JUSTIN BREATHED IN RHYTHM WITH HIS PEDALING. MAX ran at full speed about a hundred yards ahead. Justin couldn’t believe the pace Max could keep up for so long. He moved so fast and so effortlessly—it was like he was barely even exerting himself. Justin, on the other hand, was getting a good workout. His side was cramping up, but he couldn’t slow down now. He had to keep up with Emilio’s truck.
Every once in a while, Max got too far ahead of Justin. Max would stop and wait for him to catch up, his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Justin was pretty sure that if Max could talk, he’d be telling him to hurry up.
Max led Justin through a part of town he’d never been in before. For a minute, Justin thought Max was going to stop in front of one of the dilapidated houses or empty storefronts, but he didn’t. He just barreled forward, down one street and then another, until finally he stopped at the end of a block, where the asphalt gave way to a dirt path. He sniffed excitedly at the ground.
Justin pulled up to a stop.
“What’s the matter, boy?” he asked as he caught his breath. “Did you lose him?”
Max raised his head and sniffed at the air for a second. Justin could tell from the twitch of his nose and the way his head tilted a little this way, then a little that way, that he was sorting through the hundreds of things he could smell all at once.
Suddenly, Max locked onto a scent. He hopped up and took off again, forging into the woods. Justin raced after him.
They barreled through dense foliage and over a rutted, narrow dirt road that Justin had never been on before. The trees were so thick overhead that very little sunlight came through. The path was shaded and treacherous. There were rocks and roots everywhere, and Justin had to focus to keep from getting thrown from his bike. Max moved almost silently over the undergrowth and dirt—it was like he floated when he ran.
After what seemed like forever, Max finally stopped. He crouched down and raised his snout in the air. His ears stood at attention, pointing right for the sky. Every inch of his body was alert and ready. He stayed like that until Justin pulled up next to him and stopped. Max was scanning the trees, his ears and nose tuning in to frequencies of sound and scents Justin would never know. Justin couldn’t believe how cool it was to see Max’s training at work.
Justin heard voices through the trees. He couldn’t see any faces, but at least one of the men sounded familiar—he could hear Emilio’s voice drifting toward him.
“Should we do the smart thing and get out of here?” Justin whispered to Max. Max turned his big brown eyes to Justin and held his gaze for a moment. He panted, then snapped his mouth shut. Justin smiled. “Nah, I don’t think so, either.” He scratched the top of Max’s head. “Good job, buddy.”
Suddenly, Max’s ears pricked forward, and his head whipped around to the direction they had come. Before Justin could wonder what was happening, he felt a rumble in the ground and heard the sound of an engine approaching, fast. Someone was coming right for them, along the road they had just traveled.
Justin hopped off his bike and dragged it off to the side of the road. He grabbed Max by the collar and led him into the foliage. They crouched down, side by side, behind a fallen tree, just seconds before a 4x4 truck with massive off-road tires sped down the road and passed right by them. Justin got a quick glimpse through the side window: Tyler sat in the passenger seat, a serious look on his face. He couldn’t tell who was driving.
Max tried to pull away, but Justin held him tightly by the collar. He put a finger on Max’s nose.
“Shhhhh, Max,” Justin whispered. “Stay.”
The truck disappeared over a small slope. Justin heard it downshift, then come to a stop. Justin and Max crept slowly forward until they could see over the rise and down into a clearing below.
Emilio stood with a small group of extremely scary-looking dudes. They had huge biceps and wore matching leather jackets and tall, black leather boots. One of them—the smallest guy—seemed to be in charge. He was giving directions in Spanish.
Tyler hopped out of the truck, while the largest man Justin had ever seen emerged out of the driver’s side. He was well over six feet tall, and he was as wide as three other men put together. He loomed over Tyler. Justin could see why he’d brought him along. He wore jeans, a leather vest, and had a very obvious holster on his belt.
The giant man whistled sharply, and two sturdy Rottweilers sailed out of the back of the truck, their muscles rippling in the sunlight. They landed on the ground with a thud, and sat down, one on either side of Tyler and the man. Max shifted his weight and whimpered softly. Justin instinctively put an arm around Max’s neck, hoping it would settle him.
“Stack, show them,” Tyler snapped. The humongous man, Stack, lumbered around to the back of the truck, the dogs trailing closely behind him, and opened the doors. He lifted out a long metal object.
It took a second for Justin to realize what he was seeing—it was a military rifle. Kyle had once shown him something like it on a video call. Stack handed it over to Emilio’s buddy. The man inspected it carefully. He raised it to his shoulder and pointed it into the woods near Justin and Max.
Justin’s heart was pounding so hard, he was sure the men would be able to hear it. Max licked his lips and tried to pull away. His instincts were kicking in—after all, he was trained to find weapons just like that one. Justin held him tightly.
The man holding the rifle spoke in Spanish to Emilio. Justin couldn’t understand the words, but he knew the tone wasn’t exactly friendly.
“He likes it,” Emilio said to Tyler, “but he wants to know for sure you’ve got more where this came from.”
“I understood what he said,” Tyler said sharply. “Tell him this is strictly show-and-tell. There’s plenty more.”
The man spoke to Emilio in Spanish again.
“He wants to know where the rest is,” Emilio translated.
Tyler smirked. “It’s stored in a nice, safe place. We’ll deliver it as soon as the second half of the money is deposited into my account. Like we agreed upon.” Tyler’s voice was laden with menace. He stepped forward and snatched the weapon back from the man’s hand. “That’ll take down a chopper,” he said with a grin. “But if you really want to do some damage, check this one out.” Tyler snapped his fingers at Stack, who stomped over to the back of the truck and pulled out a bigger, heavier, and altogether scarier-looking weapon. Justin recognized it immediately as a rocket launcher—something else Kyle had taught him about.
Justin swallowed hard. This was serious business. He and Max needed to get out of here, fast. He was getting in way over his head, and it seemed like the best idea was to alert the authorities that something super illegal was about to go down.
Just as Justin was about to pull Max back toward the road, Max caught the scent of the rocket launcher. Justin recalled that the last big haul Max and Kyle had found before Kyle was killed was a huge cache of weapons—just like this one. Before Justin could stop him, Max’s entire demeanor changed. He stood up on all fours. His eyes lit up, his ears pointed forward, his mouth snapped shut, and he whimpered loudly. Justin’s stomach flipped, and adrenaline shot through his body. This wasn’t good.
Sure enough, one of the Rottweilers—the bigger, meaner-looking one—heard Max and snapped to attention. Both of Stack’s dogs now skittered excitedly around the clearing, sniffing at the air, their muscular bodies poised for action. They both started to growl as they nosed at the underbrush.
This was bad, Justin thought. Very, very bad.
Tyler whispered something to Stack, who tried to get his dogs in line with a few commands. The man with Emilio had taken note of the dogs’ behavior, too, and started to speak nervously in Spanish. Emilio gave a concerned nod as he listened.
“He wants to know what’s bothering the dogs,” Emilio said.
“Probably just some critter,” Stack said. “A coyote, maybe.”
“Still,” Tyler said smoothly, “no reason to hang around here any longer than we need to, right? Your boy good, Emilio?”
Emilio and the man exchanged a few words in Spanish.
“The money will be wired into your account in the morning.” Emilio took one step forward and got in Tyler’s face. He pointed a finger at Tyler. “But if you’re setting him up—”
Tyler swatted Emilio’s hand away. “No one’s setting anyone up. You tell him that.” Tyler stared down Emilio until Emilio turned away and hopped in a huge black SUV with the three other men. They sped out of the clearing, leaving a trail of dust.
Tyler turned to Stack, a look of fury on his face. “Send those dogs out, now!”
Stack whistled, and with a great flurry of barking and growling, the Rottweilers bounded toward the trees.
They were coming for Justin and Max.