After his shower, he took Tator out for a walk. When they returned, he fed the dog, then made breakfast for himself. He didn’t know why, but he made four breakfast sandwiches, stuck them in his pack, along with not one, but two boxes of protein bars, extra water, and a small bag of food for Tator. The two of them didn’t have to go to a training class at CSAR, but Kent wanted to go into The Centre to train with his buddies. Once everything was packed, he made sure he grabbed the radio off the charger, and checked for extra batteries. At the last minute,he tossed in two extra pairs of socks, and a couple of shirts, and underwear. When he was done, it was almost like he had his entire pack he used to carry while in the military. On the way out the door, he grabbed a rain poncho, a small tarp, and a spare food bowl for Tator.
“Let’s go,” he told the pup and snapped the leash on him. He looked at his watch and nodded when he realized he would be a couple of minutes early. He laughed when he had to bend down and pick the pup up in order for him to get into the back seat of the truck. Once he was strapped in, he got underway to head out to The Centre.
CHAPTER 16
Kent tookhis time getting himself and Tator out of the truck. On the way inside they both lagged and enjoyed the early autumn weather. Just before entering the building, Kent paused and drew in a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. He liked the early morning crispness he drew into his lungs. As he looked out at the mountains, he saw snow on the top of them and knew that winter was on the way. He never told anyone this, but this was his favorite time of year. He stood there and wondered what time of year Rita enjoyed and wanted to know if she would be interested in going for a picnic this weekend. He didn’t think they would have many more beautiful days like this before the snow came. With a smile on his face, he entered the building and was halfway to the front desk when he stopped to stare at the men standing there.
“Jake, Stone, Jim, what’s up?” He shook their hands as he said their names and stepped back after greeting them.
“Hey, Kent,” Jake Cogburn said. “Glad you’re here, I’m about to call the rest of your team in. We’re going to meet in the conference room if you want to go in and get settled.”
Kent frowned, but felt he wouldn’t be getting any other information until they were all gathered. As much as he enjoyedhis time doing what he pleased, he knew he was employed by the Brotherhood, and if they needed him for a job, he would be there. As he walked down the hall with Tator on his leash, he did as asked, but in the back of his mind he wondered if he had enough time to take the dog home before he was sent out on an assignment. He also did a mental list in his head as to whom the best man would be to send the dog home with if he couldn’t do it himself. Once in the breakroom, he only raised his brows at the others either milling around or sitting at a table. He quickly settled his dog near a seat and sat facing the doorway. Fifteen minutes later, the three men he greeted, and his buddies, Mason Quinn, Cruz Lacerda, Asher Nolte, and Ryder Callahan strolled in. After they grabbed drinks, they settled at the table with Kent. That’s when he realized the five of them sat at the same table, at another table were the five people who ran The Centre. He didn’t recognize the other two people that entered the room with Jake, Jim, and Stone.
Kent liked that Jake didn’t waste any time getting to the point.
“I called you guys here, because we may have a situation.” He looked directly at Kent’s table of men. “As you know, you work for the Brotherhood Protectors as glorified secret service men. You really only go out on a mission for us if there’s a need. I’m calling in a need.”
“What’s up?” Mason asked. Kent, along with the others sat up straighter and became all business.
“Do you all remember that storm we had last month?” Stone asked, and the men snorted their reply.
“What about it?” Kent asked.
“It’s been brought to our attention that there may be some problems with some of the hiking trails.” Sheriff Jim stepped forward. “These two men are local rangers and they’ve come to me with concerns about the damage that storm caused.”
“I saw some of it,” Kent said. At the others’ frowns, he elaborated. “Last week when Rita and I went out to find Mikey, the missing child who was camping with his parents. As we tracked the kid, I saw damage from that storm. I also know for a fact that if it hadn’t been for that storm, Mikey probably never would have fallen off the trail.”
“I agree,” Ryder spoke then, and gave his account of what he had witnessed as he’d walked back to the campsite with Rita.
“Okay, that helps,” one of the rangers spoke. He had pulled out a map and tacked it to the wall to mark the locations Kent and Ryder told him they’d seen the damage in.
“What do you want us to do?” Kent asked when no one said anything for at least a minute.
Jake rubbed the back of his neck as he sighed heavily. “I would like you to work with the rangers to see what trails they are most concerned with.”
“What’s that mean?” Cruz scowled at them.
The second ranger stepped forward. “Next weekend is our biggest hiking weekend of the year. It’s after Labor Day, but before the snow hits. I don’t know where you guys are from, but it’s the weekend when a lot of families come out and hike to look at the fall foliage. You know, it’s time for the leaves to change. Around here, we get a lot of families that hike the trails. We don’t have enough manpower to make sure every single trail is ready for them to be used. We would like you to take the three most used trails and hike them to see if there are any weak spots. These are the trails that have been closed most of the summer, but will be used this coming weekend.” He paused as he looked at them intently. “We only opened them two weeks ago.”
“Ah,” Kent said, and nodded. He looked at his buddies and they did the same thing, but didn’t respond to what the ranger said. As the first ranger had talked, the second one used the map on the wall to point them out. It was very hard to make out, andthough Kent had perfect vision, he could barely see it from his vantage point several feet away.
“Well?” the ranger finally asked when they remained silent.
“Well what?” Kent asked. “We’re waiting for you to continue. We know what we have to do, we just need to know where we have to do it.”
“Oh.”
“Here,” Logan Bishop said as he pushed himself off the wall and walked across the room to another one. He pointed to it, and that was when Kent realized it was a map of the area. That one Kent could see plain as day.
“How long has that been there?”
Logan shrugged, then looked at his friends. “Since about a month after we opened,” Spencer Barnes said as he joined Logan at the wall. They all walked over to the map and made room for both rangers to check it out, then pointed out locations.
“Mind if we tag along?” Simon asked as he stood to the side and studied the map.
“Not at all, we’re going to need all the help we can get.”
“Is there a time crunch on this?” Mason Quinn asked at one point.
