Chapter 2 - THE HANDLER WHO DISAPPEAREDMarcus Vance found Nora outside the medical wing that evening.
She knew he would.
“You've been watching me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Rangers like Ranger don't forget people.”
“His memory is better than mine.”
“That isn't what I meant.”
Nora stopped walking.
Marcus lowered his voice.
“Your old service number.”
She went still.
He said it.
The number she had not heard in years.
Her face drained.
“You shouldn't know that.”
“You shouldn't exist under a different name.”
For several seconds, they stared at one another.
Then Nora asked,
“What happened to privacy on this base?”
Marcus smiled without humor.
“Someone made it a very interesting concept.”
She walked away.
He followed.
“Captain Callahan.”
Nora stopped.
Nobody had called her that in two years.
“You're mistaken.”
“No.”
“I was medically discharged.”
“No.”
She turned.
“I was declared missing in action.”
Marcus's voice softened.
“I read the file.”
“So did I.”
“What happened?”
Nora looked toward the kennels.
“Ranger happened.”
Three years earlier, Nora Callahan had been one of the best military working-dog handlers in the country.
Ranger had been a young Doberman with an extraordinary ability to detect explosives in crowded environments.
He was fast.
Smart.
Stubborn.
And completely attached to Nora.
They had trained together for six months.
Then they were assigned to an overseas operation.
The mission was supposed to be simple.
Locate a weapons cache.
Secure the building.
Extract.
Instead, someone had leaked their route.
An explosion destroyed the facility.
Nora was thrown against a concrete wall.
Ranger disappeared into the smoke.
Nora had gone back.
She found him beneath a collapsed doorway.
He was alive.
Barely.
She pulled him free.
Then armed men opened fire.
Nora made a decision.
She carried Ranger toward the extraction point.
A second blast sent both of them over a damaged embankment.
Nora remembered falling.
She remembered Ranger's weight.
Then darkness.
When she woke, she was in a field hospital.
Ranger was gone.
Her command told her he had been killed.
The operation was classified.
Her own identity was buried.
A year later, she was told Ranger had been transferred into another unit.
Then told he was dead.
Nora had never believed either story.
She left military service.
Became a nurse.
Changed her contact information.
Changed her apartment.
Changed her entire life.
Until she saw Ranger again.
Now he was damaged.
Terrified.
And someone had clearly wanted him forgotten.
Marcus listened.
“Why was he transferred?”
“I don't know.”
“Who handled the transfer?”
“Colonel Adrian Vale.”
Marcus's expression changed.
“You know him?”
“I know the name.”
“You should know the name.”
“Why?”
“He's dead.”
Nora froze.
“When?”
“Eleven days ago.”
The same day Ranger stopped allowing anyone to touch him.
Nora looked at him.
“How?”
“Officially? Suicide.”
“And unofficially?”
Marcus stared at her.
“We haven't decided yet.”
Admiral Holloway called Nora to his office the next morning.
She entered.
The admiral stood behind a desk covered in files.
Ranger's file was open.
So was hers.
“You lied on your application.”
“Yes.”
“You concealed military service.”
“Yes.”
“You concealed your relationship with the animal currently under my command.”
“I didn't think I had another relationship with him.”
The admiral studied her.
“Why are you here?”
“I needed work.”
“That isn't the real answer.”
She said nothing.
He closed the file.
“I know about the explosion.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“How?”
“Because I signed the report.”
Nora froze.
“You were there?”
“No.”
“I was responsible for the operation.”
“You were not responsible for what happened.”
“That distinction wasn't very popular at the time.”
Holloway looked toward the window.
“Three soldiers died.”
Nora swallowed.
“Four.”
He turned.
“What?”
“Four soldiers.”
She looked down.
“The fourth was never counted.”
His expression changed.
“Who?”
“Corporal Mason Reed.”
“Reed wasn't assigned to your team.”
“He was.”
“His name is not in the report.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because somebody removed him.”
Silence.
The admiral leaned forward.
“Why would someone remove a soldier from an operation?”
Nora whispered,
“To make it easier to say there were no survivors.”
That evening, Ranger was attacked.
No one saw the intruder enter the rehabilitation corridor.
A tranquilizer dart was found near the kennel.
Ranger was found trembling, but conscious.
Nora reached him first.
She knelt.
He pressed against her.
“It's okay.”
Marcus arrived.
“What happened?”
Nora pointed toward the ventilation grille.
“Someone came through there.”
Marcus touched the wall.
“Impossible.”
“Not impossible.”
She pointed.
“Look at the dust.”
He did.
A footprint.
Small.
Military boot.
Size nine.
Marcus looked at Nora.
“You noticed that immediately.”
“I used to.”
“Used to what?”
May you like
She looked at Ranger.
“Survive.”
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