Page 14 of Her Last Whisper

Wednesday 0715 hours

The next morning, Katie walked out to the police training area and met with a tall, dark-haired, older man, Sergeant Blake Hardy, who was in charge of the five police K9 units for the sheriff’s department. The large six-acre cyclone-fenced training area was located just two blocks east of the sheriff’s department. It consisted of routine drill items for climbing, scaling, tunneling, and various other obstacles for agility and endurance. There were two different sized sheds on opposite ends of the training area and it was surrounded by trees, giving this barren space a little of the Pine Valley charm. The cool morning was refreshing and helped to ignite Katie’s spirit of beginning a new day.

Hardy turned to see Katie approaching and smiled. “Hello, Detective Scott.”

“Sergeant,” she nodded. “Thank you for letting me and Cisco crash your training this morning.”

“No problem. It’s nice to have a war veteran here to show the rest of these mutts how it’s done.”

“Cisco has been so bored since we came back, this is exactly what he needs.”

“You’re up next after Deputy Ryder.”

“Great,” she said, turning to watch the action.

Dressed in dark gray SWAT pants, dark T-shirt, and sporting a leg-holstered sidearm, Deputy Ryder held the collar of a dark sable German shepherd named Nitro. The dog barked loud, high-pitched and in rapid succession, the unmistakable call of the working police dog, and bounced up and down on his front paws. Thirty feet away was the decoy, a dog trainer dressed in an oversized protective bite suit, who was moving in the opposite direction away from the K9 team. The fifty-pound-plus suit impeded the trainer somewhat, causing him to waddle as he moved.

“Sheriff’s Department! Stop or I’ll send the dog!” the officer yelled and then repeated the warning. When the man in the suit didn’t stop, he let go of the dog’s collar, hissing, “Fass,” meaningattackin German.

Nitro took off at a full pelt, leaped up, and bit down on the decoy’s shoulder, dragging him down to the ground with all of his propelled weight.

Deputy Ryder jogged up to his partner and yelled for Nitro to let go: “Aus!”

Immediately the dog let go and trotted back to the officer to sit at attention.

“Good boy, Nitro,” said the deputy, tossing the dog his favorite ball.

“Great work!” yelled Sergeant Hardy.

Katie clapped and said, “Nice job.”

Deputy Ryder jogged up with Nitro heeling at his side.

“You’ve been working with him. He comes off the bite well,” complimented the sergeant.

“It’s all about the ball,” the deputy said. “It’s so much better than the burlap training stick.”

“Glad to hear it,” the sergeant replied. “Deputy Ryder, this is Detective Katie Scott.”

“I’ve heard about you.” He smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.” He shook her hand.

“Same here,” Katie said.

“Okay, Scott, you’re up with Cisco.”

“Great.” She walked back to her Jeep and took Cisco out on the leash. Putting his favorite toy in her back pocket, she walked out to the working field.

“Do a stop and frisk,” suggested the sergeant.

Katie knew the drill well. She waited for the decoy to come in close and commanded Cisco to lie down: “Platz.”

Cisco pressed his body to the ground as Katie approached the decoy and started to pat him down, pretending to search for something. As she worked her way around his body, the decoy grabbed her suddenly and they struggled. Cisco was by her side in an instant, grabbing the decoy’s sleeve between his teeth and dragging him down hard to the ground.

“Stop moving!” yelled Katie to the decoy. Then to Cisco, “Hier.”

Cisco immediately let go and padded over to Katie, finishing off with a neat heel sit.

Katie turned away from the decoy as Cisco held close next to her left thigh. Suddenly, out of nowhere the decoy grabbed Katie by the shoulders and spun her around. They began to struggle again, mimicking a surprise attack to simulate what could easily happen to a police officer out on patrol. Cisco didn’t miss a beat, jumping up to assist Katie and dragging the decoy back down to the ground.