Page 16 of Kent's Watch
“Wow, that’s impressive. First, is Bluey still his name? Or did this Palmer change it?”
“He changed it. Said when he was working his name would be Tate, when not working, it would be Tator or Tator Tot.”
Marvin threw his head back and laughed. “I can see it. Did he say that Tate baked a little too long in the oven?”
“Yes.”
Marvin studied his daughter and cocked his head to one side to study her. It took a few minutes, but he sat up straight and grinned at her. “You like him.”
“What? No, I don’t.”
Marvin continued to grin at her. “Tell me one reason why you don’t trust him.”
“I just did. Bluey,” she started, the wrinkled her nose at her father’s expression. “Fine, Tate takes to training better thanTank did. He’s miles ahead of the others and if this keeps up, both of them will be graduated before the others.”
“Do you think he’ll train Tate on his own outside of class?”
“Well, they’re supposed to, but I personally think he’ll take it further than the basic stuff we teach. Between you and me, I think he’ll try to train him military style.”
“What makes you think that?” Marvin rose and went for the coffee pot. He refilled their cups, returned the carafe to the stand, and rejoined his daughter at the table.
“When Sheriff Jim came to talk to him, he admitted he was former military. The K-9 experience he had was with military dogs.” Rita frowned when her father let out a long whistle.
“Do you remember what branch?”
“Air Force.”
Marvin scowled at his daughter. “I don’t recall the Air Force using K-9s. Now, if it was the Army or the Marines, I can understand, but isn’t the Air Force all about planes?”
“Apparently not,” Rita said bitterly. She reached over and took the computer from her father and quickly typed in the research she’d done the night before. Once it was ready to be viewed she looked at her father, but didn’t turn the computer toward him.
“After what happened with Vickers, I contacted Jake over at Brotherhood. I told him what happened and wanted an in-depth background check done on all the applicants. Deeper than what we usually do.”
“Okay, I agree with that. That was smart on your part. What did he come up with?”
“Nothing stuck out with the remaining applicants, but this is what I received about Kent.” She opened the file she’d brought with her when she’d retrieved her computer and handed over the stapled pages. She studied her father’s face intently as he flipped through them.
“Holy hell, this is all redacted.” He looked at his daughter in concern. “This either means he was in a secret branch, like Black Ops, or he was a bad egg.”
“I’m going with your first choice.”
“Why?”
“Because when Sheriff Jim asked him questions, I stood two feet away from him and heard everything he had to say. Not once did he falter in his answers. He told Jim that he was in the Air Force for twenty years. While in he was in a special unit called AFSPECWAR.”
“What’s that?”
“It stands for Air Force Special Warfare. In my research, I’ve found that they received highly specialized training.” She looked at her father and shook her head. “Get this, this is a list of just some of what they were trained to do. Recon, operating behind enemy lines, the team he was on was used to assess any situation, buildings, terrain, cyber opportunities. Kent explained to Jim that his team went in ahead of time if a VIP, or special dignitary would be in the area. They went in, did their job, and reported back to the powers that be whether it was safe or not for that person to be there.”
“Okay, but what aren’t you telling me?”
“During my research,” Rita started, then drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I found several positions the team Kent was on held. Oh, in case you didn’t know, the entire team he was with while in the military retired and they are now working for Jake’s Brotherhood Protectors. According to both Kent and Jake, it’s not permanent, but they are called in when needed. Something like the Brotherhood Secret Service.”
“Wow, what are the positions on the teams?”
Rita turned the computer toward her father, rose from her chair, and went to stand behind him. She pointed to the screen. “Combat Control, Pararescue, Special Reconnaissance,Humanitarian Assistance, and Tactical Air Control. Kent told Jim that he was the team’s Pararescue specialist.”
“What did that entail?”
