Greyson (The K9 Files) - Dale Mayer Page 0,50

at all from any quarter.”

She winced at that. “God, this will go on for a long time, won’t it?” She almost whimpered.

“Well, I hope not,” he said, “but unfortunately it’s a possibility.”

She played with Danny, reading him a story, and just generally lazing about the house, enjoying the peace and quiet, knowing she was safe right now with both Kona and Greyson here, even as he worked on his phone the whole time. “Do you have to be at work somewhere?”

“No. I’m doing this Kona mission on a volunteer basis. Right now, I’m just checking in with my grandparents, letting them know where I am,” he said with a smile.

She looked surprised at that, but it added a human element she had forgotten about. He wasn’t just superhuman, superefficient, and superskilled. He was somebody who had parents and grandparents. She smiled, loving that notion. “I would ask you about that small truck you drive,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like your kind of vehicle.”

“It’s my granddad’s,” he said with a laugh. “If I don’t use it, I’ll be insulting them.”

“I understand that,” she said, “and I think it’s very sweet.”

“Well, it’s pretty necessary, and my grandmother is berating me now because I helped Grandpa get a basset hound, and apparently now the two are inseparable. She wanted him to take her shopping, but he doesn’t want to leave Leo.”

Jessica chuckled. “I can see that happening too,” she said. “I think pets are good for older people.”

“Pets are good for all people,” he said.

“So, you are only here temporarily then, right?”

He looked up at her with that piercing blue gaze and shrugged. “Nothing in my life is permanent right now, and what that means is that all options are on the table.”

“Wow,” she said, “that’s a unique way to live.”

“Not necessarily. I have military benefits, so I have money coming in,” he said. “I just haven’t figured out what I want to do on a full-time basis now.”

“Well, you’re great with the dog,” she said, “so you can do any kind of training with animals.”

“Maybe,” he said. “Sometimes I think about going into law enforcement, but just watching these guys at work reminds me why I don’t want to get involved with that.”

“I don’t think you handle authority all that well, do you?”

“Wow,” he said, looking at her in surprise. “When I was in the military, I did very well, thank you very much.”

She chuckled. “That’s not what I mean. What I really meant was that you don’t suffer fools gladly. You don’t, do you?”

“No, that I do not,” he said, his smile widening. He got up to check the food in the oven. “Dinner’s almost ready,” he said, “maybe another fifteen or twenty minutes.”

“Sounds good,” she said. “I didn’t think I’d be hungry, but it smells delicious.” She got up to set the table, and, before long, they were eating. “It seems like all I’ve done is eat today,” she remarked, after finishing a plateful.

“When we’re tired and stressed, sometimes we need extra just to keep going.”

“So says you,” she said. “I’m just eating extra because it tastes so good.”

He burst out laughing. “And nothing is wrong with that either.” He reached out and snagged another sausage and put it on his plate. As he went to grab a few more vegetables, the lights in the dining room went out. She gasped and stared at him. He looked around slowly. “It’s not just the dining room light,” he said in a hard voice. “All the power’s out.”

“Just my house though, right?”

As she went to get up, he said, “Stay seated. Don’t move.” He got up and walked over to the kitchen, then checked out the window and nodded. “Just your house.”

“And that means what?” she asked, her voice turning faint.

“It means we’ve got company,” he said. “I want you to take Danny and Kona up to your room. Now.”

Immediately she snatched up Danny, and Kona, already knowing something was wrong, was right on her heels. Jessica went up the stairs to her bedroom, then sat on her bed, clutching Danny, completely terrorized, but knew that, with Kona and Greyson, they were in the best position possible to survive this. She just hoped it was enough.

“Only a couple reasons why the power would be out,” he muttered to himself. “One is an accident, but then it should be more than just this house.” As far as he could see, the outage was isolated here.

That meant somebody had interrupted the service to