Payback (The Canine Handler Book 1) (4 page)

“The boat was found here,” the lieutenant pointed to an area along the dam on the eastern edge of Lake Marburg. “The park rangers did a quick check along the shores and the parking lots and didn’t find anyone missing their boat. The boat registration does not belong to the boat we found so we are still in the process of trying to locate the owner’s identity.” She pointed to the areas on the map where rangers had checked with the tip of her pencil.

“So in actuality, we have a very large area to cover. How do you want to deploy your team on this type of search?” The lieutenant continued, “What would be the most efficient and effective way to utilize your dog teams?”

Sarah thought about it for a moment. She knew each of her teammates well and how their canines worked. Kellee’s partner Meika had just been put back into service after impaling herself on a branch while working a wilderness search a few months ago. That would cut Meika’s endurance back so a smaller, inland problem seemed right for her. But Joe and Garrett’s dogs were both up to working off search boats for long periods of time. Boat work included less running, but the work itself could be tougher. It required more intense sniffing and keeping their bodies steady. The dogs always seemed to be on the muscle.

“What I would like to do if there are boats and drivers available, is to send two boats out with dogs to grid the water starting from this west point,” Sarah pointed to Round Island on the map, “and have them grid east to west from the island to the dam and back. The breeze is currently strong and steady coming from the north. Perhaps have the dogs start from the north shoreline and work their way back to here on the south shoreline.”

“Kellee Durham, our team’s commander, and I can work the sandy area of the south shoreline. I’ll have Kellee and her canine start here working from west to east.” Once again Sarah pointed to a cove on the map where there was a public boat ramp, just west of the parking lot. “And I’ll work the shoreline as well but from just east of the cove toward the dam heading east. Will this work for you?”

The lieutenant made a quick check to see if there were available boats and drivers. The park rangers confirmed and offered to drive as well. “Okay, sounds like a good plan and we have boats and drivers. How soon can you and your team be ready?”

Sarah had received texts from her teammates while she was involved in the conversation with the lieutenant. “It looks like all the dog teams are here. We can be ready to go in 15 minutes. I just need to brief the team and get my dog’s vest on him.”

“Sounds great. See you back here in fifteen minutes—1130 hours,” the lieutenant stated.

Sarah was out the door and stepped down onto the tarmac. She had found the small confines of the command unit repressive. Taking a deep breath, she congratulated herself on keeping her cool while under pressure. She looked toward her truck and could see her teammates’ vehicles parked near hers. She smiled.
Thank god,
she thought.

Taking another deep breath, she slowly exhaled to try to tame the adrenaline which was now sky-rocketing.
We don’t have much time
, she realized and quickened her steps. Fifteen minutes wasn’t much to brief them on the search, their assignments, get the dogs together and get to the staging area.
I hope everyone is ready to go,
she thought nervously.

Sarah gave the team a quick brief of what was known of the search subject so far.
Which isn’t much, s
he thought. She made sure everyone had all the information surrounding the event and gave each canine handler their assignment. “We need to be in the staging area in just a few minutes, 1130 hours,” she continued, “so get the dogs ready and head over there ASAP.”

“Joe, make sure you and Garrett have your PFDs for you and your dogs,” Kellee reminded them, “extra water, notepads, pens and GPS in a Ziploc baggie. I’ll have my FRS radio on channel 9 if you need to contact me.”

Quickly grabbing her smaller pack from the back of the truck, Sarah hiked it up over her shoulder. Since this was a water search and not a wilderness search, she wasn’t heading too far from base camp, so she wouldn’t need her heavier pack which included all of the survival gear. She checked Sam’s water to make sure he had plenty. Sarah would be working Gunner first, leaving Sam confined to his crate. The search assignment was a smaller area that was open and easy to traverse. One dog could cover the area in a quick, efficient manner.

She reached in to unlock Gunner’s crate. She held the door closed as he spun around with excitement. “Settle, Gunner,” she shouted at him. He stopped for a moment, enough time for Sarah to get his complete attention. “Wait,” Sarah said as she opened the crate door. Gunner started to exit his crate but responded to the command and stood just outside it in the back of the pickup truck’s bed. Sarah grabbed a leash with collar and snapped it around Gunner’s thick neck. Snatching his canvas vest from where it hung along the inside of the truck cap, she slid it over the dog’s head and secured Velcro fasteners around the front of his chest and under his belly.

Sam whined in his crate, not accepting the fact he was being left behind. “We’ll be back soon,” Sarah spoke soothingly, trying to console and calm the dog.

“Off,” she commanded Gunner and watched as he jumped down from the bed of the truck. The nervous vibes Sarah projected were not lost on the dogs. Both were having a hard time keeping their energy in check because they were feeding off their handler.

Sarah took Gunner to the edge of the tree line and gave him the command, “Potty.” The dog spun around her as far as the length of the leash would allow. She tried to get him to do his business so she could move to the staging area. She was running out of time. She could see the rest of her team already heading that way. “Come on, Gunner! Do your business,” she pleaded with him.

As Gunner circled Sarah once again, a strong breeze hit them from the direction of the shoreline rolling in from the lake. Gunner stopped suddenly, closed his mouth and stuck his snout up toward the sky. Sarah studied him for a moment. The dog continued to focus intensely on a scent.
Wonder what’s caught his interest?
He was showing body language normally presented when he caught human scent on a search task. The frame of his body rose up taller and his tail flagged. She watched as he stood on hind legs and tried to zone in on the particular scent that had caught his attention. Sarah was puzzled. The parking lot was full of people, but he didn’t seem interested in any of them.

“Whatcha got?” Sarah asked Gunner, trying to provoke him to work it out. He whined and strained at the end of the leash. Torn between getting over to the staging area on time or trusting her dog’s judgment, she made the quick decision to let him try and work it out. She let Gunner pull her across the parking lot through the stationary vehicles and first responders. He paused fleetingly to check the breeze with his nose to the air, then continued heading toward the shoreline. Her teammates saw her zig-zag through the lot as Gunner dragged her forward. Kellee shot her a questioning gesture but Sarah just shrugged and pointed at Gunner while she continued to let him work it out.

The thought, “Trust your dog,”
ran through her mind. More than words within the canine working world, it was an aphorism. Some canine handlers have a difficult time allowing their dogs to call the shots. They constantly question their dog when working a scent problem. Sarah learned through all of her and her dogs’ training to believe in them and let them do their job.

Sarah looked up and could see Gunner was pulling her in the direction of the shoreline, toward the officers chatting beside the grounded boat. Her team looked on from the staging area beside the command unit. The lieutenant had entered the staging area as well and watched Gunner drag Sarah to the boat area.

Sarah was still in conflict about causing a scene with her dog. This was not part of the plan today, but she felt it was right to let her dog follow up the source of a scent he felt so strong about finding. Reaching the officers next to the boat, Gunner inhaled quickly at each man and started to proceed to the boat.

One officer stepped in front of the dog. “Are you supposed to be working this area?” he asked Sarah.

“No, it wasn’t an assigned task, but Gunner picked up an odor he really wanted to find the source of,” Sarah explained. “He dragged me from my truck across the lot to here,” Sarah pointed back to where her truck was parked.

“Well, I think we had better get permission before you proceed,” the officer stated.

Sarah was having a difficult time trying to hold Gunner back. She took hold of his collar in one hand and shortened the leash in her other. Jumping and whining, he wanted to move forward and search the boat. Gunner squirmed and tried to wiggle from Sarah’s hold on his collar. The lieutenant saw the scene unfolding and made her way over to the party.

“Sarah, what’s going on?” Lieutenant Langenberg voiced in a serious tone.

“I’m not quite sure, Lieutenant. When I pulled Gunner out of the truck, he caught scent of a distinct odor. He was so focused and intent on finding the source, I decided to let him follow it up and he led me to the boat. He would really like to check the boat out if it’s okay.”

“The troopers and park rangers have already gone over the boat. They couldn’t find anything of significance—other than an illegal registration tag, a tackle box, fishing rod, and a cooler full of beer.”

“I know. It may be nothing,” Sarah spoke haltingly as she tried to maintain control of Gunner. “But Gunner really believes there’s something more here and I’d like to let him work it out if I can have permission.”

The lieutenant looked at the officers who shrugged their shoulders. “I hope we’re not wasting time here. Don’t make me regret this, Sarah.” She looked to both officers, “Go ahead, let her work her dog on the boat.” The two officers and the lieutenant stepped back to give Sarah and Gunner room.

Kellee handed Meika off to Joe in the staging area and came over to watch Sarah work Gunner.

“I’ve never seen him quite like this, Kellee,” Sarah whispered low to her commander. She dropped her hold on Gunner’s collar and let the leash feed out so he had more line and freedom to work. Gunner seized the opportunity, wasting no time dragging Sarah directly to the boat.

“Let’s hope he’s really onto something tangible,” Kellee responded.

The lieutenant, Kellee and the two officers backed further away from the small fishing vessel as Gunner started a thorough check of the outside of the boat. He took a full turn sniffing along from the bow to the stern and then put his front paws up on the gunwale and looked back at Sarah. A small group of responders had gathered at the edge of the parking lot where it met the sandy point of the shoreline to watch the dog work. They looked on with curiosity to see what the handler and dog were doing.

Please be right.
Sarah’s insides were in knots. She didn’t discount her dog or his abilities, but there was much riding on his immediate actions. She saw the gathering crowd which added more tension to the unfolding scene.

“Hup,” Sarah gave the command to Gunner to jump up on. From a standstill, the dog gracefully leaped from the sandy ground to the boat’s deck. It was obvious to Sarah and Kellee the dog was following a strong human odor. With his convincing body language and focus on scenting, there was no doubt in Sarah’s mind. Gunner was working human scent without reservation.

Gunner targeted the tackle box and tried to lay down beside it. Excited, the dog found it difficult to lie down and decided to scratch the box intensely—one of his trained cadaver indications. With a quick pop-up to look over the boat’s edge for Sarah, he made eye contact and tried to “do a down” again. Frustrated, the dog stood and continued to scratch at the tackle box aggressively and bark. He was making a scene—Sarah was in a mild panic as she pulled a ball on a string from her pants pocket to reward him.

“There has to be something in the tackle box,” Sarah told the lieutenant. “Gunner is positive.” Gunner still had the ball in his grip as Sarah told him, “Hup,” once more. He jumped out of the boat with some hesitation. The solid foundation of his human remains training was shining through, making it difficult for him to give up the scent item and go with his handler. The dog preferred to be rewarded at the point of the source as he was trained, but Sarah wanted to remove the dog from the boat as soon as she could. She didn’t want him to disturb anything within the confines of the craft.

“Can we get the tackle box out of the boat and check it again?” the lieutenant asked the same two officers near the boat. She stood with her hands on her hips with an exasperated look on her face.

“Sure thing,” the one officer responded as he pulled nitrile gloves from his BDUs. He reached into the boat and pulled out the tackle box, setting it in the sand. Standing over the officer, the lieutenant watched as he opened the box. The first layer consisted mainly of fishing lures that he sifted through. At the bottom of the box was a small Ziploc baggy with something which appeared soft and full of a dark sticky substance.

“What’s that?” the lieutenant asked as she pointed to the baggy.

“We thought it was just some kind of bait or leftover food that was forgotten and left in the bottom of the box,” the officer stated who had originally gone through the container. “There was no reason to believe otherwise.”

Kellee and Sarah looked at each other. Apparently there was something out of the ordinary in the tackle box. Although a little relieved, Sarah was still in a slight panic hoping they could figure out what was actually in the package.

The officer lifted the baggy up higher with his gloved hands so the lieutenant could see it better. The sun illuminated its contents while the lieutenant and the two officers studied the small baggy.

“Is that what I think it is?” asked the lieutenant.

“Umm, I believe so,” one officer said as he continued to turn the baggy and examine it from every angle.

“Call the medical examiner right away,” she instructed, pretty sure what was in the bag. “We need to confirm this now. Secure the boat with tape, cordon off the area,” she said and gave an approximate area with her hands. “Don’t let anyone else near it. We’ll need the crime scene technicians here to photograph and pull fingerprints as well.”

Looking back to where Sarah, Gunner and Kellee stood, the lieutenant spoke to the officers. Her demeanor had gone from calm and cool to harsh and unforgiving. “It took a goddamn civilian and her dog to find something you two should have found when you first arrived on scene. Great. Makes all of us look really competent.” She was livid. “This changes everything.”

The gloved officer dropped the baggy with what appeared to be the remains of a man’s penis into an evidence bag and sealed the container.