When a cop and a newly released convict cross paths, few cons can expect anything positive. Struggling toward a home he knows no longer exists, Ike Hernandez meets a cop who seems different. He isn’t sure he can believe the kindness, but he wants to learn to trust again and regain his lost self-respect.<br><br>Perry Parker became a law enforcement officer to help people. He learned there wasn’t much he could do, but now and then he found someone he could help. Would the lost man with the little dog that he picked up one stormy night be one of them?<br><br>Pursuing tales about a new drug dealer, Perry starts to doubt the man he’s befriended, but something inside him still feels Ike is a decent person. When the real dealers take advantage of the convict’s past, Perry, his unofficial canine partner, and the little stray Ike adopted save the day. Can a cop, a con, and two dogs make an unorthodox family?

A Cop and a Con

Just then, the little red dog scooted past Perry, darting into the house so fast he looked like a rusty streak. Where had the damned mutt been? What was he up to now? The dog almost tripped the guy with the long gun as he lunged up out of the chair. It was a shotgun, short-barreled and large caliber. An ugly weapon. As soon as the first man cleared the door, the guy cut loose with it, both barrels. Perry moved aside in time. He’d already sensed what was going to happen. So did the other deputy. Buckshot rattled against the plastered walls and scattered into the yard.


A single shot from the front of the house put the hood on the floor. He wasn’t dead and probably not in immediate threat of death, but the shotgun slid from his hands and spun across the floor.


Chapter 24