Page 30 of Surge

Delaney watched him for a moment, then her lips screwed up. “Garrett, you have any other chem tubes?”

“Nope. You have them.”

“Right.” She frowned, then drew Surge around to face the opposite direction. She guided him to the stoop the contact had entered through, then repeated the command. “Seek.” They made a slow, steady circle around the alley.

Garrett paced the vendors, never more than twenty feet from the two. He skirted a small jewelry vendor when the Mal trotted back to him, sniffed him, then went into a down.

Ears forward, Surge stared at him.

Delaney huffed, apparently feeling the same frustration as Garrett, but she kept her voice light and firm. She drew him back to the alley entrance. “C’mon, Surge. Seek.” More than once, she stepped toward the dog, then back.

At the end of the long leash, he went a little way down the street, and Garrett had hope this might actually work. But then the Malinois returned to him, throwing his front paws onto his shoulders, knocking him backward a step.

“Out!” Delaney ordered, and he sat looking at Garrett, ears pointed at him.

Frustration tightened Garrett’s shoulders and jaw. “What’s going on? Why’s he coming back to me? We’re going to give ourselves away.”

“I don’t know.” Delaney pursed her lips, then considered him. “You held the baggie. I’m guessing you got more than a residue in your pocket.”

Caldwell chimed in on the comms. “Hey, team. Got a problem. Need to clear out. In reviewing footage of the drop, I have positive ID on Rashid. Recommend you clear out in case he ID’d you and returns with backup.”

Frustration morphing to irritation, Garrett clenched his jaw. “Rogue, try seeking from the building Andre went into, then we’re out of here.”

“Stay here,” she said, her expression knotted. “Maybe if he doesn’t keep thinking it’s you, he’ll catch the real trail.”

“I’ll hang back,” Garrett said, understanding her concern, “but leaving you unprotected isn’t happening.”

“Fine, but Zim is with you.”

She backtracked to the building. Circled and patrolled. She stroked Surge’s head. “Nothing. No hits,” Thompson said.

He strode to Delaney, ticked at himself for trusting a newb with no military experience on such an important op. This was on him. He should’ve known better. “Are you doing something wrong?”

Her jaw dropped. “Of course not!”

“Well, now we have to go through with the buy from Rashid. He’s a—” Garrett paced into the alley’s entrance, trying to find a word that wouldn’t have his grandmother rolling over in her grave. “Rashid is extremely dangerous and ruthless. I told you we needed Surge to find the stash. Now the risk to life is elevated.” He shook his head. “You told me you could do this—that he could.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it.

He looked down at Surge. Tsunami wouldn’t have missed the scent. Now that stakes were up, they had one last chance to fix this. But . . . facing Rashid—man, it scared him. More than it should. A trained SEAL, and he was afraid. For himself. His team. For Thompson. Even for the dog that had failed them.

He scrubbed his hands through his hair. Something nagged at him—Surge came from A Breed Apart. Ghost had vouched for him, so . . . what was wrong? “Back to the safe house. Let’s go.”

* * *

Delaney stepped into his path, locked her eyes on his. “Hey, there are off days for every MWD.”

“I know, I know.” Garrett looked at his feet, lifted his gaze back to hers. “But if things go south at the buy . . .” He waved his hand in the air.

Surge sat up, wagging his tail as though a ball game were about to start.

Delaney rubbed Surge’s velvety black ears. “Garrett, this is going to work. We just need to figure out what’s tripping him up.”

He nodded. “Then work on it at the safe house. And once there, don’t go out alone. There’s a garden on the lower level for him to relieve himself.”

They silently got in the SUV and headed back to the safe house, and Garrett vanished. Needing to work off her own frustration and nerves, Delaney headed into the kitchen and made a towering plateful of turkey sandwiches for the team while she thought over and over every moment of the meetup and Surge’s fails. No idea what’d happened with Surge tonight. Too bad she hadn’t had a camera on Surge to review and figure out what’d gone wrong.

She carried the sandwiches and a platter of veggies into the living room, set them on the coffee table next to a party-sized bag of chips.

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