seconds to get back in your truck or you’re puppy chow.”
* * *
Aggie was shaking and Nate took her key and drove back to the highway.
“Spill,” he said.
“Nothing.”
Her voice cracked and she wished she could control her panic. This was so stupid! She was twenty-eight years old. She was a trained federal agent. And two dogs—mean, scary dogs—had her completely unhinged.
He pulled her truck over before the on ramp and she frowned.
“I know th-th-that I-I screwed up,” she stuttered. Damn. Her heart would not slow down.
“I know a panic attack when I see one.”
“It’s. Not.”
He didn’t move, just stared at her.
She took a deep breath. Then another. Then another. The thudding in her chest quieted and she could finally think.
She pulled her polo shirt out of the waist of her jeans and turned her back slightly to Nate. He didn’t bat an eye when she pulled up the shirt and exposed her back.
“Look,” she said.
He did, then frowned.
She pulled her shirt back over the nasty scar that took up her left side. “Got more on my leg. I just—dammit.”
“Tell me about it.”
She didn’t like talking about it, because she felt stupid. It was nearly twenty years ago! But hearing the dogs—hearing them more than seeing them—brought back all those fears.
“It was the summer I turned ten. My brother Teddy—he’s a year old than me, he’s a firefighter now—he and I were responsible for walking the dogs every morning. We had three—two golden Labs and this little dust mop named Frisky who thought he was a Lab. I usually carried Frisky half the way because he would get tired, but we couldn’t leave him—he would cry if we walked the Labs without him.
“Anyway, we lived in this development in Dallas. When Dad was deployed, we lived on base wherever he was—I was born on the base in Stuttgart, lived there the first eight years of my life. But when I was eight, he was permanently stationed in Dallas, and my mom was glad. She wanted her own house, you know, not military housing. And my oldest brother was starting high school. He became a cop—did a stint in the military, was an MP, now is with Dallas PD. Anyway…” She stopped, realizing she was rambling because she didn’t want to talk about it.
Nate didn’t comment. He just waited.
“So. Well. We were walking, and there’s a park about six blocks away. We went there to throw Frisbees with the Labs. Frisky wanted to play, but he couldn’t even carry a Frisbee without tripping over it. We got him this cute little mini Frisbee … well, he got tired and so I took him to the fountain for water and these two dogs ran up from out of nowhere. One bit my leg and pulled me down and Frisky was barking and the other dog … just … grabbed him. And I screamed and kicked the dog that bit me, got him off me, I don’t know how, and I went after Frisky. Teddy and the Labs were running to me, I’ll never forgot the horror on my brother’s face … and the dog that bit me, jumped on me, got me down on the ground, bit my side, I was protecting my face and … I…” She took a deep breath and wiped tears off her cheeks that she hadn’t realized were falling until they dropped onto her shirt.
“Anyway, there were lots of people in the park and they got the dog off me. And, umm, Frisky didn’t make it.” She almost died, but she didn’t say that. She didn’t die, but her dog did, and though she knew deep down she couldn’t have done anything to save him, the guilt hung over her head for years. “So. I don’t really like dogs. I mean, dogs like that. And I’m sorry I panicked. It was a surprise, and I know that’s bad, to be a trained agent and get surprised by stupid dogs, I’m usually better about it.”
Nate started driving again. “You know, partner, I’ve always got your back.”
He couldn’t have said anything else that would have made her feel better.
* * *
“Bingo!” Aggie nearly jumped up and down for joy, except that she was sitting at her desk in the DEA and trying to keep a low profile, since she wasn’t really supposed to be doing this.
Nate sat next to her. Martin wasn’t in the office, and no one seemed to bat an eye that Aggie had brought Nate in.
She’d needed