm hug, promising to visit with him in town at the annual tree lighting in the town square the following week. She’d already committed to Rae that she’d go and she’d be damned if she was going to hide in her home like the same crab she’d mentally accused Marie of being.

Shifting the box in her arms, Bellamy laid it on her rear bumper as she dug for her keys. After unlocking the car, then pressing the button for her trunk, she juggled the box into the gaping maw of her sedan, only to fumble it as she attempted to settle it with one hand while her other held her purse in place.

A steady stream of expletives fell from her lips when a brisk wind whipped up, catching the now-loose box lid and flinging it from the trunk.

“Damn it!”

The temptation to leave the lid to fly from one end of the parking lot to the other was great, but she dutifully trudged off to snag it where it drifted over the concrete. She might be persona non grata but she wouldn’t add litterbug to the litany of sudden crimes she’d apparently perpetrated against LSP. Nor would she put someone at risk of tripping on it inadvertently.

Box lid in hand, she crossed back to the car, dropping into the driver’s seat and turning on the ignition. The car caught for the briefest moment, then rumbled to life. She put her foot on the brake, about to shift into reverse, when her gaze caught on the rearview mirror and her still-open trunk.

Resigned, she opened the door once more and crossed back to the trunk. That damn cardboard box stared up at her, the lonely receptacle of her professional life and—finally—she let the tears she’d fought all afternoon fall.

Lost job. Lost family. Hell, even a holiday that was shaping up to be a lost cause. All of it seemed to conspire against her until all she could see or think or feel was an overwhelming sense of loss.

Frustrated, Bellamy stepped back and slammed the lid.

Instantly, a wall of heat flared up, consuming her before she felt her body lifted off the ground and thrown across the parking lot.

* * *

DONOVAN WAS MIDWAY down his parents’ stone-covered driveway when the call from Dispatch came in. He answered immediately, responding with his badge number and his location.

“We have a bomb called in at Lone Star Pharmaceutical. Your location indicates you’re closest to the site.”

LSP?

An image of the imposing corporate park on the edge of Whisperwood filled his thoughts, along with the pretty woman he’d met a million years ago who worked there. Who was bombing the town’s largest employer? And why?

“I am,” Donovan confirmed. “I can be to the site in three minutes. What are the known details?”

“LSP security called it in. Initial report says a car on fire and a woman shaky but standing.”

“She walked away from a car bomb?”

“Reports say she was outside it and tossed back by the blast.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Thanks, Officer. Backup will meet you there.”

Donovan took a left out of his parents’ driveway instead of the right he’d planned. Flipping on his lights he headed out over the two-lane Farm to Market road that lead back into town and on toward the corporate headquarters that stood at the opposite edge of Whisperwood.

He’d already spent the morning with the town’s chief of police and now it looked like he’d spend his evening with him, as well. The town was big enough to keep a sizable force, but they had to tap into the Austin PD for specialties like bomb squad support. As LSP had grown along with the town, Donovan had often wondered why the local PD hadn’t been given more resources, but knew that wasn’t always an easy battle.

It was one that big companies readily fought when they preferred to employ their own security.

Perhaps that folly had come back to bite them?

By all accounts LSP’s owner was a local maverick who was as delighted to be a pillar of the community as he was to rub the town’s noses in it when he wanted to do things his way. Bold and daring, Sutton Taylor had favored the town he’d grown up in to set up his world-renowned pharmaceutical company.

Donovan turned onto Lone Star Boulevard, the well-paved road that ran in front of LSP’s headquarters. The scrub grass and occasional ruts that made up the drive across town vanished as he came onto LSP land.

The guards at the main entrance waved him through the gates before he’d barely flashed his badge and Donovan headed straight for the billowing smoke still evident at the back of the parking lot. Alex sat sentinel beside him, his body strung tight as a bow as he waited for his orders.

Even from a distance, Donovan could tell the scene was contained. Two LSP security vehicles were parked near the still-smoldering car and a crowd had gathered at the edge of the parking lot, obviously evacuated from the building. The security team seemed to have it under control, the individuals corralled far enough back to avoid any additional fallout from the wrecked car. With the destruction already wrought on the burning sedan, the car was the least likely source of any remaining danger.

Instead, he and Alex would go to work on the scattered vehicles still in the lot.

He parked, his already alert partner rising farther up on his seat. Within a few moments, he had Alex at his side, leashed and ready for duty. One of the security guards moved away from a huddled woman and walked toward him. The man was grizzled, his body stiff with age, but his clear blue eyes were bright and alert.

Sharp.

The man nodded. “Officer. I’m Gus Sanger. I’m in Security here at LSP.”

“Donovan Colton. This is Alex.” He motioned for Alex to sit beside him, the move designed to show his control over the animal yet ensure no one missed the dog’s imposing presence.