“Search and Rescue and Combat Medical.”
“Holy shit, did he have a K-9 with him?”
“He says no.”
“Is this the part where you don’t believe him?”
“Yes.” Rita stood back and paced a few steps before she whipped around and stared at her father. “Dad, you should see him with Bluey, sorry Tate. It’s like the pup is an extension of him.”
Marvin studied his daughter, then finally shook his head. “I know I said I would never step on your toes after I retired, but what are you saying? Do you want me to come in and see him? Get a feel of him for you?”
“That’s just it, I don’t know what I want. He says he’s never trained a dog before, but to watch him with Tate, it’s like poetry in motion. It’s hard to explain.”
“When is your next class?”
“Monday. I’m back to the regular schedule. Julie told me it was pointless to have classes six days a week.” She shook her head and stared at the man she most respected in the entire world. “I don’t know how to say this, but he even cautioned me on another student and her treatment of her pup.”
“How so?”
“What did you hear about Vickers? Before you saw the video from the compound?”
“I was told that he said you and some guy assaulted him.”
“Okay, Jim questioned Kent, as I said, but Kent didn’t have any bruised knuckles or anything. I don’t know if Jim showed you the photos from the hospital, but Vickers was beat all to hell. One eye was swollen shut, one was barely a slit. He had a split lip, and needed stitches on his cheek and above his brow. Fromwhat I saw of the pictures, I’d say the guy that beat him had severely bruised or scraped knuckles. Kent had nothing on his hands.”
“Okay, but what does that have to do with what he said about another student?”
“He’s observant. He stands in the back of the room and watches everything. All the dogs, all the students, even Scott, Julie, and me. It’s unnerving.”
“Again, what did he say about the other student?”
“He told me to watch Lisa because she’s feeding Charlie too many treats. That he doesn’t do anything to earn them.”
“What’s their interaction like while training?”
Rita sighed as she settled back in her seat. “Lisa was one of the four that didn’t get a pup. You remember we have sixteen dogs and twenty people?”
“I thought you had nineteen people.”
“No, Julie accepted Kent’s application after the deadline. He’s only been living in Fool’s Gold for a little over a week before he submitted his application.” She shrugged as she looked at her father. “We couldn’t really reject him. I put all the names in the coffee can and drew Kent’s for first pick for a pup.”
“Ah, I understand, so how did Lisa get the pup?”
“Charlie. She was the next one in line, and I gave her the pup Vickers abused. She named him Charlie. I don’t know if she’s over treating him because Vickers kicked him, or because she doesn’t know the meaning of the treats.”
“If you don’t mind, why don’t you let me come in and observe?” Marvin held up his hands and grinned at her. “Just observe.”
“As long as it’s just observing, I don’t see the harm in that.”
“Maybe I can get a feel for your Kent too.”
“He’s not mine,” Rita said quickly, and hadn’t realized she had a look of disappointment on her face as she said it. Marvinmade a mental note to keep a close eye on the man when he went there on Monday morning.
CHAPTER 8
“Tate, come.”Kent helped Tate down from the truck, strapped the vest on him, then the leash and started toward the building. As soon as the pup lunged, Kent stopped until the puppy stopped pulling on it and looked back at Kent as if to say,“What are you waiting for.”With a grin, Kent only raised a brow at the dog, who sat on his haunches to wait for his owner to join him. The heavy sigh the dog released was cute, but Kent wasn’t going to give into the animal’s theatrics.
“Good boy,” he said, and gave him a treat. With his bag in his hand, Kent gave the command for Tate to go forward. He couldn’t wait to see Rita. He didn’t know why, but ever since he’d sent those photos of himself to her, he had been dreaming of her. Over the weekend, he and his buddies, Asher, Mason, Ryder, and Cruz, had hung out at The Centre, and they’d done some rock climbing and rappelling down the side of the mountain a few miles behind the facility the others worked out of. He didn’t know if he would tell Rita what he had been doing yet or not. It all depended on how she treated him. He knew she didn’t trust him, and there was nothing he could do about that. He’d told her the truth numerous times, so now the ball was in her court to see if she would believe him. He smirked at himself, thengave a chuckle out loud. Maybe if she had seen how many times he’d blundered with Tate over the weekend, she would believe him. When a sudden thought struck him, he stopped dead in his tracks, then looked at Tate when the dog jerked on his leash, turned back, and did a doggy glare at him.
