Hellhound Read Online Free

quipped, tugging the harness. “Besides, with your pecs you’d need something more in the realm of a 44 regular, am I right?”
    Rather than be offended, O’Hara grinned. “Got post-raid plans, sergeant?”
    Del Vecchio offered O’Hara a smile that was at least part invitation before turning back to her charge. “Don’t worry, Bones. My mind’s totally on your safety ’cause I know your mind’s on mine. And I don’t take that lightly.”
    Bones eyed del Vecchio expectantly, but she went quiet.
    A second later, the captain at the front of the vehicle spoke up. “Three nights ago, a citizen, Mr. Devaris Clark, was thrown off the roof of the building we have business in tonight. We believe it to be the work of one Mr. Chiedozie, a Nigerian slum lord who lines up squats for incoming illegals and then calls INS once he’s drained them dry. He keeps his neighbors quiet with threats of violence. We’re here to round up him and his organization. Some of the people in your line of sight will probably be the victims of his fraud, while others will pretend to be. Not our job. We get ’em down, cuff ’em tight, slide them to booking, and go home. We’re the dog catchers, not the Board of Records, present company notwithstanding.”
    He nodded to del Vecchio. She gripped Bones’s lead a little tighter.
    “All right. Let’s hit the ground running.”
    The tactical vehicles turned onto East 112th and slowed at Neville Houses, but did not stop. The back doors flew open and the teams hopped off and moved directly towards the building.
    Sergeant del Vecchio and Bones were the first ones out of the second vehicle. The dank scents that had polluted Devaris’s nose only days before now ravaged Bones. But he had no time to investigate this piece of garbage or that fetid pool of rat piss. He was going where he was led, end of story.
    “All right, Bones,” del Vecchio whispered. “Here we go.”
    At that moment, Building 7 of Neville Houses was plunged into darkness as the power was cut half a block away by Con Ed employees. Anyone lingering around the courtyard had vacated the second the tactical vehicles showed up on the block, so the team had a clear path all the way to the front door.
    “What happened to the lights?” came a voice from the lobby.
    “Police!” the captain yelled back. “On the ground, now!”
    Bones and del Vecchio moved past the captain to follow the other tactical officers up the stairs. They were heading for the sixth floor but were stopping on five to allow their four-pawed companion to take the lead.
    “Ma’am? Please return to your apartment! This is a police matter.”
    Whoever the words were directed at seemed to take heed. Del Vecchio heard a door quickly shut. She had on night vision goggles but was already staring into the handheld monitor as the image bounced up and down with Bones’s quick steps. It was times like this that she envied not the shepherd’s incredible sense of smell, but his ability to see in the dark.
    “Easy, Bones,” she whispered into her throat mic, her voice traveling into his ears via specially designed ear buds, a loan from the military.
    They reached the fifth-floor stairwell and stopped. Del Vecchio waited for the command from the captain, checking and rechecking the view from the monitor on Bones’s back.
    “Send him in.”
    Del Vecchio took Bones off the leash and indicated the next floor.
    “All right, Bones. Search!”
    Bones moved up the stairs and glanced down the dark hallway on the sixth floor. Seeing nothing, he walked down the hallway, sniffing at every closed door. A door cracked open up ahead. Bones looked up. As he did, del Vecchio glimpsed a large man peering down the hallway, holding a gun. Del Vecchio showed this to the captain, who nodded.
    “That’s our guy. Give the command.”
    “Take hold!” the sergeant barked into her mic.
    Bones had a significant prey drive. He’d been silently sizing up the man since his hand had gripped the