Page 28 of Steeped In Problems (Badges & Baristas #3)

“Remember, the bombs will never be where you expect them to be,” Sergeant Dylan Burke informed his group of trainees as he took long, lanky strides.

He paced behind them on the Disaster City Search and Rescue training grounds which was filled with burned-out vehicles, dilapidated buildings, and various other debris that made up the destroyed landscape.

His faithful German shepherd partner, Scout, was standing alert by his side with tall, perked ears, ready to go in and search the area.

That wouldn’t be happening today though.

The purpose of the mid-point exercise was to make sure his trainees were no longer making rookie mistakes.

The time for holding their hands by showing them how to do the searches was long gone.

From all of his years of conducting dangerous search and rescue missions all over the world as an Army Ranger, he’d learned one thing, there was no room for error.

Striving to be the best of the best should be the trainees’ goal, or they had no business being at the elite academy.

He didn’t care that they whispered behind his back and nicknamed him, “Commander Coots,” the military slang term stood for ‘constantly overemphasizing own tactical significance.’ The fact that it had carried over from the past four classes and didn’t seem to be going anywhere did not faze him a bit.

It wasn’t that he thought too much of himself.

He had the reputation for being the hardest to please of all the instructors for good reason.

If his trainees messed up in the real world, not only could a bomb kill hundreds of people, but potentially start a war with another country.

“You missed the edge of that building, McKenzie,” Dylan snapped out as he marched over and pointed to the area.

“It wasn’t my fault. Sandy got distracted by a noise around the corner,” McKenzie excused as he gestured to his black Labrador retriever with frustration.

“Don’t blame your partner. You need to be better about making sure she doesn’t miss your cue.

” Dylan pulled out a quarter from his pocket and tossed it at the spot where he knew there was a trap.

The sudden popping sound drew McKenzie’s attention, but he wasn’t quick enough to realize what was happening.

Green paint sprayed all over him, coating him in the thick liquid.

Dylan had to suppress the satisfied smile that threatened to spread across his angular face. “McKenzie, you’re out.”

“That’s not fair. You set that trap off on purpose,” the trainee complained as he tried to wipe the paint from his face with the edge of his shirt. The effort did little good, since there was hardly a clean inch of him to be seen.

“Do you think bombs are fair in a real-world scenario?” Dylan challenged as he placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his muscular chest, giving McKenzie no room to move away. “Bombs don’t discriminate. If you’re not prepared every minute of a search, you’re going to end up red mist.”

“Go get cleaned up before mealtime, McKenzie,” Dylan’s fellow instructor, Officer Sean West, gestured toward the dorms at the other end of the academy campus as he trotted up beside them.

McKenzie scurried away with his head hung low. Good, maybe he would take what Dylan said to heart and quit messing up.

“Looks like Commander Coots is at it again,” one of the trainees snickered from behind Dylan. He swiveled around to determine the source, recognizing two of his trainees that were known for their sharp tongues.

Before he could address either of them; however, Sean reached out and placed his hand on his arm to stop him. “Don’t get into it with them, Dylan. Let them finish out the rest of the course so we can all head back to the cafeteria for lunch.”

Dylan had to push down his reaction and focus on the end of the drill. He bowed to the senior search and rescue officer’s request, reminding himself that he didn’t care what they thought of him as long as he trained them well enough that they saved lives.

“That was…intense,” Sean told Dylan as they made their way to the administrative building to file their reports on the outcome of the exercise. “It never ceases to amaze me how different you are when you’re in instructor mode.”

Dylan stiffened under the veiled rebuke.

Sean wasn’t just his fellow instructor, but he had become his best friend since they started working together three years prior.

Even though they weren’t playing video games and watching movies together like they used to since Sean got married two months back, it didn’t mean that he liked having his friend criticize his work habits.

“What does that mean?” he asked as he furrowed his thick, brown brows together and ran his hand through his matching hair defensively.

“Look, I get why you’re the way you are after all you’ve seen serving in the military, but not all of these guys have been in combat situations like you, Dylan.”

“We don’t have the luxury of coddling them, Sean. They have to understand how dire the situation really is out there. Terrorists are getting better at hiding bombs and can care less about collateral damage. Hopefully, McKenzie will remember this lesson, and it will make him a better K9 handler.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he quits the academy because of this.”

“Good, it will save me the job of having to get rid of him down the road. If he makes this mistake again, I’m bouncing him out of the academy myself,” Dylan promised his fellow instructor.

“Just try to consider that sometimes a lighter hand is more effective than drilling down on them,” Sean advised as they entered the administrative building.

Before they could enter their shared office; however, Deputy Commander Ben Miller, the salt-and-pepper-haired veteran search and rescue officer, stopped them.

“Burke, I need to see you in my office.”

“If Trainee McKenzie filed a complaint, I want to go on record?—”

The Commander raised his hand in the air to silence Dylan.

“This isn’t about your trainees, Burke, though if another complaint might be filed, you best give me a head’s up.

We’ll have to talk about that later.” He pushed open his door to his office and signaled for Dylan to go inside.

He closed the door behind him and took a seat behind his desk while Dylan settled into a chair in front of it.

Scout plopped down on the floor next to Dylan’s chair, pulling his front paws under his chin as he relaxed.

“Is this about my performance review? I know it took me some time to adjust to teaching patrol and sentry search and rescue the way the academy wants, but I think I’m doing a good job now that I’ve settled into my position. Sean will back me up on that.”

“Nope, that’s not what this is about. I have an assignment for you.”

Dylan lunged forward as his brown eyes laser-focused on his boss. He hadn’t been on an active call in weeks, and couldn’t wait to get back in the field. “Really? I hadn’t heard there were any bomb threats in the area? Do you need me to team up with Reynolds and Barnette?”

Miller shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I should have explained better from the start.” He pulled out a piece of paper and slid it over to him.

Dylan picked it up and scanned the contents. “I don’t understand; this is an address for a high school. Is that where the threat is? Is that why it’s staying quiet until we can validate the authenticity?”

“Burke, let me be clear, there is no bomb threat. This has to do with community relations. We need an instructor to represent us at the career day at the school.”

“Wait a minute, you want ME to speak at the career day at Faith Valley High School?” Dylan squawked out in disbelief.

“Why on earth would you give me this assignment? Aren’t there far better qualified candidates around here for this?

Take Sean for example, his wife used to be a high school teacher. ”

“Sean has a…complicated past with Faith Valley, but it’s not my job to get into that with you.

” Dylan wanted to know what his boss was talking about.

He had no idea that Sean had a connection to Faith Valley and reminded himself to ask him about it later.

“Suffice it to say, Sean can’t do this. Besides, you did a great job when you did the search and rescue training in Woody awhile back. ”

“I was dealing with adults,” Dylan countered with skepticism as he crossed his arms over his chest with resentment.

“I don’t know the first thing about talking to teenagers.

There’s a reason I turned down the offer to be a recruiter after I got injured,” he stated bitterly.

It was still difficult for him to think about how, after years of loyal service, when he lost his right leg and suffered from PTSD because of it, his superiors kicked him out of the rangers’ program.

To make matters worse, they tried to stick him behind a desk.

Since he joined the Army at eighteen, he didn’t know anything else, and it had been terrifying to think about leaving.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t bring himself to be so close to the job he loved without actually being able to do it.

It was easier to make a clean break and move on.

“You know none of that matters here at the academy, Burke. You get to be whoever you want to be here. We value your expertise, which is why I want you to be the one to give the talk to the students. You have a lot to offer being a highly decorated war hero, and those kids are going to look up to you.”

“I’m not getting out of this, am I?” Dylan asked, resigning himself to the situation even as the question slipped past his lips.

The Commander shook his head. “We all have to take turns doing this, and now it’s yours. Look at it this way, you might like it and decide to be our regular community representative.”

“I wouldn’t hold your breath for that, D.C. I’m going to do my time and get the heck out of there. Kids and I don’t mix.”

A half-hour later, he arrived at the freshly renovated Faith Valley High School.

The campus was large with modern amenities including a large gymnasium, cafeteria, and theater, something he wasn’t expecting for a relatively small town.

Front and center was the administrative building with fencing spreading out in both directions to keep the campus closed to public access during school hours.

Dylan walked over and pulled on the handle to the front door.

When it wouldn’t budge, he placed his hands on the glass of the door and looked inside the empty building, trying to figure out where everyone was.

He pulled out the piece of paper and read it a second time.

“Great, I’m in the wrong place,” he grumbled to himself as he shoved the paper back in the pocket of his blue cargo uniform pants. “I’m supposed to be at the theater.”

He sprinted over to the end of the fence and was relieved to see that the lock had been left open.

He slipped through the gate and rushed over to the other building.

He burst inside with Scout by his side, causing the group of kids around him to stop talking momentarily to look at him with curiosity.

It only lasted a moment before they went back to chit-chatting, quickly forgetting his arrival.

He noticed an elegant-looking man in a black business suit, and figured he must be one of the other speakers. He walked over and tapped him on the shoulder. “Excuse me, can you tell me where the principal is?”

“Over there.” The man pointed to a leggy brunette in a navy-blue dress. “And God help you since you’re late.”

The woman didn’t look terrifying to Dylan at all. Between her soft oval face and curvy frame, she seemed to be downright huggable. He could hardly believe she was old enough to hold the position she did. “That’s the principal?”

The man nodded. “Don’t let her looks fool you; she breathes fire like a dragon. I wouldn’t keep talking to me, if I were you. The sooner you let her know you’re here, the better, for your sake.”

Dylan wasn’t sure what to make of the other man’s warning. He still couldn’t believe the young, attractive woman could be nearly as bad as the businessman was making her out to be. Besides, he’d never been afraid of a confrontation, and he wasn’t going to start now.

“That needs to be exactly centered for the cameras to be able to work right,” the woman snapped out as she flicked her wrist back and forth in front of the wooden podium. “I guaranteed that this would be live-streamed, and I’m not going to let your mistake ruin this career day.”

Dylan’s eyes widened with surprise, as he reconsidered his earlier assessment.

Maybe the other man hadn’t been exaggerating about the principal after all?

She did seem to spit words like fire. It didn’t matter though.

He was there to do a job, and nothing was going to get in his way.

He pushed his shoulders back and raised his chin, readying to march over and face the dragon head-on.

Grab your copy or read for free, The Army Ranger Rescue , the prequel to the First Responders of Faith Valley series.