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  Izzy made her coffee and took Chase out in the torrent for his morning walk, holding out hope as the hard rain pelted her face. She wasn’t supposed to meet Sara until noon, but at eleven thirty the forecast was still bleak.

  Can you believe this weather? Izzy knew she could’ve sent a one-liner to Sara indicating the simple need to reschedule, but she left her text open-ended, hoping it might lead to some conversation.

  I KNOW!

  Caps and an exclamation point. Izzy read Sara’s strong reaction as a sign she, too, was disheartened by the turn of events. Even though she was alone, Izzy covered half her face, embarrassed that she was analyzing Sara’s texts to this level. It was pathetic, but still she agonized over what to say next.

  Sara beat her to it, texting, It’s supposed to stay this way all afternoon. Not that I think the rain is a big deal, but I worry the trails might be too messy for our boy. She punctuated the statement with a sad face.

  You’re right, Izzy responded, her heart warming at the concern Sara expressed for Chase. She couldn’t help noticing the joint possessive she used when she referred to him. It made her swoon. She was completely out of control. Maybe next weekend will be better, she typed, hoping to set the wheels in motion to lock in a makeup session.

  What will you do with Chase cooped up all day?

  Sara’s response caught her off guard because she hadn’t thought about it at all. Chase still needed a fair amount of exercise and stimulation, and with the rain slated to be heavy most of the day, the thought of outdoor activity seemed unrealistic.

  She started typing but deleted it right away because the truth of the matter was she didn’t quite know how she was going to entertain him.

  Before she could give an answer at all, Sara sent another message: Why don’t you bring him to Overton? All of the agents stay on campus with their dogs. They’ll be looking for an outlet too. The gym will be available to do some exercise and train a little.

  Of course that made sense. The agents who were training to be handlers were from various parts of the country. Plus, Jen and Ryan would be there. Izzy knew for a fact they stayed through the weekends instead of traveling back and forth to Florida. But did Sara’s mentioning it mean she would be there as well? Izzy was dying to know, but she was too afraid asking would look desperate. Her phone dinged while she weighed the odds.

  Unless you don’t feel like driving in the weather. I completely get that. Her lack of response must have caused Sara to think she wasn’t interested at all. Izzy started typing but Sara was faster. I know it’s not the same as a hike in the woods but I thought we could get some training in.

  Izzy stopped trying to find the right words and spit out what she wanted to know. Will you be there?

  LOL. I’m here now. I never went home last night. I live far and I’m lazy. She dropped in the shrug emoji. Plus, we had plans. I remember how excited Chase was…

  Ha! I almost forgot.

  What do you think? Feel like driving up here in a monsoon?

  I have a truck. It’ll be fine.

  You have the soccer mom version of an SUV. I have a truck.

  Izzy laughed out loud at Sara’s playful put-down of her car. Only someone with a Ram 1500 would have the chutzpah to knock the formidable Durango in her driveway. She responded with an eye roll emoji and could almost hear Sara’s sweet laugh at the silly exchange. I need to shower still. Be there around 2. Sound good?

  Perfect.

  It sure felt like it.

  ***

  Chase perked up, recognizing his surroundings the moment they pulled through the entrance gate to the training facility. The roads were a mess and rain was still coming down in a steady stream when Izzy pulled into her parking space. Through the rain they ran to the door, drenched from the short sprint. Izzy was glad she hadn’t bothered with her hair—it would have been useless. Even with her rain gear, she was pretty soaked.

  Sara came out of her office to greet her. God, she looked amazing. Mastering the couldn’t-care-less style, she was sexy as hell in a worn hoodie and casual jeans, strategically ripped and antiqued in all the right spots. They hugged her hips and sculpted her perfect bottom. It was going to be a challenge to keep from staring all day.

  “You made it.” Sara approached and for a split second there was a slight awkwardness between them. Izzy thought they might hug, but instead Sara bent down to give Chase a quick scratch on the head. “How was the drive?”

  “Eh, not great. But okay.” Izzy slipped out of her raincoat and Sara took it from her, then hung it over a hook on the back of the door.

  “Let’s go to the gym. A bunch of folks are there already.”

  Izzy felt her heart sink a little at the realization that they’d have company right away. She heard the other dogs barking in the distance and felt Chase’s energy peak as they got closer.

  “That’s right, Chase. We’re going to see your friends.”

  He pranced and jumped, and Izzy loved that he was somehow able to discern this was different from a regular day at school. They got to the gym and hung out with Jen and Ryan, Mark, and a few other agents and their pups. The day was filled with a mix of free play and organized exercises, training, and games to entertain and educate the dogs and their humans. And even though Izzy’d had regrets about sharing Sara with her colleagues, Sara seemed to give the majority of her attention to her and Chase. She worked with them individually and spent time chatting one-on-one with her while they trained. Izzy’s pulse more than fluttered when Sara used a hand over hand technique to demonstrate a neat way to wind the leash around her palm, ensuring control but allowing for slack.

  What might have been a dull afternoon at her house instead zipped by amid a blur of barks and commands, stories, jokes, and easy conversation with her classmates and the new friend she was so quickly falling for.

  She was enjoying Sara and Chase as they sat on the floor with Jen and Tempe when Ryan approached.

  “Mark and I were just talking about heading into town and grabbing Mexican for dinner. You ladies in?”

  “Sure.” Jen’s response was quick. Izzy wasn’t the only one crushing. She was pretty sure Jen would follow Mark into the pit of hell and back.

  Izzy felt Sara’s eyes on her. “What do you think, Iz?” She touched Izzy’s arm lightly. “You’re the one with a drive ahead of you.”

  She would have stayed all night if it meant this much attention from Sara. She tried to sound casual. “A girl does have to eat, right?”

  “Let’s go.” Sara hopped up, brushing off the back of her jeans as she stood. They gathered their things and returned the dogs to the kennel area before they headed to Sara’s office to grab their jackets. “Come with me,” Sara said as she pulled a rain parka over her shoulders. “There’s no sense in us taking two separate cars.”

  “Great.” Izzy smiled, elated with how this day was progressing.

  The ride to the restaurant was quick, but Izzy indulged herself for the short trip, basking in Sara’s scent as she rode shotgun in the pristine cab of her enormous pickup. “Star Wars fan?” she asked, eyeing a small Lego R2-D2 keychain hanging from the air vent.

  “You know it.” Sara made a turn onto a side street in the small town. “R2’s my guy.” She cast a quick look at Izzy. “What about you, who’s your favorite?”

  Izzy shrugged. “Don’t have one really. I saw one of the movies. Maybe two,” she added, pausing to think about it. “Definitely not all of them.”

  Sara brought her truck to a dramatic halt. “That, Isabel, is a disgrace.” She shook her head. “I consider it my duty to fix such a travesty.” She pounded her fist on the steering wheel in emphasis, as though she’d accepted an assignment. Izzy laughed out loud, but inside her pulse raced at the invitation Sara was off-handedly floating. To her knowledge there were at least six Star Wars episodes, maybe more, and whatever Sara’s motive, her idle suggestion implied more time together. Izzy focused her attention on the windshield wipers swooping across th
e glass as she tried to tamp down her excitement.

  When they entered the restaurant together, Izzy was thrilled to see that even though the other three had arrived first, the seating arrangement had Mark and Ryan on one side of a six-top, Jen on the other. Her heart did a ridiculous happy dance knowing she was going to be able to sit next to Sara.

  As they perused the menu, the party of five fell into an easy conversation about the class curriculum and a few upcoming field trips on the agenda. Izzy tried not to make too much of her knee brushing against Sara’s under the table. Even though the touch was subtle, Sara didn’t move an inch. There was plenty of legroom, but Izzy took the risk and kept her leg there, savoring the heat from their mild contact as it spread up her thigh to her center.

  Ryan drove the conversation by asking a slew of questions about New York City, and Izzy was happy to answer them, but she had to try hard to stay on point when Sara’s phone on the table lit up with a flurry of texts. Nicole, the name read. Izzy wondered if it was the same woman from last night.

  Even as Sara dismissed the messages routinely, they kept coming. “Wow, whoever Nicole is, she’s really blowing up your phone there, Sara,” Ryan said over his iced tea. At least she wasn’t the only one distracted by the interruption. On cue a call came in. “Better answer that,” he added with a hearty chuckle.

  “Hello.” Sara leaned back in her chair as she answered, the move giving her little privacy. Jen tried to steer the group conversation back on track and Mark joined right in, but Izzy couldn’t keep from paying attention to Sara next to her. Her entire body language changed as she spoke into the phone. She sat upright and rigid as she whispered, “Can it wait? I’m in the middle of something right now.” Her voice was even and low, but apparently Nicole was not one to be put off. “You’re where?” Sara barked loudly, clearly surprised by the response her suggestion garnered. “Fine,” she said, giving in after several long seconds of listening to Nicole on the other end of the line. Izzy could tell Sara was frustrated—she figured they all could. But when Sara looked at her watch and uttered, “I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” Izzy’s spirit bottomed out and she doubted her colleagues were similarly affected.

  Ending the call, Sara glanced around the table, her eyes breezing over Izzy as part of the crew. “I’m sorry, gang. I have to deal with something,” she said. “Can you get a ride back with these guys?” She faced Izzy but didn’t make eye contact. It was hardly a question, and Sara barely waited for Izzy’s response before she was out the door into the dreary evening.

  Later that evening, when Izzy returned to the facility to collect Chase, she looked for Sara’s truck but didn’t see it anywhere. Her desire to know what was going on was somewhat pitiful. After all, on the surface, nothing drastic had occurred. Her friend, Sara, had gotten a call during a group dinner and had to leave unexpectedly. It wasn’t awful or earth shattering. But deep down Izzy knew there was something more going on between them. Even if they didn’t acknowledge it directly, the day had been defined by knowing looks and soft touches. She wasn’t imagining it. In her mind, she was owed something of an explanation, and she floundered around her house all night waiting for a call or a text, but nothing came.

  Chapter Eleven

  Five minutes. It didn’t seem like an unreasonable request. Five minutes alone with Sara. Fuck, she’d even settle for three. Izzy needed just enough time to read her face, assess her body language, determine what the hell was going on. Since she skipped out Sunday evening, Izzy hadn’t heard a peep from Sara. She’d barely even seen her at school. She was absent from morning agility, and when Izzy finally spotted her, she was on the sidelines standing next to a tall redhead, talking nonstop as they watched the training together. Izzy witnessed a repeat of nearly the same situation when she eyed Sara on the catwalk above the gymnasium with the redhead, watching keenly as the class did scent work with their partners.

  Desperate for attention, Izzy kept her focus on Sara, but was given only a small, thin smile when they made eye contact, as Sara continued to chat with her gorgeous companion whose green eyes stood out even from a distance. Izzy tried not to take it personally. But she wasn’t the only one who noticed Sara’s cool attitude. In fact, her friends made a point of calling out the entire staff’s tense demeanor over the last few days.

  Izzy almost caught a break after lunch Wednesday. There were still a few minutes before the afternoon session got under way, and from her seat in class Izzy noticed Sara standing alone by the front desk. She appeared to be reading over something intently, and even though Izzy didn’t know what on earth she was going to say, she started over. She only made it as far as the classroom doorway before the mystery redhead was right next to Sara again. Their arms seemed to be touching as they pored over the papers in front of them. Izzy felt her frustration rise to a new level as she pondered the identity of this stranger who’d been foiling her chances for days.

  “That’s Nicole Vaughn.” Jen’s voice in her ear made Izzy jump even as she provided the answer to her unspoken question. “She’s a real big shot with the Feds. In charge of this whole place.” Jen waved her hand in emphasis. “She’s here from Washington to—quote-unquote—evaluate the program.” Everyone in law enforcement knew program evaluations were always a cover for budget cuts. “That’s what’s got everyone’s panties in a bunch this week.”

  “How do you know all this?” Izzy knew her voice held both skepticism and envy.

  Jen let free a syrupy grin. “Mark told me.” Wiggling her eyebrows, she added, “He got the dirt from Gilmartin over beers in town last night. Allegedly there’s talk of closing this facility after this session.”

  “Really?” Izzy wasn’t sure why she found it so hard to believe. She knew very little of the federal government and how it operated, but the Overton training center seemed state of the art with its many on-site accoutrements. Her class had been able to train on a real subway car, commuter buses, in buildings that mimicked offices and schools, and that wasn’t even accounting for the other side of campus where the recruit agents attended class. Not to mention the cafeteria and dorms. The NYPD would kill for a place like this. She shook her head at the thought.

  “Big bad Nicole gets the final say. Dun-dun-dun,” Jen added dramatically. Izzy had yet to tear her eyes away from Sara and Nicole still talking at the desk. “Also, rumor has it, Nicole is Sara’s ex.”

  Izzy whipped her head around barely reining in her reaction. “Oh, yeah,” she managed to stammer out, hoping it came off like she didn’t care.

  “That’s what I heard.” Jen touched Izzy’s elbow and steered them back into class. “But you know guys. They always get that shit wrong.”

  Izzy wondered if her words were meant in comfort, but it didn’t matter. Obviously, Nicole was something to Sara. Whether the future of Homeland Security’s training depended on her was the least of her worries. Izzy’s concerns lay solely in the personal connection. She already knew Nicole had contacted Sara repeatedly over the weekend and that Sara had abandoned dinner to answer Nicole’s call. She tightened her jaw, fighting back the jealousy she felt rising to the surface, one hundred percent sure now was not the time to even ponder why she felt this way.

  But even as she lectured herself and tried like hell to channel determination, her focus was off and she knew her distraction was obvious. In the last two days alone, she’d botched an obedience event and nearly missed two indications of low explosive finds by Chase.

  By Friday morning the tension that had permeated operations at the facility eased up, coinciding with Jen’s update that Nicole had gone back to DC. The entire staff appeared to settle back into their everyday calm. Still, Izzy couldn’t seem to get out of her funk.

  “Everything in this job, everything in life, I would argue, is situational awareness.” Agent Gilmartin stood in front of the class with Jett, his canine partner who demonstrated daily tactics.

  “When you’re doing a room search, I want you to use the same princip
les as searching a stationary object. The key is staying sharp, on top of that.” He modeled the action with Jett, taking small steps as they entered the room, cutting the pie in tiny triangular pieces. He kept his hand on the butt of the red rubber training gun used for tactical drilling. “You’re still a cop. And that means bad guys are gonna want to get you. Sometimes with a bomb, sometimes with a knife or a gun or their bare hands. Stay focused,” he lectured through his search. Sniffing like mad, Jett sat down in passive alert in front of a closet in the room. Withdrawing his training weapon, Gilmartin pulled the door open slowly, falling into the ready position, his firearm raised on the target of Agent Hayes wired up as a suicide bomber inside the small space, as the class watching breathed out a quiet collective gasp.

  “Look.” Gilmartin broke character, waving Hayes forward to join him as he addressed the troops. “The point of this is to remind you that your jobs—just because you got dogs—didn’t get any easier.” His body took on a fighting stance as he spoke. “It’s about the actor as much as the bomb. When you do a room search, whether it’s a simple ten-by-ten office or the lobby of Grand Central Station, the principles are the same. You have to know where to direct your dog. He’s going to look to you to take the lead. Point, guide, pay attention. Have a plan if your dog hits on something. Look around. Know your surroundings. How populated is the area? Think about crowd control. If you encounter a perp”—he thumbed at Hayes still in his Unabomber getup—are you calling for backup or placing him under arrest first?” He paused, letting the question linger. “I don’t expect you to have an answer right now, because honestly, each particular situation will dictate your course of action. But you have to be thinking about these things.” He swept his gaze around the room. “You do not want to be figuring this out on the fly, folks.”