Courage Under Fire. Sharon Dunn

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       THREE

      Lani clicked the leash onto the collar of the six-month-old yellow Lab and headed out of the training center to walk the pup. She was glad to be back to work after a required day off. Oscar was one of eight puppies born to Stella, a yellow Lab, who had been a gift to the unit from the Czech Republic. The dogs had all been put into foster homes. Oscar had been brought back to the training center to assess if he would be good K-9 material and maybe assigned to Lani. She tried not to get too hopeful about Oscar. Other dogs she’d trained with had initially seemed like a good fit. She pushed aside the frustration she felt over not getting her own K-9 partner after so many months.

      As she stepped out into the early morning to walk the dog, the sun bathed her skin. She turned the corner.

      The idea of taking the dogs out was not only for exercise but getting them used to staying focused with a million distractions around them. This street usually had fewer people and less traffic than Ninety-Fourth Street where the K-9 offices and training center were.

      All the same, the streets already bustled with activity, visual and auditory. Oscar heeled with his head up, taking in the buzz of the city. Pedestrians brushed past them on the sidewalks. Car horns blared as traffic rolled by. In the distance, she detected the intense rhythm of a jackhammer.

      This was her city. Walking the dogs was part of her routine while on duty. Still, a fearful hesitation made her a little less confident in her step. The boat her attacker had escaped in was never found. She’d gone for a run on her day off which usually cleared her head, but not this time. Her sleep had been fitful.

      Oscar’s tail wagged when a group of children walked past him. She gave the leash a slight jerk to let him know that as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t interact with the children.

      “We’re on duty,” she said.

      The crowd thinned as they approached an abandoned building that used to be a multistoried department store. She could feel the soreness from the attack. She increased her pace. Oscar’s little legs kept up with hers. If she slowed, he responded. The dog was sharp. She loved all the K-9 recruits, but she liked how quickly Oscar picked up on her cues. They seemed to be dialed into each other, a quality that was essential in working with a partner, K-9 or human.

      She’d requested that he be brought out of foster care to see if he’d be good K-9 material. Not all dogs had the temperament to be K-9s. In her first encounter with Oscar, when he was just weaned at eight weeks, he had sat back on his haunches and looked up at her, tilting his head to one side as if to say, At your service, ma’am.

      Oscar seemed to have alerted on something across the street. She followed the line of his gaze. Noah Jameson stood beside a coffee cart waiting for his morning cup. He offered Lani a small wave before he turned back toward headquarters. He must be busy today if he was getting his coffee from a street cart. Most of the officers went to Griffin’s diner for coffee. Scotty wasn’t with him. He must be back at Noah’s office.

      “He’s all right, isn’t he, Oscar?” Noah had always struck her as being emotionally closed down. She had seen a more caring side to him after the training exercise fell apart. Maybe he was human after all.

      A scraping sound above her caused her to tilt her head. A large square object came right toward her at a rapid speed, filling her field of vision. She jumped to one side, falling against the brick exterior of the building. The few people on the sidewalk scattered as well. In her panic, Lani had let go of Oscar’s leash.

      An air-conditioning unit shattered on the concrete. Some of the pieces still vibrated from the impact.

      An older man rushed toward her. “Are you all right?”

      Dazed and in shock, Lani got to her feet with the man’s help. She brushed the dust off her uniform.

      “What a bizarre accident.” An older woman approached Lani. She tilted her head. “It must have been loose or something.” The woman patted СКАЧАТЬ