Page 62 of Shelter for Tanna

“No! More pink! Very pink!”

Braden scanned the crowd and saw a lady with a bright pink sock cap on. “Pink like that lady’s hat?”

“Yes! Her shirt is pink!IT’S PINK!” Max roared.

“Holy shit,” one of the drone operators whispered loudly. “I saw something pink in my feed just a few minutes ago.”

Braden was at his side in a heartbeat. “Where? Show me.”

“I’ll have to find it. Hang on.” He waited while the drone operator fast-forwarded through his entire feed, and then stopped. “Right there. See it?”

Ted had joined them when he heard the commotion Max was making. “Can you zoom in on it?”

“Sure. Hang on… There ya go.” Braden blinked, and what he saw set his heart racing.

It was a bright pink, long-sleeved tee shirt. “Max! Is this it?”

“Yes! I’ve helped and now I want some PEZ!” the boy shouted.

“Holy shit. Do you know where?”

“Oh, yeah,” the drone operator said with a grin. “This thing logs coordinates. Hang on. Okay, somebody write this down.” He rattled off a batch of numbers, then read them to Ted again to make sure he got them right. “That’s where the shirt is.”

Braden bellowed out, “Crash!”

“Yeah! What’s up?”

“Coordinates. If we can get close, do you think Sascha can find her?”

“Got something with her scent on it?”

Braden shook his head. “No.”

“That’s okay. He’ll be looking for a human scent that’s not ours. I’m not quite to that part of his training yet, but I guess we’ll find out. Who knows? I may turn him loose and never see him again, but it’s worth a shot. Put the coordinates in your phone’s GPS app and let’s go.”

It only took Braden a couple of tries to get the thing typed in. All around him, law enforcement officers were typing it into their phones too. “I’m ready when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready. Sascha,fuss,” Crash ordered, and the big dog stood, then followed closely at Crash’s knee.

They headed out, and twice they had to find a different way around because they were stopped by downed limbs and embankments that were too steep. After almost two hours of walking, Braden whispered, “We’re getting close.”

“Okay. Here we go,” Crash said as he unhooked the dog’s leash and pointed in the direction the GPS was sending them. “Sascha,such!” The mighty animal bolted off in the same general direction, and Braden and Dean followed, all the officers right on their heels.

They were rewarded with barking?a lot of barking. And the sound wasn’t moving. “I think he found something.” Dean took off at a run with Braden, looking for the dog, following the sound of his big voice.

Sascha stood about one hundred yards from them, barking at the ground. They could clearly see the pink shirt just feet from the dog, but he wasn’t paying any attention to it. “Oh, fuck. Must be a groundhog or mink or something,” Crash muttered. “I was afraid this wouldn’t work without a scent article.”

“Well, we tried at least. That’s her shirt.” When he reached it, he was shocked. It was on a stick, obviously put there on purpose. What did that mean?

The dog continued to bark, even though Crash had told him several times to get quiet. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him.” As they watched, he nosed at some leaves. “Guess that’s more training for us.” He walked toward the dog, leash in hand, as Braden held Tanna’s shirt. It was something. It was better than nothing.

“WhooOOOOOOah!” Braden heard Crash scream, so he turned to look, but his friend was nowhere to be seen. “Braden!” Crash’s voice called out. “Down here!”

Braden ran toward the spot where the frantic dog was pawing at the ground. “Oh my god! It’s a fucking sinkhole!”

“Braden, Tanna’s down here.”

“Crash, is she?”

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