Page 1 of Flashback

ONE

These mountains wereAllie Monroe’s last hope. They weren’t nearly far enough to escape her past, but then again, nothing was. At least here she had the best shot at getting away and focusing on her search and rescue work. It’s really all she had, and she’d been out of it for far too long. She’d settle for a good training session with Scout so she could get back to it.

Of course, to do that, her best friend needed to get out of her cozy little bed in the camper next door. Allie might not be able to see the sun dawning on the horizon, with all the trees and the Rocky Mountains in the way, but there was plenty of light to hit the forest trail, even with the haze of wildfire smoke in the air.

Her phone rang. Allie stared at the picture of her mother and father together right outside the church she’d grown up in. Their smiling faces stirred up too much to deal with this early in the morning. She’d have to call her mother later. Or text. Mom would understand. There was too much riding on getting Scout trained to hear all about how great her siblings were doing at the moment.

She set the prepped backpack by her orange-and-yellow tent while her black Labrador sniffed around the campsite. Hefollowed his nose to the base of a ponderosa pine until the slap of the camper door broke his concentration. He made a beeline for Belle Jamison as she walked toward them.

Finally.

“Ugh. How do you function this early?” Belle’s blonde curls escaping from the wide floral headband took the termbed headto a new level.

“You’re awake.” Allie pocketed her phone. “Great. I was thinking?—”

“Whoa. Pump the brakes.” Belle held up a hand. “I’m here, but I need a shower house visit and a couple mugs of coffee before I’m ready for anything.”

Scout whined. Her friend knelt down and scrubbed his neck with both hands. His tail thumped like a jackhammer.

“He’s a morning person like you.” Belle’s groggy voice teased. “No wonder you picked him out.”

“Actually, Dani picked him out for me.” As one of the lead trainers at the SAR K9 school outside of Benson, Washington, Dani Masterson was who Allie aspired to be. “He’s smart, but he’s no Dixie. He hardly listens to me on the first go.”

“Yeah, but is it even fair to compare the two dogs?”

“I guess not.” No animal could replace the sweet golden retriever mix that had stayed loyally by her side for the last seven years. Dixie could practically read her mind.

“You and Dixie just had a special bond. You’ll get there with Scout too.”

Would she? Her bond with Dixie had been forged by heartbreak and trauma, and even Belle didn’t know the whole of it. Allie couldn’t go through that again.

She shook the painful memories away.

Scout was intelligent and eager. He had the drive a search and rescue K9 needed, but they still weren’t…connecting.

“He needs to trust me. And we should’ve been at that point months ago.”

“Give him time.” Belle stood, letting Scout go on exploring. “And I know that’s why you’re all gung ho about hitting the trail and getting that training done, so why don’t you brew us some coffee and I’ll be back in a jiff.” She walked away toward the shower house in her flip-flops and pajama shorts.

Right. Coffee. And probably she should feed her dog. “Scout, come.”

He glanced her way for a second, then went back to sniffing out what was probably a chipmunk trail. He lifted a back leg and left his mark.

“Gee, thanks.” She stifled the sigh that rose. How exactly did Dani get him to listen to her? She could whisper a command at the training school, and Scout would immediately follow it and beg for more.

She tried a slightly higher voice. “Ready for breakfast?”

At that, she had all his attention. Scout trotted over and sat at her feet.

“Oh, sure. You come on the first call if it’s got to do with food, huh?”

She scooped food into his collapsible camping bowl. “Eat up now. As soon as Belle is back and properly caffeinated, she’ll hide out in that big forest, and you get to find her.”

He didn’t bother looking up at her as he dug into his kibble.

“I know you hear me.” She just didn’t understand why he didn’tlistento her. They needed that figured out by the end of this five-day trip.

She’d already missed so many opportunities. Opportunities to help find the lost. God couldn’t possibly expect her to sit around doing nothing while she had the resources to help.

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