Page 3 of Kent's Watch
“Thanks.” He opened it and downed half of it before he came up for air. “What brings you here?”
“Noreen’s working late, and I thought I’d stop by here to see how you were settling in while I waited for her.”
“Ah.” Kent nodded, then scowled at the other man. “Wait, don’t you have a daughter?”
“She’s at a friend’s house for the night.”
“Got it.” Kent nodded and looked around at the empty boxes. He smiled when Spencer walked over, withdrew a pocket knife, and immediately began breaking down the boxes. Kent shook his head as he continued to unpack. It wasn’t much, and he’d been there for a week, but his things hadn’t been delivered until late that morning. As he unpacked, he talked with Spencer.
“I have to thank you again for letting me sub-let this apartment from you.”
“Not a problem. Since Noreen and I married, we live in her house now, we only used this place when she had to work late, and Chloe was with friends. I think in the last year, we’ve used it maybe six times. Oh, that reminds me,” he said as he walked away, causing Kent to follow him.
“What are you doing?”
“I want to show you that in the spring, when it started warming up, I turned the pilot off to the furnace. I do it every summer. Saves on gas, and there’s not a wall of heat coming from here.” He opened the door where the furnace was, and showed him what he meant. Kent nodded and asked about other things in the apartment, then realized he would have to put new furnace filters on his shopping list.
“Question.”
“What?”
“Does this apartment allow pets.”
“Sort of?” Spencer said it as a question.
“How can you sort of allow pets?” Kent laughed at him as he grabbed another beer and helped finish breaking down the boxes.
“Service dogs are allowed, emotion animals are allowed, but not pets.”
“That’s stupid.”
“Yes, the landlord figures that if any of those animals are allowed, then the dog wouldn’t be home alone all day tearing up the place.”
“Ah, that I can understand.”
“Why? You wanting to get a pet?”
“I do, but it wouldn’t be a pet, if I get accepted, then it would be considered a service dog.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I filled out the application for Chambers Search and Rescue. I’d get one of their pups, train with them, then the pup would be mine afterward. It would still be in training for other things, but when a call came, I’d take it and go out on the call.”
Spencer looked at him for so long, Kent started getting nervous. “What?”
“Nothing, I’m trying to remember what you did in the Air Force.”
Kent laughed as he settled in a chair at the island when Spencer came over and sat in the other one. “I was AFSPECWAR.”
“Remind me again what that is.”
“Air Force Special Warfare, which in reality means Air Force Special Forces. The guys and I were on a team.” At Spencer’s curious look, Kent smiled as he explained, “We were called in to assess a situation. If a visiting dignitary was going someplace, we were most likely called in to see if the area was safe. All our work was done behind enemy lines, and no one knew we were there, not even the visiting bigwig. We assessed the safest routes to and from the location, what were the conditions, anything that could cause a problem for both the client and protector. We even went in to rescue downed soldiers from helicopter or plane crashes. On the team, I was a Pararescue and I specialized in search and rescue, along with being in combat medical.”
“Oh shit. I’ve heard of you guys. No offense, but not you in particular, but definitely what you did.”
“Yeah, we were called in to assess the situation after your last mission went FUBAR and you were kicked out. I think some of your reinstatement might be based on our reports.”
“Well, if it did or didn’t, I thank you for sticking your neck out for us. It was a long hard road, but we’re finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. According to the last communication we had, we’ll probably be called back to Washington in the next few months to be told to stay away, or given our accreditation back.” Spencer grinned evilly at Kent, enough to cause him to shiver.
