Page 12 of Radar (Iniquus Certified Cerberus Tactical K9 #2)

Xander

Thursday

Iniquus Campus

Xander turned to Halo.

“Here’s the setup. There’s been a crime. The bad guy is hiding electronic information.” We’re going to get into your vehicle and drive to our training ground just over the hill. It’s been reconfigured since Radar was last training there. It should look completely new to him.”

“Got it.”

Reaper had said dance. It was a skill set that they had discussed and decided would be useful.

It was the flow of “Where I go, you go.” Once they started, man and dog were in sync.

Xander could use quick flicks of his hand to make his silent signals, or he could depend on Radar’s attention and precision.

Done well, it was glorious. Done poorly, it could trip Xander up when his life was on the line.

He had to trust Radar to be unwaveringly on point.

It had been a while since he’d done this, and Xander felt rusty.

It was a short drive to the training site. There was a shoot house and various cars parked as if on the street. It was ghostly quiet.

Halo pulled up under a tree, hiding the charcoal gray car in the shadow. They exited in silence without shutting the doors all the way, crouching by the sides, keeping their heads from becoming watermelon targets in a shooting gallery.

Xander signaled the dance, and Radar snapped to.

It was good that Xander was so tall, or Radar’s head would be dangerously close to Xander’s crotch as Radar came between Xander’s legs.

Pulling his training weapon, Xander held it in ready position.

When Xander stepped, Radar stepped.

When Xander knelt at the front of the vehicle to scan, Radar flattened himself to the ground, jumping up to match Xander’s next pace forward.

Halo was right behind them, giving them space to maneuver.

Racing forward to the next car that would afford them concealment but not the protection of cover, gunfire sounded, at the same time, dust puffed beside them as they advanced.

Movie set gimmicks helped train for real-world experiences.

Xander knelt, paused, assessed, and was up again, racing for the shoot house, signaling Radar from between his legs to his side.

Radar made the pass without breaking Xander’s forward momentum.

Xander knew Halo was at his back when he got a tap on his shoulder. They peeled off, going room to room in search of the subject.

To Xander’s surprise, the house was empty.

Halo showed up. “He left something.”

Xander followed Halo back to a room where a bandage lay on the ground.

A bandage. Interesting.

Well, you work with what you’re given.

“Radar, scent. Scent.” Xander instructed, pointing.

Dutifully, Radar snuffled the scent, then, when he had a good hold of it, he looked to Xander for his next instructions.

Xander pulled an evidence bag from Xander’s working vest and retrieved the bandage in case Radar needed to refresh his memory later. “Radar, seek human.”

Radar was hard-focused. Legs splayed wide to get his nose close to the ground, he trotted down the stairs and out the back door.

Over the field, into the woods, down a path by the river, Radar stopped at a rock where a digital camera lay, then sat in front of it. Radar turned as Xander and Halo jogged up beside him to see what he’d found.

Radar was looking down the pathway toward the edge of the woods.

“Radar, hold.” Xander documented the site, then took another bag from Radar’s working vest to keep hold of the possible evidence.

“Looks like the SD card is missing,” Halo said. “That might be important. Do you think we should find it?”

Xander pulled his brows together. “Now? You want me to stop the human search and move on to the second?”

“The SD card is the priority,” Halo said.

Well, this was a first. Xander had no idea how to pull Radar off one search task and put him onto a second. “Radar,” he called, drawing his K9’s attention around. Holding out the bag for him, Xander said, “Scent. Scent. Electronics.”

Radar caught Xander’s gaze, and Xander did his best to conjure up a movie of what he needed to happen here. He pictured the camera and imagined someone removing the SD card. Then he pictured the SD card, held it firmly in his mind’s eye, and said, “Radar, seek electronics.”

Radar’s nose went down to the trail, and he walked around sniffing the base of trees and rocks, the tiny plants along the path.

Xander stood still, not wanting to interfere in the process, but also not a hundred percent sure that he’d conveyed the command to Radar.

A breeze ruffled Radar’s coat, and his nose went up in the air as he swung his head.

The breeze died. And Radar stood.

The second time the breeze rose, Radar’s nose went up in the air; he followed with a step, then another, and another, until he stood at a tree, looking up into the branches. Then, he sat and brought his gaze back to Xander.

“Looks like the bad guy tried to pitch the SD card and it landed up there,” Halo said.

“Are you kidding right now?” Xander asked.

“I’ll tell you what,” Halo said, standing next to the trunk with a grin spreading wide, “How about I give you a leg up?”

“Serious? You want me to look for an SD card stuck to one of these leaves?”

“I don’t want you to,” Halo said, his grin just that much bigger, “Radar does.”

“Fine.” Xander turned his attention to Radar. “Good boy, Radar, let’s see what’s up there, okay?”

Halo laced his fingers and bent.

“Radar, stay.” Xander put his foot in Halo’s stirrup, and Halo hefted him up until Xander could catch hold of a sturdy branch.

He had to do a muscle-up to get his hips to the branch, then move himself up farther.

It had been a while since he’d played Tarzan, climbing trees.

He scrambled up onto the tiniest of tree forts.

A space big enough for Xander to sit, but that was about it. There were two manila envelopes.

And the SD card sat on the envelope marked “1”

Send the SD card down to Halo. Praise Radar. Open envelope “2” before descending.

“Radar! Good find,” Xander called out in high-pitched praise. “Good find! Good boy!” He put the SD card into the empty envelope and tossed it down to Halo’s waiting hands.

Halo took out the SD card for Radar to sniff, then pulled out a towel and played tug to reward Radar for his hard work.

Meanwhile, Xandar opened envelope “2.” Inside this envelope was a screen.

When Xander turned it on, he could see it streaming Radar’s collar camera.

Xander adjusted the volume to hear Halo say, “Good job, mate. Radar, sit. Radar, stay.” Then there was the sound of crunching leaves as Halo moved away.

Xander read the message.

This is what you really wanted to know: Can you depend on Radar to be your Digger?

You can’t get down. You need help. Tell Radar to get help.

Reaper was correct; that level of training was the why for Radar being here.

And Xander did need to know.

He needed to trust.

There was a sizzle of apprehension that skittered over Xander’s skin. It came down to this test. Was Radar’s training a success?

Here we go. “Radar, get help,” Xander called.

Xander couldn’t see anything from his tree house perch. But on the screen, he watched Radar looking up into the tree. He sat and barked.

“Radar, get help!”

He stood and leaped to put his paws on the trunk and barked. He dropped down, looked around, and barked.

That bark had an urgent call to it. A “Come here!” to it.

Radar’s nose was on the ground, snuffling the place where Halo had stood.

“Radar! Get help! Get help!”

Nose to the ground, Radar took off through the woods. Xander thought he was probably chasing after Halo, who was the most likely person to be able to render aid. But once he got to the road, that scent disappeared. Someone in a vehicle must have picked Halo up.

Radar stood and barked, his gaze sweeping along the horizon. Off in the distance, the main Headquarters was barely visible. Equal distance was the guard station. From Radar’s camera, Xander couldn’t see the Cerberus campus.

Radar’s nose went into the air, and he focused back on the woods. He stomped his foot as if in frustration, then he took off like a streak toward the guard station.

The twenty-foot gate was shut.

Radar paced along it, barking at the guard station. From what Xander could see on the camera, no one was there. Since that never happened, Xander imagined the guard was crouched in their guard house, aware of the training evolution.

After a few minutes, Radar turned and raced toward Headquarters.

A car was driving toward the exit.

Radar loped in that direction, then as the car approached, he stood square in the middle of the road, making it impassable.

Xander’s handheld radio sizzled. “Reaper here. Jerome, stop. You just got caught up in a training evolution. Roll down your window so you can see our K9 clearly. We don’t need any accidents today. Stay in the car. Ignore the dog. Look forward. Both hands on the steering wheel.”

Radar barked, ran a short distance back toward Xander, then paced back to the car to stare at Jerome.

“Jerome here. I’m not a dog person. Especially not a giant war dog person.”

“Reaper here. We have control of the K9. You’re fine. Hold your position.”

Over and over, Radar made the circuit each time barking with increasing frustration.

“Reaper here. Jerome, go ahead and carefully edge by the K9 and see what he does.”

The next time Radar paced out, Jerome carefully edged forward, rolling toward the exit.

With the sound of the engine, Radar spun and raced for Jerome’s car.

Suddenly, the camera jerked upward as Radar took flight, leaping through the window, stomping on Jerome’s lap, and landing in the passenger seat.

Jerome slammed to a stop.

“Shit, man, he’s in my damned car.” Fear shook Jerome’s voice. “I’m not great around dogs. I don’t want to get mauled. What do I do?”

“Reaper here. Hands on the steering wheel. Face forward. Do not move.”

“Wilco. No moving.”