Scent of Danger

by Judith Rochelle

  “From what Harry tells me, each of the dog’s episodes sinceeveryone left the airport has happened at an exact moment when Rick was indanger. It’s almost as if he smells it.”

  Faith lifted an eyebrow. “Smells it?”

  “I know, I know. It sounds crazy. But you can’t believe whatI’ve been reading about these dogs. They are truly amazing.”

  “Does she train any of them in her program?” Mia asked.

  “No. Just shepherds. But Andy found an article about her inthe Bangor Daily News that said she’d trained Xena to guard the otherdogs in her care.”

  “I got some information from Aunt Vivi that might behelpful,” Faith told them.

  “Is The Lotus Circle aware of this kind of thing?” Danwanted to know.

  “You bet. In fact four of the members who post regularly onthe website are owners and have reported incidents where their mind linked withtheir dog’s. Where the dog not only protected them from danger but signaledthem about other things.”

  When Faith had been researching her own psychic abilitiesher aunt had introduced her to the Lotus Circle website that had participantsfrom all over the world with every type of psychic ability imaginable.

  “Are you going to tell me these women communicate mentallywith their animals?”

  Faith nodded. “Sometimes the dog even enters their dreamsand sends them messages that way. Two of the women have actually documentedspecific instances on the site.”

  Mark shook his head in amazement. “I don’t know why I shouldbe so surprised, considering the link Faith and I have. I just can’t get mymind around the same kind of connection with a dog.”

  “One more thing,” Faith said. “Aunt Vivi says instances ofan Ovcharka bonding with someone other than the owner are very rare. If we cantalk to Kelly Monroe and get her to become involved, they’d like to make bothher and the dog members of the Circle.”

  Mia finished her coffee and set her cup down. “I have got tocall this woman.”

  “While you’re talking to her,” Dan said, “see if it’spossible for us to come up to visit her. Dogs are something we haven’t thoughtabout for the Psi department and we also may want to add them to Rick’s Iraqsetup. We should ask her about it.” He looked at each person in turn. “Andabout going to Iraq.”

  Faith wrinkled her forehead. “Are you sure it would be safefor her? She may need more than that dog to protect her.”

  “I would never put an untrained person in harm’s way,” Danpromised. “But we may be able to work something out.”

  “Wait, wait, wait.” Mark held up a hand. “Shouldn’t we talkto Rick about this first?”

  “Absolutely. Let’s have Mia call her and sound her out. I’lltalk to Rick. He should fly up there with us too.” He looked at the otherthree. “Okay, people. Let’s get busy.”

  * * * * *

  Kelly Monroe hung up the telephone and sat back in herchair, Xena in her semi-alert state at her feet.

  “Well, girl,” she said to him. “What do you think about that?Your new best friend has friends who want to come up and see us. We don’t getmany visitors, you know. Think you can handle that?”

  Xena rubbed her head against Kelly’s leg and let out a tinybark.

  “You can, huh? Well, I guess I can too.”

  She hadn’t exaggerated that visitors to the farm were rare.The vet. Her two assistant handlers. Her clients, all of whom came viareferral. She resisted any and all publicity. Her clients demanded totalanonymity and that meant the same for her.

  It also didn’t make for a very active social life but thathadn’t bothered her since her last disaster of a date. She hadn’t realized DaneLomax, the local attorney she’d sort of had a relationship with, had onlywanted to show her off to his friends as an oddity. A weirdo. A woman who hadno one but dogs for company and talked to her personal animal as if she werehuman. Worse than that, he’d expected payment in bed for “all the dinner andbeer I shelled out,” he’d told her.

  That had been her last foray into a social life.

  She was better off with her books, her CDs, her computer andher dogs. Many days, after the dogs had been worked, fed and kenneled she andXena took long hikes, sometimes as far as the cliffs over the Atlantic Ocean.It was five miles each way but she always felt exhilarated. And it gave Xena aswell as herself a great opportunity to work off their excess energy.

  She felt a curl of anticipation at the prospect of seeingRick Latrobe again. Not that there was a chance in hell of anything happeningbetween them but at least she could dream about him. Which lately she tended todo more than she liked.

  But she had an uneasy feeling that the arrival of hervisitors was about to somehow change her life.

  Xena stood up, leaned against her leg and whined.

  Kelly scratched his head. “Yeah, I know. You feel it too,don’t you?”

  She looked into the dog’s eyes and swore she saw an image ofRick reflected there. “Quit thinking about him,” she scolded. “I’ve got enoughtroubles with my own thoughts.”

  Sighing, she headed for the kitchen. Maybe a leftover bonefor Xena and some tea for herself would settle them both down.

  * * * * *

  Zarife faced Gabir across the table in the dingy littlerestaurant where they’d chosen to meet.

  “Did you get rid of the van the way I told you to?”

  “Yes. We stripped it and pushed it off a hillside. Then weclimbed down and covered it with branches and anything else we could find.”

  “Good. Even if they manage to locate it, it will be too latefor them to do anything. Besides, when I gave it to you, I made sure itcouldn’t be traced back to us.” He let his gaze roam from one man to the other.“Time is running out,” Zarife said, stirring his coffee. “Latrobe must not beallowed to get on that plane.”

  Gabir looked at him with his mouth turned down. “You saidyou wanted something that didn’t look obvious. What do you suggest? Short ofshooting the man or blowing him up, there doesn’t seem to be any way to stophim.”

  “ I’m not the one who needs to make suggestions,”Zarife pointed out. “When I hired you for this you assured me you and youridiot friends could handle this with no problem.”

  “Yes, yes, yes.” Gabir sipped nervously from his own cup.“And so it seemed. But this is no ordinary man. These are no ordinary people.”

  “If they were, I wouldn’t need you.” He looked at his watch,which had a tiny calendar clipped over the wrist band. “We have less than fivedays. Figure something out. I don’t care who gets on that plane as long as it’snot him. You understand?”

  Gabir nodded, his fingers fiddling with his cup in a nervousdance. “I understand. We will figure something out.”

  “Our only other option, if we can’t resolve it here, is toget rid of him over there. But remember, that way you get no money.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Gabir promised. “Right away.”

  * * * * *

  Rick had finally agreed to pop two of the pain pills beforegetting on the helicopter.

  “I can only hold the vibrations down so much,” Ed Romeo toldhim. He, rather than Mike, was the designated pilot today.

  “I’m no stranger to pain,” Rick reminded him.

  “Let’s just say I don’t want to add to your discomfort,okay? Humor me.”

  Once they were airborne, Rick had to admit Ed was right.Even with the pills his body was protesting at the treatment he wasgiving it, although it could have been worse. Today they were flying theirbrand new baby, a Bell Helicopter 206L4 long-range seven-passenger bird. Inaddition to Ed and Rick, the chopper carried Mia, Dan and Mark. Faith,unhappily, was locked in her den with galleys to proof, which had arrived justthat morning. But she had given Mia her list of questions.

  Unbelievably Rick found himself dozing off, waking only whenMark touched his shoulder.

  “I think this is the place.” He pointed ahead and below.

  From the air they could see a rambling farmhouse with only asmall are
a mowed around it. The rest was acres of tall grasses and wildflowers. Thick stands of pine trees and maples clustered here and there andabout two hundred yards beyond the perimeter a heavy forest of pines rose upout of the land. Behind the house was a rectangular building with long, cyclonefencing running perpendicular to it. Rick assumed that was the kennel. To oneside of the house was a huge barn, with a, concrete strip the same length asthe building running up to it.

  Probably where her father kept the plane, Rick thought.

  Not far from the strip stood Kelly Monroe with Xena at herside, waving and pointing to the concrete.

  “That’s where she wants us to land,” Ed said. “Looks good tome. I’m going down.”

  With his usual practiced and easy smoothness at thecontrols, Ed set the bird down precisely on the concrete strip and cut hisignition. Mia, Dan and Mark were out of the helicopter even before the rotorsstopped spinning. Rick moved slowly behind them, trying to conceal hisdiscomfort. Still, he couldn’t mistake the look of worry in Kelly’s eyes. Anunfamiliar feeling twisted through his stomach at the thought this veryappealing woman would care what happened to him. Most of the women he spenttime with wouldn’t even think of sending a card, much less worrying. He decidedhe’d been hanging out with the wrong kind of women.

  He wondered how far that worry went and what she’d think ofthe proposal they had for her.

  As soon as his feet touched the ground, Xena left Kelly’sside and plunked herself down next to Rick, a low rumble escaping her throat asshe looked at the others.

  “Shake hands with everyone,” Kelly told him. “Let her seethat they aren’t enemies.”

  “But they got off the helicopter with me,” he commented.

  She shook her head. “Doesn’t matter. She’ll sense everyoneas a danger to you until you show her differently.”

  Rick went through the process as Kelly dictated, making sureto smile at each person and introducing them as he did so.

  I can’t believe I’m making introductions to a dog, hethought, swallowing a smile.

  Kelly also shook hands with them. The rumble died away butXena still held her position.

  “Well.” Kelly walked over to them. “My curiosity is killingme. I know you and I spoke, Mia but I can’t imagine anything we discussed wouldhave brought you all the way up here. And so quickly.” She looked at Xena.“This is a rarity for us. We don’t usually have much company, as I told you.”

  “Could we go inside so we can sit down and talk?” Dan asked.“This will take more than a few minutes to explain.”

  “Of course. Excuse my manners. I have iced tea waiting and Ieven made cookies.” She looked at Xena, locking her eyes on the dog’s andsignaling her with her hand.

  She rose but still didn’t move.

  Kelly reached her hand out to Rick. “Come with me and keepholding my hand. She’ll follow along.”

  And that was what she did, wedging herself close to bothKelly and Rick as they all trooped into the house.

  As soon as their hands touched Rick felt the same tingle ofelectricity that had zinged him that day at the air field. Heat had streakedthrough his body and his groin tightened at the slight contact.

  Between missions, when he sought female companionship,Rick’s taste ran to petite yet well-endowed blondes, with curves in all theright places. Women who dressed in flirty clothes—or no clothes at all,depending on the situation. Kelly Monroe was tall and slender, her long redhair again in a neat braid. Her curves, covered in jeans and a tailored blouse,were subtle rather than lush. Yet every hormone in his body stood up and tooknotice.

  Well, hell! Control, Latrobe. Control.

  He was starting to wonder if they should even ask Kellyabout the trip. He was enough of a seasoned warrior not to let sex get in theway of a mission but being concerned about her and her safety was anotherthing. He’d just have to see how it played out.

  Kelly led them into a cool, high-ceilinged living room withold-fashioned, comfortable furniture in warm greens and yellows. Rick took alarge armchair set to one side, distancing himself from their hostess so hismind was on what they were here for. He leaned back in the chair and rested theankle of one leg on the opposite knee, focusing on the business at hand.

  When everyone had been served refreshments, Kelly perched ona straight chair and stared at them with an uncompromising look. “I’m not muchfor small talk, folks, so why don’t we get right into this. Why are you reallyhere and what do you want from me?”

  “Rick has told us about his meeting with you and Xena at ourairfield,” Dan explained. “And we’ve done a little research on the CaucasianOvcharkas.”

  She tilted her head, looking from one to the other, her gazestill puzzled. “Mia and I discussed that but I can’t believe your interest inthe dogs brought you all the way up here.”

  Mia smiled at her. “I know this seems totally off the wallto you but let me give you some background.” She launched into a briefdescription of the agency, what it did, the special gifts she and Faith had andthe new Psi department they were establishing.

  “As you can imagine, we aren’t a highly publicizedorganization,” Dan put in. “Sometimes we work for Uncle Sam on the QT,sometimes for high-profile corporations. No one wants their name in the paper.”

  “Same here,” Kelly nodded. “My dogs are very special,usually mistaken for household pets of their owners. Unless the owner is indanger. So you’re what…interested in the dog? In my kennel? I still don’tunderstand.”

  “Can you tell us a little bit about the training?” Danasked.

  It took a lot more explanation from Dan about theiroperation before Kelly was willing to share information, about either the dogsshe trained or Xena. The better part of two hours passed before they stoppedverbally dancing around each other and the conversation began in earnest.

  When Mia took over and told her about The Lotus Circle, Ricksaw sharp interest flash in Kelly’s eyes.

  “That’s actually what prompted this trip,” she added. “We’dlike to know a lot more about the relationship between you and Xena andanything special you can tell us. There are at least four women in the Circlewho have shared their experiences on the website. We think this might besomething we can incorporate into what we do.”

  Under Mia’s gentle prodding, Kelly related incident afterincident in which Xena has sensed danger—scented it was the way she put it—whenthere was absolutely nothing to indicate it. Warily she explained the mentalconnection she and the dog had established, how they were able to communicatesilently with each other. How Xena often invaded her dreams to send hermessages.

  Rick watched her stop periodically, as if waiting for theskepticism she was sure would come. When everyone simply nodded at her, shelooked confused.

  “You don’t look shocked. Any of you.”

  Mia smiled. “We’ve gone through the same thing, Faith and I.I wish she could have been here today to listen to this. She’d be just asexcited as I am.”

  “But don’t you still get people looking at you as if you’recrazy?”

  “Sometimes. But then we have our successes to point to. Andwe don’t exactly run around taking out front page ads.” She looked at Dan andMark, who nodded at her unspoken question, then crossed her legs and leanedforward. “Kelly, I wonder if we could persuade you and Xena to come to Marylandto our offices so we can do some testing. Nothing outrageous but, like I said,it may be possible that this could be a valuable addition to the departmentwe’re building. So many things are happening that we’re having to grow fasterthan we expected.”

  “I’m not sure that’s possible. What would it involve? Andwhat would you expect of me afterwards?” She waved her hand at the window andthe land beyond. “I have obligations here. A business to run.”

  “We understand that,” Mark broke in. “But we discussedbriefly incorporating Ovcharkas into our operation if we could learn enoughabout them. And there may be situations where you and Xena could be valuable.”

  “Even if she�
�s a one-person dog?”

  Mia grinned. “Now, you know that’s not really the case anylonger. She’s made a connection with Rick. There may be times, if you werewilling, that Xena could be a real asset in some of the missions Rick takeson.”

  Kelly shook her head. “No. I don’t think that’s possible.Xena never goes anywhere without me and I couldn’t make myself that available.”

  “What about if you just tried it once?” Rick asked, watchingher carefully.

  She swung her head toward him. “What do you mean?”

  He chose his words carefully, gauging her reaction. He stillwasn’t convinced himself this was such a good idea. “I have a little tripcoming up that may have some inherent problems. I know something’s wrong but Ican’t put my finger on it. If you and Xena came along, you’d be my edge. Mylive radar detectors, so to speak.”

  “And where exactly would you be going?” she asked.

  Rick cleared his throat. “Iraq.”

  Kelly’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Not in the least. I have a shipment to deliver to a privatesecurity force we’ve trained over there and something’s going on. I need allthe help I can get to watch my back.”

  No one said anything as they all waited for Kelly to makethe next move. At last she shook her head.

  “I’m sorry. It’s just not possible.” She looked directly atRick. “Even if I could arrange to have someone take care of the animals for meit wouldn’t be for more than a day or two. I think I already stretched myassistants to the limit when I took my trip to Florida. Most of our dogs areabout ready to move on to their owners and the last of the training is verytricky.”

  “I understand,” Mark said, “but—”

  “And certainly the last place in the world I plan on goingis Iraq.” She let her gaze travel over everyone else in the room. “I can’timagine you even asking me that.”

  “You’d simply be accompanying Rick on a cargo delivery,”Mark said. “You and Xena.”

  “I’m not trained for whatever might crop up,” she pointedout, something Rick had been aware of since the suggestion was made. “I’dprobably be more of a liability than an asset. Both of us.”