Page 59 of Pretty Broken Dolls

“Cisco,such,” she said.

Cisco took the lead, keeping his nose down. Every once in a while he would stop and catch some scent in the air.

As the dog led Katie slightly downhill, she navigated the forest as best she could so that she could keep Cisco’s pace. It was tricky as branches scraped by her legs. She found herself in a bob and weave move every few feet, keeping small branches and pine needles from slapping her face.

Cisco slowed until he completely stopped. His ears up, he scrutinized the forest as he caught wind of something airborne and unnatural. The scent made him growl—low and guttural.

Katie stopped. She too listened but the only sound she heard was the slight breeze weaving through the trees. There were no birds chirping and nothing sounded in the underbrush. Goosebumps rose on her arms. Taking Cisco’s lead, she felt something was wrong. There were no footsteps behind her of the sergeant or any other officer following.

“Cisco, what is it?” she whispered.

Two consecutive gunshots exploded just above their heads. After two seconds, two more gunshots sounded. It echoed all around them.

Chapter Twenty-One

Saturday 1145 hours

Shooting wasn’t a part of the K9 training exercise.

Katie instinctively lunged forward, grabbing Cisco’s collar and guiding him down—they hid in a small ravine, hopefully out of sight as a potential target. She stayed still—listening. There were no footsteps or crunching noises that would indicate someone walking. Who was shooting? A hunter? She didn’t think so. She waited for the next round of gunfire.

Luckily, she had her cell phone in her pocket and she had turned it to vibrate. She called Lizzy. It rang twice before her friend answered.

“Lizzy,” whispered Katie.

“Katie, are you alright? What’s going on? Everyone heard the shots and are responding.” Her voice was winded and concerned.

Katie could hear voices yelling back and forth.

“We’re fine. We tucked down in a small ravine…but…”

“But what?”

“It’s unclear if the shots were meant for us or not. They seemed to be aimed high.”

“Did you see anyone?”

“No, but the shots came from the west.”

“I’ll tell them. About how far are you?”

“We’re about a quarter of a mile down.”

“Okay. Stay there until they tell you it’s safe.”

“Okay.”

The phone call ended.

Katie waited.

Cisco’s rhythmic panting reminded her of all the stressful situations they had encountered together. She and Cisco usually took point to get through rough terrain infested with insurgents and heavily set explosive traps. She thought back to the tiny spaces they had to hide from the enemy fire as bullets pummeled too close for comfort. The battle-torn towns that had once been thriving little communities, where the enemy could be hiding around every corner, waiting to attack.

Her heart pounded, making her feel dizzy. In an instant, her arms and legs felt weakened. She perspired underneath her jacket even though it was cool and comfortable outside. She thought that she caught a whiff of ejected gunfire, but knew that it wasn’t real. Consciously slowing her breath helped lessen her symptoms. She was concentrating so hard on listening for signs that someone was sneaking up to ambush her that she wasn’t sure if her mind was playing tricks on her.

But then Katie heard real voices coming. The sound of cops communicating and clearing areas as they slowly made their way to her. She breathed a sigh of relief. Of everything that she had been anticipating today, an active shooter in the forest wasn’t one of them.

She waited another fifteen minutes—which felt more like an hour—until she heard the word.