Bettina Blazak, a well-known reporter for The Coastal Eddy, has a nose for stories that sell. And that’s just what takes her to a veterinary clinic in Tijuana. But while she goes down to Mexico for a story, she comes back with much more.

As Dr. Felix Rodriguez shows Bettina around the clinic, they come to a dog she wants to hear more about (named “shot dog” by the vet). He says that a young boy brought him in, bleeding and suffering from grave injuries. He labored to save the animal, giving him a second chance. Almost without thinking, Bettina adopts the dog. Of course, she knows nothing about him or how he got hurt; she just can’t let him die after all that she has heard. The dog’s 30-day adoption period expires that very day. He can no longer be kept at the clinic, and he can't be released onto the streets. That leaves just one option.

"[I]t’s easy to sympathize with Bettina while immersed in THE RESCUE. Figuring out how she can solve her problem, though? Well, it’s a good thing that T. Jefferson Parker is there to come up with the solution."

Back at her Laguna Beach home, Bettina names her new friend Felix, after the vet who saved his life. She knows her Coastal Eddy readers will go wild over the story of the clinic and the dog. And she’s right; they do. The article’s success spurs her to seek out the boy who brought the dog to the clinic so she can do another feature about Felix and his escape from danger. But he's far from out of danger. As Bettina digs deeper into what happened the night Felix got shot, she comes to realize the connection between her beloved new dog and the Mexican drug cartels.

Recently, people have begun to contact Bettina for reasons other than praising her wonderful stories. They say that Felix --- whose real name is Joe --- rightfully belongs to them. And they want him back. A teenager claims that he owned Joe years ago, before he became a DEA drug-sniffing dog. A man named Dan Strickland tells her that Joe is his and once assisted in his self-defense academy. Plus, the Sinaloans want Joe because he has cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen or confiscated drugs. Bettina refuses all of their requests, no matter the amount of money offered. Felix --- that’s his name, not Joe --- is her dog. She loves and adores him and will not give him up.

Bettina is a woman with more backbone than your average 28-year-old. She loves high-octane sports, knows how to handle a gun, and doesn’t want to rely on anyone but herself for protection. But when you have ruthless, powerful people like drug cartels hunting you down, backbone may not be enough. Who do you trust, though? Bettina believes that Strickland might be okay, but she's not fully confident. She also has a local cop who wants to help, some DEA agents...and, of course, her trusty dog. They all profess to be watching out for her. Still, she has gotten herself in the middle of a fine mess. Getting out of it is going to take more than just a little cleverness, some chutzpah and a lot of finesse, even with the cops and the DEA involved.

Who among us wouldn’t put up a huge fight for our pet? We love them like family, right? So it’s easy to sympathize with Bettina while immersed in THE RESCUE. Figuring out how she can solve her problem, though? Well, it’s a good thing that T. Jefferson Parker is there to come up with the solution. Things look pretty grim for both Felix and Bettina, but Parker finds a miraculous way out. Bravo!