“No, not until we get this Huevo guy,” he murmured. “There’s likely to be an even stronger backlash.”
She stiffened at that.
He nodded. “So now I have to consider our plans carefully.”
“But will they know where my intruder is, or that he was here?”
“It depends on how rogue this guy is and how well he hid his tracks to make the boss think everything was okay.”
“If he was still a trusted employee, maybe Huevo wouldn’t watch him as closely?”
“Maybe, but in a case like that, some other guys are always out there, eager to help pull down the others.”
“Tattletales?”
“Possibly, and, once the news of the body in the house broke out on the media, it’s hard to say just what the boss is feeling like.”
Ansel walked back toward them and said, “If you guys have a place to go to for a few days, it would be a good idea,” he said. “We’ll organize a raid on that compound and take them down,” he said, “but it’ll take a couple days to set it up. The property lines cross the border giving us some leeway here. And no doubt it needs doing.”
“I’d like to be in on that,” Caleb said.
Immediately Ansel shook his head. “Can’t do that. I understand the sentiment, but you’re not part of the team.”
“Well, you could make me one,” he said in a mild tone.
“No, not without training.”
“I’ve probably had more training than all the guys on your team put together,” he said. Ansel looked at him in surprise; Caleb shrugged and gave a little bit of his US Navy SEAL private black-ops history, and he saw Ansel slowly nodding.
“It’s not my decision,” he said. “It’ll have more to do with what the captain sees fit. You’re still a civilian in his books.”
“Yeah, I am,” he said. “But, if you ever needed an extra set of hands, I know exactly what to do with them.”
“Point taken.” As he walked back over to the police vehicle, he stopped, turned back, and said, “You know what? If you wanted to go into law enforcement, even if it was like I said, a K9 unit, handling something along that line, you wouldn’t need the same physical training the rest of us went through.”
“It’s possible,” he said. “I also have some that might go a long way to convincing the higher-ups.”
“Why don’t you set up an interview with the captain? See what he has to say.”
“I might do that,” he said.
Ansel nodded, got into his car, then stopped and said, “Give me a chance to talk to him first.”
“That might go a long way to smooth that pathway.”
And, with that, he drove off.
“Did he just say he wanted to recommend you for some special training or some special job?”
“I’m not sure he really knew what he was saying,” he said in a mild voice. “But I think something was in there.”
“And you wanted to go into law enforcement?”
“I want to do something in the same field I’ve always done, which is similar to that line, yes. A K9 unit wouldn’t be a bad idea. I’m not sure that they hire them outside of law enforcement staff though.”
“There are so many budget cuts too,” she said. “I imagine they probably have a lot of contractors instead.”
“And that might not be a bad idea either,” he said. “I need a place to do training though, and it takes lots of space for dogs like that.”
“Would you do the training for working dogs or for family pets?”
“Both. Every trained dog needs some downtime when he’s not working. So they become pets at the same time.”
“I like it,” she said. “I always wondered if I should be doing more with mine, but that takes time, energy, and dedication. Plus, I didn’t have the motivation to take on disciplining four dogs at the same time,” she murmured.
“How about taking on one guy now?” he said, tilting her chin up and kissing her gently.
“Well, that motivation is definitely coming along a little bit faster,” she said with a laugh. “But, as to the here and now, what will we do about Ansel’s suggestion to stay somewhere else a couple nights?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “I don’t like the idea of leaving here because, well, we’re working on the house, and it’s your home, and I think we should defend your own place. I don’t want to see us up and running away. But, at the same time, I really don’t want you to get hurt.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m fine. And I don’t want you hurt any more than you are,” she said. “In case you think I didn’t notice, I can see how stiffly you’re moving.”
Caleb just shrugged.
“Well, I vote we stay here,” she said. “We won’t find any place to take all the animals too.”
“I agree,” he said, looking down at the dogs milling at their feet. “They should be a pretty good early warning system too.”
“Only some of them,” she said with a laugh. “I don’t delude myself that all of them are that way.” She’d bent down and scooped Fancy into her arms. The little Pomeranian immediately licked her chin. “Especially this little one.”
Caleb reached over and picked her up and held her against his chest, as she wiggled in delight. “And yet how can you not love her because she’s exactly who she’s intended to be.”
“Exactly, and she is who she really is. She doesn’t put on any airs, doesn’t try to look any different. She doesn’t lie. She doesn’t cheat. She is exactly who she is,” she murmured, “and I really like that about all my dogs.”
“You and me both,” he said. “And now I’m starved. And it’s very late. I don’t know if we’ll get a coat on that floor or not,” he said, “but it would be better if we
