Page 21 of Kent's Watch
“You come out to The Centre with me the next time we go. I’ll train Zeke, you can train Tate. But not before I see if you can handle Zeke by yourself.”
“You’d be willing to do that?”
Kent grinned. “Until I’m needed at the Brotherhood, or a call comes in for search and rescue, I have nothing but time on my hands.”
“Oh.” Rita didn’t know what else to say. She was silent for at least two minutes before she gave a decisive nod. “Yes, I would love to learn how to rock climb and rappel, not only for myself, but also with Zeke.”
“It would be a pleasure to teach you.”
“Thanks, I can’t do it this week, I have things to do, but I’m free on Saturday.”
“Great, meet me at The Centre at ten?”
“I can do that.” Rita stuck her hand out and they shook. They both jerked their hands back at the contact and grinned at each other. “I’m looking forward to it.” She quickly turned on her heel to head back across the lot to the building, leaving Kent to stare after her dumbfounded. He looked down at Tate and shook his head.
“Should be interesting.” He helped the pup into his truck and headed home. Because he had been at the Centre all weekend, he needed to clean his house. Not that he was expecting anyone to come over, but it would be nice to have a clean space. He had left a pair of socks on the floor and Tate had gotten ahold of one ofthem. Shaking his head at the memory, he climbed in his truck and headed for home.
Days later,Kent turned off the water in his shower, opened the door, grabbed a towel and asked sternly, “What do you think you’re doing?” He had caught Tator trying to open the clothes hamper with his nose. The dog quickly sat on his rump and turned his puppy-dog eyes toward Kent.
“Don’t look at me in that tone of voice,” Kent laughed. “It’s not going to work.” He toweled off and walked into his bedroom. The pup sat in the doorway the entire time Kent dressed, and never moved until Kent went to the bedroom door. He had thought he’d latched it before jumping into the shower, but somehow, Tator had opened it. Shaking his head, he went into the hall, and smiled as he heard the dog’s nails on the tile floor. In the kitchen he poured his first cup of coffee for the day. As he reached for the door of his refrigerator, his phone went off.
“Hello?” He didn’t bother looking to see who had called him, he’d just answered it.
“Kent? It’s Rita.”
“Oh, hey, what’s up?”
“Class is canceled for today.”
“What’s wrong?” he immediately asked when he heard the tension in her voice. His first thought was that Vickers had gotten to her. He held his breath as he waited for her response.
Rita was silent for several heartbeats, then he heard a sign over the phone. “I hate to ask, because both you and Tate aren’t completely trained yet.”
“When and where?” Kent demanded, not caring that he wasn’t officially trained by CSAR’s regulations.
“Now, at the campground halfway between here and Colorado Springs. There’s a missing child. Three years old, last seen last night when they put him to bed in his tent. When the parents got up this morning, they couldn’t find him.” Rita gave her statement in a monotone.
“We’ll be there,” Kent agreed, and Rita hung up on him, but not before saying she’d text him the location. Kent quickly dressed his feet, made sure he had everything he’d need for Tate, and hurried out the door, talking to his dog the entire time. With the address programmed in his GPS, he got underway. As soon as he hit the highway, he used the feature on his steering wheel to make a call.
“This better be good,” Asher growled into the phone.
“Did he wake you too?” Ryder groused.
“Fuck, is this a conference call?” Mason asked.
“Yes, Rita called. I don’t know whether you guys will be needed or not, but I want to put you on alert.”
“For?” Cruz demanded.
“Lost boy, three-years-old, parents saw him when they put him in his tent last night, gone this morning. They’re at a campground halfway from here to The Springs. I texted you the location already. Tate and I are on our way.”
“Will you need us?” Mason asked, all business now.
“Don’t know, I’ll let you know. I just wanted you on alert in case I do have to call you in.”
“Thanks, keep us posted.” They hung up and Kent felt better that his buddies might be able to come in and help if it was warranted. This was the first civilian search and rescue mission he had ever been on, and the first one with his own dog.
He looked over his shoulder at Tate. “No time like the present to teach you tracking skills,” he told the dog and kept driving. Forty minutes later he pulled into the campground and was stopped by the police there.
