Page 65 of Colorado K-9 Rescue
“I told you. You should have left,” Rex said.
Mckenna knew he was right, but she’d made her decision. And she was done with this. Done with the nightmare and feeling afraid. If she was going to see Evan again, she had to be brave, face her fears and make Keith pay for everything. Instead of slipping through the hole, Mckenna pulled and pried the piece of wood. The rotten board popped off, a nail still stuck in it.
“Perfect,” Mckenna said.
“What are you doing?” Rex asked. “Get out of here.”
Mckenna ignored him, gripping the board behind her. Keith Warren was going to pay for everything he’d done.
CHAPTER 42
Evan continued to convince himself that his idea would work. Mckenna had told him about Mocha’s history of flunking out. The dog would find only Mckenna, not others, when Cassidy had tried some tracking training with him. Maybe Mocha would track Mckenna, maybe not, but if the dog could follow her scent, it was the best way to find her quickly.
He had a bad feeling that she was in serious trouble.
Sheriff Stewart pulled up and parked. She came over with a questioning look on her face, glancing at Mocha and then Evan.
“I don’t know where Mckenna is,” Evan said. “But her dog, Mocha, has had some tracking training. I want to try to use him to find her.”
“Some tracking training?”
“He was supposed to work for the FBI as an explosives detection and tracking dog. He failed out of both and so now he’s a crisis K-9.”
“What makes you think that he’ll track Mckenna?”
“Because in his training, Mckenna would hide. She volunteered to do it so he could get extra tracking training. He would only find her. If anyone else hid, he would start tracking and then flop down and refuse to move. He could be quite stubborn, but since it’s Mckenna we’re searching for, maybe he’ll do it.”
“Okay,” the sheriff said. “I’m game to try it. Do you have any experience working dogs?”
“I do. My dad was a K-9 handler. My sisters and I grew up working dogs.”
“Okay, then let’s do it. I will be your backup officer. Tell me what you need as I don’t have a ton of experience backing up a K-9 handler.”
“Just let the dog work, stay behind me, and shoot anyone who tries to shoot us. I won’t be able to pull my weapon or observe our surroundings. I’ll be watching Mocha and his body language.”
“You got it. Anything to help find Mckenna and see if we can nail this guy.”
“Thanks,” Evan said as he went to Mckenna’s front seat and grabbed her jacket. Normally there was a whole protocol for tracking. He should have gloved up and put her jacket in a plastic bag to preserve the odor, but at this point, he was hoping that Mocha would entertain the idea and do this. Forget the usual operating procedures.
Raising his voice to heighten Mocha’s interest, Evan let Mocha sniff Mckenna’s jacket. He didn’t know what command had been used for Mocha to track, so he went with a standard one. “Find her. Go find her. Seek. Come on, let’s go find her.”
At first, Mocha tilted his head at the sound of Evan’s higher voice. His tail wagged and he gave a short couple of barks. Doubting his plan, Evan gave it another shot.
“Go find her, Mocha. Where is she? Where’s Mckenna?”
At the sound of Mckenna’s name, Mocha turned and sniffed the ground. He glanced back at Evan asking if this was what Evan wanted.
“That’s it, boy,” Evan said. He used his arm to cast Mocha out in different directions. Now the Lab appeared to be more focused. Using Mckenna’s name had helped.
“Find Mckenna,” Evan repeated a few more times.
Evan was about to let Mocha sniff the jacket again when he noticed a shift in Mocha’s body language. The Lab’s tail poked straight in the air and his breathing changed. Evan’s dad had taught him to listen to the sound of a dog breathing. When they were in odor or had caught an odor they were trained to find, their sniffing would change along with the body language. Mocha continued to make snorting sounds as he pushed his nose to the ground. The dry hot day was making it harder for him to pick up Mckenna’s scent, but suddenly the dog took off in a trot toward the other end of the ghost town.
Weaving back and forth, with his tail remaining straight up, every now and then Mocha would pause. Evan would be about ready to let him sniff the jacket and cast him out again when Mocha would resume his search, intent on his mission and appearing to remain in odor.
When they reached the edge of town, he saw a deep slope that went down at a sharp angle. Evan knew it would be hard to keep his balance downhill and there wasn’t anything past this area. Mocha didn’t hesitate and pulled on the leash.
“You think he’s on her scent?” the sheriff asked behind him, her gun drawn and ready.
