Page 15 of Beckett
The mile to my car felt longer in the dark, every shadow a potential threat. My feet had memorized the path by now—left at the big pine, straight past the fallen log, right at the creek. My ancient Honda Civic sat exactly where I’d left it, tucked behind a cluster of bushes off an old logging road.
I tossed my backpack into the trunk and settled in to wait. I couldn’t drive onto the property until full daylight, had to make it look like I was coming from town. The story I’d given Lark was that I was staying at the Sleepy Pine Motel. Beckett hadn’t asked but he’d watched me as I’d pulled in every day, and those sharp eyes of his said he had opinions about it.
Gray light finally bled across the sky. I turned the key, holding my breath until the engine caught. The Civic complained but started, same as always. Reliable even if she wasn’t pretty. I’d bought her for eight hundred cash from a guy in Idaho who hadn’t asked for paperwork. It had wiped out most of my savings, but I thought it would be worth it in case my stalker was tracking my car electronically. If I had a new car he didn’t know about, he couldn’t possibly be tracking it.
I’d been wrong.
The drive onto Lark’s property took five minutes. I parked in my usual spot by the barn and killed the engine. Time to pretend everything was normal. Time to be Audra the temporary farm hand, not Audra the woman running from shadows and voices.
The excited bark made me smile before I’d even gotten out of the car. Jet pressed his nose against his kennel gate, entire back end wagging. At least someone was genuinely happy to see me.
“Morning, handsome.” I unlatched his gate and got knocked back two steps when seventy pounds of excited dog slammed into my legs. “Easy, easy. I missed you too.”
Jet pranced beside me as I started morning chores. The chickens needed feeding first, then the horses. I mucked out stalls while Jet supervised, occasionally offering commentary inthe form of playful barks. The routine soothed something in me. Animals didn’t lie. They didn’t pretend. They just were.
“You’re good company, you know that?” I told Jet as I spread fresh hay in the last stall. “Don’t let it go to your head.”
Movement near the house caught my eye. Beckett, heading toward the dog training area in the side pasture. He raised his hand in acknowledgment. I waved back, trying to ignore the way my pulse picked up.
“Come on, Jet. Time for your lesson,” Beckett called out.
Jet’s enthusiasm dimmed. He pressed against my leg, looking up with those big brown eyes.
“I know, buddy. But you need to learn this stuff. Beckett knows what he’s doing.” I crouched down, rubbing his ears. “Tell you what. You be good for training, and we’ll hang out after. Deal?”
Jet licked my face, which I took as agreement. We walked over to where Beckett waited, and something shifted in Jet’s posture. As if he understood this was work time now.
“Morning,” Beckett said. His voice did things to my insides I didn’t want to examine.
“Morning. He’s all yours, ready for class.”
Beckett raised an eyebrow, obviously skeptical. Honestly, I was too. Jet got so distracted by me, the last couple days of classes had not gone well.
But Jet surprised us both. He went with Beckett without whining. Instead of his usual stubborn resistance, he actually paid attention. When Beckett said sit, Jet sat. When he said stay, Jet stayed—mostly. I watched for a little while then went back to my chores, but I had a smile on my face.
The session went better than any so far. Jet still had moments of puppy brain, but he was trying. When Beckett brought him back over afterward, Jet immediately glued himself to my side.
“He’s getting it,” Beckett said. “The key with dogs like him is consistency. They want to please, they just need clear boundaries. He’ll still never be a security K-9, but he’s definitely trainable. Different principles for different purposes. Jet here doesn’t need tactical training. He needs confidence and structure.”
“How’d you learn all this? The training stuff?”
“Military working dogs, initially. Then expanded from there.” He rubbed Jet’s head when the dog ventured close enough.
“Not surprised you learned in the Army. That makes sense.” The words slipped out before I could stop them.
His dark eyes sharpened. “How’d you know I was Army?”
Shit. I didn’t want to bring up Todd now. I kept my response vague. “I guess the way you stand. The way you watch everything. Obviously military. I guess military equals Army to me.”
To my surprise, he let out a chuckle. “Jarheads and Squids wouldn’t agree.”
“What do you do when you’re not working here?” I didn’t know why I couldn’t shut up. Asking him questions basically invited him to ask me ones in return. Ones I definitely didn’t want to answer.
“I work at Warrior Security. We provide tactical support, protection details, that sort of thing.”
I wasn’t surprised to hear that at all. But it did mean I needed to be even more careful around him.
He stretched, shoulder popping. “I’m about to shower. Meeting some of the guys from work for lunch. They give me enough grief about smelling like horse without me showing upactuallysmelling like horse.”
