Payback (The Canine Handler Book 1) Read Free

she didn’t have a great deal of knowledge when it came to their mechanics.
    “Do you know who the boat belongs to? Has a cursory inland search been done?” Sarah continued.
    “Park rangers are still trying to identify the vehicles in the parking lot with empty boat trailers and are working on finding out who owns the boat. Rangers have also visually checked along the shorelines without success. It’s been a few hours since it was found and no one has come to claim it. Right now we have a few agencies responding… local dive team and a small ground-pounder unit. We’d like to get your team out there as well. They’re certified for water search, right?”
    Sarah cringed at the mention of the local dive team. She recalled that they had been difficult to network with from earlier experience. Pretentious bastard, Sarah thought as she remembered her encounter with the dive team’s commander. Not a thought she wanted to convey to Dave at the moment.
    “Oh yeah, both of my dogs are certified for water recovery as well as a few other handlers and canines on my team.” She watched her dogs stretch and yawn continuously as though trying to defuse a tense situation. They watched her from the corners of their eyes. Their behavior perplexed her, but she put it off, thinking they were feeding off her energy. “What’s base camp’s coordinates?” Sarah asked.
    Dave read off the coordinates and Sarah copied them down along with a few additional notes in her waterproof notepad.
    “Can I also get a contact number for you and base camp? Once I find out how many team members are available and their ETA, I’ll call you back.” Dave gave her his cell number as well as that of the lieutenant managing the search.
    “Great, Sarah, really appreciate it. Looking forward to hearing back from you soon.”
    Sarah ended the call. Her mind raced with thoughts of all that needed to be done. Her pulse quickened and her anxiety level pushed higher.
    Stop it. Just chill out , she told herself. One deep breath, and Sarah began to make mental notes. First off, she texted her teammates to see who was available. She typed in the code for the deployment, and the search type.
    Once Sarah sent the call-out, she began to get herself and her dogs, Gunner and Sam ready. Most of her equipment was already loaded in the truck, so there wouldn’t be much to prepare. Most first responders kept their supplies ready and waiting in their vehicles. Right now, she needed to wait on responses from her team.
    The reality of it all started to dawn on her. This was the first time she had personally responded to an agency request for the team. Although she had been on numerous past searches in a supporting role, she had never actually deployed with her own dogs. Newly certified, they had only recently passed all of their evaluations.
    But we train like we’d been deployed , she thought. She took a deep breath trying to control her excitement and nerves. A lot will be riding on this call-out.
    First things first , she thought. She’d only had a couple hours of sleep. Coffee. Strong coffee. She filled the brewer to the top with water, doubled up on the grounds and flipped the switch.
    The dogs picked up on her heightened anxiety. You could see the energy radiate from Gunner and Sam. The more boisterous of the two German Shepherds, Gunner ran laps between Sarah and the front door. Sliding to a stop, he almost knocked her over. Sam pretty much glued himself to Sarah’s side and wouldn’t take his attention off her.
    “Settle!” she yelled. They both looked at her numbly. “How do you guys even know what’s going on?” It was like they could read her mind.
    Both Gunner and Sam were search and rescue canines skilled in the art of air-scenting to locate lost people. The public normally referred to them as sniffer dogs. They were certified in wilderness and urban settings to search for live humans. Both dogs were also certified in recovery, or as some handlers