Payback (The Canine Handler Book 1)

by Hillegas, Maria

  It didn’t go unnoticed on the rest of the responders. They edged further away from where he stood.

  “This is a complete waste of time and resources,” the dive team commander declared, slamming open the door. He stormed out of the command unit.

  Unaffected by the drama, the lieutenant turned toward her communication officer. “Can you raise the park rangers and see if we can get two rangers and two of their boats to meet us over here to run the dogs and their handlers?”

  The communication officer immediately put in the transmission. Rangers responded quickly. They could supply two men and two boats at the dock closet to the command unit in twenty minutes.

  “Sarah, get Gunner and yourself ready to go,” Kellee directed. “I want you two in the first boat starting on the southern shore. I’ll ride with you. We’ll give Joe and Garrett the other task starting from the northern shore.” Kellee picked up her FRS radio to contact the other canine team members and let them know what their next assignment would be.

  Tentatively, Sarah stepped outside the command unit and headed back to her truck. She was trying to control her anxieties. Scenarios played out in her head of what the outcome might be. She tried to stay optimistic that this would all work out. Positive her dog was right, she felt like she was being put to the fire.

  Water searches could be a long, drawn-out process; it can be stressful work in itself. Adding in all of the negative attitudes from the dive team only made the stress rise to a higher level. She knew if they failed this task, it was pretty much over for her team as far as getting called out from this agency in the future. Resources clashing didn’t go unnoticed to those running the incident. Much would be riding on this search assignment. God, I hope this goes well.

  Taking a deep breath, she tried to focus on the task at hand. She needed to find her PFD—personal flotation device—as well as the dogs, a plastic baggy to store her paperwork and GPS, and change into her water shoes. She would need to check for any changes in the air movement while on the boat.

  Don’t forget the baby powder, she thought.

  Chapter 9

  Sarah

  The radio Sarah had pocketed in her chest halter buzzed with transmission traffic. She listened to the exchanges as she pulled Gunner from his crate and readied him for the water search task. The dog had settled down a notch since first arriving on scene, but he still exhibited boundless energy. He bounced and jumped along the tailgate making it difficult for Sarah.

  “Gunner! Settle!” she directed exasperatedly. The dog stopped for a moment and stared at Sarah. He gave her a look that expressed she was ruining his fun. It gave Sarah enough time to pull his vest over his head and latch the hard plastic fasteners along the side. She clipped a long line to the carabineer on the back of his vest and a leash to his prong collar. “Okay, good boy. Off,” she commanded and moved back to allow Gunner to jump from the tailgate of the truck.

  Afternoon was beginning to wane, which concerned Sarah. Actually, it was getting late in the day to perform a search on the water by boat. Although there were still a few hours of daylight left, gridding a mass of water took a slow and methodical approach if you planned to do it correctly. It was a process you couldn’t rush. The lowering sun created shadows on the water which made it more difficult to see into any depth as well. Luck would have to be on the team’s side to find a body within the timeframe they were hoping for.

  Keep calm and don’t rush, she told herself on one hand, but we need to get a move on to get started! She felt like she was always in conflict, if not with whatever situation she was dealing with at the time, she was in conflict with herself.

  Sarah took Gunner to the edge of the woods so he could take care of his business. She stood a few feet away from him as he sniffed about the tree line, picking out the perfect spot. Eyeing Kellee as she waited for him, Sarah gave her a thumb’s up sign to let her know she was ready. Kellee leaned against her van, watching and waiting.

  Sarah had begun to tire. She felt the effects of the long day, with just a few hours of sleep between work and the call-out. At least I will be pretty much stationary while on the boat. Gunner will be doing most of the work.

  Suddenly, she remembered she had brought a second coffee from home. Jackpot! She leaned in and grabbed it from her truck cab on the way past. Cold and old is better than nothing at all, she laughed to herself. She tried to sip from the travel mug and negotiate walking the large boisterous German Shepherd across the lot to the dock and boat ramp.

  “Good to go?” Kellee asked as they continued to the meeting area.

  “Yeah, believe so,” Sarah said and subconsciously touched the trial-size baby power in her BDU pocket. She knew she had remembered it, but was beginning to feel excited and anxious about the water search. Touching the object made her reel in a degree. The same as she would touch the many scars on her body acquired from foster upbringing. Battle wounds made her, just, feel. Push it out of your mind, Sarah!

  As Sarah, Kellee and Gunner rounded the bend to the ramp and dock, they could see the rangers already waiting with two boats. Sarah spied the dive team who were on standby. They sat on the dock with their feet dangling over the edge. Their conversation quieted as the women and the dog walked past. Not all of the members of the dive team had an issue with working dogs on the water, but since it worked its way from the top down, there wasn’t much chance of changing the team’s attitude toward the canine handlers. They followed their superior’s attitude and orders. Especially when he was standing right there with them.

  As the lieutenant had dictated, the dive team had been given other tasks. They would serve as the safety team while the rangers and dog teams were on the water. Responsible for watching the boats, keeping notes of how long the teams were out and when they made radio contact and checks. They would serve as emergency back-up to the dog teams and rangers if needed and be ready for a recovery dive if a canine team were to pinpoint the body.

  Not all divers have issues with dogs, Sarah thought. Sarah’s canine team trained with dive organizations from other counties that helped prepare them for water evaluations. It wasn’t the type of resource; it was who was in charge of the resource that set the attitude.

  Sarah sized up the round-faced ranger with thinning hair who would command their boat. She had met him in the past and welcomed his warm reception. “Hey, Ranger Owen,” Sarah said with a tired smile, “we appreciate you allowing us to work our dogs from your boats.”

  “Oh, no problem. We’re here to help.” He returned the smile. “We would really like to locate the owner of this boat and conclude the search,” the ranger replied warily. “This sure turned into more of a mess than we bargained for,” he grunted.

  Kellee boarded the boat first so Sarah could hand Gunner’s leash off to her. The ranger steadied the boat as Sarah stepped from the dock. Gunner effortlessly followed her lead and leapt from the dock onto the boat’s deck. Sarah was more than proud of him. She also worried and fawned over him. She reveled in his agility, ability and beauty; she was emotionally tied to her dogs.

  Sarah kept a tight grip on Gunner’s leash. “Easy, buddy.” The dog was excited to be on the boat. Any chance to scent and work for his reward was reason enough. Gunner pulled Sarah from the stern to the bow as he checked the entire vessel out. The boat had a center console where the driver was stationed. There was room between the console, deck and gunwale. This could prove beneficial because it allowed the dog to have full access to the water from any area of the boat.

  As the ranger started the engine, it whined for a moment, and sputtered water when the engine turned over. It purred as he put it in neutral. “All ready?” he called pulling the line from the dock. The women nodded in unison. Once the ranger pointed the bow toward the opening of the small cove to head out to the open waters of the lake, Kellee set about describing to him a loosely laid-out plan of how to maneuver the boat once they reached their search area. She wanted to make sure he understood how the dog worked
, and exactly the way to follow the dog’s nose and body language.

  As Kellee described the strategy and what canine body alerts looked like, she kept an eye on Sarah and Gunner. He was a big, strong-willed animal. “Hang on to him, Sarah. We don’t want him jumping over,” Kellee warned.

  The dog was straining against his long line and harness. They both knew how much the dog enjoyed the water. Although Gunner looked to his handler for guidance, he also had his own ideas of where and when he should start searching and how it should be handled.

  Aside from keeping an eye on her dog in the boat, Sarah strained to keep her hat on her head and her hair in place as the boat steered out onto the lake. The small motor wasn’t that strong and couldn’t go very fast, but fast enough to blow her hat off. The thought made her want to pull the cuffs down on her long-sleeve uniform shirt as well. One dirty secret leads to another. At the moment she had one hand looped around her dog’s long line and the other holding her hat down, trying to steady herself on the seat near the boat’s bow.

  Gunner continued to strain at the line attached to his back. He balanced his forepaws on the gunwale near the starboard side of the boat with his hind end standing erect on the seat near his handler. With his nose already searching the air, he alternated between scenting low to the surface of the lake and stretching and testing the air above him. Sarah could tell he was working. He was hunting for an unknown human scent—a scent that didn’t belong to the humans who were already in his scent picture.

  As they rounded the cove and came to the start of their work area, Kellee pulled out her GPS and marked the start location coordinates. She radioed in to base to let them know they were starting their task and jotted down a few notes on her waterproof pad. The ranger slowed the motor and positioned the boat to grid east toward the dam and parallel to the shoreline where base camp was set up. Starting from the center of the lake, they would work their grid lines east to west, slowly making their way south toward the shoreline. Sarah stood up and reeled out more of Gunner’s long line to allow him added freedom within the boat.

  “Okay, buddy. All up to you now,” she told the dog. It distracted him and he wagged his tail heartily looking at her for a moment before returning to sniff the water and air. Sarah really hadn’t needed to bother. Gunner had already begun to work. He didn’t need a boost from her to do his job.

  Sarah pulled the baby powder from her BDU pants pocket. She stayed downwind of everyone in the boat and squeezed off a few puffs. The talcum powder formed a small cloud at first. She watched as it wafted on the wind, the direction it went and how it dissipated. It lifted up slightly, widened and shot toward the southern shore in the prevailing northerly wind. Perfect, she thought, the wind is still pretty much blowing toward the southern shoreline. This will put Gunner in a great position to follow up on Sam’s indication from earlier.

  Even though Sarah had complete trust in both her dogs, her stomach was in a knot. This search had turned into a much tougher situation than anticipated. Feeling as though she was carrying the whole weight of her team and their reputation on her and Gunner’s shoulders, she knew they couldn’t fail at this task. Why is everything such a struggle! Always having to prove myself, she thought. She felt a small spark of anger rise up. As if reading her emotions, Gunner turned back to look at Sarah, locking eyes with her. “Get to work,” she said in a high-pitched voice. Be positive or I’m going to blow this whole assignment.

  “Everything good?” Kellee asked. She stood beside the ranger at the console. The two had been discussing water levels, temperatures and increased vegetation that had grown so well this year in the lake due to how clear the water was and how much sun had been able to penetrate deeper into the lake’s waters. Sarah’s mood hadn’t gone unnoticed.

  “Just tired, it’s been a long day with only a few hours of sleep. I’ll be fine.” Sarah mustered up a smile with her reply as she looked up. She knew Kellee was reprimanding her. Sarah turned away to concentrate on her dog and the surroundings. Day was turning into early evening, giving way to longer shadows falling across the glistening water. The sun’s rays bounced and reflected off the casual rising and falling drifts the boat forged in its wake. The wind had dropped down in strength, but still had a nice steady breeze flowing south. Sarah spied her teammates working across the lake nearer the northern shore. Gunner caught their scent, identified and cataloged it and went back to his task at hand.

  The ranger finished the fourth long grid from west to east. He throttled back on the motor preparing to turn around near the dam and head west toward Round Island. Suddenly, Gunner’s head snapped like he had slammed into a solid wall. Jumping from the bow of the boat, he leaned over the side with a closed snout forcefully sucking in the air over his more than 220 million olfactory receptors. The ranger looked up to the women for guidance; the dog’s actions were not lost on him either. Gunner started to move along the inside of the boat, trying to keep in contact with this new human’s scent.

  “Watch where his nose leads him and try and follow,” Kellee instructed the ranger and pointed to where the dog wanted to go. “Gunner is trying to work out where the scent is coming from. Once he can really lock on, it will be easier to pursue where he wants to go.” The ranger responded by keeping a watchful eye as Gunner moved along the deck.

  Pulling the GPS out once more, Kellee hit the Mark Waypoints button on the front panel, and noted the coordinates on her waterproof pad with “Dog’s first alert.” She pulled out her radio to call in the dog’s alert to base camp. She watched Sarah follow behind Gunner giving him the support he needed to help work out where the scent was rising off the water. Water search work took serious focus and stamina for the dog. Between keeping his body steady in the boat and continually staying motivated to search for scent, it could prove very fatiguing.

  “Keep us posted,” base camp replied. “We’ll keep eyes on you from the shore. Dive team has been notified and is on standby ready to go in.”

  “Copy that,” Kellee replied, releasing her thumb off the receiver and pocketing her radio.

  They had gone several meters back toward the west when Gunner turned in the boat and headed back to the stern. Sarah looked back at the ranger. “On it,” he said and swung the boat sharply back east and in the direction of the dam.

  The dog’s body movements became more intense, showing frustration. He snapped at the air and hung himself over the gunwale trying to bite at the water. A few short woofs escaped his throat. Sarah painted a serious face, concentrating on where her dog wanted to go. She knew they were closing in. The thought he had actually found the body excited Sarah, but it also caused her a ping of sadness. It meant her dog had located someone deceased. She had to push those thoughts from her mind and believe that she and her team were actually helping someone with closure. Piecing together the other item Gunner had found earlier left several wild thoughts running through her head as well.

  The ranger made smaller and shorter grids as he watched Gunner and followed the direction the dog’s nose led. The dog stood still and studied the air for a moment. Gunner’s decision process could be seen by everyone in the boat as he calculated the situation. He sucked back into a secured position along the gunwale then broke loose. He vigorously began to bark. A deep, full bark spilled out, filled with spittle which sprayed Sarah and Kellee. The dog was locked on. Close enough to where the scent was coming up through the water and leaving the surface.

  Appearing almost possessed, Gunner tried to jump over the edge. Kellee took up some of the dog’s long line and helped to hold him in the boat. Sarah peered over into the water beside Gunner, pulling a Kong on a rope from her pocket. She swooped the toy down below the barking dog and brought it up to him as a reward for pinpointing the scent. Sarah tried to make it appear as if the toy had come up from the water, but Gunner knew it had been in her pocket the whole ride. There was no fooling him; he knew how the game worked. He latched onto the toy with a forceful bite and gnashed the rubber K
ong between his powerful jaws. He continued to bark and mash the toy as he hung over the boat.

  “Good boy, Gunner!” Sarah heaped on him as she gave him a few swift, hard pats along his rib cage.

  Sarah looked back at Kellee. She couldn’t contain the excitement, her grin stretched wide across her face. Kellee returned a quick smile. Picking up the GPS and radio once more, Kellee noted the coordinates and called in a confirmed indication and location. Their boat rested about 50 meters off the dam and 200 meters from the southern shoreline where base camp stood.

  “Is anything visible?” base camp called back.

  “That would be a negative,” Kellee responded to base, “but it seems very dark and thick here. It’s hard to see more than a few feet into the water, especially in this fading light. There’s not enough direct sunlight to see to any depth.”

  “Maintain your location until we can get a diver out there.”

  “Copy.” Kellee replaced her radio. She pulled out her smartphone and took a few quick pictures to help triangulate their position. She also snapped a few shots of Gunner and Sarah. They would be pictures she would eventually send to the lieutenant as well for their files if needed.

  Sarah knew her dog had located a body. She wouldn’t breathe easy until she actually laid her eyes on the cadaver. The area Gunner indicated was deep, dark and possibly full of vegetation. The visibility sucked. It would make it tough going for a diver as well. Sending one into such a deep area with vegetation and limited light was seriously putting someone’s life on the line.

  Turning to Kellee and the ranger, Sarah spoke. ”Maybe we should wait until morning when there is better light for the dive team to go down.” She knew the divers would be hard-headed. They were skilled in rescue and recovery operations and had certain protocol to follow. But she also knew they were out to prove her wrong and would not wait until the morning.